And They Were Roommates

Chapter Two

A/N: I can smell you wondering... Where are Cap, Kai, and Arny? Don't worry, dear reader... They're here..

After about two hours of unpacking, there was a knock at your door.

"Come in!" You shouted to the unknown guest.

Noen peeked in from the other side of the door. "Hey," he said.

"Hi, Noen. What can I do for you?" You asked.

"I just forgot to give your keys back earlier. And I locked your car, don't worry." He held his palm out, your car keys resting in the middle.

"Oh, thank you. I'm glad you remembered; I entirely forgot. Would have been a bit of a problem when I go to work tomorrow." You smiled gratefully and took the keys, placing them on the dresser, which caused you to utter a certain curse word more times than Gordon Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen while assembling it.

"Where do you work, if I may ask?" He opened the door wider and leaned against the doorframe.

"I got a job at a bakery in town. It's called Loraine's; have you had it?" You inquired.

A/N: No, I did not steal the bakery from another book I wrote... You must be losing it.

"No, actually. Are they any good?" Noen began to look around the room at the posters on your wall.

"I'll have to get back to you on that one."

He smiled tapped the doorframe, standing back up fully.

"Well, we ordered dinner. Should be here in about 20 minutes or so. Hope you like Chinese." He turned and gently closed the door, leaving you to finish unpacking.

________

Exactly twenty minutes later, another knock came at you door. You had just finished assembling your bedframe, which was much more confusing them the dresser. With all the language you dropped with that, you'd have Insane Clown Posse cowering in a corner. 

"Come in!" You called. 

This time, it was Damiar who opened the door. "Hey, dinners' here. You got any restrictions?" 

"Nope." 

"Good. Let's eat." 

You followed Damiar down the stairs, surprised to see that the clock only read 6:43. You expected it to be much later, even though the sun was out. But, hey, it was summer. The sun goes to bed when it wants to; it doesn't have a bedtime. 

The five of you dished your plates with the typical takeout items-- chow mein, fried rice, chicken, and the like-- and sat down at the table. Noen was the only one who took a fork.

"How's the unpacking going? Are you needing any help?" Danny asked as he sat. 

"It's going fine. I think the worst part is assembling the furniture. I swear, the instructions are in a different language. But I think I'm good on the help, thanks." You replied, feeding some of the chow mein into your mouth. 

"Well, where did you get your furniture from?" Damiar spoke up, pointing a chopstick at you.

"Ikea." 

The four of them exchanged glances, which you didn't understand. 

"What?" 

"Ikea is Swedish." Caleb informed you. 

Did he think you were stupid? There was only one reason those meatballs were so good, and it wasn't that they weren't frozen. 

"Good for Ikea. But there's no words! I don't get how their stupid little man in the manual assembles this stuff. He's an unstoppable force," You muttered, picking up a clump of rice with your chopsticks. "He's like... the Nandi Bushell of furniture." 

"Who?" Noen asked. 

"The girl who had a drum-off with Dave Grohl in 2020? She wrote a song with Tom Morello?" 

"Who's Tom Morello?" 

Oh, dear. 

"He's a singer dude. But never mind. Anyways, this house, I have to say, is absolutely massive. What do you guys do for work?" 

"We're all influencers. And some of us do magazine photoshoots." Damiar said. 

"I mean this in the nicest way possible, but there's no way you can afford this house with what those jobs pay. I mean, did you have to kill someone to afford this place?" 

Danny and Caleb simultaneously gave Damiar the side-eye, and he cleared his throat. "No, no. We just got lucky. We split the cost, and we were able to afford it. But, I hear you're working at Loraine's?" 

"Yeah, have you had it before?" 

"I have. I really like their cheese danishes." 

"I'll keep that in mind for when you guys decide to kick me out and I hold a grudge about it." 

They laughed, and you observed as Damiar stood to throw his plate away. You noticed the outline of what looked like could be a blade stuck in his waistband. 

"Damiar, do you carry a knife on you?" You asked. 

"I do. Sometimes, influencers have fans that are a bit more... devoted, I guess, than others, and take their love a bit too far. I've never had to use it, though. It's just for protection." He patted the blade under his shirt. "I wouldn't worry about it, though. We're in the middle of nowhere, no one will try to find us." 

He says it like we've been kidnapped and we're feeling hopeless about it, was what you were thinking, but what you said was, " Okay." 

"How much more unpacking do you have to do?" Caleb asked. 

"Not much. Bedding and clothes, really." You replied. 

"Maybe after you finish we could go out for a drink? All of us?" He suggested, rubbing his neck. 

You caught a whiff of something just then. Not a literal something, but a something.

"Sure!" You replied, more enthusiastic than you actually were feeling about it. 

He flushed a bit and nodded. "Great. Just let me know when you're done, and we'll go." 

You nodded and walked past him to go back up the stairs, making a (discrete) point your hand of "accidentally" grazing his. From the corner of your eye, you watched as his cheeks went from pink to as red as a fresh crime scene. 

Oh, boy, you thought. Poor Caleb. 

Yes, it was (probably) true. Caleb maybe had a little bit of a crush on you. Did you care? Not really. All it proves is that he has great taste. 

A/N: IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT THAT I TOTALLY DID NOT FORGET TO WRITE IN THE INTRODUCTION: This is me trying my hand at a short stories. Call it an experiment. This is will significantly shorter than my other books because of that reason.