The six-month housemate

Seven

SEVEN

I came down after showering and making sure Alex had already gone up. I didn't want to come across him in the stairs. Not ever as a matter of fact, if that was possible.

Oliver had left the kitchen, but the eggs, bacon and everything I needed to cook them was out. I made myself breakfast , then washed what I'd used so that there was less dish washing to do afterwards. There was no noise in the house except at one moment, I thought I heard raised voices from upstairs but when I turned the tap off, it stopped, so I just assumed I’d heard wrong.

By the time everything was finished it was close to eleven am. I considered my options: since I'd just eaten breakfast, the best was I could just skip lunch and eat a consistent tea round about three, which left me four hours of free time. I decided to call my friends to get some news, and maybe my family, since I hadn't had any news at all since I’d arrived (that was kind of weird; my parents always at least left an 'ok' message when they received a message). I would then go to M&S to buy myself basic stuff like pens, pencils and a sketchpad.

I went back upstairs, checking I would come across nobody while going up, and logged onto Skype to call my best friend Lili. We'd known each other for forever, and since we’d been in the same class every year, and we’d even gone to the same nursery.

"Oh my God Emma! How are you?!" She squealed after accepting the call. She sounded like we hadn't seen each other in month when we'd seen each other the day before I left, which was less than a week ago.

"Good and you? How's the end of your holidays going?" I grinned. I really needed a bit of female interactions here, I hadn’t even stayed for half a week that I already regretted my sisters.

"Excellent! You know that guy I told you about, the one I met in Spain? Well, he's asked me out on a date!" She clapped her hands in excitement.

"I'm so happy for you, babe!" Lili's boyfriend had dumped her before summer started, which left her completely depressed. I was happy she was starting to get out of her asocial mood after two months of brooding and thinking about which way she could kill her ex-boyfriend to make him suffer as much as possible.

“I know, I’m so excited! I just need to find what I’m going to wear, but that should be easy. How’s England? Are the Daltons as hot as they once were?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows. “I know their pictures are always delicious, but are they still hot in real?”

Lili had this big obsession about Facebook, and she was friends with way too many people, including the Dalton brothers. I always thought that was weird, because she’d never actually talked to Oliver, but that was just typical Lili.

“I guess… But Alex has been an absolute prick since I’ve come back. I knew he was annoying, but God, he’s more than that now. I’m not sure I could stand being in the same room as him. But Oliver has been really nice to me.”

“Nice? Tell me more!” Lili laughed.

“He’s just been welcoming, nothing more! Don’t jump to conclusions girl!”

“Yeah, yeah…” She gave me a pointed look. “Have you met any of their friends yet?”