Lennox. Me. & Apartment C.

010.

                 

I woke up the next day to find little to no light streaming into my bedroom and the soft pattering of rain on the roof outside and the hum of the air conditioning unit, working to regulate the temperature on that muggy morning. My eyes fluttered open slowly as I rose to go to the bathroom. I showered to wash the remnants of the night before down the drain and brushed the rancid taste of whisky out of my mouth. I threw on some clothes and made my way into the living room, where I saw a sprawled out Lennox on the forsaken leather couch and other artifacts of our Roommate Bonding Session from the previous night: a nearly empty bottle of Jack Daniels, empty Coca-Cola cans strewn about, a pile of blankets and pillows indicative of some sort of mediocre bunker that the Big Bad Wolf knocked down when he talked yet alone when he huffed and puffed. The room was a disaster as an infomercial played in the background on the TV and the sound of Lennox's soft snoring provided the original soundtrack.

Looking around the room at the mess that we had made, I wanted nothing more than to start cleaning it up. Undoubtedly, the makeshift table of an ottoman would be sticky; the trash already had to go out before our escapade, the room reeked of a mini-bar and an air freshener would do the place good. I decided, however, that I wouldn't start cleaning with Lennox being asleep. First, he helped make the mess so he can help clean it but more importantly, he was sleeping and probably had a slight hangover—something in me was deciding that maybe I shouldn't be too evil and instead I could let him sleep in longer. Something else in me decided that maybe I should get him so food for when he woke up, or maybe that was my own stomach telling me to give something before it started on my body, working itself from the inside out.

I took my stomach yelling at me as a sign that I should go and get food, which is exactly what I did. I drove to a drive-thru place where I could get made-to-order breakfast sandwiches. It was probably a solid fifteen-minute drive away from the apartment but it was totally worth it!  I bought Lennox a classic sandwich; while, I had my usual bacon, egg, and cheese on a cinnamon raisin bagel.  With hash browns for each of us, I drove back to our apartment and I unlocked the door to find a nearly clean apartment with Lennox vacuuming, the smell of cleaning supplies in the air, and a roommate in fresh clothes and with damp hair.

"W-wa-wait, how did you--?" I stammered out as I stood in the walkway, holding the takeout bag, obviously surprised at the sight before me.

"Whoa, food, awesome!" Lennox said as he turned off the vacuum, grabbed the bag out of my hand, and retreated into the kitchen.

"Excuse you!" I managed.

"Thanks, but I haven't done anything yet," Lennox called out over his shoulder from the sink where he was washing his hands. After drying them, he then began grabbing a glass from the cupboard for himself and a jar for me.

"You were, like, knocked out when I left like two minutes ago!" I exclaimed, walking further into the apartment.

"No, more like forty minutes ago. You woke me up when you shut the door as you left so I got up, got showered and dressed, and started cleaning up." He poured the orange juice into both of our drinking vessels before pulling out the sandwiches from the bag.

"Well, you didn't have to clean the whole place by yourself," I offered up. Lennox didn't have to clean the living room by himself, but then again I can't complain that I ended up not having to clean anything.

"Nah, it's fine. You'll just clean up next time," he said as he unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite. 

"There's going to be a next time?" I asked sarcastically and with a smirk, before shoving the hashbrown in my mouth.

Lennox nodded as he continued chewing before he finally swallowed his bite of food. "Yeah, tonight."

I scoffed a bit in shock and caused my food to go down the wrong pipe, which resulted in my coughing fit, which brought tears to my eyes and a stabbing pain in my lungs. His answer was not something I was expecting, or obviously prepared for. Granted, last night, things were fine: we drank, we talked, we watched a movie, we snuggled, cuddled, canoodled, whatever you want to call it on the couch until we both fell asleep, and things were fine. Under no circumstances did I think that that was going to happen again. Under no circumstances did I plan for that to happen again. Under no circumstances did I think I wanted that to happen again. One way or another, I was choking and nearly crying because I can never keep it together. Classic, Quinn, classic.

"Whoa, here," Lennox said during my coughing fit as he hopped up from the barstool at the counter and grabbed a water bottle for me out of the refrigerator and unscrewed the top. "Here, take a sip," he said as he held the bottle out to me and his hand rested on my back.

I took a sip cautiously and focused on not gagging on the water. I tore my mind away from the heat that was radiating on my back at the spot where his hand was. I tried not to think about how Lennox essentially just gave me plans for the night, although, besides working and bussing tables, not much was going on for me that night. I didn't let my mind dwell on his thumb slowly moving up and down my back and I dare not think about the concerned look on his face that was nauseating and charming at the same time.

"You Ok?" Lennox tried again, when the coughing died down.

"Yeah," I nodded and took another sip of water.

"Good," Lennox started. "I would hate for anything to happen to you." Because I would to get a new roommate that's worse than you. "So what are you plans for the night?" Lennox asked as he went back around the counter and returned to his seat and greasy breakfast courtesy of yours truly.

"It's Saturday," I offered up. "So I just have to bus tables for a few hours tonight but I don't have any plans after that."

"Hmm," Lennox started. "Maybe I could meet you there, we could have a couple drinks, and then just come back here and hang out."   

"No, it's fine. There's no point in you coming out and whatever just to see me and then us coming back here."

"Well, a friend of mine's band is performing tonight and I said I would come see them."

"Oh! Well, then, go hang out with your friend tonight after the show," I suggested. I highkey did it because I was leery of hanging out with Lennox again but I lowkey wanted to know if he would pass up on his friend for me.

"No, no, no, they're either going to be super tired and ready to crash or they're going to be super amped and like ready to turn up. I sort of just want to listen to some music and just chill tonight—be mellow," he explained.

"Oh!" I said with a smile that I physically could not contain. "Then sure, let's—uh—hang out tonight. Why not?"

"Cool," Lennox said with a smile as he collected his trash from the counter and got up from his seat.  "I'm going to finish cleaning and then check my sugar. I'll let you chill out or whatever before you go to work and I'll just catch you later?" He said anxiously, throwing out his trash and retreating to the living room to finish his vacuuming.

"Yeah, no problem," I said softly not really to him in particular as I watched him return to cleaning the living. "No problem at all."