The Silver Screen Wars

15 - Housemates

 "Hey, I know you!"

Kodi edged around the young man who opened the door, a large white tote bag full of rolled up clothes carried tightly against her side. Introductions were nice and would eventually be necessary, but right now she just wanted a moment to breathe. After a near shouting match with her mother - again - this morning just minutes before she had to leave if she wanted to make it here on time, as well as awful traffic that had slowed the bus she was riding so much that she ended up having to walk the rest of the way, she was ill-equipped to handle the subtle skills of people-ing at the moment.

"Guys, come here. Let me - hey, just hang on, I wanna see your face for a second."

Okay. If this loose-handed sumbitch didn't get his hands off her, she was going to rip his badly bleached hair out by their black roots and make him cry in the corner. He was tall, but he wasn't tall enough to scare her - a little on the skinny side so she was sure she could get in at least a few good hits if he continued to provoke her. Give him a nice pair of raccoon eyes if he didn't back off -

"Oh, s**t, it's you! The Kodiak - "

He made a small animalistic roaring sound with clawed hands on either side of his face, pantomiming...a rabid animal?

"That's my bear impression. You know, because like...a Kodiak bear? Ah? Good? Haha."

Well, okay. She had been wondering how many of her housemates were going to be idiots and generally insufferable, but this brought the tally up to one. She wondered how many others there were.

"Yeah, sure, I get it. I need to put down my stuff -"

"Oh, Bishop said not to move from the den over there. Someone else is bringing us food and then we'll get our rooms. Set your stuff by the wall. My name's Drake, by the way -"

"Nice, cool, I'm Kodi - where's Bishop?"

"Showering."

"Showering?"

This was supposed to be cast's house, their safe haven and bonding cave or whatever else Jason had explained it to be. And the director had just walked on in and taken a shower? Who walked in and took a shower in someone else's house? And why couldn't they choose their own rooms? What was this, a university dormitory?

They were adults. They could decide where they slept and where they went in the house. They didn't have to sit in the den like a flock of herded cattle and wait patiently around a glass table topped with a heaping plate of...what even were those? Finger sandwiches with olives attached on toothpicks?

"No luggage? Wow. Minimalism. I like it."

Kodi looked over at the young bald woman sitting the left of the table closer to the wall. Elfin face, slender, tall as hell - and also wearing a pair of baggy sweatpants and a long, black graphic tee. Her voice was on the husky side, warm, strong - despite her irritable mood, Kodi immediately knew that she liked this woman.

"If I run out of clothes, I'll wear the drapes," she replied. She sat down in the vacant fourth chair opposite her, squeezing past the knees of a sleeping young man. So...just the four of them so far, it looked like. She wondered if this was it or if there would be others coming later.

Kodi checked the time on the clock that hung from the left wall. Not just later, but late. It was already half past two which -

"You're late, Kodiak Clyde."

"I'm on time, thanks," she said automatically, but when she along with everyone else turned their heads in the direction of the voice, she fell silent with an appalled look on her face at the sight that met them all.

Bishop was striding out of the hallway with a towel hanging off his hips, but otherwise completely bare. He walked past them and headed for the open kitchen without a greeting.

"On time is late. Get in the habit of showing up early."

"You asked me to be here by two thirty. It's two thirty now."

Kodi didn't care about the eyes she saw flit back to her. Yes, she saw the unspoken pleas of 'don't do this' in the expressions of the other three guests, but hell, she was absolutely going to do 'this.' Was she the only one who knew how to stand up for herself in this place?

"And I told you to be show up early from now on. That doesn't seem hard to figure out."

He was pulling open the refrigerator door now over there, the soft white recessed lights of the kitchen ceiling casting an almost angelic glow on him. He would probably relish in the compliment if he didn't think he was God. Kodi's upper lip curled in a slight sneer.

"Then maybe you should say what you mean? Tell me to show up at a certain time if that's when you want me there. I'm pretty bad at deciphering mixed signals, sir."

He slid out a pitcher of ice water and turned around, letting the fridge doors close behind him as he poured himself a glass of water. He didn't glance up to meet her wildly unhappy eyes, didn't acknowledge that she was now sitting forward on the edge of her seat and about two more smug syllables away from bolting to her feet.

Could be that the reason was because he wasn't afraid of her, of course. He was holding a lot of money over her head. Money that she wanted.

Shit.

"We're going to get to know each other a lot better soon, Kodiak Clyde. Soon, I expect you'll be knowing exactly what I want before I even say anything. Understand?"

Kodi dug the tip of her tongue against the inside of one cheek as she glared at him, but this time he met her venomous gaze with a smile so self-satisfied that she had to grip her armrests to stop from flashing him a pair of middle fingers. He was so sure of himself. And why shouldn't he be? It was too soon for her to get back to mouthing off when he had just done the equivalent of wiping out her family's debt with a press of a few buttons.

Just reminded her why she hated the proud rich so much. They thought they could throw money at someone and buy their pride...which was what he had clearly done with her. Kodi clenched her jaw so hard her teeth were almost grinding, but all she did was break the stare first and look away.

Didn't mean she had to be docile about it, though. She turned her head in the opposite direction and stared up at the crescent shaped high window at the top of the wall on her left now, making it a point to ignore Bishop from this point forward. Or at least not give him the dignity of maintaining eye contact.

"You're going to have to learn how to bend a little," he said. "We're going to get to know each other a lot better in the next few months, aren't we."

Kodi narrowed her eyes, but she still didn't look over at him. Whatever he was spouting, she still didn't care - but for some reason, his words sounded insidiously gleeful. As if he knew something she didn't, but he couldn't wait to tell her. And if he sounded that pleased with himself, it had to be something she was going to hate.

"All of us, actually. Introduce yourself to each other. All five of us - six including Jason who's not with us yet - are going to be roommates. Say hello."

A stunned silence ensued, broken finally by a wheezing laugh from the young man with badly bleached hair who had let Kodi in a minute ago. Drake? Drake.

"You're kidding me. That's amazing. You're bunking with us, Bishop?"

The director set his half-empty glass back down on the counter and looked over at them all across the way. "Not bunking," he clarified. "I'm going to stay on my side of the house. You four get to share that side. Upside is that you each get a room to yourself, downside is that the walls are paper thin so if you need to j******f, you better not be shy. It's going to be like putting macaroni and cheese on speakers in this place."

Kodi scoffed.

"Problem, Kodiak Clyde?"

"You're going to play house with us? What's next, group breakfast and yoga afterward?"

"Good ideas. Keep them coming."

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, both because she was nearly dumbstruck by what Bishop was suggesting and because, admittedly, she didn't want to give him any more suggestions that he would take up out of pure spite.

"Get used to it. It's not changing...and no one else seems to have a problem with this. Anyone?"

A chorus of 'no's murmured forth from the others, making her scowl up at the ceiling. Of course. Everyone always kissing ass, pretending they liked all his ideas, letting him think he was God's gift to Earth. No wonder he had an ego more massive than the entire state. Everyone coddled Bishop like this, pretended everything he said was gospel.

"You seem energetic today, Kodiak Clyde. Why don't you open up the icebreaker with your charming disposition."

She grimaced. This was going to be a long, long day.