Despicable Roommate

When Lynn opened her bedroom door, she hugged me so tight that I could’ve stopped breathing. This meant one thing, there was a big problem. If she had been okay, she wouldn’t have hugged me like that because she couldn’t stand me.

I hugged her back, telling her that everything would be okay even though I had no idea what her issues were. Somehow, the sobs reduced and after a while, I led her to the couch. I locked the front door and sat next to Lynn pulling her into my arms.

I don’t know why but I felt bad that she was in such a sad situation. I just hoped it wasn’t Ross who had done that to her because I’d kill him. A person didn’t hurt my roommate and just got away with it. I couldn’t allow that. Had he taken advantage of her?Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

It was a good thing that she was down, though. I got to hold her in my arms with her permission, and boy that felt good. If she thought I was good enough to comfort her, I was on the right path. She let herself be vulnerable in front of me and that meant one thing. I was getting closer to my goal.

I waited for Lynn to regain her composure before asking her about it all.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked her. Please talk about, I said in my mind.

“No,” She said and kept quiet. I figured something really bad had happened to her.

“Do you trust me?” I laughed on the inside when I remembered I knew the answer. Why did I even bother asking?

She pulled away from my arms and sat up straight wiping her eyes with a white handkerchief from her jeans pocket.

“Maybe.”

Wait what? She did? That was the best thing I’d heard all day. This was going to be so much easier than I had thought.

“I know you’ll be fine,” I caressed her upper arm and she froze, glancing at me like she was shocked. I slowly withdrew my hand, still looking into her beautiful eyes. I don’t even know how it ended up on hers but this girl was making me feel like the horndog I was.

Can’t you console a girl without getting horny for a day? I chastised myself inwardly. Stop thinking about how hot she is when vulnerable, I mentally scolded.

“Why are you being so nice to me, Alec?” She looked up at me. The intensity of her dark brown eyes was clearly visible. She had the kind of eyes one could easily get sucked into.

“I just don’t want to see the people I live with get hurt,” I said, not entirely sure I meant it. It was the right thing to say.

She smiled when I said that. I smiled but the next comment took away the little happiness she had given me.

“But you hurt me in the morning,” she said, glancng at the Television which was off. “Don’t be a hypocrite. It doesn’t suit you.”

“I’m sorry, Lynn.” I sat up straight. “I know you really hate me, but we can be friends. I’m willing to adjust and treat you better.”

Her lips parted. She seemed quite insecure. Her desire to be liked and complimented by other people high.

“Really?” She raised her brows.

“If that’s okay with you,” I said, with a slight shrug.

She was quiet for a while and it was creeping me out. I expected the worst from her but was prepared. Well, a girl like her couldn’t possibly want to be a friend to a walking STD (her words) like me.

“It’s fine if-” I started to say but she cut me off by hugging me. I put my arms around her when the shock wore off. She could be really unpredictable sometimes. It was hard to figure her out.

“We can be friends. Thank you so much, Alec.”

What?

I tightened the hug with a smile on my face. I’d never been a good friend to any girl since I was fourteen so this felt really good. I was going to try and be the best friend she could ever have. Maybe this was my chance to see girls differently, and treat them with some respect. I never wanted to disrespect girls but some of them acted in ways that made it hard to respect them. I was only human.

“I feel like I lost almost all my good friends today,” She said. So that was what it was all about. She wanted to be friends with me because she had none left.

“Why?” I inquired, pulling away to look into her eyes. “What happened?”

“First, it was Ross. You remember me kissing him?” She asked. “He walked out just after that and didn’t say a thing.”

“I’m sorry, Lynn. I will always be there for you.” I told her.

“And,” I continued, remembering the gift. “I brought something for you.”

“Seriously?” She asked and I went to get it from my room with a smirk on my face. Changing her opinion of me did not seem so hard anymore.

***

Lynn’s POV

Whoever said that a bad beginning makes a good ending was right. The beginning of my day had been terrible but the ending was so sweet. I was now friends with Alec.

I take back all the things I said about him being a dirty shit-bag or man-whore.

Alec was a sweet person, one of the sweetest I’d ever met. Maybe I had been too busy judging him to realize it. I couldn’t blame him for how he had acted before. I chose to forgive him.

We spent that Saturday evening in our living room watching movies and I even convinced him to watch a soap opera on for forty five minutes. That was one of the worst decisions of the night. The intense romance scenes that characterize soap operas made me so comfortable I wanted the ground to swallow me. I sensed that Alec wasn’t too comfortable either. It was extremely awkward. The sexual tension hit the roof that evening.

In the end, we both went to our separate rooms and for the first time in weeks, I slept with a smile on my face. I had a feeling that my life was about to change.