Chapter 4
It's been a week since Garfield moved in. It has been challenging but not impossible. There have been a few things though that have been rather displeasing. I keep having to remind him to wash his plates as soon as he was done with them, leave the toilet seat down, and most importantly, actually wear clothes in the apartment. Every morning when I'm getting my tea ready or just getting out of the shower he's just roaming around the apartment with no shirt. It might be normal for him to just walk around naked, but I have never lived with a man before, I'm not used to seeing abs every morning. As chiseled and hard his muscles look, I don't need to be turned on every morning. Why does he have to have the body of a Greek god?
I exited my room and traveled to the bathroom. I relieved myself then brushed my teeth. I am so glad it's the weekend. I can read all day and not have to worry about going to work. I examined myself in the bathroom mirror. My pale skin looked whiter than usual, I literally looked dead. I sighed. I've never been the most beautiful girl, Kori outshined me by a landslide. She has long, volumized, fiery red hair; while I had shoulder length, straight, black hair. She has beautifully tanned skin, the sun loved her; my skin burns in 50-degree weather. She was tall and skinny, she has the body of a supermodel. I was shorter, curvier, nothing like her. Her eyes were literally the color of spring, my eyes were dark blue, so dark they looked black. As much as I love her, it's difficult to not be jealous of her. Whenever we were together, guys would flock to her side, and push me away. I've never been confident about my looks, and being friends with a gorgeous foreign girl didn't help. I shook the thought out of my head. Who cares? Not me. I left the bathroom and followed the sound of gunshots and a shouting Garfield.
I entered the living room, judging the shirtless boy on my couch. I rolled my eyes and walked forward. I crossed my arms and frowned at him.
"What a surprise. Can't you do something productive with your life." I droned.
"This is productive. I'm learning how to shoot zombies heads off just in case a zombie apocalypse happens. I'm learning Raven." He joked to me, keeping his eyes on the screen. I rolled my eyes again. I swear my eyes are actually going to pop out of my head considering how much rolling I do of them now. I ignored his idiot statement. I examined him. He was sitting legs wide and laying back on the couch. His tongue was out ever so slightly, fully immersed in his game. His chest gloriously illuminated by the sun. His biceps flexed. His arm veins pumping. Arm veins are my weakness. I stopped ogling him and discussed the task at hand.
"New rule. We must be fully dressed in the apartment." I snapped. He stopped playing for a moment and looked at me for the first time this morning. He looked dumbfounded. Garfield stared for what felt like hours, I swear I saw the lightest shade of pink on his cheeks, he looked cute all colored. He then snapped back into reality.
"What? Me? Look at you!" He gestured at my outfit. "I can basically see… nothing." He stopped himself from speaking and went back to his video game, his cheeks were blazing. What? All I'm wearing are shorts and a tank top. I overlooked his strange actions.
"Because I don't want your half-naked body to be the first thing I see in the morning." He gawked at me. He rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes. He blew air out of his nostrils in frustration.
"Seems unfair but whatever." He mumbled. I could barely hear him. He placed his controller over his lap and leaned forward. I paid no mind to the action.
"Well go on, get a shirt." I ordered. He glared at me.
"I will in a minute." He grumbled.
"Cover up or get kicked out." I barked and stomped to the kitchen. He is such a child.
I was in the kitchen preparing my tea, ignoring the sounds of the video game and Garfield's hollers. He eventually got up and sauntered over to his room. He was wearing sweatpants, low hanging sweat pants, there was a print in the front of them. I burned and turned around. I can't believe I just saw Garfield print, he looked… big. He came back a few moments later with an old looking green t-shirt, there was some print on it but it was difficult to make out.
"There. Happy now?" He displayed his shirt in my face. Damn, I miss his abs.
"Yes very much so. Thank you, Garfield." I fake smiled.
"If I have to follow that stupid 'fully dressed' rule, then so do you." He declared.
"I am fully dressed. Idiot." Has he never seen clothes before?
"No no no. You're barely wearing fabric." He argued.
"What is this Garfield?" I pointed at my chest to show him my tank top.
"Ummm… heh." He scratched his neck and blushed. He sucked in air through his teeth and looked so frustrated. What's his problem?
"I'm not going to answer that. Anyway, why should I follow your rules if you follow none of mine?" He asked.
"What rules? You haven't even made any?" He's really pushing it with me.
"Maybe because I don't have a stick shoved up my ass like you." He spat. He's pushed it.
"I gave you a fucking home if you have forgotten. You better be careful by what you say to me unless you want me to dump your sorry ass on the streets." I was so angry with him. He can't just speak to me this way. He doesn't know who he's messing with.
"Yes, a home. A home we both share. So you should follow my rules if I have to follow yours."
"This is my apartment. You're just lucky I'm letting you live with me." I was yelling now. Right in his face. My heart drummed with the adrenaline. The blood only leading more anger into my system.
"I pay my share of the rent and my name is on the lease. It is as much my apartment than it is yours." He got closer to me, looking down on me. His words broke out sharp like a razor.
"Excuse me whos couch were you just loitering on, and whos tv were you just playing your obnoxious video games on?"
"Why does it matter if you just stay locked in your room all day?"
"Want to know why I stay locked in my room? It's because you're so fucking ear splitting I can never hear myself think!"
"Maybe it'll do you good if you never think since you're such a bitch!"
Our faces were mere inches from each other. Smoke was coming out both of our ears, I swear I could even see it. I've never been so angry at someone I hardly knew this much. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. It startled both Garfield and I. I gave him one last glare then went to go open the door.
I saw Kori's smiling face when I opened.
"Friend Raven! I have come to visit you and Garfield!" She invited herself in and wrapped us all in a three person hug. Garfield and I were touching arm to arm, it was disgusting. We both gasped and groaned.
"Kori let go." We seemed to say in unison. We shot looks at each other.
"Oh, sorry friends." She let us go and I got to breathe again. "I am sorry I haven't visited earlier. I've been enjoying my alone time with Richard greatly. We don't have to be quiet anymore!"
"Yeah like you ever worried about that before." I monotoned. Garfield gave a little giggle, I stared fiercely at him, don't laugh at my jokes. Kori paid no mind to my little comment.
"I want to know how you two are! Tell me everything." She ushered us over to the couch and forced us to sit next to each other. I'm really not in the mood for this.
"Actually Kor, I gotta go on my morning run. I'll talk to you later K?" Garfield said then rushed to his room. I guess he wasn't in the mood either. He emerged back in an instant in running shorts and of course, no shirt, then vanished out of the apartment.
"Stange. It's almost as if he didn't want to talk to me or something." Kori wondered. I facepalmed.
"Kori I appreciate you coming over but it's been such a busy morning, you know how I am." I tried to explain. I love her but she always seems to care about my life at the wrong times.
"Did I intrude on something?" She gasped.
"No, not at all." I was rubbing my eyes now. "I'm just… tired. Yes."
"But Raven. It's morning, you've never been tired in the morning." She stated. Damn Kori and her observational skills.
"Fine if I tell you what happened will you go away?" She shook her head vigorously yes. I told her everything that happened. About how I was annoyed when Garfield didn't wear any shirt, and how it turned into a big argument. I left out the details that told about my attraction to him, no way was I telling anyone that. She seemed to understand.
"This reminds me of the time when we first moved in together. You did not appreciate the homemade glorg that I would leave in the fridge. I will never know why because it is quite scrumptious." I chuckled while she looked confused. "But we simply talked about your concerns and everything became glorious. I believe you must talk to Garfield, I am the positive you two will reach a conclusion you will both enjoy. And trust me, he is the really amusing to be around, You two will become great friends, I know of it!" She smiled after she was done with her advice, I smiled too. Maybe Kori is right I need to give him another chance. Kori and I didn't get along that well when we first met, but here I am taking her advice.
"Thank you, Kori. You actually really helped." I thanked her.
"It is the no problem friend. I will go the away now." she chimed.
"Oh and Raven, It is fairly chilly in your home. I would suggest turning on the heat. I can view your nipples through your shirt." She added. I quickly covered my breasts with my arms out of embarrassment.
"How long have you noticed?" I cried.
"Ever since I arrived." She answered bluntly. Fuck. Does that mean Garfield noticed too? I nudged her out of my apartment as quickly as I could, my face felt like it was going to burn away.
Later that day I was snuggled up on the living room couch reading my favorite book. I heard the jingling of the door handle. I prepared myself for what I was going to say one last time. Entered Garfield still in his running shorts and shirtless chest. He was noticeably sweatier from his run. His chest glistened with the sweat, his hair was messy and tangled. He looked kind of adorable. He smelled, not bad, but good. A musky earthy scent, I could get high off of it. He spotted me on the couch and looked to the side.
"I'll go put on a shirt real fast." He murmured.
"No, wait." I held out my hand to stop him. I patted the couch for him to sit next to me. He looked at me confused and slowly walked towards me as if I was going to bite his hand off. He slowly sat down cautiously and steadily.
"I just want to say… sorry I guess." I uttered. This was humiliating. He looked at me flabbergasted.
"Wait what?"
"Shhhhh" I shushed him. He was not going to mess up my apology I prepared so hard for.
"I guess I was acting like a stuck up bitch. This is your apartment too. I should let you live in it however you like." He sighed and looked into my eyes.
"I didn't mean to call you that, it was out of anger. I'm sorry." I stared at him for a moment. Wow, his eyes are so pretty.
"Oh um." He threw me for a loop. I didn't expect him to apologize to me too. He made me forget what I was going to say. And his damn eyes. "And you can wear whatever you want." I slapped myself in my brain, I guess that works. "Just no nudity please." He laughed and I awkwardly giggled.
"Are you sure? You might like it." he joked. I rolled my eyes but gave a small smile.
"And when I said I wanted the 'fully dressed' rule to apply to you too I didn't really care. I just wanted to feel special and make up a rule." He laughed and shook his head. His smile stunned me, it was so pure. I've never seen a smile like his before, whenever he smiled I couldn't help but smile too. It was so difficult to not.
"It's alright," I responded. "You can make some rules if you want." I laughed.
"Hmmm." He thought. He was making exaggerated thinking faces and I covered my little smile under my blanket. Then finally it was as if a light bulb lit up in his head.
"I have one. You'll allow me to call you Rae." He smirked at me. I sighed. Why did I apologize? He looked at me as if he just solved one of the sphinx's riddles all by himself.
"Alright… Since I owe you." I regret my apology.
"You're the best roomie ever Rae!" He wrapped me in a hug, and instead of it being bone crushing like one of Kori's hugs, It was warm and pleasant. It ended before I wanted it to. He pulled away and I felt cold again.
"Anyway, I gotta go. I'm supposed to be meeting Rich and Vic at the gym." He sprinted away but before he exited through the door he said. "I'll miss ya, Rae!"