Peeking over my shoulder, Audrey exclaims, “That’s it? That’s all she has?”
From my vantage point, it looks like the rest of the car is empty.
“Where’d she say she was coming from again?”
She purses her lips, a frown overtaking her features. “She didn’t.”
I HAVE TO GO TO WORK, but Audrey assures me she’ll pry for the details we missed out on initially.
The Coffeeshop is an independent coffee shop, one of the very few surviving ones around here. The owner grew up in this area and wanted a place where people could hang out and drink quality coffee at a reasonable price without feeling like they were selling their soul to some corporate chain. I don’t know how working here compares to somewhere like Starbucks, but I like it for the most part. The manager lets me make drinks without having to interact with customers too much, my ideal arrangement.
I come in through the back entrance, finding my coworker Felix tying his apron.
“Hey man,” he slaps hands with me, his skin even darker than usual from the summer sun. He keeps insisting on doing some complicated handshake with me I refuse to do. “What’s new?”
“Got a new roommate. Finally filled up Chris’s old room.”
“Sweet. You’ve been looking for a while. How is he?”
“She.”
“She? You’re living with a girl? Please tell me it’s not another lesbian.”
Jesus. Does he have any kind of filter? “As far as I know she isn’t.”
“Is she hot?”
I walk out to the front area to clock in and he follows behind, tying his shoulder-length dark hair up in some kind of man-bun. “Now why is that the first thing that comes out of your mouth? Do you care if she’s going to actually pay us the rent, be a decent person to live with, any of that?”
He has the grace to look mildly ashamed of his question. “Yeah, I care about those things... but is she hot?” he grins. Okay, not repentant at all.
“She’s hot,” I admit.
“Dude! You have to hook me up.”
I roll my eyes. “Like I’m going to introduce you two and have you mess it up, just to hear about it from both sides?”
“Bro. Why you gotta assume I’m gonna screw it up? That’s hurtful.”
His mock solemnity might fool others, but not me. I punch him in the arm. “Because you’re a douchebag, that’s why.”
Right then, Karen walks by us. She takes being a manager way too seriously. “Levi, language,” she scolds.
“Sorry,” I mutter under my breath. How come Felix gets away with it all day long but the moment I say one thing, she’s always there to catch me?
I stick to my work after that, taking over for Derek at the espresso machine, getting into the flow of making drink after drink. I still can’t believe how many people want coffee in the middle of the afternoon.
People come here for the atmosphere as much as the coffee and snacks, though. Plenty of comfortable couches and chairs as well as live music on weekend nights.
No, I don’t make the same money as Audrey, who also makes drinks for a living - the alcoholic kind as a bartender at Empire, the biggest club in the area - but it’s a good trade-off for me since I rarely have to talk to people.
I’ve been here long enough that Karen knows not to put me on the register. Ever. I’m fine staying back here and working the espresso machines. Thankfully we don’t sell anything too frou-frou here, and there are a few specialty things I enjoy making. Sometimes I even do designs in the foam for in-house orders. No one else here is skilled enough to do it, so I actually have a reason to stay on the backside of the counter.
I keep busy till the end of my shift and since I’m not a closer tonight, I can leave right away without having to spend forever cleaning everything up.
When I get in the apartment, the first thing I notice is Sam isn’t here, her door wide open, the interior of her room dark and still bare of anything personal.
“She change her mind?” I ask Audrey, who’s spread out on the couch, her eyes fixed on the television.
“She left soon after you did. Had to go to work. Then she was going to stop by her cousin’s place. Said she’ll be home late.”
She doesn’t look at me at all as she says this, her attention glued on some kind of alien... robot... sci-fi thing. She jumps genres so much, I can’t even tell what she’s into anymore. “All right. You find out anything more about her?”
“Turns out, she’s a master deflector. I recognize it from living with you for so long,” she says wryly. Yeah, whatever.
I make up a sandwich in the kitchen and polish it off quickly, watching Audrey’s show briefly. I think it’s about an alien cyborg.
I head back to my room and pick up my guitar, fiddling with a few notes before setting it aside, not in the mood to really play anything. I glance over at my journal on my desk, open to a fresh page, but nothing strikes me as important to jot down either.
With summer here, I don’t have any homework, any reading to catch up on or papers to write. The amount of free time I have is actually a little overwhelming.
I end up going back out to the living room, and settle in on the other side of the couch, watching how an alien cyborg is the only hope the planet has left.
3
Samantha
I WAKE IN THE MORNING, refreshed and ready to face the day.
Finding a job and apartment so quick was a stroke of luck, one that I’m immensely grateful for. Yes, the bedroom is filthy, but that’s easily remedied with a visit to the store and some heavy cleaning. I have to my name now a full-sized bed, dresser, nightstand, and lamp. I’m living large.
A delicious smell wafts through the air vent. Bacon, my stomach tells me, rumbling embarrassingly loud.
I stayed too late at Luke’s last night and never made it shopping before coming home, so I have no food in the house.
I hop out of bed and sift through my duffel bag quickly, change clothes, and venture out into the kitchen.
Levi’s at the stove, flipping pancakes, with a skillet of sizzling bacon on the other burner. Holy crap, my mouth is literally watering. Mostly from the heady aroma of fried meat, but also a tiny bit from the man.
I take a moment to study him when he’s unguarded, those intense gray eyes focused on something other than me. It was a little unnerving yesterday, his watchfulness not unpleasant, but something I was very aware of the whole time Audrey showed me around. He didn’t say much, mostly just standing there with his arms crossed, a hulking presence, but I could tell he was paying attention to everything I did and said. Like a hawk keeping his prey in sight.
The scruff on his jaw matches his dark hair, his tight t-shirt hugging his torso in all the right places, revealing broad shoulders that taper down to a lean waist. His plaid pajama pants hang low on his hips, that sexy vee guys have appearing whenever he shifts.
Wait, why am I noticing his body? He’s my new roommate, not someone to ogle. Besides, I don’t have time for a guy. My focus right now is making enough money for college. I’m truly on my own, without the safety net of Rob’s couch to fall back on.
Sure, Luke would’ve let me crash at his place for longer if I’d wanted. I could probably even drive back up to Aunt Kathy’s after they return from vacation and she’d invite me to stay for the rest of the summer.