Roommates

Part 1

Keith:

Gail and I have been a couple for almost three years now. Having known each other since high school, our bond naturally developed from a simple friendship to a romantic and loving relationship. Now, approaching our third year in college, we decided to live together as roommates in a house quite close to the university we're attending.

Gail was 5'3", petite and lightweight, her skin a tasteful color of light brown, with short, black, straight hair. Her beautiful, brown eyes always looked like they were in a state of perpetual bedroom mode. Her smile was killer; just one look and you'd melt. I was 5'6". A bit of a jock, slightly muscular since I joined a track and field club back in high school.

Our friends Ryan, Joanne, (another couple), Brie, who was Gail's friend, and Miko joined us in dorm hunting. Now, we're all good friends, but Gail for some reason hated Miko. I don't know why, he's not that bad, but she couldn't stand being in the same room as him. If Gail and I are in a room and Miko comes in, she'd find an excuse to leave and would stay away until he leaves. I suppose one of the reasons would be that Miko was socially awkward or just plain unattractive, being the slightly-overweight dork that he is. He wore thick glasses, and his waistline was a couple of inches more than mine.

But I digress. We found a duplex house we can comfortably and affordably move into, and during the signing, Brie had to change schools at the last minute. Rushing to find a replacement, we found two other girls whose only condition is that they won't share a room with a guy. So Miko had to share a room with one of the couples.

"Dude, let's just do a coin toss. Para fair, diba?" Ryan said as we sat down at a table in Starbucks. Me, Gail, Miko, and Joanne shrugged and nodded, but Gail's attitude was still venomous towards Miko. Ryan pulled out a 5-peso coin, and then flipped it. "Heads for me and Joanne, tails for you and Gail," he said, flipping the coin with a thumb, catching it deftly in the air, and then slapping it on the back of his hand.

Tails. I could hear Gail audibly groan and sigh. "Babe," I said, looking at Gail. "We'll just have to deal with it. He's an old friend, ako bahala." She looked at me, obviously mad but we lost the toss and it's time to live with it. I looked at Miko, and he too was disgruntled. Having to share a room with his best friend was great and all, but he was also sharing it with someone who hates him to his very core. We packed up and left the cafe, parting ways at the entrance.

"Pre, dalhin ko na lang PS4 ko sa dorm. Para naman maging masaya din ako." Miko called after me, then walked away, his shoulders slumped down. I shrugged, taking Gail's hand and walking away. I waved goodbye to the other couple and we continued with our date.

Two months passed, and it was time to move in. The first few days, there was already friction.

"Miko, you fucking pig, di ka man lang naghugas ng pinagkainan mo!" I could hear Gail just yelling as I went out of my room. There I found her on the table, her hands on its surface, absolutely heaving and fuming. Miko was already at the couch setting up the PS4, looking at Gail, and she was looking back at him, fury coming out of her eyes.

"Oo na, sorry na. Eto na maghuhugas na ng pinggan, jusko," replied Miko, standing up from the floor and to the dining table. I went too, and started picking up the plates.

"Di pre, tuloy mo lang set up ng PS4, laro tayo later, ako na bahala." I said, and Miko immediately smiled at me and went back to the TV.

"Alam mo, kung lagi mo bine-baby yang si Miko di magmamature yan." Gail told me, walking past me and into her room to prepare for class. I sigh, and as she left for her class that day I sat beside Miko and we played Tekken 7 for two hours til our class.

"Well, catch ya later. Thanks din sa pagkalma kay Gail." Miko told me as we walked to the door.

"No problem bro, pero magayos ayos ka din kasi." I told him, smiling warmly.