They Could Care Less

19: Ethan's Roommate

"Thea, are you okay?" Ethan asked and turned to Thea.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit nervous," Thea answered truthfully and nervously tried to brush it off.

"Why are you nervous?" Ethan asked and put a hand on Thea's shoulder, that only made Thea more tense.

"I have no idea."

"You'll be alright, relax. No one's gonna bite you," Ethan joked and laughed. "The kitchen's over there." Ethan pointed further down the hall and guided Thea into the kitchen. Thea slowly calmed down and opened the fridge. It was quite empty, a few eggs, milk, butter, and some rotten vegetables.

"I'm guessing you don't cook that much... at all," Thea mumbled and opened the pantry instead. Some macaroni, coffee, tea, flour, spices and sugar was the majority of it. "What do you usually eat for breakfast?" Thea asked, glancing up and down the shelves in the pantry, hoping that something would magically appear.

"Cereal, milk, coffee," he answered and poured himself a cup of water.

"Great..." Thea mumbled and pulled out the macaroni, flour, salt and pepper. From the fridge she took the butter, milk and cheese. "Today's dinner consists of this," Thea said and gestured at the counter where everything was placed out.

"I don't see what this will make," he said  and looked genuinely concentrated on figuring out what Thea had in mind.

"This, Mr Çelik, is our dinner tonight, Mac and Cheese," Thea said too dramatically and pulled out a pot. She filled it with water and placed it on the stove before she turned the heat up. She suddenly felt the need to go to the toilet.

"Where's the toilet?" Thea asked. She looked up from the pot of water to Ethan who pointed down another hall.

"Down there, the last door on the right," he answered as he read the instructions on the back of the macaroni package. Thea walked past him and followed his directions, she walked past the living room that was probably larger than her entire home back in Texas and past a few closed wooden doors that were smaller, but the same design as the front door. She stopped at the end of the hall and opened the door to the right. She stepped into the room and looked around. This is definitely not the bathroom. Exit! Now! Thea began to turn around when something moving from the corner of the room caught her eye, she looked back and saw a person pulling a dark blue t-shirt over his naked torso. Jackson looked up as he pulled the t-shirt down completely and the two of them stared at each other in silence. Every single nerve in Thea's body told her to turn around and leave instantly, but no matter how much she tried to move, she couldn't. She felt how she turned as red as a tomato within seconds. Jackson was also red in the face, but not on the same scale as Thea, nor because of the same reason. His hair was wet and had been carelessly pushed back, a used towel was in his hand and Thea figured that Jackson had just come out from the bathroom after he had taken a shower.

"What are you doing here?" Jackson broke the silence and moved across the room to a desk where his bag, jacket and shoes were placed.

"I-I..." Thea's mouth turned dry and she had somehow lost her words.

"You what?" Jackson asked impatiently and sat on the bed with a pair of fresh socks in his hand.

"I'm looking for the bathroom," Thea blurted out, regaining the ability to speak.

"I didn't know my bedroom was a guest bathroom," Jackson said with a utterly serious voice as he put his socks on and looked up at Thea with a stare that chilled her to the core.

"It isn't," Thea quickly stated and wanted nothing but dig her own grave.

"Then what are you doing here?"he asked and stood up, walking forward slowly.