6 Chapter Six | A lie is a lie

S I X

"Having dinner without me, eh?" Dimitri smirked, making his way towards them.

"Hey, there!" Rose called out, "We were just talking about you," He raised an eyebrow curiously, "Good things, of course. So tell me, when did you plan to let us know about this recent development?" Having said that, her brown eyes darted to Anna, who flushed, as her eyes locked with Dimitri.

"I didn't think it was anything worth announcing?" It was more like a question than a statement. Still, Anna slouched in her seat, sighing inwardly at his response, at least it never gave away anything, right?

"Are you kidding me, it's great news! You know what? We're going shopping with you this weekend Anna. As you know Dimitri is the ultimate guy Fashionista, he prefers his women all dressed up and sexy, and you, my friend, need some fixing up." She winked.

Anna couldn't help glancing down at her casual outfit of a band shirt and ripped skinny jeans, wondering what the hell was wrong with it? Well, they appeared old, her subconscious reminded her. And she cared because.... what? To please the one and only Dimitri Hunter? Double heck no! Like that will ever happen.

"Wait, what?" To say he looked bewildered was an understatement. The poor guy's got no idea what's cooking. Tsk, tsk.

Anna hurriedly got to her feet and headed towards him, then curled her arm around his, "Dimitri looks raddled, let's see that he's taken care of, I'll be back in a jiffy." She tugged at the still confusing Dimitri and headed towards the direction of their room ignoring the cheering of the girls and the muttering of the guys.

"Where and how did they meet, Rafael? Do tell us all the romantic details." Were the words Anna heard Rose saying behind her. She internally groaned, wondering how she was going to get out from a lie that wasn't even told by her.

As they got into the room, she closed it behind her, resting her forehead against it. Turning around means dealing with him, and going out of the room means dealing with the three enthusiastic girls and two confusing guys, and the one guy that blurted out the three words that sent her night and mind, in complete jeopardy.

"What was that about, Anna?" Her body jolted about at the sound of his voice. His deep, yet velvety voice.

She slowly whirled around to face the grey eyes that bore into her, she tried to find the words to say to him, yet they hung in her throat creating a tight feeling in her chest. She calculated the probability that Dimitri will fume in rage more than he will understand if she told him the truth. So she settled for the second lie. "Nothing really, just the girls playing around. Hehe."

He inched closer, so she was inhaling his scent: A mixture of peppermint, cologne, and... coffee?! "Are you certain?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She, Anna, was looking anywhere but those dang grey eyes, that literally devoured her whole.

He shrugged, running a hand through his dark blond hair, she suddenly felt the urge to feel it against her fingers, then snapped at herself to get her shit together, this same guy was a douche to you hours ago, remember, Anna, remember? "I just thought your actions were a bit suspicious that's all, for a moment you acted like I was your boyfriend or something." He let out a dry chuckle.

"Don't be silly," She patted his chest, though she might have let her palm lingered there for a moment too long, but time ceased to exist when you're feeling the rhythmical beating of the heart against his solid chest, imagine doing that without his shirt on. Goals. "You do look like you're raddled, and as your roommate, it's my responsibility to care."

"Care?" He scoffed, "When I was being a complete jerk to you earlier on, you still try to care?" He eyed her warily, "You're lying."

"Like I said, roommate responsibility." This time around, a faint scar on his jaw caught her attention. How did you get that? Is what she was dying to ask, she never did.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Somewhere out of here, and away from you, Mister Hunter." She wiggled her eyebrows for apparently no reason.

"No," He gripped her hand, as she turned to leave, whirling her abruptly, and she was clamped to his chest in the blink of an eye. "Stay, let me get to know this roommate of mine, while I work."

"I'm not an object to be studied Hunter, besides, I'm too mad at you to be in the same room as you."

"We're roomies, isn't that so? Seeing me, being with me, sharing the same oxygen with me is factually inevitable."

"When you sleep off, I'll come back, that way I don't have to look at your annoying face or hear your even more annoying voice."

He released her, and went towards the door, which confused her, but not until she watched as he locked the door and lean on it. "Your words are rude."

Her heart slammed against her chest at his actions, still she managed to look witty by masked her face with a smirk, "And yours weren't? What's that word again? Oh yes, a stripper!"

"Fine, I accept that I've been a horrible person to you at first sight so let's do something about that."

"Which is?"

"Apologize to me."

"You first."

He smirked cockily, staring at her from the distance till the urge to tell him to quit became unbearable. "I'm sorry, it was a misunderstanding and it won't happen again."

"Well, I'm sorry too, roomie."

He laughed, "That's crap, I don't mean oral apology." He thought for a second. "Hmm... although there's a certain oral apology I wouldn't mind having."

She gasped as the realisation of what he actually meant hit her. "You're disgusting."

"There you go, not even making your grand apology and you're already piling up the bills."

"I already said I was sorry, didn't I? Just like you did, what else do you need?"

"Exactly what I said minutes ago. Stay. We talk, and at the same time I work."

"I don't think that's a good combination." She pointed out.

"Sounds fine to me." His shoulders lifted into a casual shrug. This guy though...

"Anna!" She heard her name shouted, it was definitely Riley's voice, "The girls are leaving!"

"I'm coming!" She shouted back. "Out of the way, Hunter, I'm gonna see them off."

"Then you'll come back?" He inquired.

"Yes," As if she's got another choice. She sighed, nodding, "Then I'll come back. But to sleep, not to talk to you."

"Get me an apple on the way." He told her, stepping out of the way after unlocking the door.

"How about, no?" Before he could respond, she swiftly got out of the room. Still she heard his voice from the other side of the closed door.

"It's your roommate-ish responsibility to care about my needs." She groaned. Responsibility my ass!

Walking into the room seemed like a big mistake, and a very awkward situation, in which she wished the ground would swallow her whole, Rose and Sarah were standing close to the front door staring intently at her with a well satisfied grinning face.

"Wow, you guys do take making out quite a lengthy business, I hope he's well taken care of?" Sarah wiggled her eyebrows and they all laughed.

Heat crept up to her neck. "This is embarrassing, Rafael." She whispered, so only he could hear.

"Give the girl a break Sarah, you're making her uncomfortable." But the girls only giggled, he rolled his eyes then said. "Call me when you get home."

A whispered murmuring caught everyone's attention and it was Julian who stood behind them with Samantha talking in a hushed tones. In clear truth, they wanted to keep their conversation private. Well, good thing it didn't seem like an argument of any sorts. He and Samantha shared a hug before making her way to the rest of the crowd, Julian smacked her behind as he trailed behind her and she yelped.

"Pervert." She said behind her shoulder, smirking.

"Don't forget to send me nudes tonight, or else I'll come throw stones at your window since you don't wanna spend tonight with me."

"I told you why, my parents are back."

"Fine, but your only getaway in this is if you send me nudes." He declared, and just like that, winking at Anna who had her mouth slightly agape. Oh God, what kind of people did she get herself involved with?

"Send him those nudes and I'm telling." Rose warned, jabbing a finger towards Samantha's direction. "You know me, just a phone call away from breaking the latest gossip to your mom who happens to be five-and-six with me."

"Do that, and consider your boyfriend out of the University's football team, I'll have you know that being a captain has its perks."

"You wouldn't..."

"The hell I will, that's how serious I am when it comes to my personal pleasures."

"Ewwww!" All the three girls, except Samantha who was blushing crimson, chorused.

"Better watch the way you talk around here, there's a minor in our midst." Rafael said.

"Who, Anna?" Julian waved a hand in dismissal, "She's 18. An adult."

"I'm not a minor, Rafael, I think a day is enough to get used to his dirty talks." She laughed,"What I don't get used to is it's disgusting nature."

"Hear that, baby?" Samantha said, "Better behave."

"So what do you do, Anna?" Sarah questioned all of a sudden.

"Um, I―"

"She's a designer. A hand-made designer of all that fancy stuff you women wore: Accessories and so on." Riley was quick to cut in. And she was really glad.

"That's awesome." Rose beamed, "Send us your samples on Snapchat sometime, do you sell them out?"

"Er, no... but here are some of what I made." She held up her hands adorned with the beautiful set of colourful bracelets, on her neck was a pendent the colour of amethyst.

"Wow!"

"That's so cute."

Rose and Sarah blurted out at the same time.

"Girl, start selling cause I'm buying." She took out her phone, "Give me your number, I'll call you about it."

"I can't, I don't make things to sell them, I make them for myself, that's all."

"Please, pretty please?"

She sighed, "Fine, I'll consider it."

"Great." Samantha clapped her hands in glee, "By the way, which school do you go to?"

"I don't." She replied simply, half expecting them to make a mean comment but the don't, instead, Samantha held out her phone.

"Yikes, I was thinking about asking you to tell your classmates or something to advertise your stuff more, but nevertheless, I and the girls will make sure that not only do we buy 'em, we'd help you sell 'em. 'Cause that's pure talent."

"Well, thanks, but I'm not―"

"Just type in your number already, I'm not giving you room for further declination." The last thing Anna had in mind was selling her hand-made stuff, sure she'd been complimented by many, except her dad, who basically killed her vibe on making it a big deal.

Soon after the girls left, "What a night to remember." Anna muttered, rubbing her shoulders as though they were aching.

"How was it?" Riley grinned, his dimpled cheeks made him look cute as a pie.

"More drama than I've had in ages!" She smiled, "And fun too." She paused, glancing up at the three guys. "Can I talk to you for a second, Rafael?"

"Sure, what is it?" He braced her with a look of concern, but still followed her.

Anna closed the door to the kitchen, "You told them I'm his girlfriend, how could you do such a thing?"

"Oh, that. I know I went a little overboard, but it was a necessary evil to avoid commotions among the girls for something they wouldn't understand."

"You lied to them about me being Dimitri's girlfriend, and I lied to him to cover up your lie. What if the truth gets revealed? The girls will be mad and might start to assume that I'm a potential threat to their relationship, and Dimitri? He'd probably go berserk and probably insult the whole of my existence. Or team up with the girls to kick me out."

He snorted in a poor attempt to suppress the laugh that came out of him when she shot him a furious glare. "You're overreacting, that wouldn't happen."

"You say that now, you don't know what will happen, I just have a bad feeling about this."

"Call it a white lie if it makes you feel any better."

"A lie is a lie, no need to sugar-coat it." With that she went out, and Rafael took that as a cue that she no longer wanted to talk to him, he successfully released a hornet's net out of her.

She was pissed, but with a genuine reason. Regardless, it was either deal with three jealous girls, or one pissed off girl. He certainly chose the latter.

"So Dimitri's girlfriend, eh?" Riley, cocked an eyebrow as soon as she started to make her way to their room.

She hurriedly hushed him, staring between him and Julian, who were sprawled on the couch, eating the leftover strawberry cheese cake, "He cannot know about this, okay?"

"Chillax girl, we're with you on this one." Julian smirked. "Although I'm hurt that he gets to play the boyfriend of this beauty and I don't."

"Dude, you're dating Samantha and hence whipped." Riley laughed, and it was contagious.

"Remind me again." He muttered sarcastically, with an eye roll only he can pull off.

"Get your lazy behind in the kitchen, Julian, and you too Riley." Rafael, ordered behind her, "Anna and I cooked, you do the dishes."

She didn't hear their retorts as she was already in the room, and she, Anna McAdams, was greeted by a very shirtless Dimitri sitting on the bed. His back was against the headboard with pillows behind him. He had glasses on, which gave him a rugged yet nerdy look―compliment of his long messy hair.

She gulped, wondering why fate had to torture her so by giving her such a breathtakingly hot roommate. She closed the door, making her way towards him. The laptop on his thighs illuminated his gorgeous face so that even in the dimly lit room, his eyes behind the glasses looked devastatingly radiant. When he glanced up to her, she sucked in her breath. Wordless. Breathless. Motionless.

"Hey, roomie!" He greeted, making her stomach did a nervous flip.

***

Please is there anyone who would be kind enough to make me a book cover? I'm thinking of changing the title.