by Bloom, Nikki
Winter stopped in front of the double vanity and seemed to consider her reflection. I walked up behind her, desperate to wrap my arms around her waist and hold her close. Our time together at the lake still lingered in my mind. I wanted to relive those moments, but with Winter keeping me at arm’s length that wasn’t about to happen any time soon.”
“I like the detailing against the edges here,” she pointed out. “Fits the green color scheme rather nicely.”
“Thank you.” I bowed graciously. “It’s good to know that if ever my career goes to shit, I have a chance as an interior decorator.”
“Yes, you would,” she agreed.
“So, what do you think? Would you like to live here?”
“That depends,” she answered.
“On?” I lifted my eyebrow in question.
“Whether or not you want me as a roommate. I want to make sure that I’m a good fit for your…needs. Don’t just take me in because you feel obligated to do so–”
I stopped her by placed both my hands on her arms and bringing her a step closer. “Letting you stay here would be far from charity. I’d be benefiting from it too because as far as I see it, you’re the perfect candidate. You’ll be quiet and studying for the most part, and for the other, I can see us having a few good laughs.”
“So, you’ll let me stay then?”
“Yes,” I answered. “Welcome home, roomie.”
“Okay, first of all, let’s set down some ground rules. Number one, don’t call me ‘roomie.’ Secondly, where’s Timber?”
“Hmm, right, that’s strange. He usually greets me by now.” I whistled and all of a sudden, I heard a pitter patter of footsteps coming up the stairs. A second later, he came barreling through the door and instead of stopping to say hello to me –his owner– he beelined it straight towards Winter. “Traitor…” I whispered underneath my breath.
Winter laughed. “He’ll warm up to you soon, don’t worry.”
“Not with you around, he won’t.”
“Is that jealousy I hear?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe. That’s a definite yes.” She laughed once again.
That sound was one that I would never tire of. Given the chance, I’d have that girl laughing all the time.
16
Reed
I still could not believe that such a beautiful girl was going to be living with me. Perhaps this was all some elaborate dream and I was due to wake up at any moment.
Timber danced around my feet as we both waited for the popcorn to finish, well, popping. I had never been very good at gauging when it was done. Nine times out of ten, I ended up burning the whole batch into pure oblivion.
“Everything alright in there?” Winter called from the living room. Through the opening in the wall, I could see her cuddled up on the couch. She had changed into some of my spare pajamas since neither one of us wanted to make the trek back to her apartment. I had promised her I would use my day off to help her move all her belongings. “Reed?”
“Yeah!” I answered. Quickly, I stopped the microwave, but as soon as I opened it, I was greeted by that telltale smell. Smoke billowed from the bag and towards the ceiling. I was certain the fire alarms were going to start blaring in a second.
Timber cocked his head and whimpered. “Guess it’s time for attempt number three,” I told him. “Third time’s the charm, right?”
“Having some technical difficulties?” Winter had snuck into the kitchen without me noticing.
I side-stepped towards the trash barrel. I didn’t want her to witness my horrible, horrible mistakes.
“What are you doing?”
“Making popcorn.”
“I’m no popcorn expert, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t take this long to make a bag of popcorn. What are you, growing the corn from the ground up?”
“Actually…”
She sniffed the air. “And what is that smell?”
Pop… Pop… Pop.
“Garbage disposal, probably.”
“Doesn’t smell like a garbage disposal.”
She reached forward and stopped the microwave. What she pulled out was an absolutely perfect bag of popped kernels. Not a single one was burnt. “How did you do that?” I asked with an air of wonder.
“You just have to listen. If there’s a one second delay between the pops then that’s when you take it out. Popcorn 101, Reed.”
“Right.”
She carried the bowl into the living room, and I followed. In front of me was quite a sight. Even in my baggy sweatpants, her ass had a nice, round shape to it. Oh, how I wanted to hold it in my hands again. My body warmed at the thought, forcing me to rush over to the couch and cross my legs one over the other. The last thing I wanted was for Winter to spot my growing hard-on. I really did not want to explain what had caused it. I didn’t think she would take well to the idea that I was actively fantasizing about bending her over the ottoman. Yeah… best to keep that private.
“Alright,” I said. “What would you like to watch?”
“I’m an easy woman to please. We can watch just about anything.”
An easy woman to please, huh? came that voice at the back of my head. We’ll see about that when–
No, I interrupted my own thoughts since my erection was getting rather painful to contain.
“Anything particular genre you like more than others?” I asked, trying to keep my voice level, but even so, it took on a huskier tone that I usually reserved for the bedroom.
“You okay?”
“Absolutely.”
“You just sound kind of funny.” Before she could say more, Timber joined us on the couch, laying right on Winter’s lap.
Lucky, I thought.
She ran his fingers through his fur. “Well, I am always up for an animal-themed movie.”
“Have you watched the one about a zoo?”
“There are tons of movies about zoos,” she countered. “You’re going to have to be more specific than that.”
“It just came out,” I said as I grabbed the remote and flicked through the options. “I swear, I saw it on here just the other day. The cover has a lion on it.”
“Lion – got it.” She helped me look but, in the end, we could not find it and settled on a rom-com we had both watched before. About halfway through, I felt a weight on my shoulder. It was Winter. She was fast asleep. I gently caressed her soft, silky hair.
She’s so beautiful. How could anyone even think of hurting someone so precious?
I grabbed a nearby blanket and draped it over her shoulders so I was sure she’d remain nice and warm. The fire was starting to die away. I wanted to add some more wood to the flames, but at the same time, I did not dare disturb her. So, I allowed her to sleep until the very end of the movie.
As the credits rolled by, I gently snuck my hands underneath her body and lifted her off the couch. She was as light as a feather.
“Mmm.” She nuzzled her face against my chest, starting to wake up.
“Shh, it’s okay,” I whispered. “I’m just taking you to bed.”
She remained half asleep as I carried her up the stairs and down the hall to her bedroom. When I laid her down on the mattress, I expected her to stay there, but as soon as I took a step backward, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What happened?”
“You fell asleep during the movie.”
“I did?”
“Yes. But don’t worry about it.”
“And you carried me here?”
“Yes.”
She looked down at her feet for a moment. “Thank you,” she whispered before she glanced upwards and locked eyes with mine. “You’ve really turned this day around for me. I never expected myself to laugh as much as I did today given what happened. I was scared –real scared– but being with you…” she trailed off and locked her fingers together.
“You don’t have to explain yourself, Winter. I’m just glad that he didn’t do anything to hurt you.”
“Being with you…” she said again. “It makes me feel…safe.”
I smiled. “And I hope that’s true for as long as we know each other because I wouldn’t consider myself a man if you were frightened of me.”
She got off the bed and wrapped her arms around my chest, hugging me tightly. “Always stay this way, alright?”
“I promise,” I whispered against her ear. “And if you ever need a knight in shining armor, you know who to call.”
17
Winter
I thought about asking Reed to stay the night in my bedroom, but my courage wouldn’t stretch that far. Yes, Reed had proven to be the cream of the crop. Unlike other men, he genuinely cared about me and didn’t let his own selfish desires get in the way of that. He wouldn’t take advantage of me as other guys had.
How can you be so sure? There it was – that nagging voice at the back of my head that always made me overthink things. This could all be an elaborate act.
No, I thought back. Reed is the real deal. He wouldn’t lie to me nor would he ever hurt me.
You keep thinking that, but you’ve thought it before and all it did was break your heart.
Reed is different, I insisted. I can tell just by the way he looks at me. He has done nothing but prove himself. I can’t keep blaming him for something he hasn’t done.
The voice was silenced because it no longer had any leg to stand on.
Reed is different, I told myself. Now let’s move on from this, shall we? I was hoping that all the voices in my head would listen because I wasn’t about to tolerate any more Reed backtalk. He was a good guy, end of story.
If after I was done with school, he was still on the market, then I would totally go for it.
The room felt stuffy. So, I got up and cracked the window. I savored the cool breeze against my skin.
But the question was: Would I be able to hold out until then? Even living with him for a short amount of time had proved that it was nearly impossible to keep these feelings bottled up inside. And the longer I waited, the more likely it became that someone else would snatch him up.
Would I ever be able to forgive myself if I allowed him to slip away? It was unlikely that I would ever find a guy so perfect.
Smart. Handsome. Respectful. He was batting a thousand in the dream boat league.
And then, of course, there was the sex…
Our time at the lake played out in my head like a silent film. With it came all the sensations that had burned through my body. Lust, yes, but more than that too. A real connection.
Had he felt it too?
The wind rustled the curtains. So I wouldn’t catch a chill, I returned to my bed and pulled up one of my study guides on my phone. As much as I wanted to fantasize about Reed all night long, I still had plenty of studying to do. I was falling behind and if I kept it up, there would be no hope of catching up.
Of course, it’s not that easy to study in the 21st century. Distractions were right at my fingertips. A few minutes on social media wouldn’t hurt, right? I had barely scrolled down my feed when an incoming call buzzed through my phone. It was Iris.
I answered almost immediately.
“Hello?”
“Girl, where have you been?” she said to me in obvious distress. “How come you’ve been ignoring my calls?”
“I’ve been…busy.”
“Don’t you lie to me. I can smell that stink from a mile away.”
I knew it was pointless to keep anything from my best friend. It was like a sixth sense of hers; she could pry me for almost anything, even the things I wanted to keep secret.
“Alright, alright,” I conceded. “I took up someone’s offer to be their roommate and I’ve been…settling in.” It wasn’t a lie, per se, just a little embellishment to the truth.
If I told her about the incident with Victor, she would freak out, and at this point, all I wanted to do was put that ordeal far, far behind me. I had filed a formal complaint against Victor, and now the police department would investigate the matter and determine whether there was enough for charges to be brought to court. Really, I didn’t want it to get to that point; all I wanted to do was scare Victor a bit so he’d finally get the message and leave me the fuck alone. So, in the meantime, I would keep the matter to myself. There was no point in worrying my best friend. Now, if found myself forced to take further legal action, then that was totally different. Iris would be the first person I’d ask to testify.
“And who is this person? Do you know them? What was wrong with your old apartment?” Iris’ moment of silence was over, and now that she had gotten grips on what I had said, she was firing me with an arsenal of questions. “And why the hell didn’t you tell me you needed a roommate? I would have made room for you at my place–”
“Iris, please.” I pinched the bridge of my nose because I knew she was going to make this difficult. “One question at a time or you’re going to make my head explode.”
“Who’s this roommate?”
I hesitated. I knew she wasn’t a big fan of Reed, but then again, Iris wasn’t much of a fan of anyone I liked. She had seen what past boyfriends had done to me and she knew from experience just how painful it was to make yourself vulnerable. She was only trying to protect me, but what were we supposed to do? Live the rest of our lives running from the pain? That didn’t seem like a good path to happiness.
“Winter? Who’s this roommate?”
“Reed.”
“The new guy in town.”
“Yes,” I answered even though by the sound of her tone I knew it wasn’t a question. “He has been kind enough to let me live with him, free of charge.”
“Free of charge? I’m sorry, honey, but there has to be a catch. Is he expecting you to have sex with him or something?”
“No,” I said. “I already explained to him that I’m not interested in a relationship at the moment and he seemed okay with it.”
“Really?” She sounded skeptical. “Because if you ask me, he’s up to something.”
“You always think someone’s up to something.”
“Because, most of the time, they are. Just think of Victor–”
“Yeah, let’s not talk about that.”
“Huh? Did something happen?”
“It’s a long story and I’d rather not get into it right now,” I said, but it was kind of pointless because I knew that Iris wouldn’t let this go.
“Winter. Talk to me.”
“He tried to stop me on the side of the road today. He said he was leaving and that he wanted to give me a proper goodbye…” I felt my throat start to tighten.
“That bastard didn’t do anything to hurt you, did he?”
“No, but he was definitely gunning to do something. So, I ran to the police station and filed a complaint against him. You know, as a scare tactic so he doesn’t keep harassing me.” I paused and rolled over so I was lying on my stomach. “It was Reed’s idea,” I said.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I…”
“You called Reed, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “I just figured I’d be a little safer with him around – no offense.”
“I’d say ‘none taken,’ but, girl, what were you thinking? When something like that happens, you call me.”
“I just… it’s awkward with him being your ex and all.”
“I don’t care about that. All that matters is your safety. Victor can rot in hell for all I care.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled while tugging at a loose stitch in the sheets. I felt like I had dropped the ball and let Iris down. She was right – I should have called her.
“But, speaking of which, I heard that Victor got arrested this evening for getting in a fight with a police officer. I wonder if it has anything to do with that complaint of yours. They’d have to investigate your claim, right?”
“Maybe…” I whispered. I really didn’t like the fact that I had potentially caused his arrest. I didn’t want that
shit to come back and bite me in the butt because sure as hell, Victor wasn’t going to be very happy about it.
“In any case, that thick-headed asshole deserved it. I hope he becomes someone’s bitch while he’s in jail.”
“Uh… I can’t say I agree because that’s a little harsh, even for a guy like Victor.”
“Pfft, if you think I have sympathy for that dickwad–”
“Trust me, if anyone hates his guts more than I do, it’s you,” I said. “I’m just glad that I’m free to walk the streets without worrying that he’ll be stalking my shadow.”
“No one should live like that.”
“I know. And if it continues after this, I’ll be getting a restraining order.”
“Well, if there’s one thing I like about this Reed guy it’s that he convinced you to do something about Victor.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. The conversation kind of died away after that.
“Well, it’s getting late. I have work in the morning–”
“Thanks for calling,” I said, interrupting her. “It was really good to hear your voice amidst all this chaos.”
“You know you never have to hesitate about calling me.”
“I know.”
“And Winter?”
“Yeah?”
“Just promise me that you’ll be careful around this guy. We don’t know enough about him to know what his true colors really are.”
“I promise.”
“Goodnight, Winter.”
“Goodnight, Iris.” Despite hearing the click of the call being dropped, I kept the receiver against my ear. I missed the carefree days when Iris and I were still growing up. Everything was so different back then. Now? There was so much to worry about.
I dropped the phone onto my pillow and was about to return to my studying when I heard a soft scratching coming from my door. I cocked my head to the side. What was that?
Scratch. Scratch.
Finally, it dawned on me – Timber.
I opened the door and he barreled inside. He ran straight for the bed and jumped onto the mattress, curling into a tight little ball. “Hey there, little buddy.” His tail wagged as I ran my hand down the length of his spine. “Are you going to keep me company tonight?”