All You Had To Do Was Stay

Chapter Three: The Name?

"I should have known." I laugh.

"But there is nothing to tell. It's just... the travel agency made a mistake and double booked the place I'm staying at. I have a roommate now, hooray," I say nonchalantly as if it's something that happens every day.

"A roommate that happens to be a guy?" Leigh-Anne asks intrigued and curious.

"Apparently."

"Name?"

I fell silent at the moment Leigh-Anne asked for the guy's name. I totally forgot to ask him after everything that has happened today. How could I forget to ask his name? It's the first question that should have come to mind. Leigh-Anne picks up on the silence and starts to laugh.

"You did ask for his name, right?"

"Well, uhm... I kind of forgot?" I mumble as I start playing with my sweater. It takes a few seconds before I dare to look up, it surely isn't my finest moment. Leigh-Anne is trying her best to hold in her laugh.

"I was too distracted by the fact there was a guy in the house! I- His name was apparently not important enough to ask at that moment. He doesn't know mine either. Does that make it better?" I try to explain myself but with no luck. Leigh-Anne starts laughing.

"Of course, something like this would happen to you. How do you not know his name? Can I meet him?"

"Why do you want to meet him?" I ask curiously.

"Why wouldn't I? I want to meet the guy who made you forget to ask the important questions. Was he handsome? Is that why you weren't thinking straight?" Leigh-Anne asks teasingly. I let out a deep sigh before I ask Leigh-Anne to bring me back to the house. I'm really not in the mood to talk about my situation, not after the long and exhausting day I've had.

"Can you bring me back now? I have to be back first, so I can sleep in the master bedroom."

"You're fighting over a bedroom?"

"I don't like small spaces, you know that. After waking up from my nap... I may have run into the wrong room, because I was already late. The other bedroom doesn't have windows and it's the size of a small walk-in-closet. My claustrophobia will act up."

"I see," Leigh-Anne says sounding like she has an opinion about the situation, thinking about whether or not to share it with me.                           

"You know, it's a pretty big step...," she starts, "Living with a guy, a stranger really, for three weeks. I always thought Liam would be the guy you would move in with first."

Leigh-Anne's words sting. Ever since I realized I had... have... feelings for Liam, 12 years ago at the age of 16, I imagined what my life would look like if we were together. I imagined our first kiss to be at prom or after prom, like how it would be in the movies... we would go on dates, things we did before as friends, now as a couple. Looking for houses in the countryside, getting proposed to in Paris and eventually getting married... maybe kids? I know it's weird to imagine all of this with someone who doesn't feel the same way... but to me it was normal? Normal, because we have done everything together since we were little. To me it only makes sense to do those things together as well since it felt right... Instead, Liam is going to do all those things with my sister, Tiffany. She will have the life with Liam, I have always dreamed about since I was 16.

"I have my keys. Let's get you back to the house. I bet your roommate is worried sick about you," Leigh-Anne says teasingly, walking past me to open the door for us.                                                

"Funny, I think he'll throw a party for himself if I didn't show up anymore." I smile.

I thank Leigh-Anne for driving me back home and I walk inside. To my surprise all the lights are still turned off, which could only mean one thing... the guy wasn't back yet. I rush to the master bedroom and change into Leigh-Anne's pajamas. As my head finally hits the pillow to get some well-deserved sleep, my phone rings yet again.