Roommates Turned Lovers

Chapter 3

 After ten minutes of lugging my two suitcases down the stairs and saying one last farewell to my mother, Aili and I just sat in the car.

“I don’t mean anything against your mother, but it’s about time we get some alone time together,” she said, and I smiled.

“You’re fine; I’m kind of glad that the government is asking for us to move in with each other as soon as possible,” I said, and she chuckled. “So where is this place,” I asked as she looked at her phone.

I failed to notice her blush as I found the seatbelt and buckled myself in, “It’s in Detroit by one of the few beaches there,” she answered as she set the phone up for directions.

I smiled, “That makes things a little easier since it’s not far from the campus,” I said, and she nodded as she started pulling out. “I feel like I should ask because you did mention at one point something about not dating roommates. What are your thoughts on this?”

After I asked that, the only sound that I heard was Google Maps giving Aili directions out of the complex driveway. “To be honest,” she began once she got out of the complex parking lot. “That was actually me battling my feelings for you, I do have a crush on you, and I believe living with you only straightened that crush,” she admitted, and I smiled.

“Well, I feel a little better now,” I said, and she glanced at me, “I have a crush on you as well, right along those same lines, only I didn’t yell that out while battling with my feelings.”

She chuckled, “Well, at least we’re starting off with being honest with each other,” she said as we parked in a parking lot and looked at me.

“I’d rather be honest than lying about anything to you or anyone for that matter,” I said, and she smiled shyly.

“After you admitted that crush, I do have a question for that just now started bugging me again,” she said

I looked into her amber eyes, “What’s that,” I asked her as she blushed and looked away.

“Were you taking care of me mostly because you like me or only because we were roommates,” she asked. I blinked

“How about all of the above,” I answered, “if my crush on you ever stopped, I would still make sure that you were okay no matter what. I take care of my friends the way that I take care of the family that I do like,” I explained when she turned to look at me, surprised. “Even if I didn’t have a crush on you and you weren’t my roommate anymore, I would still try to make sure you were okay no matter what happens.”

Her eyes glistened with happiness when I finished, “You know I never had a friend who would do that,” she said, and I smiled.

“Well,” I began with a sigh, “now I’m more than that,” I said, and she smiled once more.

“That you are,” she said, then she paused, looking at one of the busiest streets in this city, “to be honest, I don’t know if I would’ve followed my heart live I have been telling you to. I would probably be fighting my feelings with everyone’s assumptions. I am the kind of person who doesn’t like it when people guess how another person’s life is going to be only by assumptions.”

I smiled, “I see that I am the same way too,” I said, “I grew up around a father who always assumed that I’d be like my mother and would sometimes give me things that she would have liked when she was my age. He assumed if I was more like my mother, then I would like all of the things that she did,” I sighed. “When I told him that I didn’t, he tried getting me things that he knew that I would like thinking that I would like his things,” I stopped.

“What did he do after that,” Aili asked when I bit my lip

I sighed, “The only way to get him to stop was to either not see him anymore or come out to him,” I said. “I came out to him and his family, and they pushed me away, or they abused me until recently when I tried to cut ties with his family around June.”

“Then he landed himself in the hospital,” Aili said, and I nodded, “I am so sorry if only I had known.”

“Hey,” I said, “it’s fine. There’s no way that I probably would’ve told you so soon; look at how long it took me to tell you this. There is no way that I could’ve told you any sooner.”

Aili nodded, “I understand,” she said, and I smiled.

“Thank you,” I said, and she looked at me, “not many people understand when I explain that to them. They’re usually like, ‘Oh, he’s your father. You should respect him and treat him right.’ Yes, he is my biological father but would you go back into a toxic relationship if someone told you,” I paused. “Sorry, I’m ranting again,” I said sheepishly, and she smiled.

“No, you’re fine, now I know why you were also shy about your crushes,” she said, and I smiled shyly. “You were shy about coming out to people because you were afraid that you were going to be pushed away like you were with your father.”

I thought about it for a minute, then nodded, “Yeah, that’s exactly it,” I admitted with a blush. “How did you know,” I asked Aili, and she smirked.

“I am the same way with friends. I was pushed away once by an old friend of mine who, coincidentally, was the popular girl in the choir at my high school. She started pushing me away talking about some sort of feud between the choir and the band,” she explained.

“I always hated made-up feuds between music groups,” I said. “We all work just as hard, some even harder, just to perfect what we love enough to perform it in front of everyone.”

Aili nodded, “I am so glad that we think the same way,” she said as I just remembered that we were two soulmates talking before we went to our home instead of two roommates just chatting.

“Out of curiosity,” I began, “why did we stop here? Did you want to get something before we headed to the house, or did we just stop here to talk?”

Aili thought for a minute, “All of the above,” she answered, “I haven’t had any lunch yet, and I thought you hadn’t either, so I figured we could get some before we left for Detroit.”

“You are most definitely my girl,” I said, and she grinned. Right after that, I listed off some restaurants that we could pick up from. As I was listing them off, she grabbed my hand. I glanced at her as I continued listing off the restaurants that were in the area.

She gently turned my wrist over to see her name on it. She grinned and then showed me hers before saying, “That greek place sounds good. Let’s go there.”

I nodded with a smile. Sure enough, my name was on there just as hers was on my wrist.

Liz C. L.

Liz Cathleen Layzer

My mother wanted me to have a unique name, but yet she didn’t want me to go through the pain of spelling it all of the time like she has to.

“You already have to go through it with your last name. Why should we make your life more difficult,” my mother said as an explanation for my name.

But little did she know I would have to compete with people asking me if that was my real name or a nickname. Soon we each got our food and jokes in because Aili needed to use the bathroom before we left, and the next thing I know, as she’s walking back to the car, people kept staring at me through the window. I looked at Aili as she was walking back and noticed that she wasn’t looking towards the car as she was walking. Quickly I pulled out my phone and looked at myself in the camera, and groaned.

All over my face were scribbles, no wonder why so took so long, “At least I put my face wash in my bag,” I mumbled once she got in.

“At least you noticed it while I was returning,” she said with a laugh as she took off the hat and the mask that I failed to notice that she put on.

“You’re a twerp,” I said as I wiped my face clean of the marker

“But you love me,” she said, and I smiled

“That I do,” I said and kissed her hand

“Ever the romantic,” she said, and I looked at her with mock shock

“I am going out on a guess that I am not the most romantic person in the world thank you very much,” I said, and she chuckled with a grin forming on her lips

She slowly drew herself closer, grabbing my shirt collar. She gently pulled me to make it, so our foreheads were touching. “To my world you are,” she whispered, then kissed me.

At first, it was weird because the first thought that came to my mind was that I was kissing my roommate, but then I welcomed it as I remembered that she was my soulmate. Not even a minute in, I opened my mouth to get a breath. She took that chance to explore. After that, we spent about ten minutes making out. By the time we were done, we were both panting as she somehow managed to sit on my lap during it.

“Let’s get going,” Aili said with a blush as she fixed her hair, “I’d like to be awake enough to unpack and see the house.”

As she climbed off my lap and across the center console, my heart ached for more, but all I did was take a breath and say, “Yeah, me too.”