Roomies ✔

1 - A Roommate

It was his sister who had inspired him. During one of their sporadic phone calls she had told him about her cool roommate, who had became her best friend and with whom she had wanted to set him up if he hadn't lived on the other side of the country. 

Even if he had been single, he probably wouldn't have done it. Amelia and he weren't exactly aligned when it came to cool people. She spent her time with decent housewives, he with outlaws. The woman she would set him up with, was probably boring as hell. 

But having a roommate – well that wasn't such a bad idea. He could barely pay his rent; he didn't make a lot of money with his work in the garage and the extra income from the club was always gone before he knew it. Moreover, he barely spent three nights a week in his apartment; he often stayed in the clubhouse and since a few months he could also be found at Daphne's place. 

He however didn't want to give up his apartment. Now and then he needed it; a place to which he could retreat. For that, one roommate was better than a clubhouse full of noisy Sons or a girlfriend who wasn't familiair with the concept of personal space. And especially when that roommate would be calm and organized, he would cause little trouble. It was worth a shot. 

And so, he had signed up at a website providing matches for roommates. He'd had a couple of conversations with people. Some changed their mind the moment they saw his kutte, others did so before the coffee was poured. 

There actually had only been one candidate that had given him a good feeling: Jamie, an architecture student who planned to do an internship not far from Charming and who was seeking shelter for at least eight months. There was a chance that he wanted to stay longer; he wasn't sure yet. It was a mild-mannered young man, a couple of years younger than him, and he had no problems with Juice being in a motorclub and being away for most of the time. 

Juice had trusted his gut and set things in motion. 

And today was the day Jamie would arrive. 

Although his apartment was always organized, he had cleaned the place up once more. Now his roommate was almost there, he started to feel nervous; after all, he was letting a stranger into his apartment. What if he was wrong? What if they wouldn't get along at all?

"Please sit down now." Daphne grabbed his hand and led him to the couch. "You're never this nervous. I still don't understand why you rather have a stranger around than me."

Juice didn't answer. She kept bringing it up and there was no point in starting the same discussion all over again. They were together for four months now. His last relationship was years ago and he didn't want to rush into anything. Living together... he wasn't ready for that. He rather waited a year or so. He needed his own space, he was feeling itchy when someone was near all the time. He really liked Daphne – he didn't want to fuck things up. And if she would have moved in with him now, he would mess it up. He was sure of it. 

Daphne hadn't agreed with his decision to look for a roommate. She had wanted to solve his financial problems in other ways, but he didn't want to burden her with it. Maybe it was male stubbornness – he just wanted to fix his shit in his own way instead of letting his Old Lady telling him how to do it. 

She had kept a close eye on the procedure. She absolutely didn't want a girl to move in with him, which he understood and with which he had agreed. Furthermore she had judged the pictures on trustworthiness and read every email he had received in response to his request. 

She had picked Jamie as well – but she rather took his place. 

"It's just for a couple of months, to try out." He stroked her cheek and smiled. "Maybe I'll be ready to move in with you after this." He winked. 

Her fingers laced with his and she rested her head against his shoulder. "I just hate the thought that we can't make out on this couch anymore without the chance of your roommate walking in on us."

Juice shrugged a shoulder. "Then it's a good thing that your couch is much more comfortable."

A smile crossed her face too now and she leaned into him. Right when their lips connected, the doorbell rang. 

With a growl she pulled back her face. "See? That's exactly what I meant. That Jamie guy is already a libido killer."

They got up, his hand slipped underneath her skirt. "Whose libido? It's not mine he's killing. We're just building up the tension and give Jamie soon a taste of the background music he can expect in the night hours." Teasingly, his finger hooked around the elastic of her panties and chuckling he let it slap against her ass. 

He smirked as she gave a little scream, bumping her shoulder against his. Laughing, they walked towards the hallway where Juice opened the door to greet his new roommate. 

It wasn't Jamie who he found there. 

It was a girl with a wild haircut, painted in baby blue and pink. There was a ring in her nose. Around her stood various suitcases and bags, which made clear what her plans were. 

"Hi!" she said. "I'm Jamie!" 

She flashed them a bright smile. 

Juice's brows furrowed and he looked at his girlfriend in confusion. Her dark eyes told him she wasn't too happy about the surprise – and neither was he, he had to admit. 

"I don't understand..." he muttered. "Who the hell are you?"

"Jamie! I just told you! Come on, help me drag all this shit into the apartment. I twisted my knee when I lifted the suitcase from the trunk of the cab."

Again his eyes wandered to Daphne, who pursed her lips with a sour face. 

"I think you're at the wrong address," she said. "The Jamie who is supposed to live here, is a man."

"I'm just done turning myself into a woman." She started to laugh when they watched her with wide eyes. "No I'm kidding. As it seems, my brother hasn't been very clear when he came here to talk to you. Didn't he tell you that he was here for me, for his little sister? I was in Brasil, was kinda expensive to stop by myself."

Juice gritted his teeth. He was damn sure that the blonde guy hadn't mentioned a little sister who was supposed to live here. He had even introduced himself as Jamie and shared details about his study! 

The girl heaved a sigh. "Great, you gotta be afraid that I'm some kind of identity thief now." She took her wallet from her pocket and showed him a picture of Jamie and – her. "Look, that's me and my brother Roman. He's been here, right?"

"Yeah..." he muttered. "But..."

"See? I told you!" Her bag bumped against his side when she rudely wriggled herself past him and Daphne, looking around curiously. "Oh, I like it! It's a beautiful place. We're gonna have so much fun!"

Juice exchanged a look with Daphne. 

She definitely didn't like it. 

And neither did he.