4

{Ayah}

The next time I see Theo, he hurries up and leaves the kitchen.

I try not to let it bother me.

"Hey, where are you off to?"

Mason chases after him.

I hear,

"Mind your own damn business."

Followed by a door slamming loudly.

Yeah, Theo seems like a real nice guy.

"Aww, I sure do miss having him around. He's pretty cool, ain't he?"

He is all smiles when he turns the corner.

I hesitate before nodding.

For some reason, Mason really wants me to like the grumpy man.

It's been about 3 days since they moved in but I've barely even seen him.

"I wonder if he's like that because of the army. My uncle kind of acted like that and he was in the military for a long time."

I say, reluctantly holding out my arms as he starts digging around in the cabinets for snacks.

"Nah, he's always been like that. Some people are just like that, Ayah."

He says quietly, tossing a bag of Doritos over his shoulder.

I move out the way, glaring when it lands on the table.

"Are you out of your mind? You be nice, I'm a guest! Have some home etiquette."

I demand.

He snickers.

"You were supposed to catch them, dumbass."

"So you're saying that when he was like 6 years old, he was walking around mean mugging everybody?"

I ignore him completely.

This is very interesting to me, I don't really run into that many mad looking people. This is a nice little semi divided town.

Plus Mason told me they've been friends for years. How could you be friends with a guy like Mason for so long yet be so...serious?

Well, at least compared to him.

"First of all, I met him in 6th grade. And second of all, no. Some people go through stuff. Really messed up family stuff."

I hold my breath as he turns.

I don't think I've ever seen him serious before.

"Oh, dang. That's crazy."

I clear my throat, feeling a little bad.

How dumb could I be? Of course people go through stuff behind closed doors.

Poor Theo.

I wonder if he's ever caught a break.

A little while later, I'm helping Mason hang up his posters when I hear a loud bang.

I almost jump right out of my skin but Mason doesn't even blink.

"Chill out, Theo's just done with his sets. He dropped his weights."

He says, handing me another thumbtack for his rock band poster. We've spent what feels like forever rearranging his walls.

He is very picky and very idiotic when it comes to his beloved posters.

"Weights? You mean his car?"

I grumble.

He snickers, holding the ladder steady as I take another step up.

"Look, I appreciate this whole black and white theme in here but you better not let this spread to the living room. I saw this special on House Flip where-"

"As delighted as I always am to hear about your beloved house decorating shows, I'd like to play San Andreas. So just finish hanging up the damn poster already, it's been like 4 hours."

He complains.

I scowl, checking my watch.

"Holy shit, it has been 4 hours. I got to go, I have work in the morning."

I groan, reluctantly stretching.

"Oh man, for real? What, you can't stay the night or something?"

He asks, folding up the ladder.

"As tempting as that is, I'd prefer my big bed to your very comfortable couch."

I smile, taking a step back to look at the poster.

Damnit, it's crooked. Lord knows how long he's going to take to fix that.

"Yeah, I thought of that."

I watch as he skips towards his closet and drags out a box.

"Tada! Boom, an air mattress."

"Wow, nice. You bought an air mattress just so I can sleep over? Aww, admit it. You love me."

I tease, pinching his cheek only because I know he hates it.

He slaps my hand away and rolls his eyes.

"I'm telling you, I won't mind at all if you come over a lot. It won't be an inconvenience to Theo either."

He reminds me.

I should have never expressed my hesitation about being over here a lot. It was different before I met Theo. Not only is he kind of mean but he's a fairly attractive guy. I mean, when you look past the very noticeable muscles.

And the annoyed look he always has on his face.

Maybe that's only when I'm around.

Oh my God, what if he doesn't like me?

"Here, I'll go grab extra pillows."

Mason tells me, tossing me a blanket.

While he's gone, I plug in the mattress to blow up.

Wow, it just reminds me of the time I went camping with my sister and her boyfriend a couple years ago.

It was a horrible trip and ended with him admitting that he cheated on her the whole time.

I've got lots of great memories. And lots of sisters.

"We didn't have any but Theo said you could borrow one of his. Don't worry, I put a pillowcase on it and all of that."

He walks back in chattering.

"Okay, thanks."

I grab it, making a mental note not to drool on it or anything. I'm not trying to die over a pillow.

"Goodnight, Ayah."

"'Night, Mason."

I get comfortable, biting my lip when I flip my pillow over and a comforting smells drifts into my nose.

I smile.

I'll bet Theo does smell nice. I wonder if anybody's ever been brave enough to get close enough to know.

.

.

.

{Theo}

I groan, reluctantly turning over to turn off my alarm. It does feel a bit odd to wake up on my own terms.

For years, it's been either my ma's sandal or a loud horn blaring at 0400.

I smile to myself, finally actually being able to roll back over.

Oh man, my bed feels like a dream.

I could definitely get used to this.

I don't get out of bed until around 12 and when I finally shuffle to the kitchen for some cereal, I instantly regret it.

3 women stare at me from the island.

I immediately freeze, well aware of the fact that I didn't even look at myself before I came down here. I don't even want to think of the state my hair is in.

"Ladies."

I greet awkwardly, grabbing the Fruity Pebbles.

"Mornin', Theo. Nice boxers."

Ayah snickers.

"Uh huh."

I clear my throat awkwardly, shuffling closer to the counter to block their view.

God, I feel like a piece of meat with all of their eyes on me like that.

I am definitely going to kill Mason later.

How dare he have company over and not give me a heads up?

He comes walking in right at that moment.

Speak of the devil.

"Sup, dude?"

He greets, setting down a couple of groceries.

I try my hardest not to glare.

I'm practically naked right now!

Yet my feet don't move. Holy shit, I'm stuck.

"Isn't there something we need to talk about in the other room?"

I growl, my eyes darting towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, sure but first meet the ladies. This is India and Ivory. They talked us into joining their creative class, we're painting canvases."

He blabs.

"You should join us, we could always change it to nude painting."

One of the girls says, batting her eyelashes at me.

I feel my face get a little hot.

"Um yeah, I would love to but I'm clearly underdressed so I'm just gonna..."

I grab the cereal and get out of there as fast as I can.

Damnit.

My day doesn't get much better after that.

I get called into work, which I don't usually mind.

But when I get there, a serious fight breaks out between 2 very tough guys.

And of course I end up having to break it up, which potentially means broken ribs or a concussion for the night.

Maybe I should be a bouncer instead of a personal trainer at this point.

I don't realize that coming home to my bed is the best part of my day until a week rolls around and Mason and I fall into somewhat of a schedule.

For someone who cares so little about everything, the dude is pretty smart and is taking some very serious classes so most of the time when I'm at work he's at home studying or actually in class.

Having not gone in person, I think it's completely fascinating that for some schools you can choose if you want to attend online or in person.

Ayah is around a lot just like Mason said. But she hasn't really done anything to piss me off so I don't mind her being here.

I guess.

Mason did make her a little weird to think about with the whole her liking me thing and I've tried not to think about it.

Because then I'd get my hopes all up, there's no way that girl likes me.

Maybe she likes Mason.

Nah, I don't think so. He tells her everything and I'm sure he mentions his little flings all the time.

And she doesn't really look like the type to sleep around like that.

Not that it matters anyway.

She's just some girl.