More Than Roommates, page 3
Before I was able to look away—not that I even tried—he grabbed his shirt by the neck and tugged it off in a swift motion. Glistening, sweaty skin was revealed and showcasing firm muscles that looked like they took a lot of hard work and time to build. Quite pathetically, I gulped as I felt a shameful amount of attraction towards him. Curse him and his annoyingly good looks. Droplets of sweat trickled down the crevices of his abs and I followed them, stopping at the waistband of his gym shorts. Shorts that hung a little low and revealed the outline of a defined V.
Christ, that had to be illegal.
"Like what you see?" He teased with a cocky smirk.
I scoffed and looked back at the pages of my book, the ones that weren't as interesting anymore. "I've seen better."
What else was I gonna do, lie and say that I wasn't looking when he clearly caught me staring? Really, I was more like ogling.
"Mm," he mumbled, walking towards me. "Here."
I looked back up at him, eyeing the phone that he was holding out towards me. He handed it over and I hesitantly took it from him. "Why are you giving me this?"
"Mind taking a picture of me? One of the girls I'm talking to requested one." he looked prideful as he told me. "For some reason she likes when I'm nice and sweaty... you know, it makes my abs stand out. They always look more prominent after an intense workout, too."
I scoffed, "You sure are egotistic."
"For good reason, sunshine. You seemed to like them just as much, since you were staring so hard."
"For the last time, stop calling me nicknames. And so what if I was looking? Is it a crime to use my eyes now? You seem to do it to me a lot, so call it even or whatever."
"It should be a crime to be that naturally gorgeous." he smirked with pride when he successfully made my cheeks warm up.
I'm pathetic.
"Just pose or whatever so I can take your stupid picture and get it over with already." I opened the camera and held the phone up to snap a quick picture of him while he posed. To my shock, he pulled the front of his shorts down a little to reveal more of his prominent V. I shut my eyes as I snapped the picture.
"You're such a perv. I did not need to see that."
He shrugged. "Hey, if the ladies like it, who am I to not give them what they want?"
I gave him his phone back and rolled my eyes when he winked at me.
"Want a copy?"
"No." I said plainly. "Now go take a shower. You stink."
"Sure thing, princess." He chuckled, going into the bathroom and closing the door behind him before I could tell him off about the nickname. Again.
• • •
Thankfully, I was greeted by an empty room when I got back from orientation a few hours later. I dropped everything at the foot of my bed and fell face down onto my bed.
Day one of orientation down, two more to go. And then it'll be time for classes to start.
"Hey, gorgeous."
"Jesus!" I jumped up from the bed, slapping a hand over my heart when I saw Blake looking at me with a confused but equally amused look.
"You good?" he chuckled.
"You scared the living daylights out of me!" I cried out, my heart nearly beating out of my chest. "I didn't even hear you come in."
"This door has mixed feelings for me, remember? It either rejects me or lets me in without question. It decided to let me in unannounced this time, I guess."
"Well could you maybe knock before coming in next time?"
He lifted a thick, questioning brow. "Knock on my own dorm room?"
"Yes, please."
"I'll see if I remember."
"How kind of you."
He sat down on the edge of his bed and rested his forearms on his thighs, clasping his hands together and giving me his full attention. I hated it. "Also, I've been meaning to ask you something."
Hesitant and already annoyed, I still asked, "What is it?"
"Why do you fold your underwear?"
I pushed my eyebrows together and gave him an accusing look. "Were you snooping around my stuff?"
"Of course not," he scoffed, clearly offended that I would even accuse him of such a thing. "I just noticed when you left your luggage open yesterday. Unless you have very tiny, very lacy shirts."
"They're not all lace, but of course a perv like you would notice the nicer looking ones. You couldn't have noticed the granny panties instead?"
"I only focus on the things I want to see."
I rolled my eyes as I sat on my own bed, facing him. "Of course you do, perv."
"Is that a nickname coming from the girl who isn't into them?"
"If you consider that a nickname, I feel sorry for you and whatever remaining brain cells you still have in that head of yours." I pulled out my phone and replied to a text before glancing back up at him. "Is it just full of egotistic thoughts up there?"
He narrowed his eyes at me and looked a little offended. "Now just because of that, I'm gonna keep giving you random nicknames."
Funny. "It's not like you were planning to stop anyway."
"You're right."
"I usually am." I beamed, setting my phone back down.
"Look who's full of themselves now." He laughed, standing back up to stretch, reaching his arms up as high as they could go. He couldn't get very far because his fingers easily grazed the ceiling.
I rolled my eyes and laid back down, but this time on my back to finish reading my book.
"I wouldn't get so comfortable if I were you," he told me, opening his side of the closet to throw his shirt in the hamper, the shirt he somehow pulled off without me noticing.
I lifted a brow. "Why not?"
"Well, this year my sister decided that we should all become friends."
"Define all."
"Bruce, Alisson and I, plus each of our roommates. It'll make us a group of six."
"As long as I don't have to hang around you on my own, I'm in."
He smirked. "Afraid you won't be able to resist me for long?"
I gave him an odd look and let out a mocking laugh, then stopped suddenly for effect. "Oh, you're serious."
He shook his head, but a small smile was tugging his lips slightly upwards. "Well, they should be here any minute now. I'm sure they're going to offer everyone to go out somewhere. I heard Alisson suggest that to Bruce earlier."
"I might have to say no today." I informed, my eyes glued to the words on my book. "I have a job interview in an hour."
He threw a towel over his shoulder and paused in front of the bathroom door to look over at me. "You're looking for a job?"
I shrugged, never taking my attention away from my book. "Yeah, haven't been lucky. But hopefully this interview will be different."
"I see." He entered the bathroom and said, "Well, good luck." Before closing the door after him.
And I didn't fail to notice how he didn't even lock it. He never did.
CHAPTER 4
Blake
She'd been avoiding me for over a week now. It was actually quite impressive how much I've seen her. Or haven't seen her. Seemed like she'd been busy between classes going to job interviews. But none were willing to work with her school schedule. I've never seen someone look as stressed out as her.
I opened the door to my room and caught her inside right as she was making her way out. I held the piece of paper towards her, trying my best to make my smile look friendly, so she wouldn't run out like she usually did.
She glanced down at the paper between us before meeting my eyes. "What's this?"
"A job application," I told her.
She raised a brow and plucked the paper from my grip before reading it. "Job application?"
"Yeah," I cleared my throat. "I saw how much you were struggling, so I put in a word. The job is basically yours already. You just have to go to this address and fill out a bit of paperwork once you arrive." I pointed to the address at the bottom of the paper and she nodded. "It's a fairly good pay, if you're interested. They'll work around your schedule, too."
She was silent for a moment, reading everything on the paper. I pulled my hand away and tucked it into my pocket when I realized I was still pointing at the address. After waiting a few moments, I started glancing awkwardly around the room. It gave me enough time to think about how weird and random this truly was.
I was about to apologize for bothering her when she finally looked up and smiled at me. Dimples made their adorable appearance and I had to catch my breath. It was the first time I've seen her smile. "Thank you. I'll go right after my next class."
I nodded, reaching a hand up to comb my hair back. "Sounds good. Just tell them you're Madison, the girl Blake was talking about, and they'll take you from there," I informed.
She suddenly froze, and I pressed my lips into a tight line. Shit. She still hadn't told me her name. Now she probably thought I stalked her to find out everything about her. I mean, I've been considering it, but she didn't need to know that.
Instead of questioning how I knew her name, though, she thanked me again and walked right out the door without another word.
I let out the breath I was holding for the past minute. Not because I was nervous around her, but because I found myself wanting to make her smile again. She couldn't be the reason I thought what creeps normally thought. You should smile more. I hated guys that said that to my sister, and I was definitely not going to say it to Madison. Hell, no. I didn't care how beautiful her smile was. I would never stoop to that level.
I rubbed a frustrated hand down my face.
I need to get laid.
• • •
"Do I look like your pimp?" Alisson scrunched her nose as she scoffed. "No, I don't have any friends you can take to your room. And no, I'm not putting my roomie through the pain of dealing with you. I'm not a bitch."
I rolled my eyes and tipped the last of my soda into my mouth before throwing the empty can into the recycling bin. "First off, debatable. And I wasn't asking you. I was asking Bruce."
"Sorry, man," he chuckled, wrapping an arm around Alisson. I eyed his hand, the one that was now dangling over her right shoulder. Then, I glanced at Alisson's blushing cheeks and her shy smile. With a tight jaw, my eyes locked on his.
"Get your hand off her," I warned, narrowing my eyes. Best friend or not, no one with a past like mine would get a chance with her. And Bruce was and still is a hell of a lot worse than me.
He did as told, taking his hand off her and throwing both up in surrender. "My bad."
"Blake, you can't keep doing that," Alisson grumbled, fixing her hair so that it hid her red face from Bruce.
I feigned nonchalance as I walked backwards and climbed onto the bench, sitting on the picnic table. "Keep doing what, sis?" I questioned as I rested my elbows on my knees.
With one final look directed to her crush—my whore of a best friend—she gave me the middle finger before strutting off. "You're the worst," I heard her mumble before she was out of hearing distance.
Bruce sat next to me and waved goodbye to her when she looked back before entering the dormitory building. Sighing, he dropped his head into his hands and rubbed his palms over his face.
"Can I ask you something?"
I stared at a girl walking by, not really interested but still desperate for a lay. "You just did," I say, flicking my eyes to a different girl.
He grumbled deeply, "Fuck you. Why can't I just be friends with your sister? Every time I touch her, you look like you want to beat me to a pulp."
I winked at one girl who was walking with her friends and sighed when she giggled in response. The gigglers usually expected too much from me, so she was a no go. Annoyed at the fact that I haven't gotten laid in a week on top of Bruce talking about my sister, I turned towards him and raised a brow.
"Are you stupid or blind?"
He looked offended as he asked, "What?"
I nodded, having my answer. "Stupid. As fuck."
"Gee, thanks," he scoffed. "Dick."
I smacked him upside the head and climbed back down from the bench, choosing to lean against a nearby tree. My eyes stayed on him as I crossed my arms over my chest. "You really can't tell?"
"Am I missing something?" He seemed annoyed now. "Just tell me already. You think I'm stupid anyway. So just say it to me like I'm stupid."
I shrugged, "You said it."
"Just tell me, twat."
"She fucking likes you," I finally said, not exactly proud of my own twin sister. She couldn't have possibly chosen a worse guy to fall for. "She probably even loves you. She has since junior year from what I noticed. It's obvious, man."
"Clearly not obvious enough," he sighed. "I had no god damn clue."
I couldn't help but chuckle. "No, it was obvious. You're just slow."
"I'm slow?" The playful look returned to his face as he looked up at me. "That's not what you would say in high school. In fact, we're best friends because I'm fast, bitch."
"Wrong," I declared. "We're best friends because you twisted your ankle and I beat you during that race. Thanks to that, I was the fastest the following two weeks you took to recover."
"Right. And you're still a dick to this day." He stood from the bench and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, guiding me towards building C. "You didn't even check up on me, bitch."
I laughed loudly after remembering. "Hey, I took my chance when I had it, and I was damn proud of myself." I smacked his head again and laughed some more when he cursed me out and pushed my hand away. "We spent the rest of the year trying to figure out who was the fastest after your ankle recovered."
He sighed in remembrance and nodded, "Good ol' days."
• • •
"He's wearing week old boxers."
I turned to glare at Madison, who was laying on her bed with a smug smile on her face.
"He hasn't even washed his clothes and all he's done the past week was shower and put on the same pair of boxers. Pretty gross for a guy that goes to the gym every day." She gave me a hidden wink when Mel awkwardly backed out of the room. "Could you imagine all that dry sweat in those musty boxers?" She marked her point by pointing a finger at the back of her throat and feigning a gag.
"Um..." Mel's eyes bounced between us and I sighed as I walked to her to put the pad I grabbed out of my drawer in her hand. "Oh, thank you." Her voice was a mere mumble and I knew Madison was making her uncomfortable.
I'll just snitch to Alisson and let her handle my roomie another day.
And right when I thought she was done for today, Madison kept talking, "Girls need to remain clean down there, you know?" She flipped a page in the book I didn't even realize she was reading. Was that a naked man on the cover? "Our PH is very important. You'll only screw her over. Literally."
Having had enough, I just went along with whatever point she was trying to make. "I can easily wash it before doing anything if there's any issue at all."
I knew I fucked up the moment I saw the amused, satisfied look on her gorgeous face. "So you admit your dick is musty?"
"No." I groaned, actually feeling myself getting irritated with her. "It's not, sweet cheeks."
"Pretty much admitted it just now, though."
I sighed, "Alright, we get it."
Yet, she continued like a stubborn brat, "Do you?"
"Yes." I turned back to Mel, who was still standing right outside the door, waiting to be excused. "Here, I'll walk you back to your dorm."
She smiled and waved me off. "That's okay. Thank you."
Once she was gone and the door was locked, I turned to glare at Madison. "That's the third one this week, asshole."
She rolled her pretty brown eyes at me and went back to her book. Now that I had a better look at the cover, it actually was a naked man on the cover. Hmm.
"Well, in my defense, I don't know how many times I've told you that I don't want you having sex in here. You forced me to take serious measures to keep this room STD free. Besides you, of course."
"I'm one hundred percent clean, not that it's any of your concern." I sat down on my bed to face her, and she looked over at me while laying her open book on her chest. "I just brought her here so she could take a pad to my sis, so all that was really unnecessary."
All she did was shrug. "Oops."
CHAPTER 5
Madison
"Here."
I stared at the blazer dress being held out to me by Blake before eyeing him carefully. "What's this for?"
He rolled his eyes when I didn't even try to take it from him, setting it on my bed instead. "Not like I'm going to bite you if you take it from me, doll face." The dress laid perfectly on my bed, as if it was just ironed or steamed. "That's the uniform for the job. You start today, right?"
After checking the date on my phone, I nodded and looked back over at the dress. It was all black with two rows of gold buttons and looked like it would reach mid thigh on me.
Blake was still staring at me when I lifted my eyes to look at him again. It made me a bit uncomfortable so I started shifting on my feet, avoiding his gaze. Ever since he went through the trouble of getting me a job that could actually work with me has made me see him differently.
Up until he started being his perverted self again, that is. Then it was right back to square one of me hating rooming with him. Sure I was thankful for the job and it was sweet of him to even take notice in my struggle of wanting to find a job in the first place. But he was still just my pervy roomie.
And I still wanted out.
"You gonna need a ride?"
My eyebrows met my hairline at the question. Was he offering me a ride without actually asking me straight up? Didn't matter, because my answer would've been the same anyway.
"No, actually. I have my car."
"You do?" His head tilted to the side as if he was actually surprised at the fact that I have something to get around in. Did he really believe I've been walking everywhere?
Wait.
"You think I can't afford a car or what?"
He scoffed at the question, looking like I just insulted his mom. "How'd you get that from me just making sure you have a way to get to the hotel?"
