Falling for my roommate

1️⃣4️⃣

They pulled up outside of Charlotte's apartment and Conor gave her a tight smile, "Do you need me to go up with you?" He asked.

She shook her head slowly, her heart racing. Her ice pack had gone warm about an hour earlier, and her and Conor were left in the car with only the sound of the radio to fill the silence.

There was some dry tears on her face that she quickly wiped away, although she simply wanted to be able to walk through her apartment with her head down without anyone noticing her, she knew there would more than likely be more than just Thomas in there, and he wouldn't want to talk to her anyway.

"Bye Conor," she mumbled, closing the car door. He gave her a small wave as she put her head down and walked into her apartment, where she immediately bumped into a hard chest.

She kept her eyes down as she mumbled a 'sorry' although before she could speed off the man had his hand planted firmly on her waist.

"How was it?" She recognized Thomas's voice, but she didn't want to look up at him, she didn't want him to see her eye.

"It was okay," she mumbled, her voice shaking.

"What's wrong?"

She kept her eyes focused on her shoes as he tried to tilt her chin to force her to look at him, but she wouldn't.

"Charlie what happened?" He asked, noticing her strain against him.

He bent down, so he could now see her face , and a loud gasp came out of his mouth. "What the fuck happened to your face?"

She sighed and looked up, allowing him to stand up straight again, "I walked into a stop sign."

He scoffed, "The fact that you're so clumsy makes that believable, but if you really want to lie about it maybe think of something that could give you a bruise like that."

She rolled her eyes, "I... ran into a stop sign?"

Her statement came out as a question and he gave her a small smile, "Okay, that was a little bit better, but I want the truth alright?"

Charlotte sucked in a deep breath, "If I told you that Conor dealt with it and I don't want to talk about it would you let it slide?"

He sighed and looked at the bruise on her face, gently running his fingertips against it, making her wince.

"I don't believe I will let it slide Charlie, if someone hurt you then I want to know who."

She bit her lip gently as he rubbed her waist comfortingly. "What's going on here?" A voice grunted from behind Thomas's tall frame.

Thomas shifted to the side slightly and Dylan came into Charlotte's sight. He gave her a small smile, before he noticed her eye.

"What happened to you?" He snarled, making her jump.

Dylan stormed over to her and gripped her chin roughly before turning her cheek to get a better look at the bruise. "Ow Dylan," she mumbled.

He quickly let go, "Sorry."

"I ran into a stop sign," She lied.

He nodded slowly, rubbing his chin, "Oh, that's fine, I have to get going but I'll see you later."

He gently pecked  her lips and walked out of the apartment, leaving Thomas standing with a frown on his face. "Is he always that rough with you?" 

She shook her head gently, "No, he just has a short temper is all."

A deep line appeared on his forehead as he glared at the floor, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "So, what exactly sets him off?" He asked.

"Oh, I don't know, not a lot."

He gritted his teeth and continued to glare at the floor until he eventually looked back up at her, "You should probably put ice on your eye."

She rolled her eyes with a small smile on her face, "Sure."

•••

"So you're telling me, that you and Conor were playing a game on the PlayStation, and he got frustrated and threw the controller at you?" He asked with wide eyes.

Charlotte nodded gently and he shrugged, "Bullshit."

She flinched at the harshness of his voice and he rolled his eyes.

She stood up, "I don't care if you believe me."

He grabbed her elbow and pulled her into his chest, her back pressing against him.

"Tell me."

Charlotte sighed, "Alright. Basically my dad used to abuse me and call me all sorts of names and stuff, then Conor found out and told my mom who kicked him out, and then when we went back to the house yesterday we found out my mom was back dating him, there was a big argument and he did this to me."

Thomas gently kissed her shoulder, "I'm assuming Conor beat the shit out of him after?"

"Knocked him unconscious."

He nodded slowly, "Sounds about right."

"So I mean, what would he call you?" He asked quietly, making eye contact with her.

"Just stupid stuff, like he'd comment on my weight, or my grades. Anything he could find to make fun of me for he would."

He frowned deeply, "First of all your body is like, ridiculously perfect, second of all if you're in the same college as me then it's pretty obvious you're smart because, well I am too, and third of all I will kick his ass if I have to."

She giggled, placing a hand on his chest. "Thanks for making me laugh T, I really needed something to cheer me up."

He smiled warmly at her as she said her good nights and walked into her bedroom, where she quickly got into bed.

She couldn't stop herself from thinking about the fact that Dylan didn't seem to care that much about the fact that she was injured, which is what she wanted but at the end of the day she did find it strange that her roommate was more concerned than her boyfriend.

She also noticed that it was Thomas who had cheered her up and noticed that she was down, not Dylan.

He was the one who had noticed what she did when she lied, something she wasn't even aware of, and Dylan hadn't.

To be fair to Dylan though, the two of them hadn't spent a lot of time together for a while, they were both just very busy with work and school and simply didn't have time to see each other.

At least, that was what she told herself for hours that night.