Heart Over Mind

3. Maverick

I have to go through three keys before I pick the right one. I'm not prone to being this unfocused, and I can't say I like it. When I finally open the door, I'm met with the smell of bacon and scrambled eggs. I didn't realize it was already Friday. The days kind of blend together when you spend them all at home and your roommate's nocturnal every other week.

"The entire apartment smells, man," I say looking at the pile of dirty bed sheets on the couch. I've lived with Jasper for the past five years. We always joke that it's four years too many, but neither of us have even considered moving out. He's messy, doesn't do his laundry often, and jams the stereo at all the wrong times. I don't really blame him, though. He works the night-shift at the county hospital more often than not, so times that are odd to me are completely normal to him.

"Do we have orange juice? I mixed some milk and apples, but it's looking sort of chunky," he shouts from the kitchen, sniffing the blade-end of the blender. I can't help but roll my eyes when he licks it. The last time he tried that, he cut his tongue and made me stitch the damn thing up. I'm not doing that shit again. Well, I barely did it the first time, now that I think about it.

"I thought you had leftovers. Why are you cooking?" I peak across the doorframe and towards him. He's still trying to figure out whether the smoothie he made us salvageable, so he's not listening to me. I can already tell from here that it's not. It smells sour and rotten, so I don't understand why he's trying so hard to save it.

"I like cooking. Keeps me calm," he nods, smiling at his buttery eggs. Jas is a general surgical resident, and he's seen the insides of people who eat the way he does and cook the way he does, so I could never figure out why he puts this much goddamn butter in his eggs. I don't understand even more why I always eat them with him.

I grab a spoon and scoop up a full bite from the pan. They're good. Disgusting, but good.

"Why were you out there so long? You good?" I don't look up at him, but I shrug. I don't really know the answer to that, so I'll choose to not answer at all. I thought I was good for most of the night, but then she sighed, and I looked at her, and I felt completely invaded, as if all the peace I knew the last few hours was fake.

"Someone new moved in. Have you seen her?" I decide. Jas chuckles to himself that way I can't stand, and nods.

"Yeah, she's hot." He doesn't say anything else besides that for a while. I want to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. As smart as he could be, Jasper was equally dim. Or shallow. Not empty, though.

"Did you see her? Pretty sure that's her car parked out front. There's a county hospital sticker on the side view, so I think she works with me," he continues, plating our dinners without looking at me.

That would make sense. It was one in the morning when I left, and I don't think most working people with regular hours stay up that late on a Tuesday.

"I haven't seen her in my department yet. I'll let you know if I do, though." I don't like how he says that, as if I asked my question with intention. More than anything, I just wanted to know whether she's creeped on him too. But Jasper never really sits out on the steps, so it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense if she did.

"Don't bother," I respond, grabbing some fruit from the pantry.

"Oh, shit. Are you seeing Sam again?" He looks up at me with a regretful expression. I can't make out whether it's because he mentioned Sam or because he mentioned a girl that isn't Sam. I'd normally correct him. I'm not seeing Sam at all - the harder I think about it, I never really was. But I don't want to continue talking about a neighbor I don't know, so I'll just agree. I can fix it later, anyhow.