Falling for my Biker Roommate

15

Maya showed up at two with the twins in the double stroller and a look that already meant trouble.

I opened the apartment door and she rolled right in like she lived here. The babies were both sleeping, tiny fists under their chins, one wrapped in blue and one in pink. Ethan had stayed home to finish some work. That left Maya free to do what she did best.

She parked the stroller by the couch, dropped into the cushions, and grinned at me.

“You’ve got that face again.”

I shut the door. “What face?”

“The one you wear when Leo’s been looking at you like you’re the only thing on the menu and you’re pretending you didn’t notice.”

Heat climbed straight up my neck. “Maya, stop.”

“I can’t. I’m stuck on a couch most days. This is my entertainment.” She grabbed one of the cookies I’d put out. “So tell me. How many times has he almost kissed you this week?”

“Zero.”

She took a big bite and talked while she chewed. “Liar. Ethan said Leo came back from the hospital looking like someone had knocked the air out of him. That’s not a zero.”

I sat down on the other end of the couch and tried to glare at her. It didn’t work very well. “We are not talking about this.”

“We are definitely talking about this.” She pointed the cookie at me. “You two live together. You work together. You finish each other’s sentences. The only people who act like nothing is going on are the two of you, and even that is starting to look fake.”

My cheeks felt hot. “He’s not interested in me like that.”

“He lifted you by the waist last night so you could hang lights and kept his hands on you for three whole seconds. Ethan saw it from the window when he dropped something off. That was not practical. Practical is using the step stool.”

I grabbed a cookie just so I had something to do with my hands. The babies slept on, peaceful and quiet, while their mother took my carefully built walls apart one piece at a time.

We spent the whole afternoon like that. Maya kept poking. I kept trying to change the subject. She just poked harder. By the time Ethan came to pick them up, my face felt permanently red and Maya looked way too happy with herself. She hugged me at the door and whispered, “You’re allowed to want him, you know,” before she left.

After they were gone the apartment felt too quiet.

I tried to work on the inventory lists. Couldn’t focus. Tried to read a book. Same problem. By eleven I was still wide awake, staring at the ceiling, replaying the way Leo’s hands had felt on my hips and the low sound of his voice when he asked if I wanted him to start asking questions.

I finally got up for a glass of water.

The living room was dark. A thin line of light showed under Leo’s door, but the hallway itself was black. I walked toward the kitchen in bare feet and stopped cold when I heard his voice.

It was low and rough, coming from the far end of the hall near the front door.

“No, relax,” he said into the phone. “She’s just my roommate. Everything’s under control.”

The words hit me like a slap.

I stood frozen in the dark, one hand on the wall, listening to the quiet murmur of whoever was on the other end. Leo’s voice stayed calm and even, like he was talking about the weather or the dinner specials.

“Yeah. No complications. I’ll handle it.”

A short pause.

“She’s not going to be a problem.”

I turned around without making a sound and walked straight back to my room. My chest felt tight and sore. The sting went deeper than it should have for something that was supposed to be simple. Just roommates. Just a shared lease. Just a business partnership that happened to include shared walls and late-night sauce tastings and hands that stayed on my hips a second too long.

I sat on the edge of the bed with my phone in my hand and scrolled through my contacts until I found the number for the guy from the hardware store. The one who always flirted a little whenever I went in for paint or nails for the courtyard. I typed the message before I could talk myself out of it.

Dinner tomorrow night? My treat.

The reply came almost right away.

Hell yes. Pick you up at seven?

I stared at the screen for a long time. Then I typed back yes and set the phone face-down on the nightstand.

Across the hall I heard Leo’s door open. Footsteps moved toward the kitchen. The fridge door opened and closed. A bottle cap twisted off. He stayed out there for a while, quiet, before the footsteps came back and his door clicked shut again.

I lay down and stared at the ceiling. His words kept looping in my head.

She’s just my roommate. Everything’s under control.

She’s not going to be a problem.

I closed my eyes and tried to tell myself the sharp ache under my ribs was only pride.

It didn’t work very well.