‘Okay. Make sure that you text your dad when you get there and call me,’ she rambled.
I smiled, grabbing my suitcase. ‘Calm down, I’ll call,’ I replied, listening to the thump that my luggage made on the floor.
Saying goodbye to both my mum and my bedroom was harder than originally expected. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take my bed, or my mother, with me, so I turned off the light and stood in the passage.
I hadn’t lied about Kenzi being outside. When I glanced out of the window, I saw her red bug parked on the other side of the road with Kenzi inside, texting.
My suitcase grunted on each stair as I pulled it down and out of the front door. After another promise to behave and another hug and kiss, I strolled across the road towards Kenzi’s car.
‘At last! I thought she’d tie you up and never let you go!’ Kenzi exclaimed when I’d shoved my suitcase in the boot and slumped into the car.
‘I know, I think she was considering it at one point.’ I sighed inwardly, slipping my seatbelt on and looking at my best friend.
‘Did you tell her that we weren’t living together?’ she asked as she started the car.
I scoffed and shook my head. ‘Hell no, I value my life too much for that.’
Kenzi chuckled and drove out onto the open road with a grin on her face. She turned the radio up and started to sing along at the top of her lungs. I laughed and sat back in my seat, closing my eyes.
My mum was very... protective, and when I told her that I was going to the university in Sheffield, to keep her calm, I said that I was going to be staying in student accommodation flats with Kenzi. That wasn’t exactly the case. Even with the money that my dad sent me every month, I couldn’t afford the steep accommodation prices and neither could Kenzi, so we both decided to go our separate ways and live with other people. It was much cheaper renting out half of a random flat a couple of streets south of the university than it was renting in the student village or halls, where you’d end up living with five other people anyway. I didn’t know much about my roommate and I’d never met him, but I knew his name was Hunter and that he was asking very little for rent. When I asked Kenzi if she’d heard from Seb, her roommate, she shook her head.
‘Nope,’ she replied, popping the ‘p’.
‘Have you told your parents?’ She shook her head, chuckling.
‘They’d have a bigger fit than your mum! Especially since Seb is a guy.’ She winked and I laughed.
‘You have a point.’ Kenzi’s mother was worse than mine. As we were both breakdancers, our hobby was made difficult by the attitudes of our parents, but every weekend we’d sneak out and dance in the local clubs for some money and a bit of freedom. It was difficult, but worth it.
***
Just as I was about to ask Kenzi if I should ring Hunter to let him know I was on the way, she slowed the car down and smiled at me. ‘Right, I’ll drop you off first and then I’ll go and get some supplies,’ she said in a chirpy tone as she pulled up into a car park.
The apartments themselves didn’t look too bad, not for the price that Hunter was asking anyway. As I pushed myself out of the car, I felt the cold air blow against my cheeks and through my hair.
Kenzi got out after me, meeting me around the back. ‘I’ve just got to pop to the shop, I need some new toiletries,’ she told me and tapped my back. We hugged. ‘Make sure that you text me about your roommate!’ she called over her shoulder as she got back into the car.
‘Will do!’ I hollered, hauling my suitcase along the car park and towards the door.
The lobby didn’t seem too bad as I made my way to the lift in the corner. Up until then, I’d been quite happy with living with somebody that I didn’t know, but as soon as the lift arrived on the fourth floor, I felt my stomach churn with dread.
Apart from my dancing, the most rebellious thing I’d ever done was put salt in my mum’s tea as a joke. Living with a stranger and lying to my parents about it was a whole new experience, one that I really wasn’t looking forward to anymore.
My flat was at the end of the corridor. It looked quite daunting as I rolled my suitcase up to the door. Hunter had posted me a key so I could get in if he wasn’t there. My stomach jumped and my heart was hammering. I couldn’t help but panic and think I’d made the wrong decision as I put the key in the door.
The passage was a dark blue and once I was in the front room, it didn’t take me long to realise that it was near enough the same. Wooden flooring stretched out in front of me, holding a couch and an armchair. I had no idea why the rent was so low, but I was far from complaining. Maybe the roommate was a bit of a dud.
‘Wow,’ I mumbled, as I put my suitcase down and made myself at home on the sofa, my heart rate slowing and the worry subsiding.
I’d been sitting there for a while before I decided that I should give my dad a ring to get it over with. There was no way that my mum would call to tell him, which meant that the job fell on my shoulders. Since the divorce, they’d barely spoken.
After the third ring, he picked up.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi, Dad,’ I replied, sitting back on the sofa and feeling it relax beneath me.
‘Hi, sweet, how is everything?’ he asked. I guessed that he’d moved somewhere else as the background noise of his office quietened.
‘Everything’s good; I was just ringing to tell you that I’m at my dorm and am settling in fine.’ Before hanging up, I was greeted with a similar speech to the one that my mum gave me before I left.
I twisted to my right, hearing a noise from the hallway. A guy strolled into the living room, looking extremely shocked to see me. He sighed and held his hands up defensively.
‘Look, I don’t remember your name, hell, I don’t even remember getting with you. So please, just get out,’ he replied, stepping to the side of the door and gesturing for me to leave. My eyebrows shot up into my hairline and I stared at him in shock.
His broad shoulders in his t-shirt were pretty much covering the doorway, but I wasn’t planning on leaving any time soon.
‘Um, I’m not some stalker ex-girlfriend or hook up or whatever, I’m your new roommate,’ I said as calmly as I could. He hadn’t made a good first impression and the fact that his dark eyes were searching my body head to toe wasn’t making it any better.
‘But you’re a girl,’ he choked out with a confused expression clouding his face.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, looking down at myself and then back at him. ‘It would appear so.’
He frowned. ‘But you said in the email that your name is Andy?’ I nodded in response.
‘Yeah, Andy, short for Andrea.’
He shook his head, running his hand down his face. ‘Look, Andy, I don’t live with girls,’ he explained, glaring.
‘Well, you’re going to have to because I paid rent and I’m not leaving,’ I retorted, my heart hammering. He smirked, moving closer until we were almost flush with each other. It took everything in me not take another step back; he wasn’t going to scare me off. His eyes travelled down the length of my body and then back up to my eyes.
‘Especially not girls like you.’
I frowned, narrowing my eyes at the attractive jackass in front of me. Who the hell did he think he was?
‘What do you mean, girls like me?’ I crossed my arms over