Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
The man in the doorway notices me over Edward's shoulder. "Hey! Are you my roommate?" He pushes past Edward and places the box he was holding onto the kitchen counter. "My name is James. Um…nice to meet you, kind of..." He smiles at me, his blue eyes kind as he holds out a hand. I take his hand and I can almost hear Edward growl. I look past James and give Edward the look. It has no effect whatsoever and he continues to stand at the door with his arms crossed over his chest.
I'm still in shock that I have to live with a guy, but I swallow back my unease and put on my big girl panties.
"Hi," I answer James' greeting with a handshake and a smile of my own. "It's nice to meet you too. Sorry about my boyfriend."
"I'm right here you know!" Edward huffs as he walks over toward us. "Hi," he grumbles as he takes James' hand. "I'm Edward. Um, sorry about before."
James smiles at him and I can see excitement in his blue eyes. "Oh it's no problem at all, Edward." He purrs his name in almost a seductive manner. I take in his appearance. He's dressed in all designer clothes, from his fancy shoes to his pressed button down shirt. His long blonde hair is tied back into a neat pony tail. I notice he's still holding Edward's hand and see that he's recently had a manicure.
I laugh to myself quietly, loving this new development. My new roommate is gay. I'm not about to tell Edward though, this is too much fun.
"Do you work out?" James' question brings me out of my inner musings.
"Erm…yeah," Edward stutters out, "You?"
"Oh no, this is all natural." He squeezes Edward's bicep and I see recognition flit across his features. He tenses slightly, but smiles at James.
"You're lucky; I had to work hard to look this good." He laughs at himself. Aw, I love my boyfriend. Giving my new roommate an ego boost like that. A compliment from someone as gorgeous as Edward is insanely flattering. Trust me, I know.
"Well, all that hard work has definitely paid off, Edward."
"What is this shit?" We hear a screech from the doorway. "You are not living here with him, James. No fucking way!"
James removes his hand from Edward's arm as if he's been burned and rushes for the man in the doorway. "No, Victor, honey, this is my roommate." He reaches for my hand and I take it. "Victor this is Bella. That's her boyfriend, Edward."
"Oh," Victor exhales. "Thank fucking God. I mean, nice to meet you Bella. Sorry about that. Hi Edward," he gives him a little wave that Edward returns with a smile. I think Victor swoons a bit. I can't blame him; I swoon daily.
"Well, we'll give you some privacy. I think we need some as well Jamesy. I've missed you so much." He kisses him sweetly and I can't help but smile at their easy relationship.
"You guys are so cute together," I gush as they walk toward James' new room.
"You two are diabolically sexy!" James calls over his shoulder.
I laugh and make my way to Edward. "Hi," I say quietly as he wraps me in his arms.
"Hey gorgeous."
"You okay?" I ask.
"Yeah," he releases me and rubs his neck with one hand, sticking his free hand in his pocket. His face flushes with a blush and I smile. I love when he blushes, it's so fucking cute. "Sorry about that babe. I don't know what came over me. I trust you, you know that right?" He comes closer to me and wraps his arms around me tightly.
"I know."
"I just don't trust guys. They're sneaky fucks and I know it will be hard for them to keep their hands off you."
"I think we need to worry about your virtue with James, not mine." I giggle and Edward joins in with loud laughter.
"I think you're right babe. He seems like a nice guy though, right? Are you excited?"
"I am. I think this will be really great."
"I think so too."
"Hey," I whisper conspiratorially, "Wanna go break in my new bed?"
He doesn't answer with words, instead he scoops me up and carries me into the bedroom faster than I thought humanly possible.
-XXX-
"Wow."
"I know."
I look at his smirking face and smush it in between my finger. "Shut up, cocky."
"You didn't mind my cockiness a few minutes ago."
"Mmm, not all," I sigh with a big smile on my face.
"I'm going to miss this," he says quietly, squeezing me tighter in his arms. "I don't know what I'm going to do without seeing you every day."
"Skype, remember?" I ask in an amused tone. Skype has become our own inside joke.
"I mean it Bella. It feels physically impossible for me to leave right now. How will I be able to survive not touching your skin every single day?"
"Well you're not leaving right now. You're not leaving until tomorrow night. So can we please just enjoy this, enjoy us?"
"Anything for you love," he kisses me slowly, passionately, making me burn for him all over again.
"Edward," I sigh against his lips, running my hands through his hair.
I'm totally ready for round two.
Just as its getting good, there's a knock at my door. "Bella! Stop having sex with your sexy as fuck boyfriend and come out! We're going out to party and attendance is mandatory! Hurry up bitches!"
Shit.
James reminds me of Alice. That thought both scares and comforts me all at once.
-XXX-
We arrive at the club that Victor raved about for the entire cab ride. When we get out, Victor pulls us to the front of the line and says a few words to the ginormous bouncer. The guy smiles and opens the barrier, allowing the four of us to pass. Edward and I raise our eyebrows at each other.
The club is packed with people and as soon as we're near the dance floor, Victor grabs Edward's hand and drags him onto it. Always the good sport, Edward laughs and follows. He's a terrible dancer, and ends up doing a pathetic version of the Macarena. The dance is ridiculous in the first place, but Edward doing it makes it even more hilarious. I'm kind of pissed that he looks that good while acting like a spazz. Stupid perfect boyfriend.
James pulls me over to the bar and orders us all a round of drinks. I drink a few bright colored drinks out of tubes, not even caring what they are because they taste so fucking good.
"Why are we not being carded?"
My question earns me a laugh from James. "Connections," he says with a waggle of his eyebrows. I raise my eyebrows at him as we settled down at our table. "Victor is known around here. He's lived here his whole life. He is legal drinking age, so if you're with him they assume you are. They don't want to be rude and card a guest of Victor's."
"Wow that's awesome."
"Yeah, it is. So, tell me about that piece of delicious man candy out there."
I feel my cheeks flush. "Well, we've been best friends literally since we were born. Actually our parents pushed us into being friends. I'd say we fell into our own friendship ourselves when we were in elementary school. We just started actually dating at the beginning of senior year."
"That is so sweet! Best friends turned lovers."
"What about you and Victor?"
"We met online." He waits to gauge my reaction. After finding no judgement in my expression he smiles and continues. "We hit it off instantly. I knew he lived here in New York and I'd been accepted here. It just made sense to come here. I had nothing back in Florida but judgmental parents and kids that I grew up being tormented by."
I frown and take his hand. "I'm sorry James, that's terrible."
"Yeah, Victor helped me through it. We've been together for a year now, or will be a year next week." His smile is huge as he tells me of their anniversary plans.
"So you did long-distance for a whole year? How'd you survive that?"
"It wasn't easy, but I love him." He shrugs like it's the most logical thing in the world, and I realize; it is.
"So will hottie be around a lot?"
"Huh?"
"Edward, will he be in our apartment a lot? I don't mind as long as he's shirtless."
I laugh and shake my head. "No. He's actually going to school in Boston, he's leaving tomorrow night." I frown and look down at the table.
"Oh, honey! I wish I knew. I would've never dragged you out tonight."
"No," I assure him, "It's completely fine. We needed this. We were just being emo and worrying about his departure. We needed a fun night out with good friends." I know I just met James today, but I know we'll be best friends. He smiles and kisses my cheek. "I'm here for you babe."
"Bella!" Victor calls to me from a few feet away. I walk over with a smile on my face. "What's up?"
He points over to Edward and I see a girl openly flirting with him. Her arm is on his shoulder, squeezing his bicep as she laughs. Edward gives her a polite smile and tries to disengage himself from her grasp, but the slut has her claws in deep apparently.
I see red.
"Go get your man!" I hear Victor yell in encouragement as I make my way out onto the dance floor. I take a deep breath and approach them.
"Baby," I coo as I wrap my arms around his middle. He wraps his own arm around my shoulder and pulls me into him, kissing my hair lightly. "I missed you," I say before kissing his lips lightly. I can hear bimbo Barbie scoff as she takes in the sight in front of her. I pull back from Edward's lips and glare at her. "Problem?"
"You interrupted us," she complains stupidly. Seriously? I interrupted them? Who does this bitch think she is?"
"OH, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you hitting on my boyfriend. But since I have, fuck off."
She gasps and steps back as if she's offended before stalking off to find her next piece of man meat.
"Damn it Bella," Edward says harshly.
"What?" I ask defensively as I look up at him. I swear to God, if he's pissed at me over this, I'm going to punch him in the dick. As I look up at him, I see that his eyes have darkened to a deep green, the shade that screams I-need-to-fuck-you-now. I gulp audibly and he smirks. "That was so fucking hot baby. We need to leave, right now."
He pulls me quickly through the crowd and I barely have time to wave goodbye to James and Victor.
"Go get it bitch!" I hear them scream together. "I'll stay at Victor's!" James yells, letting me know that I have the apartment to myself.
We're going to make good fucking use of that fact.
A/N: Nobody guessed James. Kind of outta left field huh? I just wanted to let everyone know, for those of you who have asked, NYU is a co-ed school with several different resident halls. I don't know from personal experience (unfortunately) but I did some research. I'm pretty sure they aren't apartments, they're just rooms, but this is fanfic, so let's just pretend they have apartments, kay? :)