Having Your Bestfriend As Your Roommate

Chapter 1 - Meeting Leroy McKinley

It’s pretty cool living with your best friend after college. Just pure freedom, unsupervised fun activities, and a whole lot of other stuff. But the thing is, it’s never easy when your best friend is a guy.

You see, Lee has been my best friend since high school. No, we’re not the typical geek-and-bad boy couple. We’re just like any other average student that we know in school, only a bit more popular.. I think. And mischievous. Lee has always been a good-looking guy with a charming personality, so he had no trouble fitting in. He easily made a lot of friends and, no doubt, girls just swoon over him. As for me, I was the new girl with an attitude who happened to move next door to his house.

--[ 4 Years Ago ]--

On our first night living in South Fairdale, I wanted to roam around and see the neighbourhood so I went out for a jog. As soon as we finished unpacking my parents went straight to bed to get some rest, which left me with nothing to do. The atmosphere was calm and I wasn’t hungry for dinner yet, so I thought it was the perfect time to just go stroll outside. I changed into my workout shorts and a plain white tee, put on my running shoes, got my blue iPod nano and started to warm up.

Montrose..

Longpoint..

Kingswood..

Fulton..

Ha, interesting street names. After about 3 more streets, I reduced my speed to catch my breath. I saw a small playground from where I was walking so I decided to rest there for a while. I stopped Love Somebody by Maroon 5 from playing and took my earphones off.

The playground actually looked cool if you ask me. It was small, had those swings, slides, see-saws and all, but it had a very warm and soothing feeling when I got there. The street lamps gave an effect too, illuminating the area very nicely. I don’t know if it was just me, though. Anyway, I took a seat on one of the 3 swings which was obviously suitable for everyone. Just saying, haha. I just sat there, swinging, looking around and taking in the surroundings when I saw someone walking who then stopped by the tree just a few feet across me.

The person had short, spiky brown hair, and was wearing gray sweatpants, a navy blue Jack Wills hoodie, and a pair of white Supras. Given the descriptions, I was able to make out that the person was a he. He suddenly sat down under the shady tree and just closed his eyes. He didn't even take a look around or anything. I saw that he had his earphones on so I don’t think he realized that I was there. Although it was a bit dark, the light from the street lamps was enough to give me a hint of what he looks like. I stopped from swinging and looked at his light-shone face. Taking in his features, he had a strong jawline and a clean face. His lips were thin and pink, and his nose looked perfect. With his eyes closed, I could easily see his long lashes.

Basically, I thought he was cute.

Just then, my stomach started to growl which brought me back to my senses. Shit! I totally forgot about dinner. It was also starting to get cold. I checked my iPod and realized that it was already 11:42 in the evening, so I decided to go home. I got up from the swing and headed straight back to my house.

While walking, I couldn’t help but think about the cute guy at the playground. What’s he doing there at a time like this? When I got up he didn’t even notice me standing up. He didn’t even open his eyes. He just stayed still there, like he was actually sleeping. He couldn’t possibly be sleeping there.. it’s too cold of a night to be sleeping outside!

Setting my thoughts aside, I turned my iPod back on so I could listen to my music. I was at least 4 more streets away from home, and I couldn’t handle the deafening silence of the still air. But just before I put them on, I heard faint sounds of footsteps behind me. I, being Miss Curious, turned around a bit to see if anyone was behind me. Sure enough, there was someone walking just the same pace as me a few meters away. He was the guy from the playground.

Could he have been following me? I mean come on, there are so many streets in this place that he could take to go wherever his home was. But he was taking the exact same path that I was taking, and I don’t think that that’s just coincidence.

Although, even if he was or was not following me, I could take him down if I wanted to. Not to brag, but I’ve learned tae kwon do when I was younger and well, my attitude might be added to scare him off. So I just kept on walking, keeping one ear with an earphone and the other with none.

Longpoint..

 Montrose..

Almost there, I thought to myself.

Woodberry. Finally!

Yup, he’s still behind me. And all the way back, he kept his head down that I couldn’t see his face. Now I’m definitely sure that he’s following me. I don’t know if he wants anything from me or what, but he’s there. I was only a few blocks away from my house, so I felt safe. It’s not like I was panicking or something, but having someone following you at night isn’t fun. Even if he was cute.

Halting to a stop, I turned around to finally ask what’s his deal was, only to get shocked and knocked down to the ground.

“Ow!! What the fuck are you doing?!” I shouted, breaking the silence of the calm neighbourhood. He was technically on top of me! But taking advantage of the awkward position we were in, I took the time to look him straight in the eyes.

Holy shit.

I saw a pair of the most gorgeous emerald-green eyes that I’ve ever seen in my whole life, staring back into my brown ones. I was stunned for a second there that I couldn’t get any more words to come out of my mouth.

Then, bringing me back from my short daze, he pushed himself up from the ground (and me) and patted his hands on his sweatpants. He stretched out an arm and reached for me. “Shit, my bad. I wasn’t exactly looking because I thought I’d scare you.”

Ooohh, so that was why. I took his arm and surprisingly, he was strong enough to be able to get me back up. Not even a grunt was heard. I might be a girl but I’m pretty heavy despite my slim figure that most of my guy friends would whine while carrying me whenever I’d asked them to.

“I wasn’t scared, but why were you following me?” I asked him, still looking him in the eyes. Damn those eyes.

He looked amused for a second, and then he suddenly smirked. “Thought so.”

What the hell was he talking about?

I crossed my arms, while he just stood there waiting for me to respond. “Excuse me?” I asked in annoyance.

He slipped both hands in his pockets and looked at me again. “I knew you thought I was following you, so I kept my distance. Sorry to break it to you though, but I wasn’t following you. You see that house right there? That,” he said, taking one hand out and pointing to the similar-looking house next to mine, “is my house.”

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And that's how I met the great Leroy McKinley. Hahaha, just kidding. He's awesome.

If anybody's reading this, please comment :) I'd really appreciate it. Thank you! <3