Roommate Material

“Does Alex know?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t seen him since… Since we…”

“Since I stormed out,” she concluded.

“Yeah,” I sniffled. “You were right. I should have been smarter. I just… I really love him, Molly.” I had never said it aloud before, never admitted to myself my own feelings. But it was the truth. I was in love with Alex and I was so scared that I was just playing into his game. His apology back at the office, him telling me that he loved me… What if it wasn’t true? What if I fell for it? Molly had said Alex had done this before. Who’s to say this wasn’t a part of his ruse?

Molly bit her lip, brow furrowed into a concentrated point. “You really love him?”

“Yes. I really do.”

She sighed, bringing a hand up to rub her right temple. “You two are idiots,” she grumbled.

“Huh?” I could only blink. What was she on about?

“You need to talk to him. He needs to know.”

“I can’t,” I whined. “I’ve been avoiding him for days. What if he doesn’t want to talk to me? What if he’s over me already? What if I’ve hurt him so badly that he doesn’t want to give me another chance?”

She reached across the table and took my hands in hers. She was surprisingly gentle and tender. Molly looked at me with fondness in her eyes, the frustration from before seemingly having melted away into nothingness.

“The Tia I know would never leave something like this up to ifs. Go talk to him, Tia. We’ll go together. Okay?”

I breathed in slowly through my nose, exhaled through my mouth. I felt a little better. But only a bit.

“Okay.”

13

Alex

This was the worst Valentine’s Day ever. I couldn’t bring myself to go outside. Especially not today. Today, I would just be bombarded with constant reminders that this Valentine’s, I had no one. I was alone. Freaking fantastic. I contemplated going out to a bar, drinking my sorrows away. But I didn’t want to even look at the Valentine’s Day drink specials, what with all the fruity red and pink drinks and two-for-one combos. It would just be a reminder of how lonely I was, how terribly single I had made myself. I may or may not have been wallowing about my apartment in my own self-pity. The one time I managed to find a girl that I was dead set on loving for as long as I lived, and everything went wrong.

Tia probably hated me. I hadn’t heard from her in days. I stopped going to the office, instead choosing work from home. Work may have been a bit of a stretch, though. What I was really doing was pouring over case notes with a bottle of scotch in one hand and a pen in the other. I wasn’t too concerned with the quality of my work. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered if Tia wasn’t around to encourage me, to praise me, to love and to hold me. My whole world had turned grey and dull, old interests suddenly no longer able to keep my attention.

So, when I heard three gentle knocks at the front door of my apartment, I was stunned. I didn’t move from my spot on the living room couch. I wasn’t expecting any visitors. Maybe it was the lobby manager bringing me that pizza I ordered an hour ago. There were three more knocks at the door, which confirmed to me that I didn’t make it all up. I groaned as I forced myself onto my feet, trudging all the way down the main hall. I opened the door wide, fully expecting to see that delicious pizza I’d ordered. But it wasn’t the pizza. It was something much, much better.

“Tia,” I breathed. Was this real? Was she really here? Was I dreaming? Because if I was dreaming, I didn’t want to wake up.

“Hi,” she whispered, a small, polite smile on her lips. I sighed in relief. Seeing this gorgeous woman before me was like a breath of fresh air. But something was off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. She looked a little worried, nervous, like she was afraid I might bite her or something. I so desperately wanted to know what was wrong, to lift that worried expression right off her face. But I didn’t ask anything right away because I didn’t want to scare her off. I wanted to give her some space, some time to think.

“I’m here, too,” chirped Molly, taking a step to the side from behind Tia. “You going to invite us in or not?” Molly was here, too? I found it a little odd, especially considering the way she stormed out almost a week ago. Had she forgiven me? Forgiven us? What was this all about?

“I—Yes, please come in,” I rushed.