Chapter Two: The Funny One

I woke up the next morning to someone swearing and cursing, only to be followed by several crashes. Glancing over at the clock, I knew that Tyler’s plane had already left and the person behind the noise was one of his roommates. The only question that was left was if it was Ryan or James.

From everything that Tyler told me about the pair, Ryan and James were complete opposites. Ryan was the goofball of the bunch, randomly pulling pranks and cracking jokes where as James was more serious and dedicated to his studies. If you were looking for a good time than you would go to Ryan, however, if you needed someone to talk to, James was your guy.

Apparently, it was impossible to be mad at Ryan for more then ten minutes, no matter the reason. He had this charm and smoothness that could win over an entire room only seconds after entering. He was outgoing, sweet, and could always cheer you up.

On the other hand, you had James and I’m not exactly sure why, but he sort of scared me. James was the first friend Tyler made at USC freshmen year. When I asked to describe the two guys, Tyler told me that James was hard to read in the beginning, and unlike Ryan, he did not wear his emotions out on his sleeve. It was almost impossible to know how he was feeling unless he confided in you. James would drop whatever he was doing when someone needed advice. And above all, he is very observant.

Unfortunately, I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting either of them so I had no idea of what I was getting myself into. I’ve seen their pictures through Facebook and whatnot, but during school breaks, Tyler, being unemployed, always visited them so I had to rely on second hand information to make my judgments.

I got up out of bed and made my way over to the dresser. There was no way in hell I would greet them for the first time in my pajamas. I quickly changed into a pair of jeans and blue tank top, and threw my hair back into a ponytail. It was nothing fancy which was exactly the way I liked it.

My hand hovered over the door handle. Tyler assured me time and time again that I would like his friends and that this time everything would be different. I wouldn’t be disrespected, I wouldn’t be teased or taunted, and I wouldn’t have to hide in the library to escape everything. However, everything that I’ve dealt with over the past year kept me from turning the handle.

I’ll be the first to admit it, I was afraid. I was afraid that I wouldn’t fit in. I was afraid that it wouldn’t work out and I was afraid that I would have to cry myself to sleep every night. Again.

Luckily I was saved for the time being when my phone chirped, signaling a text message. My hand dropped from the door handle and I tugged my phone out of my jeans pocket.

Landed safely. Good luck 2day, I promise they won’t bite! –T

I took a deep breath.

I could do this. I owed him that much.

With my new sense of confidence, partly inspired by Tyler, I opened the door and slowly made my way into the living room. The swearing and cursing only got louder and louder. I poked my head around the corner, peering into the kitchen, and saw a curly haired figure unpacking a bunch of groceries whose back was turned towards me. Unfortunately both Ryan and James had curly brown hair so I had no idea as to who it was.

I paused in the doorway, my hands sweating and my heat racing. So much for this being easy.

I softly cleared my throat, hoping it would catch his attention however the figure in front of me remained oblivious.

Now, I have to admit, the next words out of my mouth probably weren’t the best way to announce my presence but in my defense, I am very uncomfortable meeting new people and when forced to talk, I usually blurt out the wrong thing. So me asking him which one he was as my opening statement wasn’t really that out of the ordinary.

The poor guy must have jumped about a foot in the air.

“Geez girl, you scared me there,” he turned around and grinned. “I guess we need to invest in a cow bell or something.”

I shifted uncomfortably in the doorframe as he eyed me. Every bone in my body wanted to turn around and run back into my room but I forced myself to remain still. A cowbell? Did he expect that I would be their servant?

I broke our eye contact and glanced down at my feet. So much for this time being different.

“It was a joke,” he finally replied, sensing my discomfort. “I just meant that it would prevent you from sneaking up on me. Don’t tell anyone this but I can be extremely jumpy.” He added with a laugh.

He put the box of macaroni that he was holding on the counter, walked over to me, wiped his hand on his jeans before extending out. “I’m Ryan.”

Ah, the jokester.

I took his hand and gave it a quick shake before pulling back and taking a step back to put some more space between us. He eyed my carefully before turning around and continued his task of putting the groceries away.

“Did Ty head back already?” he called over his shoulder.

“Yea, he texted me a few minutes ago. He landed safely.”

“Good, good.”

After Ryan finished with the groceries a few minutes later, he motioned me to follow him, headed into the living room, and plopped down on the couch.

“Usually James does most of the cooking and Ty and I spilt the house cleaning,” he called out, looking over his shoulder to where I stood, still in the doorway.

I slowly walked over and sat down on the only empty chair in the room. The rest were covered in clothes and other random objects. “I hate to break it to you but this place is a dump.”

Ryan grinned. “I always thought that James got the worst end of the deal,” he paused as he pulled an old sock from under his head and flung it across the room, not really caring where it ended up. “Don’t worry though, once Jamie boy gets here, we can sit down and reassess the chores. From what I’ve heard, you’re a bit of a neat freak.”

I could help but let a laugh escape. With his outgoing and easy personality, Ryan had a weird way of making me relax, despite the fact that I hardly knew him. “Not really but I don’t think I could ever live like this.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure how we managed it all these years. But all you have to do is just yell at me and I’ll clean it up. I think we just got too lazy with it because no one really cared either way.” He shrugged before grabbing the remote off the coffee table and flipping on the television to some sports show.

To say that I was a little take aback by his offer would be an understatement. I was utterly shocked. I never had a roommate who offered to help with the chores. Usually if I wanted something done then I would have to do it myself so as sad as it was to admit, this was a new concept for me.

However, in the back of my mind, a little voice was nagging me telling me that Ryan was just being nice. Tyler had told him to be on his best behavior so of course him offering to help with the chores would only last for so long. Give it a few weeks and everything would go back to normal and I would be attending Bakersfield Community College in no time.

I was so lost in my thoughts that when I glanced over at the couch again, Ryan was gone. I heard some more noises from the kitchen when Ryan stuck his head out the door.

“Interested in some lunch?”

I nodded my head. I guess I might as well take advantage of his hospitality while it was still there.

“I’m not usually a big fan of cooking,” he continued, “but I’ll always make an exception for some old fashion mac and cheese.”

“You’re making it from scratch?” I asked a bit skeptical. He did just warn me a few minutes ago that James was the only one who could cook.

“Yup. Add water, butter, and that yellow powdered stuff. Mix and yum.”

“That’s not from scratch.” I laughed, once again letting my guard down.

“Anything that requires anything more then popping it in the microwave and hitting start is making it from scratch in my book. Plus, I’m addicted to this stuff.”

After Ryan finished cooking lunch, he grabbed two bowls and we headed into the living room. He flipped on the television to what I assumed was a football game. I had no idea who was playing but from the sound of it, it wasn’t the team that Ryan was cheering from it. I didn’t bother asking him to explain the rules of the game to me because Tyler had unsuccessfully tried on multiple occasions. I understood baseball and basketball, however football was just a lost cause.

I finally lost interested in the game and retreated back to Tyler’s room.

/\/\/\/\

I wiped a bead of sweat from my brow and laid down on the bed behind me. I just spend the last few hours unpacking, rearranging and organizing Tyler’s room to my liking. I’d gone against my gut and tried to make myself at home as much as possible.

My eyes grew heavy and I allowed them to close. I was in the process of dosing off when I heard voices out in the living room. Curiosity got the best of me as I got up, creped across the room, and opened the door a fraction of an inch. It was just enough so I could hear what was going on but not enough to be noticed.

I was able to make out Ryan’s voice however; it was joined by a deeper, more serious toned voice. My guess was that our second roommate finally arrived.

“So little Hunter moved in already,” I heard Ryan say casually as I pressed my ear against the door. I knew I shouldn’t have been spying on the pair but a small part of me wanted to know what they really thought of me and this was probably my only chance. Also, an even larger part of me wanted to figure out James before we came face to face with each other.

“And?” James asked, his voice void of emotion.

“Cute.” Even though I was hidden from sight, I couldn’t help but blush. “Ouch, geez man, why did you hit me?” Ryan whined.

“Ty would kick your ass if you hooked up with his sister,” James laughed. I shrugged, not really caring either way- he was probably right. Dating your brother’s friend was automatically looked down upon. It’s a good thing I had no intentions of making any friends here, let alone boyfriends.

“So would Megan,” James continued. I searched the list of names that Tyler gave me and a peppy blonde popped into my head. Ryan’s girlfriend.

I cracked the door open a little more, enough so I could see the two figures standing at the end of the hall. James had his back towards me but I couldn’t miss the cocky grin on Ryan’s face as he raised his eyebrow. “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

I held back a giggle as James smacked him on backside of his head, probably for the second time in this conversation. “Ouch. Okay, I suppose that I deserved that one.”

James shifted his weight to his left foot and crossed his arms. “So what is she like?”

“A tad skittish and extremely quiet,” he replied. “It was almost like pulling teeth to get her to talk to me.”

What James said next, I was not expecting. If he simply agreed with Ryan, that would be okay. If he said that he’d just have to wait to form his own opinion, well, that would be okay as well. Never in a million years did I expect him to defending me. “Cut her some slack. You know what Tyler said.”

A small grin appeared on Ryan lips. “I know, I know. She seems sweet, I’m just not used to someone who is so quiet.”

James didn’t miss a beat. “You’ll get used to it. She’s only a sophomore so she has five more semester left here.”

I froze and my heart skipped a few beats. How was he certain that this new arrangement would work? He hadn’t even met me yet he was so confident that I would be around for a while. Even I knew better then that. Who did he think he was?

Luckily for me, nothing more was said on the topic. “How is Megan?” James asked, leaving his spot on the wall and walking into the kitchen.

Ryan turned around and called out after him. “Meg’s good. Already stressing out about classes but you know her. How’s your little lady?” he asked but James’ reply was out of my hearing range.

Sighing, I closed the door, trudged back to the bed and collapsed on it. I had wanted to get my introduction to James over and done with before tomorrow, but after the conversation I just witnessed, I now wanted to prolong it as much as possible.

Despite the fact that Tyler had essentially told me the same thing, James did not know me. He didn’t know what I have been through and he had no right to make his own conclusions.

But as I drifted off to sleep, another thought occurred to me. How much did he know?

ugh...another short chapter. I'm still not back to my +5k chapters but at least I was able to get something out right?

Anyways, not too much is new with me. I'm trying to get back into the writing groove which I'm finally to be a little hard. As for my other stories, nothing else has really changed. Feel free to check out my blog for a more expansive update. (.com/)

Again, feel free to contact me with any questions/concerns, or just to drop in and say hi.

Time for bed, goodnight!

ALEX

xoxoxox

ess3sandra: yea, she had a tough time but it might be a while before we learn the entire extent of it. I can't say who she'll fall for but I'm sure you can figure it out.