My Roommate's Boyfriend

The Boy Outside My Window

I STOOD at the door of my new bedroom, Tobie our dorm carer brought up my bags for me then left me to it. The room is split into two identical sides, on each a double bed, white desk, pin board and wardrobe. It's obvious to see which side is mine as the other is decked out with posters, photos, fairy lights and occupied with a girl reading on her bed. The same girl who opened the door. I coughed a little and she pulled out her headphones and looked up. Her face lit up and she jumped up to greet me.

"Hey!" She stuck out her hand, "sorry about earlier, we are very excited to have a member of the fam!" 

I gave a sheepish smile and shook her hand, "that's ok,"

"I'm Emmy," she stated, "you must be Tamara, such a cool name by the way," she let go of my hand and led me inside, "you unpack and all that, i'll leave you to it but i'll be back soon!"

She skipped out the room and I was left alone to wander. Her wall was covered with photos of her family and friends at the beach, at disneyland, some really cool city, everything. Her life seemed pretty great. Heaving my bags onto my bed, I let out an exasperated sigh. I need to change, and fast because my jeans and Canadian Jumper was not doing me any favour other than sweating me down a couple of kilograms. While taking off my hoodie, a loud knock from the window almost shook the room, a boy about my age stands on the balcony with no shirt to cover his golden abs, only low riding board shorts that almost reveal his male part. I gulp down a big one and stand frazzled in my spot, not knowing what to do. Any normal person would scream and call 911 but he doesn't look like a pervert or some kidnapper, infact he's the most beautiful guy i'd ever seen. His messy brown hair with sun bleached ends almost make me jealous that my own isn't as nice. His jawline and cheeks bones are so prominent and defined that anyone else would have to use makeup to achieve the look and his skin is so smooth and tan it made my own tan skin look as pale as Snow White's. I was staring, oh god.

"You going to let me in?" he yelled through the glass door. Why should I? Who is this guy? 

"What do you want?" I yelled back, hoping noone from the other rooms could hear me,

"To be let in!" 

"Go away!"

"what?"

"GO AWAY!" I yell even louder, seaching the room for something to threaten him with, but I find  something else, almost threatining me. A picture frame beside Emmy's bed. Of the boy and her. Of course. I laugh, turning back to the boy, "you're Emmy's boyfriend!" he sighs, looking at me as if I'm someone who couldn't understand english, so he motions for me to open the door, and I do so.

"Sorry about that," I mutter, he walks in and chuckles. He chuckled. 

"You might want to put a shirt on," the first thing he says to me. Oh my, I look down to notice that he's right, all i'm wearing is my black bra and a thin white camisole. Shit. I quickly grabbed the nearest shirt and put it on, turning back to realise that he's staring. But now it's my turn to stare because up close he was even more beautiful. His green eyes had brown and yellow specks and he smelt of sea salt and caramel with a hint of vanilla. My new favourite.

"You must be Em's new roommate," he said smiling, I am seriously the mayor of loserville, what am I doing?! Should I say hi back? Or should I just smile, or nod or... wait, isn't he Emmy's boyfriend? I shouldn't be doing anything, I should be pushing him out of the room, he shouldn't be here. But he should be, right? He's here for Emmy. Not me, HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW ME, "you going to say hi or what?"  should I though? I should, he deserves that at least, 

"Tamara," I stuttered, holding my hand out, "Tamara Dunn, sorry about that I thought you were some pervert or something," I giggled, why did I giggle?! He exhaled loudly as he slumped lazily down onto Emmy's bed, streatching out the perfect body of his, my stomach flurried and a little sqeak escaped my mouth, "do you want Emmy? Because she just lef-", 

"I'll just wait, lost my phone and don't want her to think i'm ignoring her," he kicking off his shoes,  My cheeks burned from embarrasment and I turned around to start unpacking, "where are you from? I'd guess Australian but i'd be wrong wouldn't I?" I opened the door to my wardrobe and starting arranging my shirts.

"New Zealand born and raised," I said, making sure everything was being placed perfectly,

"New Zealand, heard there's some mint beaches over there," his eyes were closed as I moved to gather the last of my clothes, "good surf?"

"I guess, I mainly swam though, didn't real try the whole surfing thing," I shrugged and he looked up at me shocked.

"Never surfed?!" He exclaimed, I shook my head and he threw his hands into the air, "Em and I are going to have to give you a few lessons!" no way, that would be mortifying, I thought but I gave him a tight smile and before it could get any more awkward the door slammed open, making both of us jump.

"Jack!" Emmy sqealed and jumped onto him, their lips quickly connected. You could'nt call it kissing, because that's not the right word. Swallowing, they were swallowing each other. I felt a pang in my chest, something that could only be jealousy and it made my cheeks flush. "Tamara," Emmy exclaimed, finally pulled apart from the boy, "this is Jackson, my boyfriend!"

Jackson smiled at me, "did you know she's never surfed?!" he stated, and Emmy looked at me shocked just like he had,

"I've surfed just-"

"well we have to changed that don't we!" Emmy said excitedly, Jackson pulled her in closer, kissing the top of her head, making the pain in my chest even worse. I had to get out of here fast before I did something that would seriously embarass me. 

"Well i'll leave you two to it!" I awkwardly reach for the door, missing the handle by a long shot.

"see you around Tam," Jackson said, his voice cool and collected, the exact opposite of what was going on inside of me.

All I could reply with was, "hope so," and to tell you the sad truth, I meant every word of it.

As I closed the door behind me I lent my back against it and took in a deep breath, thinking over everything in the time space of 10 seconds. My parents, brothers, friends. It's only been less than a couple of days since i'd said goodbye, but everything still hurts inside from homesickness. Maddi, Claire, Liam. How am I going to live without them being by my side everyday? I'm not. I walked downstairs, passing closed doors of all the other girls' rooms. None were occupied, everything still and quiet as I walked down the bottom set of stairs to the matren's room to ask for a tour of the house, Weird african music blasted through the room. This is stupid, I thought, and paced outside the strange woman's room,  and just as I started to walk away the door swung open. 

"Tiara!" She exclaimed, Tiara? What the..

"Tamara," I corrected her. Tiara? Is that even a name?

"Same difference, what can I do for you?" Her 250 pound body was wrapped in a leopard print silk robe, unable to join past her stomach, exposing a Betty Boob pajama set. Her hair set in tight curlers and nails freshly painted made me feel lightly uncomfertable and underdressed in my own plain clothes.

"would you mind giving me a quick tour of this place?" Her face scrunched up and she spat out something into a bin beside her door, which I hoped was only gum.

"What's wrong with Emmy?" 

"She's got a headache,"

"fair enough," She slammed the door in my face and I found a seat on the sofa. About five long minutes later she came out again, this time with her curlers out and in pants and a shirt on. 

She led me up the stairs, I lagged behind a bit and just as she passed the stairwell window, Jackson came into view, his face popping out from the side. He gave me a little wink and dissappeared. My heart gave an allmighty leap and I looked up to see if the matron had seen, but she was fixed in her own world. 

"Would you hurry up TimTam?" She bellowed down to me, I ran up quickly to catch up with her, smiling away like an idiot.