the fourth roommate » alex ernst

FIFTEEN

The amount of love on my Youtube video was overwhelming. The day I uploaded it I gained sixty thousand subscribers, and the numbers had only been increasing since then. All of the comments I saw were positive, asking me to create more and saying they loved me. It was a great feeling that didn't last long.

My father called me two days after I posted my first video, something I hadn't expected. It was the first time Alex and I had been left alone at home since the first time, and we were laying on the couch cuddling when my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered. Let's get something straight: even back home, my dad never called me. He would only text me because he hated talking on the phone.

"Mason, you need to come home."

I scoffed at his words, like it was that easy. "Are you kidding? Your bitch of a wife made it perfectly clear I wasn't welcome in Georgia."

"Mason, now is not the time."

"Now is not the time to what? Stand up for myself? Finally tell you guys how I really feel?" I challenged him, and I heard the sigh across the line.

"Baby, it's Grammy. They've called hospice. She has about a week left," those words broke my heart. I sat straight up, hand covering my mouth as I felt my eyes well up with tears.

"What?" it was like all the air was ripped from my lungs. My heart started beating much faster and I stood from my spot on the couch, rushing to my room and pulling out one of my suitcases. "Tell me you're kidding."

"Come home. She needs you."

"I'll be there tomorrow, I promise," I hung up the phone after that, knowing if I talked any longer I'd just start sobbing. I quickly began packing, mainly t shirts and shorts but also a couple of dresses for the funeral.

"Baby, what are you doing?" his eyes were wide and he looked genuinely scared. I probably looked rough, already puffy and red and literally sobbing on the bedroom floor, but I didn't care.

"Alex, I need," I took some deep breaths, trying desperately to calm myself down. "I need you to go book me the first flight to Georgia."

"What? Why?" I was still throwing clothes into my suitcase, but he grabbed my wrists and stopped me. "Mason, listen to me. You need to tell me why."

"My Grammy is gonna die," I said, and it sunk in. My Grammy was going to die. Any closed tear duct was now open and I leaned back on my ankles, feeling the sobs rack my body. "Oh God, my Grammy's gonna die. She's gonna die, I'm gonna be alone. I'm gonna be alone."

"Stay here, baby, I'll go get us tickets and I'll be right back, okay?" he waited until I nodded before he left the room, and then I started thinking about what he truly meant.

"Us?"

---

Alex and I were on a plane to Atlanta five hours later. He called David and informed him of what was happening before we boarded the plane. Most of the conversation I didn't hear because I was too far away and pretending to be asleep, but I did have to smile when Alex said, "Because she's my best fucking friend and her grandma's fucking dying? You should've seen her, dude. Fucking sobbing. Saddest shit I've ever seen in my entire life."

"My family's gonna ask who you are," I mentioned on the plane. Alex was being polite and not bothering me, but I wanted to talk. I wanted to stop thinking about my grandma and just talk.

"Okay, well, I'm Alex, so," he said like it was obvious and I giggled and shook my head.

"I mean like... who you are. Like my friend or..." I trailed off once I realized I was making us DTR in the first hour of a five hour flight, and if if got awkward, I would be forced to sit next to him silently.

"I'm your boyfriend," Alex said simply. The words, along with his thumb running over my knuckles, gave me butterflies. Boyfriend. Alex was my boyfriend.

"Really?" I was shook, and it was written all over my face.

"Does that surprise you?" Alex smiled at me with my mouth still hanging open in a half smile. "I'm flying to fucking Georgia to be with you and you don't think we're dating?"

"Well, like, we haven't told David or anyone, so I kinda figured you just wanted to fuck around," I admitted quietly. A blush rose to my cheeks as Alex stared me down. He grabbed my jaw and forced my eyes to his.

"Babe, David doesn't need to know because he's going to exploit the shit out of a relationship that just started, but that doesn't mean I don't like you," he pecked my lips and smiled down at me. "You're so fucking cute."

"So... we're going to tell people in my hometown that we're dating?" I confirmed.

"Your parents and stuff, yeah. I mean, you don't have any friends to tell, right?" he immediately winced at the words he let slip, but all I could do was laugh. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know, you asshole," I giggled, pecking him again on the lips. We talked about my family for the rest of the flight. I told him what to expect from them, since they were all crazy except my grandma and my sister. We landed at midnight California time, but three AM Georgia time and decided to just book a night in a motel close to the airport instead of arriving at my house at four in the morning.

We slept in the same bed, which at that point wasn't weird for us, and woke up the next morning at nine. I got us an Uber to get home, and we got to my house at ten thirty. My sister was the first person to greet us.

"Mas!" Megan was tall and a bit thicker than me, in a good way. Her blonde hair was curled to perfection as always and her makeup was done up beautifully. It almost seemed like our grandma wasn't dying.

"Hey, Meg," I hugged her for a few seconds then pulled away. Meg was dating a man named Jonah, so she didn't live with my parents, but Grammy did so I assumed she was staying here for now. "Missed you."

"Of course you did, who wouldn't?" and there she was, my annoying ass conceited sister. "Alex."

I knew my sister had watched the vlogs; she's the one that told my mom I was in them. "Yeah, this is Alex, my boyfriend."

"I thought you said you weren't dating in those videos," she hugged Alex anyways, and I felt my blood boil. Back the fuck up. "Hi, I'm Megan."

"Nice to meet you," Alex commented awkwardly and I laughed at his confused face. It was going to be a long week.

"Alright, well, Mama and Daddy's waitin' in the living room for you, so we better get going. I don't think they are going to be very happy with your boytoy being here, Mason."

"Let's get this over with."

----

SECOND UPDATE FOR 1.5K READS WHAAAAAAT this has NEVER happened to me, i'm not even a good writer so it genuinely means so so so much to me.

PLEASE continue to vote and comment, i love seeing feedback and being able to relate to u guys!! i think i might start updating like on a more regular schedule, but school just started and i need to get my homework/workout schedule settled first. Its my year ladies and gentlemen!!!

ALSO megan is played by Candice King, aka Caroline from TVD, shes super pretty and blonde and old enough sooo lol

LOVE IT BYE GUYS VOTE AND COMMENT LOVE U