The Roommate Arrangement

by Jae

  Rae grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and closed the door. At least it would give her hands something to do. She unscrewed the cap and took a sip while turning around, aiming for nonchalance. “Hope I didn’t wake you.”

  “Um, hi. No, I was up anyway,” someone said from the other side of the living area. The voice was female, but it definitely wasn’t Steph’s. “I want to make it back to my place before my sister wakes up and sees me do the walk of shame.”

  Water dribbled down Rae’s chin. She stiffened, her body going into defense mode. Why the hell was there some stranger in the apartment in the middle of the night? She flailed her hand around until she found the light switch.

  When the overhead lights flared on, they squinted at each other.

  The redhead with the freckled nose looked familiar, but for a second, Rae was distracted by the bra sticking out of her purse.

  Wait a minute! Wasn’t that…? “You’re the U-Haul girl.” To be more precise, the redhead had been the U-Haul employee who had been there when they had taken the moving trucks back. Steph had flirted shamelessly with her. What a smooth operator! She must have managed to get the woman’s number without Rae noticing.

  “And you’re the roommate.” The redhead slipped on her shoes, which she had carried in her hand.

  Rae gestured at the apartment. “Obviously, or I wouldn’t be here in the middle of the night.”

  U-Haul Girl blushed and eyed Rae in her sleepwear, which consisted of a pair of boxer shorts and a T-shirt that stuck to her sweat-dampened skin.

  Was Steph’s conquest checking her out? Christ, this was getting more bizarre by the second. Rae folded her arms across her chest. “The sun will be up soon. Wouldn’t want your sister to wake up before you make it home.”

  “Steph is definitely the roommate with the charm,” the redhead muttered.

  Rae didn’t care what she thought. Unexpectedly coming face-to-face with a stranger, especially after a nightmare, had made her patience run out, and she just wanted her gone—now.

  U-Haul Girl marched past her with a haughty look.

  “Your bra’s sticking out,” Rae commented.

  The redhead stuffed it more deeply into her purse, opened the door, and walked out without another glance back.

  “Hope Steph didn’t want a second date.” Rae stared after her for a little longer, then turned off the light and went back to bed. She’d have to have a talk about overnight guests with Steph in the morning.

  Rae couldn’t have slept more than three or four hours, but after her pre-dawn encounter with U-Haul Girl, she hadn’t managed more than a restless dozing. A little before seven, she heard Steph get up and come out of her room. Maybe she was looking for her playmate, wondering where she had gone.

  When the scent of freshly brewed coffee trailed through the apartment, Rae gave up on sleep. She rolled out of bed, reached for a pair of sweatpants, and went to load up on caffeine.

  The living area was an obstacle course of half-unpacked moving boxes that Steph must have opened while looking for something.

  Rae carefully stepped around each box and rubbed her left eye, which felt as gritty as if she had weathered a sandstorm. Maybe she’d have to give it a rinse later. But first, coffee.

  The counter was littered with clean mugs, and one of the cupboards stood open.

  What the hell? Hadn’t all of the dishes been neatly put away already? How had Steph managed to create such chaos within minutes of getting up?

  Rae firmly closed the cupboard. God, this was like living with her parents again.

  The only thing saving Steph now was the fact that she’d made enough coffee for Rae too.

  Somewhat mollified, she looked around for her favorite mug, but all of the cups littering the counter had funny slogans and obviously belonged to Steph. She opened the cupboard.

  Nothing. Her mug wasn’t in there either.

  Had it gotten lost in the chaos of moving day, with so many helpers around? Or had someone used it and put it into the dishwasher?

  Rae gritted her teeth. Mike had always teased her about being territorial and not sharing well. But now, it was about more than that. The mug she used every morning was oversized and white. The contrast between the white porcelain and the black coffee made it easier for her to judge when she had to stop pouring.

  She probably didn’t need that little trick anymore, but she had grown used to that mug.

  Grumbling, she selected another, reached for the coffee pot, and poured herself some coffee.

  A bit of the steaming black liquid sloshed onto the counter. Dammit. She hadn’t spilled any beverages in quite some time, but if she was tired or distracted, it could happen more easily. Or if someone steals my mug. She tore off a paper towel and wiped down the counter. This day was not off to a good start.

  Someone else was having a great morning, though.

  As Rae passed by on her way to her room, cheerful whistling drifted over from the balcony. Steph sat on one of the two chairs, which was tilted back so she could put her feet up on the tiny table. Despite the cool early-morning November temperature, she hadn’t bothered getting properly dressed before stepping outside. Her spaghetti top revealed smooth shoulders, and bare feet stuck out of her sweatpants.

  For a second or two, Rae forgot about her missing mug and marveled at the way the rising sun bathed Steph’s face in orange hues and made her tousled hair look strawberry blonde. Then Rae’s gaze went from the bare skin on display to the large, white mug cradled between Steph’s slender fingers. She let out a low growl. Mine!

  Steph looked up. A welcoming smile spread over her face, as if she wasn’t aware of having done anything wrong. “Hey, good morning. I see you found the coffee.”

  Rae stepped out onto the balcony but didn’t return the smile. “I see you found my mug.”

  “Oh, sorry. Is this yours?” Steph looked at the mug in her hands. “I didn’t pay attention to what I was grabbing. I just reached for the biggest mug I could find because I need a bucket-sized coffee after last night.” She put the mug down, yawned, and stretched like a cat, which made her top slide up.

  Against her will, Rae’s gaze was drawn to a strip of fair skin and a pierced belly button, and that annoyed her even more. There was no reason for her to find this mug-stealing comic even remotely attractive. “Next time, I would appreciate it if you used your own mug—and put the ones you’re not using back into the cupboard.”

  “Jeez. Looks like your night wasn’t as great as mine.” Steph took another sip of her coffee, and the sight of her full lips on the rim of Rae’s mug was strangely distracting. “Didn’t sleep well?”

  Rae grunted something. No way would she discuss her nightmares with Steph.

  “Oh shit.” Steph slid her legs off the table and sat upright. “Did we keep you up? I’m so sorry. We tried to be quiet, but…”

  Truth be told, Rae hadn’t heard them, probably because she’d been caught in the grip of the nightmare. But that didn’t mean she was fine with having a parade of strangers in her home. “Yeah, about that… I think we should establish some house rules.”

  “Rules?” Steph repeated as if it were a word in a foreign language.

  Rae wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation this early on a Sunday morning, but this needed to be said once and for all. She slid out the folding chair and sat across from Steph. “I think it’s disrespectful to bring home overnight guests without telling me first.”

  Steph shrugged. “It was a spontaneous thing, so it’s not like I could have asked permission beforehand.”

  “Well, then maybe next time, you need to spontaneously think of someplace else to take your…um, friends. Because this,” Rae placed her hand on the table and spread her fingers apart as if to claim it, “is my home too, and I don’t feel comfortable with a bunch of strangers parading through my space with
their bras hanging out of their purses.”

  “A bunch?” Steph rolled her eyes. “I’m not planning on having an orgy in my room, but yeah, I enjoy an active sex life, and I have no intention of living like a nun because you might not like it. This is my home too, so you can’t just decide on the rules on your own. If I wanted silly rules about who I can or cannot sleep with, I would have moved back in with my parents.”

  “I don’t care who you sleep with, as long as you don’t do it here.”

  Steph thumped the mug onto the table. “If this is how you want to start this cohabitation…fine.”

  They sat caught in a stare-down for several moments before Steph picked up her mug—Rae’s mug—and stormed past her, muttering something that sounded like, “Way to burst a girl’s rose-colored postcoital bubble.” The door to her room banged shut.

  Rae winced and rubbed her eye. Welcome to life with a roommate.

  CHAPTER 7

  “Gilli, no!” Penny said for the twentieth time since they had entered the park and tugged the beagle away from a banana peel before Gilli could gobble it up. “God, I really should ask for more money for walking her. If I let her, she’d eat anything that is lying still for more than a second.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Rae seems to think about me too.” Steph kicked a pebble out of the way.

  Penny turned toward her, her eyes wide. “What?”

  Steph buried her fingers in Moose’s tan-and-white fur as the Saint Bernard/Labrador mix lumbered along the paved path next to her. He looked back at her, and the adoration in his gentle brown eyes instantly soothed her. Thankfully, Penny didn’t believe in large pack walks, so Steph could focus on Moose and didn’t have to handle half a dozen dogs. But since Gilli and Moose loved each other, they sometimes met up when their walks were scheduled for the same time. “Ms. Tall, Dark, and Moody and I had a little disagreement about sleepovers yesterday. I’m all for it; she isn’t.”

  “Thank God, at least one of you has some sense!”

  Steph stopped in the middle of the path, so joggers and other people with dogs had to veer around them. That was the last reaction she had expected from her usually understanding best friend. “What?”

  “Oh, come on. Even you have to know that sleeping with your roommate would be a really bad idea. It’s not like you can just walk out the next morning, like you usually do. If things go sour, one of you will have to move.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Steph said. “You know I don’t hook up with club employees.”

  “Since when?”

  A Pokémon Go player with his gaze glued to his phone nearly bumped into Steph, so she continued along the winding path without stopping again. “Since that bartender I slept with a couple of years ago.”

  Penny frowned. “I don’t remember that.”

  “It was a one-time thing, but when I told him that, it got kind of ugly.” At Penny’s alarmed look, she quickly added, “Nothing like that. But the bar was in the same room where the stage was, and the bartender is in charge of the blender.” She opened her eyes comically wide.

  Penny chuckled. “He didn’t.”

  “Oh yeah, he did. When I told him I didn’t want a repeat, he turned on the blender every time I said a punch line. Totally ruined my routine.”

  “And yet you haven’t learned your lesson?” Penny tsked. “Doorpeople seat the audience, don’t they? What if you end your fling with Rae and she doesn’t take it well? She could start seating people in little groups here and there, instead of filling the room from the front. Wasn’t that what you complained about last year?”

  “Would you listen to what I’m saying? I’m not hooking up with Rae. In fact, if Rae gets her way, I won’t be hooking up with anyone ever again.”

  “Um, can you back up and explain what’s going on?”

  Steph waited until they had made it past the baseball diamond, where a Little League game was underway. “I met a cute woman at the U-Haul store on Saturday. I invited her to my show, and we had a great time afterward, but the next morning, Rae tore me a new one for letting Allison sleep over.”

  “Wait, she slept over, only hours after you first met her? I knew you work fast, but that’s quick, even for you. Wow, you’re incredible.”

  Steph flashed her a grin. “That’s what she said.”

  Penny lightly smacked her in the arm with the end of Gilli’s leash. “Seriously, I’m not judging.” She sighed. “Sometimes I wish I could be more like you—sleep with someone without getting my heart involved. But I’m sure you can understand that not everyone is like that.”

  “I totally get that. If Rae wants to be celibate until she meets the love of her life, that’s fine with me. She’s the one who’s judging me.” Steph gripped Moose’s leash more tightly.

  Penny took her gaze off Gilli to study her. A grin tugged on her lips. “That’s a first.”

  “What?”

  “You care. Usually, you don’t give a shit about what people think, but you care about Rae’s opinion of you.”

  “Nonsense.” Steph couldn’t care less about what Rae thought of her…right? But then again, if Rae’s opinion didn’t matter to her at all, why had she gotten so angry when Rae had confronted her? Storming out of a conversation was not like her.

  Penny continued to look at her. Only the soft sounds of her steps—two for every one Steph took—interrupted the silence. People tended to underestimate Penny because of her slim five-foot-one frame and her cherubic face, but she was no pushover. She held Steph’s gaze until Steph was the one to give in.

  “Okay, maybe I’m not completely indifferent to what she thinks.” Steph exhaled. There. She’d said it.

  “Why’s that?” Penny asked.

  “Because…because… I don’t know. Maybe because I know she’s not completely wrong. I mean, none of my previous roomies cared about me bringing home guests, but as reserved as Rae is, I should have figured that she doesn’t want to run into my one-night stands at the breakfast table.” Not that most of them stuck around that long.

  “Especially not on the first morning in the new apartment, when she’s probably just getting the feel of things,” Penny added. “You bringing a stranger home when the ink on your lease wasn’t even dry… I could understand if that freaked her out a little.”

  Rae wasn’t one to freak out. But yeah, it hadn’t been one of Steph’s finest moments; she could admit that now. She let out a loud sigh. “Do you think I should apologize or something?”

  “Can’t hurt. I mean, with how different you are, you two are probably never going to be best buddies, but you don’t want this to evolve into a roommate-from-hell situation where both of you feel like you have to hide out in your room when the other is home.”

  God, no, that was the last thing Steph wanted. “Christ, this roommate arrangement is really cramping my style.”

  Penny gave her an innocent look. “You have a style?”

  Before Steph could answer, she caught movement at the base of a tree. A squirrel hopped through the grass, maybe in search of some lunch. Steph knew what was about to happen. “Oh shit. Squirrel alarm.”

  Before she could provide a distraction or walk down a different path, Gilli spotted the squirrel too. With a sharp bark, she tried to give chase, dragging Penny off balance. In the ensuing chaos, Steph forgot about Rae and their argument for a while.

  When Steph got home from her second walk, this one with three corgis that belonged to the same owner, a rhythmic thumping noise came from Rae’s room. It sounded as if the headboard of Rae’s bed was banging against the wall, accompanied by the quieter creaking of bed springs.

  Steph paused one step into the apartment. Nah. That’s not what I think it is, is it? Rae wouldn’t be having sex with some woman one day after she had nearly ripped Steph’s head off for doing the same.

  But Steph’s overactive im
agination wasn’t listening to her reasoning. It showed her vivid images of Rae’s strong, bare back bunching and the muscles in her arm rippling as she moved against a moaning stranger.

  Heat coursed through Steph’s body. She firmly shook her head. Ignore it. Just ignore it.

  But that was easier said than done since the rhythmic thumping continued as she tiptoed toward her room.

  Thud, thud, thud. The sounds from the bedroom didn’t let up for even a second.

  Jeez, her roomie seemed to have great stamina.

  Rae’s bedroom was right next to hers, so she couldn’t help glancing toward the source of those noises.

  Uh… She froze on her tiptoes like a burglar who’d been caught. The door to Rae’s bedroom was open! Was Rae doing this on purpose to make sure Steph didn’t miss the show once she got home? Was she trying to get back at her for Saturday night?

  But that didn’t seem to be her style. Something else had to be going on…right?

  Steph tiptoed closer and peeked around the doorjamb, prepared to withdraw immediately should she find her roommate in the throes of passion.

  Rae lay on the bed, with her feet pointing toward the pillow. The muscles in her arm were indeed rippling, but she was neither naked nor with another woman. Nothing sexy going on at all. She was merely tossing a tennis ball against the wall, catching it as it bounced back, and then throwing it again.

  Steph wasn’t sure if she should be disappointed or relieved. Since she didn’t want to be caught lingering in Rae’s doorway, spying on her, she softly cleared her throat. “Hi.”

  Rae didn’t answer. She continued to bounce the tennis ball against the wall as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world.

  “Hello?” Steph called more loudly. Hadn’t Rae heard her over the thudding of the ball?

  A probing glance revealed a wire leading from her phone to a pair of earbuds stuck in Rae’s ears.

  Ah. Steph stepped into the doorway and waved widely to get her attention.