BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
I wake to the sound of my alarm clock blaring. Startled, I jump up and tumble out of bed, landing roughly on the hard floor.
Slightly rolling over to the left to unpin my arm, I look up at the clock to see that it's nearly six. I have to be at the bookstore and punched in by seven, which doesn't leave me much time. I can already tell from my lack of sleep that it's going to be a rough day. I was kept awake most of the night by all the moaning and screaming from my wonderful roommate Kelsey and one of her flings Aaron. And when I say one... I mean one of the many she brings around.
Grunting, I slowly sit up and run my fingers through my brown tangled hair, doing my best to keep my annoyance in. A yawn escapes my parted lips as I use all of my energy to push myself back to my feet. I just need two more hours of sleep minimum to get by. Just two frickin' hours. Is that so much to ask for? Sometimes I can barely make it through the day without falling asleep on my break. I've been lucky so far to not get caught napping in the back of the bookstore I work at. One day my luck is going to run out and I'm going to be left jobless and back at my parents' house. I have to do everything in my power to make sure that never happens. My parents gave me the moving out speech more than once and I never want to hear it again.
With not much time left before I have to leave for work, I saunter down the hallway half asleep, staring down at my black silk pajama pants as they drag across the carpet. What I see when I look up is enough to wake me completely.
"Kelsey! What the hell?" I mutter, knowing she's too busy cozying up in her warm bed to hear. I have the urge to wake her up just piss her off but decide against it as I take in the trashed apartment. I don't have the energy for this crap.
As I stand there with a frown, I ask myself the same question I've been trying to figure out for the last eight weeks. How did I end up with the messiest roommate ever? I should've known better than to answer a personal ad with someone looking for a roommate. What am I , stupid? At the moment, it sure feels like it.
Knowing I don't have much of a choice, unless I want to come home to this disaster, I quickly start cleaning up the chips and empty beer cans. I throw my arms up in frustration and end up dropping most of the chips that I just picked up once I get a view of the kitchen. Just wonderful. The kitchen looks like hell. The garbage is over flowing, the counter is full of pizza crust and smashed up beer cans, the floor is covered in sticky spots and the freshly painted wall that should be white is covered with some kind of pink fluid. Not even animals live this messy. Letting out a breath of frustration, I quickly start cleaning up as quickly as I can manage. The last thing that I want to do after working for eight hours is to come home and stare at a filthy house all day. Kelsey doesn't clean, so I have no choice. Big surprise here. I find a loud and lazy roommate that's been late on rent every month since we've moved in.
Once the house is as clean as I can get it in a rush, I toss the dirty rag into the trash and turn around, bumping into something hard that sends me flying back. My eyes wander up to see a half-naked Aaron wearing just a tiny towel.
He lets out a long burp and then reaches for my hand. "Hey there, gorgeous." His dark hair falls over his brown eyes as he yanks me back up to my feet. Every muscle in his firm chest flexes and it's somehow easier to see why Kelsey might enjoy his company.
I cover my eyes and point down at his towel. "Do you mind fixing that?" I question. I wait for him to ajust the towel before I open my eyes again. "Did you guys have fun last night? This house looks like hell." I rub my hand over my eyes and yawn. " I sure hop so."
An amused smile forms on his thin lips as he looks me over. "Oh Kendra, you know you're always welcome to join our little party. Kelsey wouldn't mind." He teases.
I shake my head and snicker. "No, I think I'll pass on that. Maybe tomorrow," I say stiffly.
Aaron looks at me and raises an eyebrow. "Really?"
I push past him and slap him on the arm. "No, you moron." I roll my eyes at his foolishness and walk quickly back to my room to gather my clothes for a shower. Panic sets in once I notice the time and I quickly turn down the hall, rushing to the bathroom and have to catch myself from almost tripping over a shoe. Really! A shoe in the hallway. I reach for the bathroom door and pull myself in, slamming the door behind me. I lean into the shower and turn the hot water on. I smile at the thought of finally getting my shower and start tugging off my shirt, while fighting to get it over my head. I just get it over my head and toss it on the floor when I hear the bathroom door open and I look over to see Aaron walking over in his little towel with a devlish grin on his face.
"Thanks, babe. I had a rough night. This is going to feel incredible," He says gratefully . Then he drops his towel right in front of me and jumps into the shower water. My shower water, not his.
I turn my eyes away and scramble for my shirt. "What the hell, Aaron! I need to get in there. I work in less than an hour. Get out. Now!" I grab my shirt, holding it over my breasts.
"There's room for two. I never said you couldn't join." He pokes his head out of the shower and winks at me, biting his bottom lip. "I can help reach some tough spots for you." He grins while using my shower sponge to clean his body. His dirty body.
"Shit! I don't have time for your crap. Enjoy." I reach into the shower and turn the water as hot as it goes, before turning and walking away, somewhat pleased when he yells out in pain.
Once back in my room, my mood goes to shit again as I quickly get dressed and throw my unwashed hair into a ponytail. I stare into the mirror at my one blue eye and one green eye and let out a huff. Everything about me today just looks out of place and messy. I throw on some deodorant and vanilla body spray in hopes that I'll at least smell clean and then make my way outside, down the old stairs and to my beat up Grand Prix I've had since my sixteenth birthday. I definitely need an upgrade.
I make my way to work and pull up to see my boyfriend Jason is waiting in the parking lot. Just perfect. I really don't want him to see me looking or feeling this way . I look myself over in the mirror once again as I push back a loose strand of hair and step out of my car.
He looks so perfect. His dark blond hair is slicked back, making him look professional and smart. His blue eyes stare at me with lust as he reaches for my arm. "Hey, beautiful," he says smoothly, fixing the collar of his black shirt.
"Jason. I look like crap. Please don't lie to make me feel better." I throw my ponytail over my shoulder and point at my hair. "Kelsey had one of her guys over last night and he was in the shower so I had to come looking like this. Not to mention they kept me up all hours of the night. I feel and look miserable."
He grabs the back of my head and pulls my face close to his. The stubble on his chin scratches my face, causing me to squirm. He smiles against my lips. "You don't have to shower to look hot, baby. You know any guy would take you. Dirty or not. Just saying," he teases.
"Ha! Aren't you just so humorous this morning."
Jason puts his mouth against mine in a teasing manner. He kisses me softly, running his long fingers through my hair. He always knows just what to do to make me feel better on days like these. It's almost enough to give me hope that i can make it through anything life throws at me. "You'll be fine. Trust me."
"I do." I pull away from his grip and offer him a weak smile. "I have to go now. I have two minutes to clock in and I've already been late once this week. I'll see you after work?" I look at him questionably, hoping he says yes this time.
His eyes turn away and his smile slightly fades. "We'll see, baby. I'll call you later and see if I can work something out." He pokes my nose and smiles at me. "If not tonight, then tomorrow. I promise."
I shake my head in frustration. He hasn't even attempted to spend time with me in three days. "Jason did you already make plans again? We haven't spent time together at all this week. I really need to see you right now. I need you." I plead.
"I'll call you later. You should hurry up." He turns me around giving me a pat on the butt to get moving, then he turns away and hops in his car, giving me one last look as he drives away. He's been acting so strange lately, but I really don't have time to figure it out right now. I can't be late again. I rush down the sidewalk and open the front door to see my boss Miles standing by a table staring at the door.
My heart skips a beat, worried that he's going to be mad that I'm late again. "I'm sorry, Miles. I Promise I won't be late anymore this week. I really tried my best to be here but my roommate-"
His blue eyes follow me as I fidget. "I don't need you to explain, Kendra." He speaks up, cutting me off. "You're here so let's just put you to work. You're just lucky you're a hard worker and you're easy on the eyes." He smiles at me and I can see his cheeks slightly turn red. Maybe it's my imagination, but I'm pretty positive he's checking me out.
Miles always jokes around about me being young and pretty. He's older than me by about ten years but he's not so bad looking himself. I know he respects me as his employee so he always keeps it pretty professional. His blond hair, blue eyes and square jawline make him very attractive. Definitely someone all the young girls come in here to hit on. Most of the girls that come here probably don't even read the books they pick up. They come here to flirt and bat there eyelashes at Miles. I'm so used to it that I don't even bother trying to help them anymore.
"Thanks, Miles. You're always so understanding. You have no idea how much you have helped me. I can't afford to lose this job. I am barely getting by as it is now. Maybe one of these days you can make me your assistant manager and I can ditch my roomie." I give him a hopeful smile, but he just laughs at me.
"Well we might be able to make that happen soon but I have to see some better attendance from you first." He points a finger at me waving it for better affect. "Make that happen."
"I promise you won't have to worry anymore." I stand up straight and smile. "I promise."
* * *
Eight hours later, I am free to leave and go home. Too bad eight hours felt more like ten due to the lack of customers. The only ones that did come into the store were just some highschool girls that were only there to check out Miles and whisper to their little friends about how cute his ass looked in his fitted jeans. Thank goodness the day is over. I'm not sure I could've handled anymore.
I pull my beater into the parking lot of our apartment building and drag myself out of the car and up our old wooden stairs, running my hands over the paint chips that are flaking off. I stop at the door and wish to myself that Kelsey is gone. I take a few minutes to gather myself before I open the door to see that my wish didn't come true.
Just my luck.
"Kendra! How was work?" Kelsey is sitting around on my black leather couch still in her underwear and a shirt playing on Facebook and eating candy. She constantly eats but still has a perfect body. Lucky.
"Oh. Hey, Kelsey." I shut the door behind me and suddenly it hits me that Kelsey probably hasn't even left the house all day. Hell, she probably hasn't even left the couch. "Let me guess, you didn't work today?" I question, trying to hide my frustration.
She looks up at me with the biggest grin and brushes her blonde hair from out of her round face. "No I didn't get much sleep last night, you know." She winks at me and bats her long eyelashes. "Aaron has a way of keeping me up all night. I was too tired to deal with work." This woman drives me crazy.
"Yeah, I kinda heard. I got kept awake the whole night listening to you two," I huff, "Don't you ever get tired of having guys over and getting laid all night? I can barely handle one guy, Kelsey." I kick my old Pumas off at the front door and let my hair down. "
"Hell no! One guy isn't enough for me. I get bored too fast. The same with jobs, I can't stand having the same job for too long or else I go crazy. I don't want a boring life like you." She smiles. "No offense. But you never have any fun. We're too young not to enjoy life." She looks at me as if I'm pathetic.
The nerve of her. "None taken, I guess. It would be nice though if you could quiet it down a bit. Well actually a lot of bit and maybe start cleaning up after yourself. I can't do-"
She jumps off of the couch and runs over, wrapping her arms around me. She uses her baby blue eyes as a weapon and pouts her full lips at me. "Oh you know I'm sorry. I just get a little carried away sometimes and it slips my mind. You know I love you, right sugar?"
"Well..." I take in her facial expression trying to read her true intensions. "Just please try. That's all I ask."
She gives me a winning smile and kisses my cheek. "So tell me, what's up with that sexy boss of yours? You sleeping with him yet?" She pulls away and pulls out her phone to respond to a text message.
"No! Kelsey I'm not trying to sleep with Miles. I have a boyfriend in case you forgot." I stare at her in shock as she just types away on her phone as if she's writing out a whole letter. "Of course not."
"Yeah well he's never around anymore so why not have a little fun, you know." She looks up from her phone for a brief moment and bites her lip. "You're still young. You might even enjoy it. Actually, you will. I've seen his fine ass before."
She never seems to amaze me. I drop my keys on the table by the door and cross my arms across my chest. "I could never do that to Jason and plus he's my boss. I'm not trying to get into a messy situation and lose my job." I try holding back a yawn but there is just no stopping it.
Kelsey waits for me to finish yawning before answering me back with a grin. "Well, I love messy situations so I would gladly take your spot for a day," she says, lifting a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "You know he wants to sleep with you. The world knows it."
I turn away in attempt to hide my blushing face. "Says who?"
"He doesn't have to say it, you can tell just by the way he looks at you." She throws her phone down on the couch, grinning at me. "A guy's eyes say all you need to know. Believe me. He wants you."
"Well, I'm not gonna find out so let's just drop it," I say stiffly. "Oh and by the way your little boy toy Aaron got naked in front of me and stole my morning shower. Not cool at all." Just the thought of it now kind of makes me want to laugh, but I hide my smile.
She looks at me as if it's no big surprise to her. "Isn't he sexy? That body of his is a result of having a healthy sex life." Her eyes wander down my body. "You can use one. We all could." She gives me a teasing smile. "You're lucky you got to see his sexy ass naked. You're welcome."
"I could've went without it just fine this morning," I say through a smile. "Ok getting to the serious stuff now," I say trying to look as serious as I can. "Do you have your part of rent yet?"
I can already tell what she's going to say as soon as she gives me 'that' look. "No Kendra, I promise, give me until Sunday and you'll get it."
I let out a breath of frustration and look her in the eye. "I can't keep covering your part of rent. That's the whole point of having a roommate. Did you forget that part?"
She walks over to the kitchen pouring herself a glass of wine. "I know! I know and I promise I'll have it this time." She takes a big swig of her wine and and then slams it on the black granite counter.
My eyes stay on her glass. "Fine! Sunday and no later."
What am I going to do with her? I've already paid the last month rent by myself and that barely left me with enough gas money to get back and forth to work. I seriously need to look into finding a new roommate. One that is clean and quiet and actually pays rent.
She takes another big drink of her wine as she's tryng to talk. "Oh, by the way Aaron is coming over in a bit and he's going to bring one of his friends with so I hope you don't mind. I promise to keep it down this time." She wipes the wine off of her chin and pulls her blonde waves into a ponytail. "I promise."
Yay! Just what I need right now. "Well I guess I don't have much of a choice anyway, right?" I huff, "Besides... I'm actually off tomorrow so I can sleep in a bit."
I can't help but smile at Kelsey as she gives me a big hug and starts jumping up and down while laughing. "You know you're the best roommate ever." She pinches my cheek.
I shake my head and pull away from her grip. "Yeah, yeah I know." That I wont deny. "I'm going to get in the shower and hope to see Jason tonight. If you need me you know where I'll be."
"Sure, sweets," she says as I start walking away. "Good luck with that."
I walk into the bathroom and finally get my nice hot shower. The hot water feels so good against my body, relaxing every muscle in me. It feels amazing. After showering, I lotion up and put on my black skirt along with a tank and black flats. Me being five foot seven, I don't really need to wear heels. I decide on leaving my brown waves down to cascade around my face so that it covers my eyes.
Walking into the kitchen, I look into the fridge realizing I haven't eaten anything all day. Of course all that I can find is left over pizza. I guess that will have to do. I get ready to take a bite of pizza, but drop the slice when I feel breathing on the back of my neck.
"Hi. You must be Kelsey's roommate."
I look down at my pizza on the floor and then behind behind me to see a guy possibly in his mid-twenties standing behind me. He smiles at me revealing a set of dimples and my heart instantly speeds up. His dark locks hang slightly in his face almost covering his blue eyes and his face looks as if it hasn't been shaven in a few days. It's very rugged and appealing. I take in his athletic six foot figure and realize that my mouth is hanging open. I quickly shut it and smile like a fool. "Yeah hi. I'm Kendra. I'ts nice to meet you."
He leans in and shakes my hand smiling. He seems friendly. "Can I help you with anything," he questions. "You look a little tired and I'm a good cook. Besides... I need to get away from those two because they won't stay off of each other." He grins. "I'm pretty sure they both get laid enough so I don't understand how they're always going at it." He bends down picking up my slice of pizza and throws it in the trash.
My eyes wander over his athletic body as he walks over and leans on the counter. He crosses one foot in front of the other and places his elbows on the counter behind him. "Yeah I could never quite understand that myself." I pull my eyes away and let out a nervous giggle. "I'm sure you probably get enough too if you're anything like your buddy Aaron."
His smile slightly drops a little, but is quickly replaced. "Well I just might not be anything like him, for all you know I could be a really sweet guy looking for just the right girl."
I laugh at the thought of this hot guy who just so happens to be friends with Aaron, not being a player. "Right! I don't know about that. From the looks of you, I would say you're probably more like Aaron."
I can almost figure out by his good looks and charming personality that he's probably just like Aaron. His eyes are wandering my whole body and he for sure isn't trying to hide it. A part of me almost likes it, but another part of me tells me not to get mixed up with a guy like that. Plus, I have Jason and he loves me.
"Well, Kendra. I can see you've met Stefan." Kelsey pops into the kitchen, leans against the wall and winks at me. "Pretty gorgeous, right?"
I hit her playfully in the side and mutter under my breath. "You know I have a boyfriend and I'm not looking to get laid by some smooth talking player."
We both look over and Stefan is looking at us with a playful smirk. I'm pretty sure he can hear every word that we say.
"Well I'm going to go to my room to call Jason, I think we might be doing something tonight." I turn away to head back to my room. "Stefan," I say, "you guys have fun."
Stefan stays leaning against the counter with a smile, but doesn't say anything. He just nods his head.
"Ok roomie, you know you can always go out with us tonight if he blows you off again. Let me know soon because were leaving in about thirty minutes." She reaches into the fridge pulling out a cold slice of pizza. "It will be fun." She smiles at Stefan and then back at me.
I just walk back to my room and get my phone to call Jason. There's no way he's going to be too busy for me again this week. He knows that I'm off tomorrow and it's one of my only days to stay out late and have fun with him.
I call about three times and no answer. Frustrated, I toss the phone down and crawl into bed. I look up just in time to see Kelsey poking her blonde head into my room.
"Well roomie, are you free again tonight?" she questions, "There's plenty of room in Stefan's car for you to come with us." She gives me a hopeful smile. "Come on the drinks will be free. We have Aaron and Stefan and they're not too cheap to pay for our drinks." She pauses. "Please! You need a night of fun." She looks at me with pleading eyes.
What hurt could it cause? I could use a night out of this boring apartment for once. I grab my purse and drag myself over to the door. "Well I guess I could use a night to-"
"Yay! We need to get out together and have some fun. I'm so excited tonight and you better dance with me." She screams in excitement and then turns toward the door. "Kendra is coming guys."
I hope she doesn't think that I'm hooking up with this Stefan guy just because he's sexy, charming and... let me stop there. What am I thinking?
"Okay, but just remember I'm not hooking up with this Stefan guy so don't even bother trying. Got it?" I give her a serious look so she knows there is no breaking me.
She smiles at me before heading out my door. "Got it, babe."