Lydia Montgomery. I never knew the name of my roommate's little sister would be crossing my mind so often, and not in the way I would have expected.
It wasn't hard to remember her face as she had stood out to me the first time we'd met all those years ago, back when I was still together with Marnie.
Even thinking her name brought a bad taste to my mouth.
Marnie had clung all over me the entire evening as we celebrated Lydia's high school graduation which Lucas had invited me to since we had become pretty good friends in the short time that I'd lived with him in the rent house.
Her boyfriend at the time was clinging onto her like she would disappear if he wasn't attached at her hip. He was a pretty tall dude and seemed formidable and Lydia didn't look like she minded having him draped all over her so I didn't mention the weirdness of their interactions to Lucas, even when I saw what happened next.
She started walking away and he grabbed her roughly by the arm. I was about to step in and say something but then she turned around and smiled lovingly at him so I figured I must have been seeing things.
I felt pure hatred for the guy once I laid eyes on him, though, because it was obvious she was way too good for him. She was darker like Lucas which only added to her mystique. She had gorgeous waist length brown hair although when I saw her again that morning she had cut it a little bit to the middle of her stomach.
The guy was scrawny and looked like he wanted to stake his claim on her right then and there at her graduation in front of everyone, not forgetting to kiss her and hold her waist or slap her ass any chance he got, at which point she would just furiously blush and swat his hand away but I could tell it embarrassed her.
She probably met me and didn't give me a second thought, but I on the other hand was very observant of the world around me and thought about her consistently for a few months after we'd met.
My interest dropped off after I found Marnie's social media accounts flooded with dick pics and her own nudes that she had sent out, as well as proof that she'd cheated on me countless times.
I was so angry with myself. I had been given a scholarship to the school of my dreams but declined so I could go to college to be with Marnie, all at her insistence.
It felt like I'd missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime for a cheating girlfriend who never cared about me to begin with.
So we broke up, I focused on getting to play QB at my state college and doing everything I possibly could to get the NFL to take a look at me.
It was hard, but I had finally convinced a scout to come out to see me play at our next home game and wouldn't you know it, I pulled my hamstring in practice just one day before the game.
And to top it all off, I come back home expecting an empty bed but instead find Lucas' sad, snarky little sister asleep in my bed.
She had matured more in the last two years but I didn't know the extent of it until that blanket fell away from her body giving me a full unsolicited view of her barely covered chest, and if I hadn't been so messed up about ruining my only shot at the NFL again I probably would've tried something with her.
I was more than pissed the next morning, though, when I woke up and ran out of the room like it was on fire. I'd never shared a bed with a girl and not done anything sexual, so it was more than weird for me to wake up with my arm around her shoulders and her head laying on my chest.
More surprising than that was the fact that I actually...liked it?
I knew I'd do something that I'd regret if I didn't get out of there so I tucked my tail and ran out of the room, Reed and Lucas more than surprised to see me coming out of my room...or rather, Lydia's room.
"Hey man, why didn't you tell me your sister was crashing?"
Lucas gave me a strange look and Reed looked like he was holding in laughter and was scared to let it out.
"What?" I asked Reed, noticing that he had changed glasses since the last time I saw him.
"Nothing man, I'm not saying nothing..."
I focused my attention on Lucas then who looked like he had seen a ghost.
"Why were you coming out of Lydia's room?"
I gave him a confused look.
"Lydia's room? You mean mine?"
He scratched his neck and was starting to look even more uncomfortable by the minute.
"No dude, I mean Lydia's room. Why were you in there, did you try to hook up with her or something last night because she-"
"No I didn't try to hook up with her, that's your little sister, didn't she like just graduate?"
"Bro, she's twenty. She graduated two years ago...you were there. And anyway, I told Lydia that I'd rent the room out to her since it seemed like you weren't coming back. You haven't called or texted the entire semester and you haven't paid rent in three months so we figured it was time to give the room away."
"Here, take the rent," I said, pulling out my wallet and shoving a wad of cash towards him.
"Thanks man, but I'm still renting out to Lydia, she really needs a place to stay and I already promised her the room."
He was actually being serious about that?
"Dude, you gave my room away? I was only gone for like three months!"
Lucas sighed and my patience was growing even more thin than usual.
"Bro, you were gone for three months yes, but you didn't say a word to either of us for three months either!"
Our voices were getting raised but I didn't care. I had just been dealt one of the hardest blows to my future career and I couldn't come home to mull it over because my supposed friend had given my room away to his sister.
"Hey look, I don't wanna fight with you over this, Lydia's been through a lot recently and-"
The sound the bedroom door opening interrupted Lucas' words and we all turned our heads to Lydia emerging from my- her room.
I was glad I hadn't glanced at her face earlier that morning when her body was wrapped all around me, because looking at her even all that distance away from her, it was hard enough to keep my feet rooted to the ground.
Never had a girl thrown me so off balance, and it was something I was obviously not used to.
"Lydia, hey, how are you?"
Lucas showed a pretty big amount of concern for his sister in that moment, almost like he was waiting to see her break or something.
"Fine. I'm just going to the bathroom."
Her long brown hair flowed behind her as she left, a bag hanging from her fingers and the sadness in her eyes was palpable, leaving me wondering what could have made her that way.
"What is she even doing here? What, did your parents kick her out of the house or something?"
Lucas rolled his eyes as the door to the bathroom shut behind her and he put a hand to his face in exhaustion.
"Dude, I just told you she's twenty, she moved out of the house right after graduation. Lower your voice, I don't want her thinking we're talking about her..." he trailed off right as music started blaring through the walls.
I gave him a pointed look and he sighed as Reed ran to the microwave to grab his breakfast.
"She just broke up with the guy she was supposed to marry in three weeks. I didn't understand much through her crying yesterday when I went to pick her up but I'm pretty sure he cheated on her."
"Damn. That's rough."
I knew the feeling. It gave me a different respect for her that I hadn't had before, realizing that her day actually had been worse than mine but how was I supposed to know that?
She blasted ridiculously sad music from her phone speaker and I remembered how I had felt the day after I found out Marnie had cheated on me. I had to keep my cool because I didn't want anyone to see how broken up I really was on the inside. I could sympathize with her pain.
At least I hadn't been engaged to her, though. That would've been an entirely different kind of pain.
I found myself wanting to go to her and comfort her, wishing I'd have known the night before when we'd shared the same bed, the feeling of her warm body so close to me yet so far away.
I went about the rest of my morning and ate my breakfast until finally Lydia emerged from the bathroom clothed in different attire and freshly showered, her long hair up in a towel and it was a sight to see.
She was drop dead gorgeous even without a stitch of makeup and in lounge clothes.
I knew that asshole she was with didn't deserve her.
I found myself wanting to push her buttons, do something to take her mind off of her new ex.
"Well then if she's taking my room the least the can do is contribute to the water bill. You guys would have killed me if I used up all the hot water like that."
I felt my mouth turn up in a smirk and watched as the features on her face morphed from sad to annoyed in a matter of seconds.
She rolled her eyes at me and I felt a burning start within me, realizing how much fun it was to keep her mind on me even if it was out of anger.
"Consider it done. I like my long showers. I'll even buy a bigger water heater if you need it?"
She was talking to Lucas even though I was the one who had pestered her.
She schooled her expression into an emotionless mask. I guess I'd have to try harder, then.
"Uh yeah I guess if you want to," Lucas said.
"Okay then it's settled. Anymore arguments?"
Okay, she just opened herself up to that one.
"Not unless you're moving out?"
The ends of my mouth tipped up as I saw her mask slip. She laughed out as she said, "Not happening."
"Then we're still going to have arguments, I'm afraid. Where am I supposed to sleep?"
Reed happily came up with an arrangement for me to sleep in the smallest room possible, the office that didn't even have a door yet.
"Fine. I'll sleep in the office, for now. But I'm going to get my room back."
She rolled her eyes and a smirk found its way onto my face.
I cleaned up my dishes while she asked for some creamer and thought of a brilliant plan, one that she was sure to hate, which only made it all the more perfect.
I was going to get my room back, but I was going to have some fun with the sad, broken girl who was currently living in it.