Disclaimer: I don't own Hannah Montana.
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A/N: This is a un-beta'd story. Sorry if there are any mistakes, I do try my best. Hope you like it and if you do, please leave a review. :)
Summary: Rated: M for adult themes. Oliver's roommate left him no choice but to move out. In the search for a new place to live, he finds Lilly, who is looking for a new roommate for her apartment, as well. The situation seems to work for the both of them, until Oliver finds out Lilly thinks he's gay. Realizing this is the only way he's going to get to move in, he decides not to deny it.
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Shooting Rainbows
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Chapter 1:
The contents of the washing machine spilled out in one big pile of pink mess.
"What the f...?" Oliver blurted at the sight.
Every garment including shirts, socks and underwear were now the same shade of sickeningly baby pink. It looked like a bunch of nurses from the ninety-fifties were murdered right into his laundry basket and on the top stood the assassin: a thick red sweater his mum got him last Christmas.
With a shocked yet confused look on his face, he picked up the basket and marched over to his roommate's room.
Loud music filled the apartment, that is, if anyone could even call that noise music. It was just ear-piercing screams over out of tune, pitch electric guitar.
Oliver banged hard on his roommate's door with his elbow while still holding onto the basket. "Alex!" he yelled loud enough for him to be heard over the loud music.
The noise didn't cease, but Alex's shaggy face appeared in the doorway after a minute. His face was covered in thick brown beard, his hair, the same color, made him look like a hippie. His eyes looked glassy and had dark circles under them. It looked as though he was stoned or hasn't slept in a few days. Oliver knew from experience that it was the first. The funky smell and fumes of smoke that swirled out through the open door only confirmed it.
"'Sup?" he asked casually, nodding his head once in greeting.
Oliver shook his head at him. "What's this?" he showed him the laundry basket in his hands.
"Uh... clothes?" Alex answered, scratching his head in thought.
"Are those my clothes?"
"Oh yeah, I did do your laundry."
Oliver was now fuming. His roommate's indifference was getting on his nerves. "Why were you in my room, picking up my clothes? Why were you doing my laundry? And why the hell everything is pink?"
"Uh..." Alex said again, sounding unsure. He looked up at Oliver as though he would give him the answer.
"ALEX!" Oliver barked.
"Look, man, I'm sorry. I was trying to be a good roommate and do a nice thing. Is that the thank-you I get?"
"You want me to thank you for making my clothes look like Barbie's wardrobe?!" Oliver screamed. Alex genuinely looked as if he didn't know what he did wrong. Oliver groaned with frustration, grabbed the basket and walked away. "That's it! I'm done!"
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"I don't understand one thing. Why did you move out?" Jake asked Oliver as he helped him unload some of the boxes from Oliver's car. "You were living there first."
Oliver grabbed a box labeled with 'not pink clothes' and sighed. "I know, but the place is a total wreck now. It looks like a Meth lab and stinks with pot smoke and like something died in there. I had to get out of there before the police showed up."
They walked up the stairs in Jake's building and entered his apartment. It was now Oliver's temporary refuge. "Yeah, well, don't get too accustomed to my couch," Jake said and put down a box on the floor. "But this would be your home as long as you need it."
Oliver chuckled and slumped down on the leather couch. "Thanks, man. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. And don't worry, I'll be out of your way in no time. As soon as I get my own place, this would be your bachelor pad once again."
Jake went to the kitchen and returned to sit next to Oliver. He handed him a cold beer as he turned on his wide screen TV.
Oliver noticed the silly grin on his friend's face.
"You did it on this couch, didn't you?" Oliver asked flatly, realizing at once what the hidden meaning behind Jake's smile was.
Jake threw his head back and chuckled. "Like a zillion times."
Oliver jumped up on his feet and took a step away from the couch. "Okay... I will need sheets to sleep on. Clean ones."
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On the crack of dawn Oliver woke up. He didn't really fall asleep during the night and he felt like he couldn't lie on Jake's couch any longer. His back and neck were stiff and sore, and he knew that if he stayed one more night sleeping on it, he'd turn completely immobile the very next day. He would have to find a new place as soon as possible, and if he couldn't, he wouldn't have the choice but to move back to his parents' house in the meanwhile, which was something he really didn't want to do.
Oliver decided to go out to get coffee and the morning's paper on the way.
The ads on the paper didn't seem to his liking. Of course he couldn't complain or be too picky because he basically had nothing, but when someone posts an ad like: 'Male roommate wanted for 1 bedroom apt. No windows. Shared bed. Very friendly guy with snake,' you've got to cross it in bold red marker and keep looking.
"Argh!" Oliver groaned in frustration and banged his head on Jake's kitchen bar counter.
"Still nothing?" Jake asked.
Oliver made a low growl that obviously meant 'no.'
"Did you try Craigslist?" he asked while sipping on the coffee Oliver got for him. It was a small thank-you gesture for letting him crash on his couch. That's the least he could have done.
"Oh yeah. Want to hear what I found on there?" Oliver asked with an obvious fake cheery tone. He opened his laptop and started to read from the screen. "'Great place. 2 bedrooms. 1 bathroom. 690$. Neighbors loud while having sex.'"
Jake furrowed his brows. "Well, that can be tolerable... once you get used to it."
Oliver arched his eyebrow at him. "Oh wait, there's more. Someone here posted a quiz of 100 questions to find a matching roommate. I cannot apply until I answer them all. Another one was looking for someone who owns a car so they could drive them around."
Jake laughed at that. "Okay, now you're just making things up!" Oliver shot him an annoyed look. Jake hid his grin behind his coffee. "Okay, maybe you don't... But hey, it's not that bad."
Oliver shook his head. "I'm never going to find anything." He sighed and buried his face in his hands.
"Don't rush it, you know you can stay here in the meanwhile," Jake said sympathetically.
Oliver was very thankful for having Jake as his best friend. He knew he can always count on him. He was aware that if Jake had the room, he would have asked him to stay there permanently as his own roommate, but Oliver was familiar with Jake's lifestyle and didn't want to interrupt him.
"That's exactly the thing," Oliver said gloomily. "I really appreciate that you took me in, Jake, but your couch killed my back last night. I don't think I can take another night on it."
Jake rolled his eyes. "None of the ladies I brought over ever complained," he said while clicking his tongue and winking.
Oliver shot him a glare. "Maybe you slept on it, but you didn't actually sleep on it."
Jake chose to ignore his friend's comment. "Well, tell me what exactly you are looking for?"
"I don't know. Everything that I'm looking for seems way out of my budget. I guess I will have to live with another roommate."
"Okay, so let's write this down," Jake suggested. He took a notepad and a pen and started writing. "Roommate."
"Clean roommate," Oliver corrected. Jake wrote it down. "Someone who knows how to do laundry. Separate bedrooms. Convenient rent. Parking space. Good location could be awesome, you know, somewhere in the center of the city and close to work, but it's not a must."
"A roommate who can cook is a plus," Jake said, Oliver nodded and Jake added it on the paper. "Also should be fine with you bringing guests over," he said as he pointed at himself. Oliver nodded again.
"A friendly person. I don't want it to be awkward when we only see each other occasionally in the hallway. Someone around my age so we'll have mutual things to talk about."
"Is that all?" Jake asked when Oliver stopped talking. Oliver didn't notice his raised brow.
"I think so," Oliver said, trying to think of anything else, but nothing came to his mind.
"So you're basically looking to live with a girl," Jake concluded after reading the full list.
"What are you talking about?"
"Read this yourself," Jake said and shove the notepad over to Oliver. Oliver read the entire list and realized that Jake might be right. He thought he was describing someone he wanted to live with, or rather someone who was exactly like him, but apparently his requirements in a roommate happened to describe a person of the opposite sex.
He sighed. "Great. How can I find a female roommate? No one will want to live with me. Girls prefer living with other girls."
"You know, you could always get a girlfriend..." Jake noted with a mischievous smirk.
Oliver shot him a glare. "I prefer looking for an apartment first. It'd be much faster..." he added the last words in a mumble.
"Okay, okay, don't get too excited, but I might know someone who can be a match to everything you're looking for."
Oliver looked up. "Really? Who?"
"She's a friend of an ex-girlfriend. I ran into them a few nights ago and heard she is looking for a roommate."
"And what does her place look like?" Oliver asked with an arched eyebrow.
Jake started thinking. "I've only been there once during a party and it was rather dark, and I was a little drunk, but from what I can recall, it's a very nice place."
Oliver's desperation hit a new level. He could no longer control it. He got up and grabbed Jake's arms in his hands, shaking him hard. "Jake, you've got to take me there! I've got to see this place."
"Hold on, don't get your pink undies tied in a knot," Jake said, forcibly freeing himself out of Oliver's grasp. Oliver rolled his eyes at the 'pink' remark. "Let me make a call first and check."
He dialed a number on his phone and walked over to the other room where Oliver couldn't hear him. It took a few minutes before he came back. He had a smile on his face when he did. "You're in luck. She hasn't found anyone suitable yet. I told her about you and she agreed to show you the apartment. She's working later, so she asked to meet you now. So go get dressed, we're leaving in ten."
Oliver smiled brightly at his friend, this time holding himself back from giving him a great hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
He ran over to his boxes of clothes, but couldn't find anything casual enough that wasn't pink. Everything else was work clothes and he felt uncomfortable in a button-down and tie when he was not working. He growled angrily. "Fuck Alex!"
"Just put something on, she wouldn't care. Remember: real men wear pink!" Jake encouraged, holding his fist high.
Oliver looked with a sad look over his pink filled boxes and pouted. "Guess I don't have much choice, do I?"
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A/N: I've actually been working on several Loliver stories at the moment and this just popped into my head suddenly, out of the blue, unplanned, while I was trying to get a nap (the best plots come to me that way, so it seems), and the plot just rolled on its own so I just went with it. It does have a small reminder of a part that was in my previous story The Joys and Pains of Camping with an Oken, but it's completely different story. More Mature. Please note it is rated M for adult themes.
I hope you enjoyed. This story should be fun as far as I expect it to be. Let me know what you think, okay? I will post the next chapters when I get reviews. Review area is right below ;)
