Tempted by my brother's roommate

Chapter Seven – Midnight Talk

The apartment was quiet, the kind of quiet that hummed softly in your ears. James had gone to bed hours ago, his door shut, his snores faint through the wall. I couldn’t sleep. The air felt too heavy, my thoughts too loud.

I slipped out of my room and padded down the hall. The light from the kitchen spilled faintly across the floor, and I found Nathaniel there, sitting at the table with a mug between his hands. The glow from the small lamp touched his face, tracing the sharp edges of his jaw.

He looked up when he heard me. “Can’t sleep either?”

I shook my head, embarrassed. “No. It’s too quiet.”

He smiled a little, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Too quiet is better than too loud.”

I slid into the chair opposite him, tucking my legs beneath me. “You always drink coffee at night?”

“Helps me think,” he said, lifting the cup. “Or maybe I just like pretending it does.”

I laughed softly. “That’s weird.”

“So are you.”

The teasing caught me off guard. My heart skipped, but I smiled anyway. “You don’t even know me.”

“Not yet,” he said simply.

Something about the way he said it made me forget how to breathe. The words lingered between us, quiet but full.

For a while, we just sat there, the silence warm instead of awkward. I traced patterns on the wooden table with my finger while he watched me, his eyes softer than I’d ever seen them.

“James said you used to paint,” he said suddenly.

“I still do. Sometimes.”

“Why’d you stop?”

I shrugged. “Life happened.”

He hummed, taking another sip. “You should start again. You look like someone who shouldn’t stop creating things.”

I stared at him, unsure what to say. People didn’t usually talk to me like that, like they saw something I didn’t even see in myself.

The clock ticked softly. A car passed outside. My eyelids grew heavy, and I yawned.

Nathaniel chuckled quietly. “Go to bed, April.”

“You too,” I murmured, though my voice was already fading.

I stood, and when I turned to leave, his voice followed, low and gentle. “Night, trouble.”

I paused, glancing over my shoulder. “Trouble?”

He smirked. “You look like the kind of girl who gets into it.”

I didn’t answer. I just smiled, walked back to my room, and closed the door softly behind me, pressing my hand to my chest. My heart was still racing, and for the first time, the quiet didn’t feel empty.

It felt like a secret.