Chapter 5 First Met

• "Two toilets!' When I say it again, they both nod.
• "Yes, if someone is taking a shower and you have to go to the bathroom, it's a lifesaver!" Mark laughs, and I nod my head. "The one at the end is just a place to store things. There is where we keep our cleaning supplies!' He talks about how to open the utility closet. "Kent owns this room, but I shouldn't have opened the door without his permission. He says, "Yes," and touches the door.
• I didn't know Kent and he didn't know me, but that seemed polite.
• Mark gives a drum roll on the wall and says, "And this." "Is what Carlo's room is right now." He says this as he opens the door and sees only a rod iron bed frame. Even the bed's mattress and box spring had been taken away.
• "It's big." When I say something, they both nod. It was a lot bigger than the room I sleep in at home. It had nice wood floors and white walls that didn't stand out.
• "Boo, are you guys showing her around?" I hear Carlo whine as he comes out of the half-bath, and both of them laugh. "What do you think, Juls?" When he asks, I smile.
• "May I take a look in the closet?" When I ask, he nods.
• "Of course, look around." He makes me feel good, so I go in. There was a big window, and the ceilings were high. The closet was pretty big, went down pretty far, and had a lot of space. If I had my dresser, I would be all set.
• "You like it?" Again, Carlo asks, and I nod.
• "Yes, it's good.' I tell him it's okay, and he smiles. "You guys must have been interested in this room though, right?'
• "Not from people we would have liked to live with!" Kyle assures me.
• "You're not a freshman or a girl with bleached roots who is annoying, so I'd say you're our best candidate.'
• "Are the standards so low?" When I ask, they all laugh.
• "It's so low you wouldn't believe it." Mark tells me, and I nod and take one more look around the room.
• "You'd like it?" When Carlo asks, I smile. As I stood here, my stomach was doing backflips and I could feel my palms getting sweaty. / really be able to do this.
• "I say, "I'd love to have it." "But only if you guys want that." I add right away, putting my hands out, and everyone laughs.
• They had to want me to live there too. It wasn't enough for me to want to live there. Even though it wasn't perfect and glitzy, my social life was dead and almost impossible to bring back to life. Most of my friends from my area had moved out of state for college, so I had to start putting myself out there again. I was bored, tired, and didn't have anyone to talk to.
• "Could we talk for a minute about it?" Kyle asks with a smile, and I say yes.
• "Yeah sure.' When I answer, they all move down the hall, so I go back to the living room to talk with them.
• I started thinking about what I had to do. I had to check my credit, read the lease, and buy furniture to finish this room. God, I hope they'll let me live there. Even though it's scary and makes me nervous, it's better than what I'm doing now.
• I know it's my phone when I feel my bag start to vibrate, so I move one of the handles down my arm a bit so I can dig around inside to find it. When I finally get it in my hand, the words "MOM IS CALLING" are running across the screen.
• I put the phone to my ear and say, "Hello."
• "Hey sweetie." Mom's voice comes through, and I can tell by the whirring in the back that she's on her hands-free in the car. How does your coffee taste?
• "It went well."
• "Was? You're done already?" She asks, and I sigh as I look at the room's bed frame. It was a queen size, so I wouldn't even have to get rid of it.
• "Uh-huh, I'm at Carlo's place talking for a while." I shrug. I should have waited to tell them that I might move in until I could talk to them about it.
• "Well, I need to get something in the city. Do you want me to come get you?" I smile when she asks me.
• "Sure, I'll send it to you." I tell her, and as I look at the walls, I twist around the room. They had obviously taken the time to clean up the room well before showing it to people.
• "Aww, that's nice. I'll see you in, what, twenty minutes?" I smile when she says this.
• "Okay I'll see you...." I look up to the doorway and see a big silhouette on the other side of the hall opening his room.
• Kent.
• When he looks over his shoulder at me, I make a small smile. This guy is the perfect example of a ten. He has dark brown hair and the most perfectly chiseled jawline I've ever seen. And his bright green eyes with a touch of yellow are to die for. He looks like he spent the whole summer in the sun.
• "Juls?" The sound of my mother's voice wakes me up, and I shake my head. "Juls, are you there still?"
• "Yeah, sorry mom, the signal isn't great here." I mumble, pulling my eyes away. He is also very tall and strong. This guy is too scary and attractive to be my roommate. "But yeah, I'll see you soon."
• "Okay, see you, hon." She says something, and my phone beeps. I quickly put my phone back in my bag and use the last bit of courage I have to look back and see if he's still there.
• He hasn't moved; he's still standing there and looking at me. I take a deep breath and wipe my shorts dry with my hands. Again, my hands are sweaty.
• "Hi." I'm able to get out, and his mouth makes a small smile as it curves up.