New Girl - The Creatures

Chapter 11

I woke up feeling extremely stiff and panicked momentarily when I looked around and saw I wasn't in my bed. Then I quickly remembered that I'd slept down here, followed by all of the events of last night. I groaned in embarrassment, hoping I didn't seem like the typical Tumblr girl clumsy cliche to the guys now. Yeah, I'm uncoordinated, but I don't frequently injure myself to the point of breaking the skin.

I swung my legs over the side of the recliner and realized I was still wearing my dress. Attempting to be as quiet as I could, something I found myself doing in the early hours of morning and during prime recording times quite frequently, I proceeded up the stairs. On my way up, I passed by a digital wall clock that told me it was about half an hour past 7. Meaning I was the only one awake.

After making the journey of seven thousand steps to my bedroom, I peeled off the dress and changed into fitted dark gray sweatpants and a plain black scoop neck t-shirt. Careful to avoid the tender part of my forehead, I pulled my hair up into a messy bun, turned on my computer and then went downstairs to make coffee while it booted up.

I was halfway through brewing a pot my favorite butterscotch caramel flavor when someone cleared their throat behind me. I nearly jumped out of my skin and turned around to see Jordan there, looking disheveled but cheery. 

"Sorry, didn't mean to freak you out," he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. I could see the dark circles beneath his eyes and could tell he was experiencing the worst kind of hangover; the one where you no longer feel drunk and dazed, but you instead feel like you were hit by a semi truck. "It's okay, I'm just used to being the only one awake at this hour," I replied, smiling.

"Unfortunately, my hangovers are dreadful and I can never sleep well, so I've been up for a little while. I may have been drunk, but I remember what happened. How's your head?" he asks, the concern in his voice blatant. I was touched that he was worried, but I felt bad for being a kill joy. "Yeah, I feel a lot better, you should make Aleks the resident nurse," I laugh. He grinned, and said, "I think he'd end up killing everyone on purpose."

I chuckled as I poured and prepared my cup of coffee. I let Jordan know I'd see him later, and walked back to my room as he took advantage of the fresh coffee. Now back at my desk, I decided to do a recording of the Mass Effect series, and after following the steps Seamus wrote down on a sticky note for me, I was able to start up my let's play in no time.

I was a few hours into the game, having just made it to the container where the Rachni queen resided in Noveria when there was a gentle knocking on the door. I wrapped up the recording, stood up and stretched, and proceeded to answer the door.

Seamus was standing there, looking effortlessly attractive with messy, shaggy hair and tired eyes. I felt a pang of envy at the thought of how I've looked after a night of heavy drinking, which far more resembled someone that's been beaten with a crowbar at Tijuana Flats than the sleepy marvel of a boy that stood before me.

"I'm surprised you're up before 10," I said, cynicism rolling off my tongue as it always did around him. "Nice jab, but it's a little afternoon right now. Someone's been a bit too caught up in being Commander Shepard," he retorted, glancing at my computer screen. I felt my face flush, and I crossed my arms. "What do you want?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

He smirked, and my hands grew clammy. "I have quite a few answers for that question," he paused, as if for dramatic effect. That fucker. "But at the moment, I was wanting to know how you were feeling? I remember James telling us you hit your head pretty hard," he finished, eyes lingering on my bandage.

"Oh, I'm feeling a lot better. I feel like a jackass, but physically I'm better," I admitted, grinning in embarrassment. He laughed quietly, and said, "You shouldn't feel like a jackass for getting hurt. Clumsy, yes. Jackass, not at all." I smiled, and we stood there for a moment in silence, staring at each other.

Seamus cleared his throat and said, "I was also wondering if you were wanting to go get paint for your room today, I remember you mentioning that you didn't want to keep the bubblegum pink color scheme when I was helping you get recording software." I was touched that he'd remembered this, something I had just said in passing. "Yeah! That'd be great, thank you for offering," I said, trying to prevent the butterflies in my stomach from reaching my voice.

He smiled radiantly and went back into his room to change. I slipped on a pair of black and white Nike shoes and swapped out my t-shirt for a warmer black hoodie with the Bioshock logo on the front. I grabbed my wallet and met up with Seamus downstairs. He yelled out to Jordan and Dan that we were leaving, and we were quickly on the road.

Car rides with Seamus quickly became one of my favorite things. One of us would play music, and we'd talk about family or personal matters or questions or about dreams we may have recalled from the night before. Today Seamus was playing songs from the Either/Or album by Elliot Smith, and he'd asked me what I genuinely thought of Aleks and Sly, no holds barred.

"Sly is really loud and perpetually hyper and ecstatic about everything. I tend to be more collected and quiet, and he's the complete opposite. But he's very funny and nice, so I don't mind. Aleks is extremely shy, but he was the one to patch me up last night which was cool of him. I feel like he's nervous around me though," I said, trying not to sound too saddened by my observation. I completely understood that we were new to each other and he may be the kind of person that has to warm up to new people, but it still bothered me slightly that he hadn't said much to me till I injured myself the night prior.

Seamus was quiet for a moment and then spoke. "Aleks will lighten up soon, he's the youngest out of everyone at the house and he's not as extroverted as Sly. He doesn't know much about you, and probably thinks you already know all about him, since you could find out so much online." I hadn't thought about that aspect of it. I was still not used to the fact that they had a lot of fans that managed to figure out as much about them as they could, and Aleks likely thought I'd read some Wikipedia article about him.

"Did you research any of us before you moved in?" Seamus asked suddenly. I looked at him, seeing that his facial expression was worry mingled with curiosity.

"No, I knew that you guys had a YouTube channel, but I didn't know the name of it or any of your names, aside from Jordan and Max. I only knew theirs because of Steven and Marie mentioning them when I decided to call Jordan about moving in here. Even if I had, I wouldn't have looked up any of you. I want to know you as actual people, not as what some 13 years old writes on a forum page at 2 in the morning," I told him, not taking my eyes off his face. He glanced up at me with an odd look of fondness and relief.

"Hearing you say that makes me happier than you could imagine," Seamus said quietly, a small smile forming. The butterflies returned, threatening to spill over and make me say something stupid about how truly beautiful he was.

We soon pulled up to Lowes, and after careful deliberation, I settled on a light caramel shade. After I paid and we were back in the car, I controlled the music on the way back. I played Beach Side Property by Modest Mouse and asked Seamus a question this time.

"Since I'm unoriginal and I want to steal a question you asked me the other day, what's your ideal fantasy?" I asked, gazing at him absentmindedly. He smiled and sighed. We merged into the right lane, and he spoke.

"To fall in love with someone that's unconventionally beautiful. Someone that appreciates viewing life from different perspectives, who is grounded and reminds constantly me of espressos and grandpa sweaters. A person that's extraordinary in every way possible and is still clumsy to the point of absolute cuteness, who can talk to me like an actual person."