Roommates

Four

When I woke up, I was on the couch in the living room.

Which didn't make sense, because that last thing I remembered was being in my room when sudden panic swelled up in my chest. I'd had another panic attack. So why exactly was I in the living room.

"Morning," Blake's voice said, and I forced myself to sit up and look around.

He's in the kitchen cooking something on the stove. It smelled like sausage, maybe bacon? And... eggs. I think there's eggs, too.

I laid back down on the couch and curled up in the quilt blanket wrapped around me, not wanting to wake up. Barely any light shone from the window. It had to be the crack of dawn, and Blake was cooking?

Then I realized he had classes and was probably going to have to leave at any minute. Then I also noticed that the blinds were closed, and sunlight was trying to break through and flood the apartment.

My phone was on the coffee table.  I picked it up, seeing that it was 10:30. Blake had classes at 8am. Why was he still here?

I heard laughter and cracked my eyes open to find him looking at me from over the back of the couch. "Not much of a morning person, huh?"

"And you are?" I muttered, turning and burying my head in the side of the couch. In the morning, I don't care who I'm talking to, I'm tired.

"Well, you're not shy at all," he said, and I could hear it in his voice that he was raising his eyebrows.

I mumbled a few inaudible slurred sentences and tried to go back to sleep. My thoughts carried my mind off and I barely heard Blake's voice in the distance. At some point I drifted off, and when I woke up it was around 12 in the afternoon.

I regret nothing.

Blake was sitting on the recliner by the wall, reading, glancing up at me and raising his eyebrows but not saying anything. I tried to close my eyes again, but he refused to let me go to sleep so easily again and talked to me until I sat up.

I stood and went to go change and shower, since my hair was sticking to my neck, and I could smell myself. I didn't smell that great. The cool streams of water helped wake me up and I cleared my thoughts, which brought me to my senses.

Last night I'd had a panic attack. I was in my room. This morning I'd woken up in the living room. Blake was still here. He watched me leave like he was scared I might collapse at any moment.

Could he have found me during the panic attack?

Oh no, what if he found me during the panic attack?

I must have been a wreck. He was acting normal I guess, but Violet says I start gasping like I can't breathe. What if I freaked him out? What if he thought I was pathetic? Weak? I mean, I am, but still!

He wouldn't want me as his roommate.

Once I was out of the shower and dried off, put my hair into a braid and put on some leggings and a T-shirt, I went back to the living room. My stomach growled right as I entered, and Blake, hearing it, rushed to the kitchen and asked what I wanted to eat.

"Food." Then I panicked and said, "uh, breakfast-"

"Okay, just sit down," he said.

I did as he said and waited five minutes as he heated something up in the microwave. He came back and handed me a bowl filled with scrambled eggs, sausage, pieces of bacon, and shredded cheese.

We both sat in silence as I awkwardly ate, but I didn't feel as awkward around him as I usually did. If he'd helped me through my panic attack... maybe he did care. I'd never given him too much thought before.

Maybe I'd found myself a friend.

"So, last night," I said, clearing my throat. "I-"

"Sorry if I made you uncomfortable," he interrupted. "I heard you gasping and went to check on you and found you having a panic attack. I brought you in here and calmed you down, and you fell asleep in here. Sorry if I did anything to make you uncomfortable."

I put the fork down in the white clay bowl and looked near him, not able to wield enough courage to look him in the eyes. "Blake, you helped me through my panic attack, and I... just wanted to say thank you. It could have ended up a lot... different if you hadn't helped me."

He smiled. So... are we official?"

I looked at him, a bit stunned. "W-what do you mean, o-official?"

"You know, friends." There was a cute hope in his dark eyes that I smiled at.

Wait, did I say cute? Sure, his eyes are enchanting, and they're dark and mesmerizing... and he does make cute puppy eyes... what the heck was I just thinking?

"Yeah," I said. "I think it's official."

He practically beamed at me.

It was like he'd never had a friend before, he wanted to do everything.