7 Deadly Roommates

by George Saoulidis

  “Yes. I guess that’s one thing that’s good about her. Anyway, would you be a dear and carry these bags for me?” She pointed at the middle-class shopping on the floor.

  “Of course, babe.”

  If it were anybody else, she’d have put a stop to calling her something as blasé as ‘babe.’ But Horace said it in a way that made her feel nice. She hurried away from the dreadful grocery store and he followed behind.

  They walked home. He stopped at a corner to adjust the bags in his hands, and as he was helpless like that, she kissed him. “Tell me where I’m wrong.” She asked him with her head held high, not looking at him.

  “What? About what exactly?”

  “You know what, don’t make me say it. Be honest. Tell me where I’m wrong,” she repeated.

  Horace bit his lip. “Okay, yeah. You know I like you a lot, right?”

  “Of course you do,” she said, motioning him to carry on.

  “Yeah, that. Anyway, here it is: Sometimes, our pride can get in the way.”

  “Hm,” she said, not adding anything. She could see him worrying and squirming all the way, anxious to see if he’d insulted her somehow. He hadn’t, but she wasn’t going to admit that anytime ever.

  Invidia was in their bedroom when he found her. He walked in looking hesitant. “Invidia, can I talk to you about something?”

  “Of course. What about?”

  “Could you please not wear Evie’s pyjamas? I know you didn’t have any to wear and it’s okay that you used them, but can you please take them off?”

  She looked down at her body. “Is that an attempt to get me naked?” she teased.

  He started. “No! I meant, put something else on, and-”

  She laughed. “It’s all right, I’m teasing. I got what you meant.” She took off the top half of her pyjamas anyway. Evie’s pyjamas. She noticed that Horace didn’t look away, so she made it a slow and erotic show. Throwing a t-shirt on from his closet, which was practically a dress for her, she took the bottom off too, this time being more decent.

  Horace took the pyjamas in his hands. “Thank you, I’ll go wash these before I forget. We can go and get you some comfortable clothes if you want? There’s a store close by, I think.”

  Invidia went up to him and stood on her tippy toes, then kissed him softly. She scrunched up her nose, “I’ll go with my sisters, you wouldn’t wanna go shopping with a bunch of girls, anyway.”

  Horace blinked and let his jaw hang, “It’s like you’re my dream girl. You get me.”

  “That I do,” she said, biting her lip. Then she slapped him on the butt. “Go, wash them. Before you forget.”

  Ira found him on the balcony, working out. He sometimes threw himself down on the floor and did push ups and sit-ups. Normally, he’d have an entire house to do that, but it was getting crowded these days, so he got outside. Also, Ira was certain it was due to his new-found confidence.

  She plopped herself down next to him and started working out too. “Come on, 10, 15, 20, is that all you can do?”

  He panted and sat down. “Hey, I’ve been at it for like twenty minutes.”

  “I didn’t see anything,” she said, outright rejecting his claim. She was at twenty push-ups already and counting.

  “Oh, you lousy mop, you’re on!” He started doing push-ups next to her, keeping up with her.

  “That’s all? I thought you were tough.”

  “I am tough! It’s just that you are impossibly tougher!” he said between breaths.

  She snorted. “Excuses.”

  He managed a couple more then fell down on his chest, panting. “I still don’t get you, Ira.”

  “It’s okay, nobody does.” She kept on doing push-ups.

  He put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey. I wanna try. I’ll keep on trying until I do. I’m not giving up on this.”

  Ira stopped and looked up at him, he was at a weird angle and she had to stretch her neck. She felt like tearing up, but tearing up was for losers. She turned around, pulled him down forcefully and planted a kiss on him. “Thank you,” she said, covering her face. Then she turned back down and carried on with her push-ups.

  Avaritia found him going over his finances. “Show me the money,” she demanded.

  “Wha-? Oh, here.” He showed her the bank balance of Representation Fantasy. She got wet just by looking at it. Ava opened her legs slightly and touched the inside of her thigh. Breathing hard, she pulled him close and kissed him softly on the lips. Horace’s eyes went wide, then he melted at her touch and responded in kind.

  “What was that about?” he asked, panting way too hard for such a small kiss.

  “I’m just pleased,” Avaritia said, giving him a smile.

  He smiled back at her. “Well, thank you, then.”

  “I didn’t do much. It was all you,” she shrugged the compliment away.

  “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask, what would have happened if I hadn’t earned enough tokens?”

  “I guess you would have died by now, young one,” she nodded slowly.

  Horace froze and dropped his pen. It was obvious that somehow, he knew she wasn’t joking.

  Chapter 71: Horace

  Horace carried the orders down to the courier office. It wasn’t that far away and the boxes were light, pretty much a plastic figurine lovingly wrapped in tons of shipping material. But he could tell he’d need some way to get them there when orders piled up. Perhaps a plastic trolley thing like the one they have at Zillions, it’s pretty much the same thing, big boxes, practically empty. It folded up and was pretty neat. He needed to figure out where to buy such a thing.

  He sent the orders to the customers, double-checked them just to be sure, and then walked back home. On the way over, considered something. He really wanted to get something for the girls to show his love and appreciation for them. He wasn’t kidding himself, there was no way the old Horace would ever start this sort of business on his own. The new Horace just looked back at him and shook his head.

  But, what could he get them? It was too hot for chocolates, they had their full of ice cream. Clothes? How could he even start to shop around for that? A little trinket? Not all of them would like it.

  In the end, he decided to go with the classics.

  He got out of the flower shop with seven red roses, all of them single, not in a bouquet. Then he slapped himself and got back inside to get one more for Evie, ‘cause why not?

  The florist lady looked at him weird but said nothing.

  Horace went back home with a bounce in his step. Things were looking up, he felt great, and even the damn heat was getting milder.

  He opened the front door to the house and noticed the absence of people. Perhaps they’d gone for groceries? No, Superbia had just complained about it a few hours ago. Or, maybe they went to get some clothes for Invidia?

  Yeah, that had to be it.

  Horace grabbed a flowerpot from the hallway, one of the many decorations of his parents that he hadn’t bothered putting into storage. “They might be gone for a while,” he said to himself and put water in it, then dipped the roses inside. He propped the vase on the bathroom corner, then noticed something strange: All the toiletries were gone. Not his own, the girls’. It was quite noticeable ‘cause he had like one shampoo to last the year and they had thirty. He ran to the other bathroom, same thing. It was neat and clean and had the utter lack of a female presence.

  He ran from room to room, everything was neatly tucked in, the bedsheets, the pillows, beds made, not a trace of their personal belongings. Just to make sure he checked the closets. Nothing apart from his own stuff. He checked the kitchen, the cot was neatly folded on the wall, he hadn’t noticed it walking by. The fridge was full of stuff, tuppers with a month’s lunches and dinners in them, prepared with love by Gula. He ran back to the living room, surely Acedia wouldn’t have budged from her spot. He was sure he’d find her there, napping, a cute little constant in the variables of his life. But it was empty as wel
l, her blanket neatly folded to the side, the sofa cleaned up from all the crumbs.

  He frantically checked his stats. The damn phone took too long to turn on! Oh, there, finally.

  E̵v̷i̵l̴ Thought

  Toke̷n̸s̸

  Gula

  11

  Lux̵u̴r̵ia

  13

  Avaritia

  7

  Superbia

  6

  I̶͔͊n̶̲̉v̸̥͗i̷͕̐d̸̢̋i̴̤̿a̴̼͑

  2

  Í̵̗ra

  7

  Aced̷̨́i̶͖͗ä̶͚

  1̴̼̅0̵̨͌

  “No, no!” The numbers and text got all jumbled up, then his phone flickered and turned off. The house suddenly felt so empty.

  He felt woozy and steadied himself on the wall. They were gone.

  They had left him.

  Chapter 72: Horace and Evie

  “I can’t believe it, but I’m actually gonna miss them,” Evie said, looking around the house. She was twirling the rose in her finger, smelling it.

  They sat at the dining room table which had become their work area for Representation Fantasy. With chargers and good WiFi signal, plus plenty of room to work on the figurines, it was the obvious choice. They had worked in silence for a few hours. Evie had given him some time to get through the shock, she worried a lot about him and wasn’t gonna let him stay alone.

  “I think I get it now,” Horace said after a few minutes. He held a 3D printed arm in place and Evie applied the glue. “Know how all those people who have sinned, they have gone all the way down and came back? And how sometimes they are the ones that can be devout and proper? It’s like that. That’s what I think.” He chewed on his thoughts for a long moment. “Unless you’ve been tested, you can’t know for sure what your mettle is.”

  “Yeah,” Evie said softly. “I get what you mean.” She stared at him, but he was lost in thought, frowning.

  “For example, a person says they’d never steal. Not ever. Fine. But have they ever manned a shop’s cash register? Have they ever been in a position to steal and perhaps get away with it? Unless they’ve been in that situation, they wouldn’t really know, would they?”

  Evie nodded bitterly. She pulled her chair close to him and touched his cheek. “They took nothing except what they came in with, didn’t they?” she said in a small voice. She already knew what the answer would be.

  He sighed. “Nothing at all.” His finger got stuck and he ripped it away, scratching at the glue on the tip.

  “I’m sorry I doubted them. I really grew quite fond of them these past few days. Okay, not Lux, I didn’t like her, and I won’t even talk about Invidia, but the others were very nice.”

  “No, you were right to worry.” He chuckled. “I mean, this whole thing was nuts! You were looking out for me.”

  “Always,” Evie said with a smirk.

  “Did Costa apologise to you?”

  “Yes! He did, just earlier-” She squinted at him. “Wait, how did you know?”

  He shrugged. “I had a hunch.”

  “Riiight... Yeah, be said he was sorry and brought me a drawing tablet as a gift, one of the good ones. I actually can’t wait to try it out!” She pulled it out of her bag, holding it like it was precious. She whispered as if she’d done something bad, “I haven’t even ripped the plastic off the screen yet.”

  Horace found that very amusing. She tried to act all bothered up, but she laughed along in the end. When they calmed down, Evie pulled the chair away from him again.

  Horace stopped her, and pulled her even closer. Evie’s chest went up and down, breathing laboriously. She turned her gorgeous hazel eyes up to him and he held her face close to his. He was confident and strong and...

  She climbed on top of him, sitting on his lap.

  He kissed her. She kissed him back. It was soft and romantic and everything they ever imagined it would be. Warm and lightheaded and just... right.

  He smiled, their lips still touching, neither of them wanting to let go. Their hands were on each other’s back, lifting each other’s t-shirt. “Sorry about this not being too romantic,” he said, rubbing his nose left and right onto hers. “But I got you a rose, that must count for something.”

  She kept on rubbing her lips on his, not wanting to stop the sensation. She felt as if now that it finally happened, letting go would spell the end. But she was grinning like an idiot and frankly, she felt like she was floating on air. “Horace,” she said simply.

  “What?”

  She pointed around. “We’re surrounded by our creations, and we’ve just finished working on our very own, growing business. This is the best place in the world for our first kiss.”

  “Oh, yeah? Then I know the best place for the second.” Horace picked her up and took her to his bedroom.

  She tried to attack his lips in the corridor as he carried her, biting and nibbling whatever she could get a hold of.

  “No, don’t kiss me yet. Not yet! Wait, we’re almost there. Wait!” he complained.

  He explored her, moving his fingers along her ribs. She breathed in small, hiccuping breaths. He went up and down her body. Their clothes were tossed all over the room, and he enjoyed how her skin felt, cool and warm at the same time, and how it looked, golden and black under his hand. He spread her knees apart, his fingers coming closer and closer to her privates with each pass.

  “Horace, no, please, Horace, no. Ahh!” she moaned.

  He touched the hood of her clit. He felt her entire body shivering under his control, like pressing the correct buttons on a keyboard.

  He kissed her all over, her neck, her chin, her ear, and she melted in his arms. He climbed over her and her knees fell to each side, giving him an easy entry. He leaned to the bedside drawer and grabbed a condom.

  “Wait, I want to do it,” she said, and ripped it free of the packaging. He sat straight and she touched his cock, which responded immediately, then kissed the tip. Then she put the folded condom on the same spot. She kissed him further down, feeling it shudder under her touch. Every kiss planted downwards took her closer to the base, and she unfolded the condom as she moved.

  When she was done, she raised an eyebrow. “Did I do good?”

  “Oh, yeah!” he said, pushing her on her back and climbing back on top of her.

  He put the tip inside her, her wetness making it barely felt for the both of them. He teased her, pushing inside her by centimetres, then pulling out. She became possessed, moaning, grinding her hips on his body, pushing herself down on the bed to get more of him inside.

  “Give it- give- giv- give it to me!” she panted between breaths.

  “Yes, baby,” he said, and took her as his own. He gripped the mattress properly and pummelled her down on the bed, making her scream with pleasure, her sound even more delightful than what he had ever imagined. The anticipation, the buildup for this entire thing made them both fully ready to be done with it.

  Her nails dug into his back. Shaking all over, she said, “I love you, Horace,” her voice breaking, her expectant eyes meeting his, her mouth slightly open.

  He held her tight as she orgasmed beneath him, and said, “I love you, Evie. I always did.”

  Evie leaned forward and kissed him with unquenchable thirst, her tongue matching his in perfect sync. It was enough to bring him over the edge.

  He pulled out at the last minute, took off the condom, shuddered once, then came on her belly.

  He propped himself with his head on the pillow next to her, breathing hard, enjoying the afterglow. Evie held him in a tight embrace and rubbed the hair on the back of his head. They laid there for a long time, bringing their pounding hearts to rest. She brought her mouth next to his ear, and she whispered, “I love you.”

  “I love you,” he said back.

  “I said it again, because I didn’t want you to think it was just because of the mindblowing orgasm you were giving me at that moment.”

  He moved so he could see h
er face. “And I too said it again, because I didn’t want you to think it was because of my sexual fantasy coming to life.”

  She scrunched up her nose, clenching her teeth. “Really? I was your fantasy?”

  He nodded. “Oh yeah.”

  She moved her hips to rub herself on his crotch. “What else did you fantasise doing with me?”

  He threw himself at her side and held her tight in his arms, his nose taking in the aroma of her hair. “This. Cuddling with you.”

  She rolled her eyes and slapped his arm. She squealed, “When did you become such a smooth bastard?” Then she wiggled herself to get more comfortable in his embrace.

  Horace sniffed. “I had practise. Lots and lots of pr-”

  “Yeah, don’t remind me!” she snapped back at him, then her anger deflated and she enjoyed their cuddle.

  They had a large breakfast the next morning. Gula had left them so much stuff prepared, that she must have somehow forgotten it was just for two people now. It was all so normal. Waking up together, the soft touches, the silent pauses. It was simultaneously the first and the hundredth day of their relationship.

  He took a big sip of his coffee and stood up. He was wearing his usual shorts and t-shirt, and Evie, of course, was wearing her comfy jammies once again.

  He went down on one knee. “Evie, I gotta pop the question here.”

  Her eyes twinkled.

  He jangled something in his palm, then held it up to reveal a metal ring with one extra key hanging.

  She gasped.

  “Evie, will you finally move in with me?”

  The End

  Did you enjoy this story?

  Leave a review on the shop you got this from or on Goodreads, just a few words are enough.