Dirty Roomie

by Alycia Taylor

  I chuckled as she ran over to the bar and ordered us each a beer. We sat at the counter, and she held out her beer toward me once the barman had handed them over.

  “To my talented roommate,” she said and knocked her bottle against mine. “Why do you look so surprised by my reaction? You must surely know that you’re good at this.”

  I smiled bashfully at her. “I mean, I wouldn’t go into this business if I didn’t think I could sing. But I’ve been starting to worry about it lately. I’m not just getting anywhere. I’m scraping along with my music, and I’m just so tired of playing in these small venues with hardly anyone watching me. I cannot tell you how nice it was to have you standing there cheering me on. It was a great feeling.”

  “You’re so talented, Silas. You have the most incredible voice. Honestly, I have no doubt in my mind that you are going to make it big. You’re not a construction worker. If anyone asks me what my roommate does for a living, I’m going to tell them that he is a singer. That’s what you are.”

  “And you are a writer and illustrator,” I said.

  She chuckled. “That sounds nice. A writer and an illustrator. Yeah, I do like the sound of that. It sure sounds better than being a waitress. I’m just not cut out for that job. It’s not for me. Maybe if I was working at a nice little café, serving hot coffees and pastries. That sounds better. Not a loud pub with men constantly trying to get me into bed.”

  I pulled a face. “Seriously? They try their luck?” I felt a little ill at the thought of these drunk men asking her out while she was just trying to do her job.

  “All the time. All the damn time. And I don’t take it as a compliment even though my boss says I should. It’s not me that they are after. They would ask anyone out. It’s gross. You know, you’ve inspired me today, Silas. I’m going to start working toward my goal now. I know that you are going to become a famous singer one day. And, because of you, I’m going to make it big too.”

  I grinned. “That’s the spirit. One day, we can come back to this pub, you know to hide away from all the people wanting our autograph, and we can laugh about how once upon a time nobody knew who we were.”

  She smiled. “Here’s to our future!”

  And, as we sat there, I was aware of how much happier I was when she was around me. I’d only just met Riley, but already she was having a positive impact on my life. Perhaps she would be my lucky charm to finally breaking it in the music industry.

  Chapter Ten

  Riley

  It was another busy Friday night at work. I was starting to wonder if I should get some of the other staff members to switch with me so that I didn’t do the busy nights, but I knew the boss wouldn’t be happy. He was the one that gave out the shifts, and he didn’t really appreciate other people getting involved in it. Also, it seemed silly to turn down the busy nights since I always made more money on those days than any of my other shifts. And as much as I hated it when the place was busy, it did help to make the night go faster. Sometimes I felt like I had no time to breathe. Tonight, there was a gentle flow people coming and going: busy, but not as busy as it had been the week before.

  I stood on the side with Paisley while we took a quick break. It was the first time we were really getting the chance to catch up.

  “How was your night off yesterday?” she asked. “There was something happening down the road here, so the pub felt like a weekend night. You would’ve hated it.”

  I chuckled. “Sounds awful. I actually went to another pub.”

  “What? To work?”

  “Oh no. Definitely not. Actually, Silas had a gig, so I went to hear him. I was super curious to see if he was any good. Thankfully he was brilliant. It would’ve been awkward if he sucked and I had to pretend like he was actually good. I was worried about that.”

  “Oh yeah? So, he sings well then?”

  “Incredible. I couldn’t believe how good he was.”

  “You sound smitten.”

  I blushed despite myself. “Smitten? Oh no. Definitely not. You know I’m not looking for anyone right now either. He’s a nice guy, and a great roommate but that’s about it. I have a feeling we’ll become good friends though. We get along well.”

  “Oh yeah? So you wouldn’t mind if I flirted with him then?”

  I laughed. “You haven’t even met him yet. Why would you want to flirt with him?”

  “Because he’s going to be a big rock star, of course. I better get in there before someone else does.”

  “Country star. He sings country music.”

  “He does? That’s unusual. Even better. I like that. And I’d like to frolic in the hay with him.”

  I rolled my eyes and told her that she was crazy, but as I walked off, I wondered why I felt so uncomfortable at the thought of her flirting with him. It wasn’t that I liked him. I mean, I hardly knew the guy. But I almost felt like he was mine and not hers. She had all the guys hanging all over her at the pub. Silas was my friend. Then I shook my head at how pathetic I sounded, even to myself. This wasn’t a schoolyard. We weren’t teenagers. We could all be friends. And anyway, I wasn’t sure that he would be her type. I was sure she wouldn’t go for him.

  The rest of the night went by in a blur. I didn’t mind the night as much as usual. As I worked, I kept thinking about my new goal of working toward becoming an illustrator and writer. I already had a story planned out in my head, and I was excited to get started. On my next day off, I was going to formulate a plan and come up with a deadline. I always worked best when I was working toward a due date. I couldn’t wait to get started. I had to stop thinking that it wasn’t possible and try to be more like Silas. He went after his goals even though it wasn’t easy, and I should be doing the same. I didn’t want to one day look back on my life and see that I didn’t even try. And what was the point in having a dream if I didn’t actively pursue it? I felt inspired and excited. A few people even picked up on it, including my boss who had come in for a few hours that night. He told me that I should always look this happy when I worked and that a positive attitude would get me more tips. Usually, this sort of talk would’ve annoyed me, but tonight I didn’t care as much.

  I was so lost in thought and ideas that I almost didn’t notice Silas walking toward me. At first, I thought that it was just someone that looked like him, but as he got nearer and grinned at me, I knew it was him. What was Silas doing at my work?

  “Silas? Everything okay?” I asked as I had a sudden fear that something was wrong at the house. Although, he was smiling, so I assumed everything was fine.

  “Hey, Riley. I thought I’d pop in and say hello. I wanted to come and see this bar in action. You were right; it’s so busy here.”

  I chuckled as I looked around. “This isn’t busy. It’s dwindled down a lot since we opened. This is amazing right now. I like it when the bar is like this.”

  He laughed. “If only I could get half this crowd to watch me sing. I hope you don’t mind me coming over. I had nothing to do so figured I’d pop in and say hi. Get a beer while I was at it.”

  “Of course I don’t mind. It’s a free bar. In fact, let me get you a beer. On the house.”

  “Are you allowed to do that?” he asked.

  “Not really. But it made me sound cool, didn’t it?”

  “So cool,” he said and handed me a note anyway. “But you were cool before that.”

  I laughed and grabbed him a beer. “I wish I could join you. I would kill for a beer right now. Oh, here comes Paisley. Let me introduce the two of you.”

  Paisley raised her eyebrows when she saw me. She obviously thought I was just speaking to a customer and didn’t know it was Silas. I could see she was surprised because I didn’t often stop to talk to the customers for a long period of time.

  “Paisley, this is Silas, my roommate.”

  She grinned broadly. “Oh, I’m glad you came over. I finally get to meet the great country singer.”

  Silas chuckled. “I wouldn’t exactly say that.
But it’s nice to meet you. Riley has told me all about you. It’s cool that you guys get to work together.”

  “Yeah, I love having her here. Although, we don’t get to talk nearly as much as I would like. Especially when the boss is here. He’s not big on the staff interacting. Thankfully, it’s the end of the night so we can get away with it more now,” she said.

  “And the boss isn’t here. I saw him leave,” I said.

  Paisley grinned. “Even better. Uh oh, looks like you’re being called, Riley,” she said and pointed to a group of guys on the other side of the room.

  I groaned. They were a fun group of guys, but they had called me over to them a million times that night. The one guy kept asking for my number, and I kept saying no.

  “Oh, not them again. Okay, I better go. I’ll be back,” I said and walked over to the guys.

  They were in a jolly mood, and the moment I walked over, they smiled at me.

  “You’re the most beautiful girl I have ever met,” one of the guys said. He was tall, with a mop of blond hair. He kept touching his hair as if he knew it was his best feature. Which, to be fair, it was. I told him that he should be in a shampoo advertisement and he’d been infatuated with me since.

  “No, I’m not. But thank you.”

  “Maybe you’ll see me around in some of those shampoo commercials soon,” he said and grinned.

  The guy next to him groaned. “Is that your way of flirting with her? Because that is so cringe-worthy.” Then he looked at me with an apologetic smile. “Come on, why don’t you just give him your number? Put him out of his misery.”

  “I’m sorry. I really am not looking to date right now. I’m not saying that because I don’t like him; I’m saying that because it’s the truth. Let me get you guys another round of drinks. We’re going to close soon so you might as well get some drinks in before we do.”

  I hurried off to the bar and stacked some beers onto a tray for them. As I did so, I looked over to see what Silas was doing and sighed when I saw that he was still talking to Paisley. I’d told her that I wasn’t interested in him and she was now flirting shamelessly with him. She was practically sitting on his lap she was so close to him. I saw her lean in and whisper something to him, and I felt annoyed when I saw him laugh at whatever it was that she had said. Paisley was a very hard person to ignore. She was absolutely gorgeous, and she knew how to play to her strengths. She had no problem with showing some skin and batting her eyelashes to get her way. She was a good person and a great friend, and up until that moment, I had never been jealous of her. I wasn’t even sure why I felt so much jealousy now. It wasn’t like Silas and I were anything other than roommates. I was sure that he had no interest in me, anyway. Maybe I should feel happy that my best friend and my roommate were getting along so well. Wouldn’t it be great if the two of them got together because of me? I took one final look at them and shook my head. No, it wouldn’t be great. I wasn’t sure why, but I really didn’t want them to get together. I sighed and forced myself to look away. Instead, I took the beers over to the guys.

  “Thank you. One more time, then I promise you I’ll leave it. Can I get your number? I am not just saying this because I’m drunk. I’m saying this because you are lovely. And I would love to take you out.”

  I smiled at the boy with the fine-looking hair. I almost said yes to him, just to make myself feel better. Just to show Silas that I could get a guy if I wanted to. Just to prove to Paisley that I was not interested in Silas. But I wasn’t interested in the boy, no matter how nice his hair was, and I didn’t want to go out with a guy just to prove a point. I shook my head. “I’m honestly very flattered, but I’m going to have to turn you down. But thank you.”

  I quickly left and attended to another group that wanted drinks. When I looked back at the guys, I saw that they were talking to another girl. The guy with the blond hair had his arm over her shoulder and was smiling at her in the same way that he had smiled at me. Just as I had thought; I was nothing special to him. I was just a challenge. Just then Paisley walked past carrying a tray of drinks. As she saw me, she grinned. “I know you said he was gorgeous but I had no idea he was that gorgeous.”

  I turned to look at Silas sitting alone drinking his beer. He looked contemplative, and I wondered what he was thinking. Was he thinking about Paisley? I wouldn’t be surprised, and I couldn’t blame him. Paisley was stunning, and she was an excellent flirter. Who wouldn’t like her? I smiled despite myself. He really was beautiful.

  Chapter Eleven

  Silas

  I was the first to wake up that day, and as I puttered around the kitchen, I figured it would be a good idea to finally make Riley something to eat. She had cooked for me often, and every time I had offered, she had turned me down. It was my turn to do something for her even though my cooking wouldn’t be nearly as good as hers. The nice thing about living in such a big house was that you didn’t have to worry too much about making a noise and waking someone up. I looked around, opening up drawers and familiarizing myself with the kitchen. I opened the fridge and peered inside, happy that the staples for a nice big breakfast were all there. I started off by frying the bacon, and I was almost done when a very cute and very sleepy looking Riley walked through the doors. She was still in her robe, but it had opened slightly to reveal a small white tank top and little pale blue shorts. She grinned when she saw me.

  “Wow, it smells great here.”

  “Did I wake you up? I was trying to be quiet.”

  “No, not at all. I’ve been awake for a little while myself. It was the smell that drew me here.”

  I smiled. “Take a seat. You’re in luck. I’m making breakfast for us. And no, you cannot help. And no, you can’t even make the coffee. I’ve got it this time. It’s the least I can do for all the times you’ve cooked for me.”

  “Wow, this is great service. I had no idea I was staying at Hotel Silas.”

  I chuckled. “Oh yeah. One of the best hotels in the world, I’ll have you know. Did you sleep well?”

  She took a seat at the counter and smiled gratefully as I handed her a cup of coffee. I poured one for myself and continued with the cooking.

  “I slept very well. I always do after a big night at work. I’m always so exhausted that the moment I close my eyes sleep just overcomes me. I’m not one of those people that battle to sleep.”

  “You’re lucky. I’m one of those people. I can lie in bed for hours just thinking about everything and nothing at once, and not being able to sleep. It’s so frustrating. I hate it. I have always wished I could just sleep as my head hit the pillow.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Really? Well, there goes my theory then. I thought that it was just because I worked hard. I figured that those people that couldn’t sleep were just people that didn’t work hard enough. But your construction work must leave you so tired. And you do gigs after them sometimes.”

  “Yeah, it doesn’t matter how hard I have worked or how exhausted I am; I will still lie there,” I said. I had always been like that. Too much of a thinker. I envied those that could just shut their brains off. I was sure it was because I was worried about not ever reaching my dream of becoming a singer. I barely thought about it during the day, and when I did, I tried to remain as positive as possible. But at night there was nowhere to hide, and my fears suddenly grew legs and came alive.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Riley said. “And when you do fall asleep, is it at least good sleep?”

  “It is,” I said. “Especially here. I’m sleeping better here than I used to in my old place. I can’t believe how quickly I felt comfortable in this place.”

  She beamed. “Me too. Listen, are you sure I can’t help you? I feel so bad just sitting here.”

  “Don’t. I have it under control. Anyway, I’m almost done,” I said as I spooned the scrambled eggs onto the plate. All that was left to do was the toast, and as soon as that was done, I carried everything to the table.

  We chuckled as
we took a seat at the long table. We sat opposite each other, but even that felt like we were far apart.

  “This table is huge. Imagine if we sat at opposite ends. We’d have to shout to each other just to hear one another.”

  She laughed. “I know. This table is crazy. And this food is delicious, by the way. Thank you. I don’t often have such a big breakfast when I wake up. I like it.”

  “Yeah. I wish we could do this every day,” I said.

  “So, uh, I’m surprised that Paisley wasn’t here this morning,” she said without looking at me.

  I looked up in surprise. “Paisley? Why would she be here? Was she supposed to sleep over?”

  “No, I mean, it’s just that the two of you got along very well last night. I thought maybe she’d come home with you.”

  I laughed. “Seriously? You think I’d just invite her back to my bed despite hardly knowing the girl?”

  “Well, maybe. I don’t really know you all that well.”

  “Well, you should know that I wouldn’t do something like that. Anyway, she’s not really my type.” I looked up just in time to see a small ghost of smile appear and disappear on her face. Was it just my imagination or was Riley happy that I didn’t want her friend? If so, what did that mean? The thought made me feel excited. Did Riley like me?

  “So, what is your type?” she asked at the exact same time as I said, “So, what are you doing today?”

  We laughed.

  “I’m not sure,” she said when she realized I wasn’t going to answer her question. “I don’t have plans.”

  “Why don’t we do something then?”

  “Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?” she asked.

  “I don’t actually have anything in mind, but I feel like doing something with my day. Oh, actually there’s that concert happening at the park today. Do you want to go? It might be fun.”

  She smiled. “That sounds great.”

  Later on that day, we made our way to the park. We decided to walk even though it was pretty far, as we knew the parking situation would be terrible.