They didn’t need to worry.
I still remember the first day I showed up, bags in hand. I knocked on the door, and a girl answered.
“Oh hi, can I help you?”
She was looking at me like she wanted to throw me off a boat.
“Hi, um…” I took a step back to review the numbers on the door. “Does Aiden live here?”
“Yeahhh…” she said, drawing the word out slowly. “He’s in the shower though.”
“Oh, right. Okay. No worries. I’m actually his new roommate.”
“Roommate?”
I adjusted the strap on my bag to distribute the weight better across my shoulder. It was starting to get heavy.
“Yes. Could I…?”
I gestured for her to open the door and let me in, but she didn’t.
“Let me just go ask Aiden,” she said with a smile that looked more like a sneer.
Cool! I’ll just wait out here with all my bags! No worries!
She slammed the door in my face and disappeared down the hall. I expected her to return a few minutes later, but she didn’t.
I knocked on the door again, but that time, no one answered.
Shit. What am I going to do now?!
Then I remembered I had Aiden’s number, so I called him.
He answered quickly enough. “Maddie, hey. Are you here?”
“Yup, standing outside your condo actually. I asked your friend to let me in, but I think she…err…forgot about me.”
He cursed under his breath then the line went dead. A second later, I heard footsteps pounding across the floor. The front door whipped open and there stood Aiden, fresh from the shower, hair damp, black t-shirt stretched across his chest.
“She didn’t tell me you were here.”
“Oops! I knew I forgot to tell you something,” she said from behind him, not sounding the least bit remorseful.
Aiden stepped through the door to retrieve my bags for me, even taking the one off my shoulder. I sighed in relief, aiming an appreciative smile his way as he led me in.
“So this is it,” he said, looking back at me with a smile. “That’s the kitchen, and there’s the living room.”
“Pretty self-explanatory.” I laughed.
He joined in. “Yeah. Right. C’mon, I’ll show you your room. It’s just across the living room from mine.”
“Ai-den,” the girl singsonged. “I’m starving. You said we could go get some lunch.”
Her pouty tone grated on my nerves, and Aiden wasn’t immune either. He met my gaze and rolled his eyes teasingly. I smiled at him conspiratorially.
“Fine,” she groaned in annoyance. “I’ll be downstairs in the car. Waiting.”
Then she stormed out of the condo.
“Girlfriend?” I asked, trying to make my tone sound nonchalant.
“Not even close,” he assured me.
Oh thank god.
He opened the door to my room and we stepped inside together.
There was already a mattress and bedframe, as he’d mentioned there would be, but not much else.
“Did you bring a car down?” he asked.
I shook my head. I’d flown from Dallas that morning and taken an Uber to the condo. “No. It was pretty old and unreliable. My parents offered to help me get something better, but I figured I could just walk most places since we’re in such a great location.”
“Yeah, you’ll be fine. I have my Jeep if you ever want to borrow it. Figure you might need to go pick up some stuff to make this place feel like home.”
I glanced back at the sparse room.
Home.
Right.
“You have a private bathroom back through there,” he continued, pointing to a door opposite the bed, “and there’s a washer and dryer in the hall near the kitchen.”
He looked down at his cell phone buzzing in his hand, and a fleeting look of annoyance crossed his face.
“I can take it from here,” I told him with a reassuring thumbs-up. “I’ll just take my time unpacking and getting settled in.”
“Sounds good. Sorry I have to run,” he said, backing up toward the door. “I’ll make it up to you. Do you like pizza?”
“Can’t stand the stuff.” He looked taken aback, and I grinned. “I’m kidding. Everyone likes pizza.”
His smile magnified tenfold. “Right. I’ll bring some home later. We can celebrate.”
Did I want Aiden to greet me upon my arrival at his condo completely and utterly in love with me? Sort of. But then, I couldn’t really blame him for having a girl there. After all, the last time he’d seen me, I was still dating Darren. He didn’t know we’d broken up after the wedding. He didn’t know I’d been anxiously awaiting my move to Austin, not only to start life after college and an exciting new job, but also because I secretly wanted to get to know him better.
That night, he brought home pizza as promised, and the next day when I asked to borrow his Jeep so I could go to IKEA for a dresser, he volunteered to come with me.
We stopped for BBQ on the way, and it’s been like that ever since, me and Aiden, partners in crime.