Raunchy Roommate

by Bethany Morgan

  Bradley shrugged nonchalantly, causing Grace's arm to lift up a little since her hand was still connected with his. "Nah, I call her like everyday. It's all good," He insisted then his gaze flickered to me. "Oh and Annabel, I'm really sorry about the whole Benjamin thing. He was kind of a dick about all of it."

  "It's alright," I assured him, since I honestly wasn't as upset as I had expected to be. I glimpsed up at Stuart and my mouth immediately curved into a bubbly smile. "I have my eye on someone else now anyways."

  "Oh, okay," Bradley said with a nod. Then his light colored eyes widened and a smirk covered his face. He changed his tone to a very sly sounding one. "Ohhhh, okay."

  Grace giggled, transmitting a sense of pride with just one bit of eye contact with me. She's always been rooting for Stuart, even though he's usually a jerk to her. "You owe me ten bucks, Bradley!"

  "What? No! They aren't even official yet," Bradley protested, jumping in the air frantically.

  Stuart groaned loudly again. "Jesus Christ, can you go gamble somewhere else?"

  Clayton had dropped us off at the airport early in the morning, the two of us wheeling our luggage behind our bodies as we headed towards the entrance. Various crowds of paparazzi were already lined up, and the flashes of bright lights blinded me as they kept taking pictures of us. Stuart placed his hand on the small of my back, as if it was some type of protective escort, and then the roar of calls for our names grew even louder.

  I stepped inside the airport, Stuart behind me and shielding me from the obnoxious photographers just trying to get a picture of us together to sell as a story that we were Hollywood's latest "it" couple. Maybe in the future that could potentially be true.

  I took off my black sunglasses and folded them onto my sweatshirt. People roaming around the corridors pointed at us and whispered, obviously recognizing at least one of us, but never coming up to talk to us. I always craved conversations with new people, so sometimes I really wish that the whole "famous persona" didn't give off the idea that I was intimidating. I was still a normal human being, just with a not-so-normal job.

  "You okay?" Stuart asked in concern after I let out a deep exhale.

  "I'm fine," I promised him, slipping my fingers in between his as we strolled towards security and ignored the stares on us. My face felt like it was burning up from all of this attention, and I'm sure Lucy would be texting me shortly to lay off any PDA unless we want more rumors circulating around us.

  Lucy and Keagan haven't given us many instructions since the whole roommates agreement became a thing, but I wasn't sure if there were any rules we had to uphold about the two of us actually dating. The only thing I know for sure is that being forced to live with Stuart is one of the greatest things that have ever happened to me.

  Chapter 24

  Stuart

  As soon as we got situated in our fancy first class seats, I leaned my head back against the pillow propped underneath and shut my eyes. I always got the best sleep when I was on an airplane, especially a flight that is as ridiculously long as this one.

  Annabel gasped loudly. "What are you doing? You can't go to sleep now! We are just about to take off!"

  I lazily smiled at her bewildered exclaims. "And your point is?"

  "How can you fall asleep during the worst part of the entire flight?" She practically yelled, her face looking incredibly shocked.

  I poked her side with my pointer finger to tease her, since this was becoming incredibly amusing to me. "Aw, it's not that bad, Anna. It's just like a roller coaster."

  "And who the hell sleeps on a roller coaster?" She sneered, her jaw clenching together as the flight attendants made the announcement that we would be preparing to take off soon.

  "Is little baby Annabel scared of the big bad airplane?" I cooed in my best impression of a toddler voice. Annabel kept her gaze on the seat in front of us with her lips pursed, refusing to even glance over at me beaming at her. "Aw, baby. You're adorable."

  She elbowed me in the chest, making a bubble of laughter escape my lips. "Shut up," Annabel hissed, although I could see a faint grin lying on her mouth. "You used to be scared of Goofy from Mickey Mouse when you were a kid!"

  "It was a dog that acted like a human! But Pluto was a dog too and did he freaking walk on two legs? No! You can't even deny that that's scary," I complained, soundly getting overly defensive. She just giggled her cute little giggle, and my anger faded away. "Aren't you used to flying by now? You have to fly all the time."

  The plane began to speed down the runway and she squealed with fright, instantly picking up my hand and intertwining our fingers together. I squeezed it tightly, initiating another flutter of butterflies to appear in my stomach. "It's okay, Ann. I got you."

  Her green eyes that I found to be the most beautiful sparkling gems in the world were completely shut, along with her mouth that was clamped together. I rubbed my thumb along her hand carefully as the speed progressed even further until the wheels on the plane were no longer touching the ground.

  She let out a sigh of relief, smiling at me in a casual manner. "I'm fine now. I just don't like the beginning," Annabel explained in her usual peppy tone, leaning over me to look out of the window. "Look how pretty LA looks from the sky."

  "Not as pretty as you," I retorted in a sing-song tone.

  Annabel pretended to gag. "That was so cheesy and weird. Never do that again, Stu."

  I chuckled. She had almost the same sense of humor as me, which was the main reason the two of us had become such good friends as children. But now it just made me like her even more.

  I studied her face carefully, watching her eyes light up as she continued to inspect every detail of the city we were hovering above until we would finally reach the clouds. The sunlight shining in from the window illuminated her entire face, making her cheekbones seem to shimmer and her skin to glow from the reflection. I can't believe I used to ever look at this face with annoyance, because right now all I can think about is kissing her.

  "Can we go make-out in the bathroom?" I suggested, making her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "Maybe we can join the mile-high club."

  She rolled her eyes at me, letting out a little snort of laughter. "The seat-belt light is still on, Stuart."

  "So, later?" I pressed, tilting my head to look at her as she sat back into her squishy chair.

  Annabel let go of my hand to loosely cross her arms across her sweatshirt-covered chest. "Stu," She whined. "I told you I want to take things slow."

  "I know," I replied, since I did actually know. I had obviously screwed her up when I slept with her and then humiliated her for it, and it would probably take a long time for her to overcome it. But I was willing to wait as long as she needed.

  "Also," Annabel started, tucking a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear before continuing. "When we get home, we can't act like we like each other, okay? My dad will have a heart attack if he even finds out that we have been sleeping in the same bed together. But when he finds out it's not just a friendly thing anymore like it used to be, I'm positive they will not let me live with you."

  "Your dad loves me," I stated proudly, thinking of all the good times I've shared with Mr. McKenzie.

  "My dad loves you since you're my best friend. He will not love you once he finds out that you took his daughter's innocence," Annabel said with a chuckle, picking my hand up to hold it again. "Please try not to show any signs that we are more than friends, okay? I really don't want to move out."

  Happiness seeped through my veins as the words left her mouth so effortlessly. Being roommates was no longer a punishment for her anymore. She actually wanted to live with me.

  I leaned over the arm rest and planted a kiss onto her cheeks, making her smile instantly. "I'll try, babe."

  "Thank you," Annabel responded gratefully. She leaned her head onto my shoulder and released her lovely smell of perfume into my nostrils as she was now in wafting distance. "You can go to sleep now, Stu."

  "Bu
t if I fall asleep then I can't talk to my girl," I said with a shrug, making her cheeks turn to a shade of bright pink.

  Annabel kissed my shoulder in an affectionate manner. "I don't know why we never tried this before. Being with your best friend is the easiest thing in the world."

  I nodded to agree with her. I've never felt so smitten before, but I can guarantee it's because I haven't had a connection between any girl the way I have with Annabel. "Well we tried that one time, but..."

  She laughed lightly. "I know. But I'm just really glad I finally realized how good we are together, Stuart. Please don't hurt me though, okay? I don't want to hate you again."

  I placed my palm on her thigh, rubbing small circles against her leg with my thumb as if this motion would give her some sense of reassurance. "I won't, baby," I promised, hoping that the asshole characteristic that came out when we were younger would never make an appearance again. "I'll wait as long as you'd like to call you my girlfriend, Ann. Just remember that."

  "I will, Stu," She told me with a yawn, letting her eyelids close. "Wake me up when-"

  "September ends?"

  "I'm going to murder you," Annabel mumbled, making me chuckle since she always found my ability to apply song lyrics to be any situation annoying and only slightly funny. "Wake me up when we get there."

  I leaned forward and kissed the top of her head without even questioning myself. This was all becoming so natural for me, as if this was the way things always were supposed to be. I couldn't believe it was only a few days ago where I was moping around about her falling for her Benjamin even though he treated her terribly. I'm so glad I secretly encouraged Sarah to get back in touch with him.

  Our exhausted bodies were currently on the doorstep in front of Annabel's house, knocking on the front door and hoping someone would answer. We had decided to not tell either of our parents that we were coming home, to make it a huge surprise for them, but now I was little scared that no one would let us in.

  "Should I just go inside?" Ann asked, fumbling for her keys after another failed attempt at knocking.

  "Yeah I guess so." I shrugged, taking the keys out of her hand. "Let me open it though. This is kind of creepy that no one is home when it's only like nine o'clock."

  She smiled at me. "It's actually nearly midnight, Stuart. They could be sleeping."

  I ignored her comment and twisted the key into the lock, slowly opening the front door. I made sure to stand in front of Annabel, just in case something was going to pop out at us. But the house was completely barren and the lights were all off.

  "Hello?" I called out, but there was not even a stir of movement. I turned towards her with a disappointed expression. "Come on, we'll go to my house. I don't want you here alone."

  She laughed lightly. "Stu, this is my house. I'm perfectly safe here and you know that. My parents are probably just sleeping, and I'll see them in the morning."

  I grasped her hand and tugged her away from there. "Maybe they aren't just sleeping. Your parents are always home on Saturday nights and there are no signs of anyone home right now. I'm freaked out."

  Annabel rolled her eyes but still followed me to the house next door. My house. It was a walk we were both accustomed to, since everyday after school we would each go over to one of each other's houses to do our homework together and then just hang out. I basically spent half of the week at her house and she spent half of the week at mine, so this whole roommates concept isn't actually all that foreign to us.

  I opened our front door without even knocking, mainly because I could hear commotion from inside and because I really didn't care about privacy since this was my home. I spotted a crowd of people huddled around the dining room table, and a chorus of gasps all echoed through their mouths as their heads turned to look at us.

  "Honey, I'm home!" I sang obnoxiously, making everyone leap from their chairs.

  Annabel's hand dropped from mine as my mother sprinted towards me with a giant smile, her eyes already started to well up with tears. I chuckled, wrapping my arms around her and enjoying the familiarity of my mother's touch. "My boy!" She squealed, kissing my cheek.

  "Hi Mum, I've missed you," I told her, finally releasing her from the embrace. "Are you surprised?"

  "Extremely!" She exclaimed, holding one hand to her heart as my father shuffled over towards me.

  "Stu!" He cheered, hugging me as well and patting my back. "We've missed you so much."

  "I've missed you too, Dad," I replied with honesty. No matter how old I got I always craved my family to be surrounding me. You learn to appreciate them so much more when you are away for so long. And I couldn't be happier to see them all again.

  I glimpsed over to Annabel who was in tears as she hugged her own parents, who must have come over here for one of their get-togethers that they have pretty much every weekend.

  Mali appeared out of nowhere, making my grin spread even wider. She jumped into my arms and hugged me tightly while screaming happily about how she was so excited to see me again. We've always had such a close sibling bond.

  "I can't believe you two are actually here," Mrs. McKenzie gushed, who also was scurrying over to me to give me a hug.

  "Me either," I agreed, swinging my arm around Annabel's shoulder in a strictly friendly manner. "But damn, I'm so glad we are."

  Chapter 25

  Annabel

  My throat was starting to become dry due to the amount of conversations I have participated in today. It didn't bother me in the slightest- I was incredibly happy to be able to spend my entire day chatting with my parents on everything we've been up to- but now I could really use a smoothie.

  It was weird sleeping alone last night, but there was no better feeling than being snuggled up in my childhood bed that was now much too small for my nineteen-year-old body. It was also quite peculiar to not have Adam jumping on the mattress in the morning to wake me up, or to have my older brother, Oliver, not be in the room next door to me since he had finally moved out earlier this year.

  Oliver was coming over soon, along with his wife, Elizabeth. They had gotten married last year and had one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever seen. Stuart had a show that night, so he was thankfully unable to attend, because I can only imagine how different that evening would have went if the Maid of Honor got into a fight with her enemy. Oh, how things have changed.

  Speaking of which, I decided to pull my phone out and text Stuart. My thumb hovered above his contact for several moments before I finally clicked on his name. I had to admit I was a bit nervous to text him, simply because I haven't done this in four years. We lived together so there was no reason to text each other when we could have face to face conversations everyday. But now he was currently with his own family, and I was currently missing him.

  To: Stu - hi

  To: mckenzie - babe!

  To: Stu- can you come over

  To: mckenzie- clingy much

  To: Stu- stfu i miss you

  To: mckenzie- i love that song! you know me so well!!

  To: Stu- never mind

  To: mckenzie- :(

  To: mckenzie- i'll be there in like 10 minutes after i finish kicking mali's butt at fifa. do you need anything?

  To: Stu- a smoothie please? x

  To: mckenzie - such a diva

  To: mckenzie- miss you too btw

  I turned my phone off so the screen was now black, whereas my cheeks were blushing a bright color of red. Stuart just made me so giddy. I can't believe it took the two of us this long to finally realize the chemistry between us.

  A clinking sound echoed throughout the kitchen, making me glimpse up to the source of the sound. It was simply my father placing his cup into the sink and he smiled warmly at me when we made eye contact. "It's so nice having you home, Anna."

  "It's so nice being here," I countered, since I still couldn't get over how nice it felt to be within the walls of my childhood. Every time my feet even barely grazed across the top of the hardwood floors my
body was shot with a sense of overwhelming nostalgia.

  My fingers traced over the counter top, admiring the coldness of the granite against my smooth skin. Even though I was just sitting here doing nothing, it was comforting knowing I was surrounded by family and by the memories floating in the atmosphere.

  Dad opened his mouth to speak again, but we were interrupted by the front door opening, revealing my brother and his wife. "Oliver!" I cheered, leaping off of the chair to go hug him.

  He chuckled as he stumbled backwards as I tackled him into a hug. Oliver smiled at me as I released my grip around him, and his green eyes that were nearly identical to my own stared at me with pride. "My baby sister is all grown up. This is so weird. I've missed you so much, Anna."

  "I've missed you too," I agreed. When we were younger we used to fight a lot, especially when the gender card came into play. Mali and I used to always team up against Oliver and Stuart as kids, and sometimes I think the feud still lingers.

  "Hi, Elizabeth," I greeted, pulling her in for a hug as well. I was fortunate enough to actually like my sister-in-law. She was beautiful, sporting dusty brown hair and hazel eyes that reflected a golden shade in the sun, along with clothes that were always trendy. Elizabeth also didn't like to be called Liz, or Beth, or Eliza. Just Elizabeth. And I liked that.

  "Hi, Annabel. It's so good to see you! Well, in person. We just all watched your new movie the other night at the cinema and I loved it," Elizabeth gushed, placing her hand on my shoulder as she spoke.

  I grinned. I always felt awkward when people brought up my acting, but that little boost of recognition from those you really care about was such a humbling feeling. "Thank you. So how have you guys been?"

  The front door that we were still huddled around swung open again, this time revealing the boy who I haven't been able to get out of my mind. My heart started pounding against my chest just due to his presence, and I had to remind myself that this was just next-door-neighbor Stuart and not I-want-to-lick-your-face Stuart since my family was around.