“Oh, yeah? When’s the last time you woke up and didn’t know what your day would look like?”
“Today. I never imagined I’d be here in your house.” Scott’s face crawled toward me, and I brushed it away with a broom coated in cobwebs.
“When’s the last time you danced with a stranger? Or kissed a man? Or said feck it, life’s grand? And did what you wanted to do at that moment?”
I whipped around and sat at the table, thinking back to spontaneous times, but nothing emerged. “Plenty. It’s none of your business how I live my life.” Annoyance replaced my flirtation.
Jaime dropped into the chair next to me. “Exactly. So you live your life, and I’ll live mine, and eventually, we’ll find a compromise since we’re living together.”
I didn’t reply because the conversation was over. How dare he call me controlling? At least I’m not a slob and can tell the difference between a trash can and the floor. My gaze flickered toward the ceiling and I stood to leave the room, but had nowhere to go.
Deirdre popped her head into the kitchen and broke the silence. “Oh, thank you,” she said, noticing the empty sink. “Rory, I think we need you here more often. You’re a good influence on Jaime. I can’t remember the last time he cleaned the kitchen and gave me a night off.”
I smiled at her and smirked at him, folding my hands and pulling back my shoulders.
“Here’s a new toothbrush,” she said, handing me a plastic package. “Jaime, can you show her where she’ll be staying?”
“Sure, ma.” He stood from the table, and I slinked behind him up the narrow wooden stairs to the second floor. He ducked through the doorway and leaned forward to prevent bumping into the slanted ceilings.
“Toilet.” He opened the creaky door next to the stairs, and I peeked inside. I placed the brand new toothbrush on the sink and continued to follow him down the hall.
“This is my room, and it has a bed and a couch. Your choice. Which one do you want?”
Images of dirty sheets from before he moved, piles of dirty clothes flooding the floor, and smelly trash trapped in the room flickered in the corners of my mind.
When he opened the door, I stepped back, shocked. Standing before me was an immaculate, modern room that reminded me of a hotel suite. With fluffy pillows matching the generic bedspread, a desk, and a dresser, I could have been standing in the Marriot or the Sheraton. Beside the bed sat a fully made matching sofa bed. No matter how hard I looked, there wasn’t a speck of dirt anywhere. “This is your room?” I asked, spinning in a circle.
“Yep. When I left for uni, my ma redid it in case any of our American relatives wanted to come over and visit.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Yeah, so this is it. Where do you want to sleep?” he asked again.
“Sofa bed.” It was closest to the door, so if I needed to make a quick escape, I’d have an advantage.
Jaime dug through his drawers and tossed a Manchester United t-shirt on the bed. “Pajamas.”
I picked up the shirt and held it against my torso. The hem hung just below my hips. “Um.”
“Rory,” he said. “You have legs. It’s not like I’ve never seen them before.”
I gulped and forced a smile. “Right.”
That night, I gripped Jaime’s t-shirt, and looked at myself in the bathroom mirror. Should I take my bra off? Usually, I’m asleep by the time he gets home and I’m gone before he wakes, but I don’t know about this…I bit my bottom lip, looking at the Manchester United shirt, and pulled it over my head before exiting the bathroom. My dirty jeans hung from my hips and I sneaked back into Jaime’s room, crawling under the fluffy blanket on the sofa bed. It wasn’t the first time I’d slept in my clothes, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be the last.
Even though I closed my eyes, my brain remained awake like a hamster running on a squeaky wheel. The opened windows let in a slight breeze, but the silence was deafening. I wrapped the blanket tighter around my torso and rolled onto my side.
Excitement and applause traveled up the stairs and under Jaime’s closed door. He and Connor stayed up to watch another football match. I knew whatever team they rooted for was doing well based upon the cheers. One cascade of disappointment rolled into the room, followed by exuberance, and then nothing. I wanted to be asleep when Jaime entered, but I couldn’t relax. My legs twitched, and I flipped my pillow, squeezing and fluffing, tossing and turning.
I was still fidgeting when the door clicked open, and a slice of light shot across my face. I froze and peeked one eye open, seeing a tall, dark shadow stand in the doorway. The door closed and the light disappeared, but I followed his shadow to his bed across the room. The moonlight outlined his body, and I felt like a voyeur, peeping into his personal life.
He removed his shirt and dropped his pants before pulling up a pair of shorts. He looked around the dark room, searching for a shirt in his dresser. My heart thudded against my chest and I held my breath.
I knew we were roommates, but I had never seen him change for bed before. He spent most of his time with his old roommates or the football players, so when he stumbled home, I was fast asleep. I sometimes heard him in the bathroom, but it became routine and I never woke up long enough to say hi.
But now, here he was in the flesh, and I was wide awake. Being in his room and seeing his life more intimately made me understand him better. Despite my apprehension about staying here, sleeping in his room, and wearing his clothes to bed, I felt strangely at ease.
I lost his facial features as the clouds rolled past the moon. His eyes could have been staring into mine, or they could have been tightly closed. Not knowing made my heart race and my throat constrict. I rolled over, away from Jaime, unable to interpret my body’s hypocrisy.
