I narrow my eyes at the stranger. “We were expecting a guy. Sam.”
“That’s me,” she says brightly, extending her hand. “Samantha Chambers. But everyone calls me Sam.”
I stare blankly at her outstretched hand, still trying to process what’s happening. This is Sam? No way is some bimbo cheerleader living with us.
Audrey shoves her way in front of me and grasps Sam’s hand in her own. “Excuse my cousin for his impression of a statue.” She shoots me a sharp glare over her shoulder. “We were expecting a guy, but you are... obviously not that,” she says, looking her up and down again.
“No worries. It’s happened before.” Her smile falters for a second. “So, is me being a girl a problem?” She looks at me as she asks this, probably sensing that I’m the one that would take the most issue with it.
I stay silent, trying to reserve judgment. I’ll wait till I can talk to Audrey in private.
I step out of the way to let the two of them inside. “Come on. Audrey will give you a tour.”
I follow behind as the three of us go through the apartment, not that it’s very big. Just your standard kitchen, living room, balcony, and three bedrooms. There are two bathrooms, one that’s privately connected to Audrey’s master bedroom and one that I used to share with Chris and now potentially with... Sam.
I can already imagine the ten million makeup and hair products that’ll be strewn across the counter. Chris was a slob but at least kept his junk in there to a minimum of deodorant and toothpaste. If this girl is anything like Audrey, there won’t be enough room in the bathroom for her stuff, let alone any of mine.
I tune back into what Audrey is saying. “So, basically, we’re looking for someone who’s responsible, can pay rent on time, and won’t leave a huge mess around the place. We had some problems with that with our last roommate.”
She catches my eye, and I know she’s reliving the many shouting matches she had with Chris about all the crap he left everywhere. It was annoying, yeah, but it never bothered me as much as it did her.
“Did you kick him out because of that?”
“No, he moved out to live with his girlfriend. He’s her problem now,” she smiles sweetly. “Oh, and that’s another thing. He left his furniture in the room. Jocelyn said she didn’t like any of it and he was too much of a lazy bum to get rid of it himself. If you want to keep any of it, you’re welcome to.”
“That would be amazing,” Sam beams, looking like she just won the lottery.
“I wouldn’t get too excited. The stuff isn’t that nice.”
“Anything’s good,” she assures us.
Audrey goes over how much rent and utilities are and how we divide it all up. Sam nods very seriously at this part, taking a pad of sticky notes out of her purse and writing the numbers down.
“So do you need the two months up front or can I pay at the end of June and July?”
“What do you mean two months?” I ask.
She turns to me, probably surprised to hear me speak since I’ve kept my mouth shut the whole time so far.
“I only need the place till August. I have another roommate lined up once school starts. I, um, unexpectedly had to move down here sooner than I intended.” She fidgets with the bracelets on her wrists, the soft jangle catching my attention.
“Well,” Audrey bites her lip, “considering we have no one now, I guess that’s fine.” She looks at me, and I nod slightly, letting her know I’m okay with it too.
We go over a few ground rules - no parties or drugs. Division of household responsibilities. Basically, don’t be an asshole and please clean up after yourself.
Audrey and I step aside to confer, and no surprise to me, she’s all for having Sam as a roommate.
“She’s everything we said we wanted and it’s only temporary. Plus, we’ll have a better chance of getting someone good come August when everyone is back in town for school, anyway. Will it be an issue for you that she’s a girl?”
I give her a dry look. “Does she seem like my type?”
She smiles slyly. “No, but she’s beautiful. Even you can’t deny that.”
Glancing over at her studying Audrey’s framed pictures on the wall, it’s true that I can’t deny it. But that doesn’t mean I’m interested either. I’ve never dated a cheerleader. Never remotely wanted to.
Even though her shirt isn’t form-fitting, I can still tell she’s got bigger breasts than her frame would typically call for and a tiny waist to match. Not to mention those long, toned legs.
I realize I’m staring and quickly return my attention back to Audrey, who’s smirking at me. Flustered for some reason, I try to turn the tables on her. “I should be more worried about you hitting on her.”
“Nah, I didn’t get the lesbian vibe from her. I have a radar for these things,” she taps her temple.
“Yeah, I know you do,” I mutter. There’s been a number of girls I thought were cute until I found out they were more interested in Audrey instead.
“So we’re in agreement?”
I can’t come up with a good reason to say no. Sam doesn’t have anything weird that’s stood out. No strange questions or indicators that something’s amiss. She’s a bit too cheerful for my taste, but that’s not a deal breaker by any means.
“Yeah, fine.” I cross my arms over my chest, unable to keep my eyes off her as she jumps up and down when Audrey tells her the good news.
“You won’t officially be on the lease,” Audrey says once Sam calms down. “You’ll just sublet from us. We’ll come up with some kind of legal form for you to sign. Levi will make it,” she motions to me.
I roll my eyes. Typical Audrey to pawn something like that off on me.
“When can you move in?”
“Now.”
Audrey laughs until she realizes Sam is serious. “What, right now? Don’t you need to pack up your stuff?”
“It’s in my car.”
She has it all in her car? The thing must be packed to the gills.
“Do you want help bringing it up?” I reluctantly ask. There’s no way this girl can haul it all up here on her own. We’re on the third floor and the building doesn’t have an elevator. Even carrying groceries up is a pain.
“No,” she says breezily. “I got it.”
Audrey and I exchange glances.
“All right then,” Audrey smiles. “Welcome aboard roomie.” She sticks her hand out for Sam to shake it, which she does excitedly.
Sam then extends her hand to me, too, and I take it. It’s rougher than I was expecting, not the dainty, delicate thing someone like her should have. She shakes with a firm grip, her bracelets clinking together and I catch a glimpse of something on her wrist as they shift, but her hand is back by her side before I can see what it is.
“Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. I’m going to be a really awesome roommate, I promise!” The megawatt smile she gives me is blinding. I feel like some nocturnal creature, wanting to hide from the intensity of it.
She skips out the door and I open the blinds in the living room after a minute to find her rummaging in the back of an old black Corolla, pulling out a duffel bag. She locks up the car, slinging the worn bag over her shoulder.