"Look, this is the last room I'm going to show you before you'll need to find somewhere else." Grunted out the sweat covered, balding landlord of my apartment building. It had been bad enough that each flat he'd shown me had some major health and safety hazards without me having to lug my suitcase to every floor just to see each apartment.
"Well, maybe if your rooms actually looked as pristine as they did on your website we wouldn't be having this problem." I groaned in frustration as he stuck the key into the lock and twisted. The door swung open to a living room fully furnished and a small kitchen. The far wall held three doors, two containing bedrooms and the one in the middle a bathroom.
I sighed finally happy as I did a sweep around checking for cockroaches and cracks in the ceiling. The landlord was sitting on the arm of the couch and watching me with a scowl on his face.
"Look, darl, this apartment has also been rented by another student and they said that they didn't mind having a roommate, so if you do mind having a roommate, will ya just clear out so I can get some real customers in!? He said harshly, spitting as he spoke.
I walked over to the dining table and picked up the pen on top of the papers detailing the terms of my lease. I signed with a huff and shoved the papers under his nose.
Snatching them away and mumbling under his breath, he walked out the door throwing the keys onto the coffee table as he went.
I looked round once more before doing a little victory dance on the spot and dancing my way over to my suitcase and picking the larger of the two rooms to set up in.
After neatly stacking my clothes, setting up my desk and putting a cover on my duvet, I decided to give my dad a call.
"Yes dad, I'm fine." I repeated for the fifth time while he gave me the 'no going to the toilet by yourself and hold hands while crossing the road speech'. Dad wanted me to live on campus but I reasoned with him that if I were to live on campus I would be involved in more parties fuelled by drugs and alcohol. When he heard that, he all but drove me to the apartment himself.
He offered to pay my rent and bills himself but I wanted to support myself for once, just to show him that I could be responsible enough to live by myself.
"Yes, I'm still living by myself." Lie number one of the day. If he knew I was living with someone other than Melissa, my best friend, he would absolutely flip.
After putting up a fight we'd compromised and said that he could pay the bills while.
I would pay a majority of the rent. I know I should be grateful since a lot of the other borders and dorm students had to pay their own way, but I'd had everything handed to me on a silver platter my whole life. I wanted to show my independence and not be that snotty rich kid who gets daddy to pay for everything.
I glanced around my room with a chuffed smile on my face, pretty impressed with how neat everything looked; books alphabetically ordered on my book case, pencils in my pencil cup on my desk with my planner hanging on the wall with my classes and lectures organized by time and my campus map next to it, everything was perfectly placed. Not really listening to dads rant, I got in a few "mhmm"s and "yeah, of courses and "uh huh"s when there was a chance and just flopped onto the couch and played with the hem of my shirt.
I heard keys in the door and then a lot of banging and thumping as someone was bringing their suit case through the door of the apartment.
"I gotta go dad, love you." I hung up and tucked my phone into my back pocket, sitting up to get readyto introduce myself. I was met with the scowl of a tall, dark haired leather jacket wearing boy.
"Who are yo and what are you doing here?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. I was taken aback, I wasn't necessarily expecting a 'hello love, how are you today?" But I certainly wasn't expecting him to be so rude.
"I'm Ashley... your roommate," I said, crossing my arms over my chest which grasped his attention as he gave a once over before flicking back to my eyes.
"But you're a girl..." he said, his voice irritated and a little condescending.
I look down at myself, "am I really?" I said sarcastically. He groaned and ran his hand through his hair.
"Look, sweetheart, I know on my application it says I'm willing to have a roommate but-"
"But what? I'm sorry but I need a place to stay and I'm not moving. So you're just going to have to put up with it." I said, walking away from him and going straight to my room and slamming the door behind me.
"Jerk." I muttered under my breath and reached into my back pocket for my phone to call Mel when my hands went straight through.
Face palming myself I took a deep breath before walking out to the living room where my phone was waiting in his outstretched hand.
I snatched it from him and heard him chuckle. "Daddy called, sweetheart." He said before I slammed my door again.
"You want pizza?" Asked my roommate, just opening my door without knocking. I was curled up on my bed, hugging my pillow. I looked over my shoulder and nodded before getting off with a huff and walking past him through the door to the couch.
"If you're buying." I said, curling into the corner of the couch.
"I'll shout you this one time." He said, picking up the phone.
He placed the order and came and sat by me on the couch. I could feel him staring at me, boring holes into the side of my head as I flicked through the channels.
"What?" I asked, never taking my eyes from the screen.
"You never asked me what my name is." He said calmly.
I turned to face him and dropped the remote onto the couch.
"I guess I was a little pre-occupied being pissed off."
"Mason Murphy."
"Ashley Anderson."
YOU ARE READING
Roommates
Romance"Something tells me that this won't be the last time." I said, still holding his hand but looking up into his eyes. "I hope it won't." He whispered in a husky voice, leaning in the lifting my chin with his free hand to gently press his lips to mine...
