House Rules

Uphill

After watching you in pensive silence, Erik finally spoke. The sun was still up outside. Your black suitcase sat flopped open and half unpacked on the king sized bed in his spare bedroom and you sat down next to it avoiding his intense stare coming from the doorway.

“You wanna tell me who the hell was in your apartment and why?”

You can feel the daggers pricking your skin. He’s staring through you and he’s not happy. He wants answers and the only answers you can think of lead you to the despiriting conclusion that your judgment has failed you in a bad way and you really messed up. You know Erik is pissed at you big time, you can feel it. He doesn’t get that way often and it doesn’t feel good when he does. Especially when you already blame yourself.

“Before I do that, I really want to thank you again for coming to help me as fast as you did. For a second I got so scared you wouldn’t answer and that you wouldn’t come. I don’t know what I would’ve done had you not.. I’d still be locked in my room right now, freaking out.”

“I’m daddy, I’ll always come for you… But answer the question. I need a name and why the fuck was he in ya apartment?”

Coming in hot, jeez.

“It was… Well, his name is Falucious and–”

“Really, Y/N?… Falu–” his face scrunches in incredulty and you know he’s judging you harshly. “The fuck is a Falucious?” His tone makes you kiss your teeth.

“He goes by Flu for short, but he was my friend.. or at least I thought he was my friend. I don’t really know what happened, actually. He switched up once we were alone.”

You’d never been alone with him before today. In fact, this was only your second meetup with him. Images of the two of you drinking ice coffee and laughing flash in your mind. His smile had been infectious. He’d smile with his entire face and it’d seemed so innocent and genuine. He was such a good liar. How anyone could be that sneaky and deceptive was a terrifying thought. I should’ve known better than to trust someone that nice.

Erik moves closer and his light touch on your chin brings your attention back to his face. His eyes are lasers searching yours.

“Why was he in your apartment? Where and when did you meet him?”

“Um.. Yesterday? You know when I told you I went to the Coffee Bean?”

“You was really entertaining this nigga.” His voice is calm and understanding but his laser eyes are charged with dammed up rage and judgment. You gulp. That’s an ‘I don’t know if I can trust you and I’m bout to cut you loose’ stare. It burns in your chest.

“Well, I was sitting there and the thought hit me. I wished I had someone to just sit there and drink coffee with. I didn’t care who it was. I went on Tinder and swiped on everyone close by, male or female. I just wanted some company that’s it. He responded and came by and he was nice to me. He didn’t ask me for anything, he just talked and that was all I wanted.”

Erik’s eyes soften, but his stare remains.

“We talked about movies and then he said he wanted to come over to watch some, check out my firestick, and see how I live. I thought it was harmless.”