Love to Hate You

Chapter Fourteen

Lisa

When the hospital calls, I have no choice but to cut my holiday short and return home. They are down staff, and I am desperate to secure residency, so basically, I'm at their beck and call. The next flight brings me into Phoenix late Wednesday night.

I'm exhausted and can't wait to climb in my bed, but paranoia starts to creep in as I near my apartment. I left Jennie with a parting gift â€" some glue-like additive in her conditioner â€" but it was poorly timed. I've been so caught up in my work and plots to sabotage my roommate that I completely forgot about my upcoming leave to Denver.

As the Uber pulls up at the complex, I look up into our window. Lights are off. Jennie is most likely out, so maybe that's a good thing. Our whole apartment is probably booby-trapped. At least it will give me a chance to scope out the premises and disarm whatever trap has been set.

Wheeling out my suitcase, I make my way to the front door, only to see that the security light has blown, which means that I can't see a thing. Standing in the darkness, I feel around for the keyhole and finally manage to push the key in. I try to turn it, but it is jammed. A sinking feeling overcomes me.

Did Jennie change the locks? I am going to kill her.

As I continue to curse, I jiggle the key for what seems like an eternity with my shoulder pushing against the door. Finally, it jerks open, and I rush forward.

Suddenly, I hear a whooshing noise and feel a sharp sting across the back of my head, causing me to fall back onto the floor but not before collecting some metallic contraption on the way down. It feels oddly similar to Jennie's drying rack.

The lights flick on, and I groggily open my eyes. That's when I see her.

My annoying roommate.

Standing over me, with crazed eyes and wielding a rolled newspaper over her head.

"Am I in hell?" I blink, with a smattering of lingerie across my chest and a collapsed drying rack on my legs.

Jennie rolls her eyes.

I shake my head and wince. "Wait, did you just hit me with a freaking newspaper?"

"No. Yes. Maybe." Jennie drops it to the floor. "You told me you would be back in a week!"

"I'm on call. Always. You know that!" I yell. "And plans can change. You don't need to try to knock my head off."

Kuku strolls in bleary-eyed to inspect the commotion and runs over to me, tail wagging.

"What's this?" I hold up a pair of lace panties and give a dramatic shudder. "God, gross."

"Give that to me!" Jennie reaches down and snatches them out of my hand before collecting her lingerie off my body. Jennie has that 'I just got out of bed look' going on. Her hair is all over the place, and she's barely dressed in a skimpy tank top and short shorts. If I didn't want to throttle her, I might have been turned on.

"Look, it was a case of mistaken identity." Jennie stands with her hands on her hips. "I thought you were a burglar. We always leave our window open, so there's a high probability. It always happens on Law & Order SVU. In fact, Detective Olivia Benson recommends -"

I wave my hand. "Stop talking."

But Jennie continues as though I haven't said a word. "I mean, how much can a newspaper hurt anyway? You're always such a drama queen - "

I interrupt her. This spiel has gone on far too long. "You smacked it over my head. With force. I probably have a concussion."

"Well...Doctor Manoban, I'm sure you can figure it out," Jennie says with a huff before turning on her heel and flouncing off down the hallway. She shouts over her shoulder, "And give me back my Yankees sweater. I need to disinfect it!"

Not even a hint of an apology leaves her lips, and somehow, I manage to cop the blame for this. Disturbingly, I find this smugness a little bit sexy.

I scoff loudly at my thoughts, just as Kuku jumps on me and licks my face. Lifting my head off the floor, I call out after her. "Oh yeah, I'm thrilled to be back. Should've come back sooner!"

~~~~~

A/N:

Cute little update for you lovies 😉