Bully Roommate

Josie The fresh smell of baked croissants, and brewed coffee wafted through the Highland Coffee’s shop as I stared down at my lukewarm caramel macchiato. You’d think someone basking in the scent of coffee and the sugary equivalent to crack would be happier.

Wishful thinking.

Tomorrow started my first day of college at LSU, and I was technically homeless. My roommate I’d scored through a friend of a friend bailed the morning of my arrival. Something about her older boyfriend lost his job and needed a place to crash. Hence my homeliness.

With it being too late to snag a dorm room, and me being too prideful to go back home, the only plan I’d conjured up included sleeping in the backseat of my 2000 Honda Civic in Wal-Mart’s parking lot. I could only afford a couple of nights at a cheap fleabag motel, because I hadn't landed an on-campus job yet as I planned.

Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose and leaned back in the cool metal seat, stretching out my legs while logging into my laptop.

I had my half of first month’s rent and my deposit in my front jean’s pocket, so unless I wanted to ride it out in the backseat of my vehicle, I had to find a roommate fast.

I scrolled through social media searching, but since the short notice, most people had landed themselves a roommate already. Frustrated, I closed the top of my laptop and screwed my eyes shut.

What am I going to do?

When I opened my eyes, a guy around my age stood in front of my table, holding a coffee with a lopsided grin and his hat on backwards.

He chuckled when I cringed. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but notice. Everything alright?”

I sighed and sat up straight, running my palms over the length of my raven colored hair. “No, not really, but you didn’t come over to hear my bad luck.”

He smirked, shifting his weight and his coffee, he pulled out the chair across from me and sat down. “I have nowhere to go. Tell me, what is the reason you’re letting that perfectly good coffee grow cold?”

His dark eyes looked kind, and he lifted a heavy brown brow as he sipped his steaming cup of Joe. I noticed his t-shirt was a 2020 LSU football shirt, which promoted me to believe he was at least a sophomore. He was shaped like a football player, with bulging forearms and a nice southern tan.

When he smiled the cleft in his chin was more prominent. What I could see of his hair was dark, maybe short on the side and longer on top.

Maybe he’ll know of someone searching for a roommate.

“Well,” I cleared my throat. “My roommate bailed on me at the last minute, it’s too late to get a dorm room and I have nowhere to live.”

“Damn, that sucks. Did she at least give you your money back?”

I nodded reluctantly.

He leaned forward and sat down his coffee. “Maybe your luck isn’t so bad?” he said. “Our third party was suspended before school started and we’re looking for another one. Cheaper rent since it’s split three ways, and it’s right across from campus.”

I bit my bottom lip, thinking about all the warnings my parents tossed at me before departing three hours before. This person looks harmless, but so did Jeffery Dahmer.

He noticed my reluctances and held up his palm. “I understand. Living with two guys you don’t know sounds scary. I’m Jordan Wells, this is my second year and I know my way around. You could at least come check it out, let someone know where you’re headed so we’re held accountable?”

Sounded logical. I nibbled more of my lip, debating on my next move. It was only one in the afternoon, but I had tons of unloading to do, and I needed to go get my books for class before they closed.

My to-do list grew with each passing email from my professors about supplies for class, and I needed a good night’s sleep before everything started.

I debated calling my mother to ask her opinion but I knew what it would be. A big fat negative. My mother being Asian American, and my dad being what people called a good ole’ countryman, I was stuck in the middle of overprotective and dad ready to shoot any boy that looked my way.

Maybe this could be my first adult decision.

“Okay, I can check it out.”

He slapped the table with his palm and stood. “Great. What’s your name by the way?”

“Josie,” I said, standing up slowly. “Thank you for this.”

“No problem. You can follow me to the apartment.”

Jordan drove an old gray pickup with huge mud tires and a lift kit. It wasn’t surprising since we live south of the Mason-Dixson line. I’d become accustomed to country guys and the norm here.

My mother on the other hand didn’t grasp the southern way of living but my dad liked that about her obviously. They’d been married for twenty-something years.

The apartment building was close to the one I’d originally planned to live in, and looked to be newer than expected. Once we parked, I got out and met him by the tail end of his truck.

“How much is the rent here?” I asked, hoping it wasn’t too much more than I expected.

Jordan walked me toward the elevator, and pressed the third level. “It’s nine-fifty a month which is about three twenty a piece. Is that much more than you planned for?”

I sighed in relief. “Actually a little cheaper. I was going to pay four hundred a month with my other roommate. It was the apartments down on Dove Creek.”

Jordan chuckled. “I know that place. It’s quieter here for sure, they have parties there every other weekend, and the landlord is gone a lot.” Jordan gave me the side eye. “Where you from?” he asked.

I clutched the handle of my suitcase. I didn’t like to talk about home much, I’d hated high school, and getting out of my parents’ house had been a long time coming. “Zachary,” I said.

The elevator dinged and I followed him down the hallway toward room 303. “Really? My other roommate is from there?”

“Is he a sophomore, too?”

He pulled out his keys, unlocked the door and let me inside. I walked into the spacious living room, definitely decorated by men and turned to face him. “Nah, it’s his first year. I bet you know him since Zachary is so small. Y’all graduated together.”

Sweat began to gather at the base of my neck. My mind raced at the thought of who it could be. Most of my class had taken it upon themselves to go out of state for college. Some to Alabama and others to Florida, there were a few that decided for LSU, but none that I could think of on the spot.

I cleared my throat when the toilet flushed, and the door behind me opened in a whoosh. “Ah, there he is. Hey Mav, I think I found us our third roommate.”

Mav ... Maverick. As in Maverick Booker.

I couldn’t turn around. My feet cemented themselves to the hardwood floor beneath my flip-flops. I stared at Jordan as he gave me a you okay look, and I stood frozen like an idiot.

Maverick Booker was not someone I wanted to live with, or be around. He’d accepted a full-ride football scholarship to Alabama and I’d been so happy to know I’d never see that jackass again.

Jordan met Maverick’s eyes over my shoulder and cringed. “Umm, this is Maverick,” he said, trying to get me to turn around.

I didn’t. I swallowed the deep clog of fear and regret in my throat.

His chuckle, even from several feet away, slid down my spine and immobilized me in my place. “You gonna turn around Lee or you gonna stand there ... like always,” his voice was deep like I remembered.

Even though I’d tried to block it out.

Like always. It was all I’d been able to do growing up, when he made my life Hell. He’d bullied me for years, and I had no idea why I’d become the object of his obsession.

Jordan shifted, weighing my reaction, and said, “So I guess y’all know each other?”

I nodded slowly, stiffening when I heard his footsteps come near and he walked around to face me. Maverick stopped in front of me, his dark green eyes zeroed in on my face and his mouth tight in a line.

He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and I didn’t have to look down to know what he looked like. I’d seen him shirtless many of times after football games from the safety of the bleachers with my best friend.

While she fawned over him, I hid.

He was the closest thing our small town would get to a real life Marvel character, with crisp hard lines of his abs, and the bulky dip of his oblique’s. Maverick stood tall around six three, wide shoulders and lean muscles that he’d used to push me into lockers, and pull my hair on the school bus for field trips.

This wasn’t a boyhood crush that caused him to pull my ponytail or poke my backside. His hate for me grew as the years passed, and I still had no idea why.

Maverick’s dark head of hair wasn’t styled like usual. He wore it pushed back, away from his heavy brow and sharp cheekbones.

I wanted to leave—I wanted to run for my life but his penetrating stare and the fact they both stood in my way—kept me there.

Josie Lee, still controlled by some high-school bully. I planned for it to be different this year. I’d promised myself that before I left.

It still could be. I’d never talked back to him, not since ninth grade when he waited for me to get close enough to jump from the swing and land on top of me.

This was not going to happen anymore. The next four years of my life would not mimic the last four.

I swallowed, gently pushing my hair from my shoulder. “There isn’t any like always anymore, Maverick,” I said, not recognizing my voice. I turned toward Jordan who looked uncomfortable. “This isn’t going to work out. I’m sorry.”

Gathering my nerve and my suitcase, I started toward the door, loving the way I felt by walking away with my self-worth. I made it to the cracked door to open it, when I felt his grip on my wrist.

It stung as he squeezed it tightly. I swung around to face him, meeting his eyes with as much disdain as I could muster. The side of his lip rose in a challenge that struck me deep. “You don’t want to be my roommate, Lee? You afraid?”

Jordan stood in the distance judging the conversation with a worried expression. I was sure he could stand his own with Maverick, and I didn’t think he was afraid, more like confused.

“Afraid of what?” I bit out. “You? Not anymore.” I tried to pull away but he squeezed and brought me closer to him. The scent of his masculine cologne stung my nose; stirring up feelings I hated myself for having.

Maverick searched my face for something I didn’t understand and smirked before letting go.

“Prove it.”

Maverick There she stood. All five foot three inches of the girl I remembered from high school. The girl that scared me beyond all the beautiful eighteen-year-olds that fallen into my bed over the last two years.

The only difference with Josie Lee was that she wasn’t standardly beautiful, but quirky and shy, which made it hard to hate her. But—oh, did I hate her. And she had no idea why.

I watched her small frame walk toward the front door of our apartment and fear laced its fingers around my neck as I grabbed her wrist in my grasp. She swung around to face me, meeting me with a look that I didn’t remember from before. The side of her lip rose, and damn myself to Hell, if it didn’t send heat through my veins.

“You don’t want to be my roommate, Lee? You afraid?” I asked, knowing she didn’t. Knowing she hated me, and knowing I wanted her there more than anything else in the world.

Her gaze jumped over my shoulder to Jordan, who I assumed was confused with our exchange, and I wouldn’t tell him. I wouldn’t tell anyone the reason I hated Josie Lee. Because telling would mean to bare my soul and I spit on the idea of anyone knowing more about me than they needed.

“Afraid of what?” she almost hissed. “You? Not anymore.” She tried to pull away but I tugged her closer, bringing her fresh linen scent closer to me.

I searched her face for any kind of bluff that she tried to hide. Noticing suddenly how the slant in her eyes made the point of her cheekbones sharper.

“Prove it,” I said.

The challenge traveled across her face and landed on the corners of her mouth in a frown. Deep down, I wanted to say something that would make her stay, but ultimately, I knew that wouldn’t happen.

Every time I tried to say something nice, I thought about the reasons I couldn’t let her get close and they all fumbled down my throat and landed in the pit of my stomach.

She scoffed, this time when she pulled away I let her. Josie wrapped her palm around her wrist and stared at me for a few good seconds. “I’d rather eat nails than live with you.”

Jordan cleared his throat, drawing Josie’s attention. I didn’t look, I wanted to get a good look at her, and she looked different. It’d only been one summer since senior year yet she looked like a different person.

“I can see this isn’t ideal for either of you,” Jordan said. “I had no idea you two—whatever this is—so you can leave, Josie. Sorry it didn’t work out. I know you really needed a place.”

Questions of why filled my head. If Josie had been anything in school, it was prepared. She wouldn’t have showed up to school without a place to stay or a plan.

Josie sighed deeply, a wrinkle formed in the center of her forehead, before she straightened. “It’s fine, I’m sure I’ll find somewhere else to go.” Her dark eyes drug to mine and held. “And I’m sure you’ll find a roommate that can tolerate … this,” she said, gesturing toward me.

Before I could chuckle, or try to hide the way it made me feel, she turned on her heel and walked out of the front door.

Jordan whistled, drawing me out of my stupor. He glared at me when I turned around, his long arms stretched wide beside him before dramatically slapping them against his thighs. “What was that? I mean, do I even want to know? Did you screw her?”

I wished.

Instead of giving into my desire to let the past escape from my lips, I chuckled. “Nah, we went to school in Zachary together.”

Digging my phone from my pocket, I pulled out my text messages from Coach about practice. “Coach called for practice at six,” I said, sliding the ancient phone into my pocket.

Jordan watched me walk to the kitchen and open a bottle of water that I downed. I needed something to cool me down after that encounter with Josie. Knowing she’d grace the halls at LSU felt bittersweet to me.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

“That’s all I’m going to get?” he asked. “You went to school together? Because it looks like you slept with her mom, or killed her puppy.”

“Not much to tell,” I lied.

Jordan cocked an eyebrow, not believing me for a second, but knowing I wouldn’t indulge him any further. “Right, well, this should be an interesting semester.”

Interesting … we’ll go with that.

***

The steam of my morning shower rolled over my sore muscles from a summer full of football Hell. I knew it’d be brutal, especially compared to football at Zachary. It’d definitely lived up to my imagination.

Jordan’s alarm clock went off as I pulled my practice jersey over my head and stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. It was surreal to stand there in the colors that I once thought I would avoid.

Getting far away from Louisiana was the plan, especially when I accepted Alabama’s full-ride scholarship. Then I thought of Frankie—my little brother. I couldn’t leave him with my mother—being the shell of the person she used to be—I decided to stay close to home.

Bang. Bang. “Hurry up!”

Jordan grumbled something when I opened the door. To say he wasn’t a morning person was an understatement.

I made myself a protein shake, and grabbed a banana before heading toward my room. Being early was a requirement for freshman, which I didn’t mind. There was something nice and surreal about an early morning sunrise.

The silence of the world before everyone woke, when vehicles littered the roads, and people screwed it up. I slung my practice bag over my shoulder and took the stairs two at a time to get to the parking lot.

The humid Louisiana morning greeted me with instant sweat and a slap of moisture in the air. The parking lot looked empty along with the streets adjacent to us that would take me to the Huey P. Long Field House for morning drills.

I slung my bag into the back of my pickup and stalled.

I took three steps backward and stared at the bare foot sticking out from the cracked backseat window of a familiar Honda Civic. Her toes wiggled in the growing wind as I approached.

Josie laid in the uncomfortable stained backseat of her vehicle, one leg stretched up with her foot hanging out and the other bent at the knee. Something hit my chest at the sight of her sleeping in her hot car, sweat built around her upper lip and hairline while she breathed heavily.

It was August in Louisiana. This is what she’d rather do than be my roommate. I understood—but it pissed me off. I debated on what to do, seeing her door was unlocked—which was stupid—I jerked the car door opened, and her leg fell with a plop.

“Ouch!” she screamed, sitting up straight, she searched through heavy-lidded eyes at me. “What in the crap,” she said.

I bit back every slew of curse words I wanted to call her, and glared, my jaw hurting from clutching my teeth together tightly. “What are you doing?” I finally managed to bite out.

She curled her foot inside and rubbed her eyes with her fist. “I was sleeping. What time is it—,” she searched her floorboard for her cell phone and sighed when she turned it on. “I’m not late—,”

“Get up.”

Josie glared at me with confused eyes. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

I felt my anger rising. As much as I hated her, and wanted her to understand why, I felt pissed that she’d sleep out here with the door unlocked. Anyone could have robbed or better yet raped her.

“You’re an idiot,” I said, grabbing her wrist and hauling her out of the backseat.

She stumbled out, her bare feet hitting the asphalt and her arms wailing to steady herself on someone’s van parked beside her.

I slammed her door, feeling adrenaline soar through me. My eyes dropped to her peaked nipples against her thin white t-shirt and I felt my blood rush wildly.

She noticed my gaze, and wrapped her arms around her tits. “Go upstairs,” I ordered. “You’re not sleeping in your car like a hobo. Someone could have attacked you.”

Josie’s hazel eyes looked bewildered for a few seconds. “Why the hell do you care what happens to me?” she asked. “You never have before.”

That was true. In fact, I’d been her tormentor. The person that made sure she had a shitty day—every day. Nothing felt different. I still hated her.

However, her torment would be at my hands, not someone else’s.

“Go upstairs. Jordan will let you in. You’ll take the room until you can find something else.”

Josie huffed, tucking her wild black hair behind her ear. “I’m not going—,”

Anger floored me. Bending down, I opened her door, grabbed her bag and slung it over my shoulder. The backseat smelled like her, and even when she protested and tried to grab the strap—I hated her.

She wouldn’t sleep in her car. I bent down and picked her up, tossing her small frame over my shoulder. Her pajamas were drenched in sweat, and I dug my fingers into her thigh as I walked her up the stairs.

She wailed and kicked but I didn’t care. I went to open the door but Jordan stood in the doorjamb, ready for practice with his mouth hanging opened. “What in the donkey crap,” he mumbled, opening the door for me. “Dude, I don’t think she wants to be here—,”

I tossed her on the couch, watching her get up and glare at me with heated eyes. I wanted that hate from her because it fueled the hatred I held in my soul. However, in the midst of that hate—something sick—something that shouldn’t be there lingered.

Want. I wanted Josie Lee for reasons I shouldn’t.

“Take a shower and get ready for class,” I said, surprised at how calm my voice sounded. “We’re leaving. You'll take the spare room. You can have it until you find another place. If I come back and you haven’t moved your stuff in ... you’ll regret it.”