Blonde And Brunette

Chapter 16 (Part 2)

Present day

...4...5...12..14...

I stood awestruck at what I'm seeing. Chief barks beside me. The guy or man (whatever) is doing pushups in front of me. Both his feet are on the edge of the couch, his back is bare to the point where I can see his back muscles flexing. And his body is glistening with sweat. I'm standing with my packages, my dog beside me and my suitcase on the edge of falling.

20...21...22...23...

And with beauty comes scars. There's scars on his back as he huffs. The curtains are drawn and the room doesn't reek either. I thought it'd reek of alcohol or dirty socks. I glimpse two rooms facing each other on my left. Beside the couch, a few inches is the island. There's a fridge in the kitchen, and a few dishes in the dishwasher.

 35...36...37...

Chief wags his tail beside me. Barking, he trots over to the guy and sits in front of him. What is he doing? What did I say about strangers, man?

44...45... *bark*

Simultaneously, the man stops huffing and looks up. Chief tilts his head and licks his face. "Ahh!" he screams, cowering away. I realised he hadn't acknowledged us because he's blasting music in his headphones. "Who the fuck— how the fuck did you get in?"

Now that he's standing, he must be really tall, like 6 '5. The dark room refuses to give me a glimpse of his front body so I really can't tell. Though, he's blonde. Really. Like a dirty blonde that's unkempt.

I reel my suitcase in, shut the door and walk towards one of the rooms. Chief barks before me and plods behind me. "Yo, lady. I'm talking to you". What does this guy eat anyway? Just how is his voice gravelly deep? Is there something stuck in his vocal cord? "Hey!"

I open the first room only to find that it's a bathroom. Closing it, I turn to try the opposite room when I collide with a hard chest. A really sweaty hard chest. I look up to see blue eyes glaring at me. I drink in his clean shaven face. He steps back and crosses his bare arms in front of him. Hell, he's intimidating as fuck and those arms are the size of cannonballs. Seriously, is this guy human?

"I asked you a question,'' he grits. "How'd you fucking get in?"

 I shove him my key and move past him, humming.

"This has to be a mistake,'' he says without emotion. "Listen fucker, I need you to get the fuck out".

Pushing my suitcase and package inside my new room, I stalk towards him with a huff. "Or what? You're gonna put my head on a pike? What are you gonna do, huh? Did you build this apartment? Nah, don't think so. So do me a favour and shut your hole".

"The fuck did you say?" he flinched.

I was gonna teach him a lesson when I noticed writings on his neck. One that's all too familiar. "Holy shit,'' I chuckled. "You're Roman Hartley, aren't you?" Damn, he's not changed one bit the last I saw him.

"Are you stalking me or something?" he plundered. Of course he doesn't know who I am. We've never crossed paths. Only passing by each other in the hallways. He was academically smart, I'll give him that. My art teacher was hooked the day he drew Ginny Barette. Perfectly.

I was equally pissed. I was jealous. I didn't eat a proper meal for a week. Killian often had to shove meals down my throat every goddamn time I sent a glare his way. Well. I guess fate played horribly and decided 'why not put the judge and the executioner under the same roof?'. Well, I'm here to find out.

"No. We have English Lit together". His jaw clenches for a second. For a minute I thought he wouldn't believe me but he sighed and walked away. Yeah, cool off big guy.

"Hey, dipshit?" I called after him. Oh, you must be wondering about the change of language, huh? Yeah, I was saving it up for college. The timid girl the year before isn't so timid anymore. She just needed someone to trigger a confident attitude. Guess what? Someone did.

Roman stops to throw a shirt over him and gives me the coldest glare, "What?"

"You don't happen to have any dog food, do you?". Chief whines beside me.

He scoffs and walks out the door, slamming it harder. "Well, it's you and me, boy". I retrieve a chocolate bar from my back pocket, and feed the husky. Lily's present...I'm grateful for it.

My phone rings. "Hello?"

There's a squeal on the other side. "What up, bitch?"

"Maddison Lester,'' I chuckled. "How's it hanging?"

"Meh,'' she shrugs it off. "As usual. Nothing interesting to arouse my interest. How's your apartment working out for ya, Azalea?"

"You little prick,'' I playfully scolded. "You did it on purpose, didn't you? You knew he was renting it out and yet you introduced it to me with gorgeous pics, wallpaper, a cool kitchen, air conditioning...pfft, like hell".

Her laugh on the other side confirmed it. I could hear honking sounds in the background. "Figured you'd like to settle some scores".

I threw my hands in the air as I watched Chief get on the couch. "I didn't mean to actually live with him, though. Oh, and if he murders me by accident, I'm haunting you first".

"Relax, Evans. You can't kill me if I get hit by a car so I've got to hang up. Have a great day, Azalea". She hung up before I could retort. Tugging my phone back in my pocket, I hear a faint ripping sound. Which could only mean...

"Shit, Chief,'' I groaned. "Down, boy, down. He's gonna kill us!" Chief gets down and runs to the room. "Oh, no, you're not". I chose to run after him when the door swung open. The hinges are almost coming off. Yikes! What'd the door do to you?

"Yo, Roman,'' the guy calls in a monotonous tone. "Get your white ass out. I got news for you..." he trails off when he sees me looking at him with a surprised look.

"You're not Roman,'' I said, crossing my arms. The guy appears to be tall like Roman yet African American skin tone with clear grey eyes. Fuck blue, grey is my new colour. And he's got this frizzy hair style. Oof, damn. I think I'll like college after all and it's starting tomorrow.

"You aren't him either. He lives alone nor does he have a sister,'' he stated, looking me up and down so I mirrored his action. "Are you his hot new fling?"

I laughed so hard my stomach hurt like hell. "I'm sor—I,'' my laughter comes down to chuckles. "Yeah, I'll stop you right there, frizzy. I'm not Roman's 'hot new fling'. I'm Azalea and I live here now".

"Your mama a florist?" he asks.

"Nope. My grandmother was. Why?"

He stands unwavering. "You've got a hot name for a chick. I'm Nolan Rogers. Roman's hot friend. Do you think—?"

"He's not here,'' I turned away to look for Chief.

"Do you know where he'd gone? It's really urgent". I hear footsteps behind me. Placing my hand on the door, I turn around to face him with a smug smile.

"Honey, if I'd known, we wouldn't have a conversation this long".

He nodded slowly, chugging his hands in his pocket. "Right". He looks me dead in the eye and goes, "Tell him I dropped by and tell him Kane Shin wants to meet him. He'll get the message". He walks off, only stopping at the door to add, "I think I'll be seeing more of you, Azalea". He walks out the door, leaving the door open.

A few minutes have passed and I'm still standing near the door. Chief plods out of the room. That's when I realised...there's only one bed in the room, a closet, a study table and a bathroom. Just for this room. What are the odds? Meaning...I won't only be sharing an apartment with this ass but a room?

Screw my life.

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1386 words

A twist in the mist!