ROOMMATES

CHAPTER 5

“How is this one?” I ask turning around for him to have a better view of the dress.

“Mmmh! Nope. It’s a bit too long and kind of baggy for a party.” Raph says looking at the other dresses that I’m supposed to try on. This is the 10th dress he has rejected. It’s either it’s too long or too short. Too official. Too baggy or the colour is completely off.

“Ugh! I'm tired of trying these dresses on. You are rejecting all of them Raph. I'm taking this.”

“No. This is a party not a choir practice sweetheart. I want you to be elegant. The most elegant in that party. To beat that Ellaine girl and she will stop bragging.” He pinches my cheeks playfully and I chuckle. “Try this.” He says handing out a blue fitting dress to me.

I walk into the changing room and put it on. It hugs my curves perfectly but it’s too tight. I walk back to Raph frowning and he chuckles.

“Wow! This is perfect. You are taking this Mel.”

“No way. It’s too tight.” I shake my head and that attracts some chuckles from him.

“It fits you perfectly. I love it. Maybe you should be my date tonight.” He says winking making me laugh.

“No way. I can’t have my brother as my date. But honestly Raph, this is too tight.”

He smiles and motions to the sales lady. “We are taking this one. Pack it and give us the bill.”

She smiles and goes behind the counter to write a receipt for us as I glare at Raph.

“I love you too baby girl.” He says chuckling as he pays for the dress and pair of shoes I had already chosen.

I frown all the way to my room and Raph gives me continuous grins.

“Seriously Mel. I don’t know what you are frowning about. That dress is perfect. You will see how you will draw all the attention at the party.” He says parking outside my room or preferably our house.

“That’s the attention I don’t want.”

“Come on sweetie. Be happy for me, okay? Go and get ready. I will pick you in the next one hour.”

I walk into the house and Matt is sprawled on the couch as usual.

“Hey roomie? Seems like you have a lot of bofriends. Who is the main one?” he asks as I walk past him.

“Ever heard of minding your own business?”

“Nope.”

“That’s what you should do. Mind your own business.” I say as I walk into the kitchen to stock the fridge with my grocery. I laugh at the sight before me. Matt has put a written paper with my name on the upper part and the lower part has a paper with his name written on it. The words “NO TAKING EACH OTHER'S GROCERY” is clearly written. I chuckle despite how much I hate him. Do I hate him really? Or is it that I can’t put up with him? He is funny and I think I like that.

I walk into my room ignoring him. I strip and walk into the bathroom. Turning on the faucet, I let the warm water drench my hair and Cascade down my back giving me a tingling sensation. I dry myself and walk back to the bedroom. I get ready making sure that I put on some light make-up. I don’t want something shouting.

The doorbell rings and I smile. That must be Raph. I put on some black ankle strap heels and take my purse. Raph and Matt eminate some gasps when they see me.

“whoa! My best friend is slaying.” Raph says extending his arm to me.

“Your best friend? Not your girlfriend?”

“Nope but don’t get ahead of yourself. You have no chance with her. You can be with every other girl in campus but not Mel bro. She is like a sister to me and I won’t have you use her and dump her.” Raph says giving him a serious look.

“Calm your balls bro. I won’t touch her. She is not my type.” Those words hurt me more than I can imagine. Reason? I don’t know. Maybe because he thinks I’m ugly.

“That’s great. Because I don’t want her to get hurt. Let’s go Mel.”

“I will be right behind you.”

We walk to the car Raph holding my hand. I notice Matt behind us and smile. So he can be friendly sometimes? Okay, I don’t know whether that’s the definition of the word friendly but Matt following us is something totally different.

The party is outside the campus. Apparently, ellaine’s parents own an apartment outside campus and she is holding a party there because they are not around. I pity her parents. Having such a daughter is so unfortunate. Raph parks at a distance and I notice Matt parking beside us. We walk to the door and he catches up with us grinning.

“You see roomie? I'm not that bad. I can put up with you.” He says smirking and I glare at him.

Jeez! How annoying.

Ellaine opens the door and sneers at me when she notices that i'm sandwiched between Raph and Matt. Okay? Isn’t she getting tired of glaring?

“Hey Matt?” she says throwing herself at him. Matt is caught unawares and almost falls.

“Easy girl. You will make me fall.” Matt says without making an effort to embrace her. He pushes her lightly and I see her blinking back her tears.

Whoa! It feels bad to be rejected by the hottest guy in campus I guess. She hugs Raph awkwardly and nods at me in an unfriendly manner.

“Can we at least come in?” Matt asks biting his lips.

“Sure.” She says and leads us into the house swinging her hips seductively. Just like yesterday. I know who she is interested in. Matt of course. He doesn’t seem interested in her completely. Some girls who are already inside notice Matt and scream. Okay, does he have to draw all that attention? It’s not like he is that cute anyway. Who am I kidding? He is hot. Freaking hot.

“Seems like girls can’t get enough of you.” Raph says chuckling.

“Yeah, they all drive me crazy. You know, girls trying to catch your attention sucks. That’s why I use them and dump them. These girls are not what you would call wife materials.” He says addressing Raph. I notice they get along well though not best of friends.

“Wow! So weird.” I comment looking at the slutly dressed girls in the party. My dress is the most decent of all of them.

Raph is pulled away by some lady and i'm left stranded with Matt. I thought Raph promised to be by my side throughout. By my side indeed. I will deal with him later.

“Wow bro. You have a hot one this time round.” A tall guy says pulling me to him for a hug. This is so weird. Why did I even come to this party? I should have sat my ass in my room and watched some movie.

“This is Mel Noah. She is my roommate.” He says pulling me away from Noah’s hands.

“You have a hot roommate.” Another guy comments grinning at me.

“You always say that Allan.”

“It’s true bro. She is.” Allan says giving me a smile.

“You think she is hot?”

“Not thinking. We know she is hot.”

This is too much now. I think I should get some drinks. I can’t put up with fuckboys. I start leaving but Matt pulls me back such that I lean on his chest. He immediately pulls off and smiles down at me.

“Where to roomie?”

“To get some drinks. See you around.”

I quickly walk towards a room I assume to be the kitchen before I embarrass myself. That moment was completely awkward. I sigh heavily when I notice I’m in the kitchen. I open the fridge and eye a bottle of tequila. This is what I need. I should try it. I'm in a party and I’m going to have my fun.

I pour some into a glass and gulp it down closing my eyes.

“There you are. I have been looking for you.” A female voice says and I turn to see Ellaine and some other two ladies glaring at me.

“Yes Ellaine. I'm here.” I say twirling the contents in the glass.

“Why are you hanging around Matt?”

I chuckle and they all glare at me.

“What’s funny?”

“Your question. Do you notice how weird it is?”

“It’s not weird. You were together at the park yesterday. You came here together. With Raph too. Raph belongs to Meadow.” She says pointing at a tall girl who is sneering the most. “You can’t have all the cute guy in campus. I saw you forcing yourself on Liam too.”

I burst out laughing. This is so funny. Fighting over guys that I don’t have a relationship with? On my second day in campus. I'm not up for that.

“I don’t know why you think that way Ellaine. Okay, because you decided to mention those instances you have seen me with Matt, I will tell you the other thing you don’t know. Matt is my roommate.” I say smirking and they all glare at me.

“What? It can’t be.”

“It can and it is. Anyway, I’m not interested in any of them. Just relax.”

“You are so ugly, you don’t have class and I won’t allow you to follow Matt everywhere. He is mine b***h. Stay away from him if you know what is good for you.”

“Stay away from who?” Matt’s husky voice booms in the whole kitchen.