Chapter 46: The roommate

Caleb's POV

(6:20am)

"I hope you are just off to get some coffee," a voice spoke up just as I reached the main door of the apartment. I froze with my hand on the doorknob. The sharp edge in that deceptively sleepy voice had startled me and I felt like I was having one of those hand-in-the-cookie-jar moments.

Over the years, I had learnt that the only thing that was worse than sneaking off was getting caught while doing so. And for a moment, I assumed the worst.

In just a split second, I imagined that Ruth had somehow woken up and followed me out of the bedroom, just to catch me red-handed in my attempt to sneak out. But as my heart slowed, I realised that this voice was too husky to belong to Ruth.

So I turned, trying to locate the source of this voice. At first, I didn't see a soul in the living room and wondered if I had hallucinated the sound.

But then something - someone - moving below the comforter on the couch caught my attention.

"What? Never seen someone wake up before?"

The girl who sat up on the couch had long black hair and matching set of abyss black eyes. She stretched her arms over her head and raised her brow as she asked this question.

When her question was met with silence, she fixed those creepy, black eyes onto me and continued, "Or maybe you are one of those assholes who are in the habit of sneaking off before anyone could wake up."

I frowned, not at all liking her tone and its implication, true as they were. My mixed-up emotions and guilt mingled in to transform into anger.

"Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you are to—" I started, stepping away from the door with my fists clenched at my side and moved towards this pocket-sized, foul mouth who was cursing me for no reason. Or atleast, without understanding my reasons.

But she stood up and cut me off. Her words were spoken through clenched teeth when she said, "I'm the girl who opened the door for you last night, instead of calling the cops and having your drunken ass thrown in the jail."

Her words doused some of my anger better than if she had slapped me. But she wasn't done, as she squared her shoulders and continued.

"I'm also the girl who let you and that mountain troll you call a cousin to spend the night here instead of kicking you both out—"

"Well, I didn't ask you to—" I tried, but she cut off me again.

"And, I'm also the girl who is going to have to lend her shoulder to the one who's heart you are going to trample over by running out on her."

For a girl who was probably at an eye-level with the lower regions of my chest, she had no problem staring me down as if she had been practicing it all her life.

Suffice it to say that mention of Ruth was enough to straighten up any lingering attitude I still had. And apparently, this girl knew it too.

Sufficiently mollified now, I cleared my throat and started, "look, I'm sorry about last night. And, uh, thanks for letting me in."

She crossed her arms and continued to stare as she replied, "believe me, I didn't do it after witnessing your charming attitude."

She glanced at the closed bedroom door for a moment, then back at me. I got the distinct feeling she was waiting for me to answer an unspoken question.

So I sighed and obliged, "either way, thank you for that. And no, I'm not running out on Ruth. I'm just, well, I think it'll be best if I left before she woke—"

"Sounds like running out to me," she cut me off for umpteenth time. But this time she didn't sound angry. She sounded disappointed, which only made me feel worse.

Something about the way she was looking at me with a mixture of hope and wariness gave me the impression that this wasn't the kind of girl who easily gave up on people. She probably saw beauty in the ugliest of beasts and believed in giving people chances.

Afterall, she had taken a chance on me last night by opening the door, instead of calling the cops straight away. No - stupid as it was - she probably never even thought that I would be a danger to her, and people like that were not as dismissive as she was trying to be right now.

But as her shoulders drooped and she sighed in defeat, it looked like she was giving up on me. And I didn't like the feeling of being put in a place lower than beasts at all.

"Listen, Shae—"

"Shy."

"Shy," I corrected myself and tried to smile apologetically before continuing.

"You don't know me. And you obviously don't understand my reasons for leaving. I'm just..." I paused, debating how much to tell her.

But considering she and Ruth were roommates, she must've shared enough details with her to understand what I was trying to say without having me to go into detail. So I decided to share a little truth with this stranger who didn't know me but was already giving me a chance to explain.

"The last time Ruth left me, it nearly destroyed me. And she is leaving again. Probably for forever now that she's resigned. I just don't want to be that vulnerable... that devastated ever again." I sighed in regret, suddenly feeling like I've shared more than what I had originally planned to. I didn't want this girl to feel sorry for me. I just wanted her to stop making me feel so damn guilty.

But instead of giving any emotional response to my revelation, she tilted her head as if trying to fit the words into her brain.

"Ruth resigned? I didn't know that." So maybe they weren't as close as I had thought them to be, if she hadn't shared a news of this magnitude with her.

But without taking a pause, she continued, "and what's this about her leaving you? I don't exactly know what you consider 'leaving', but Ruth is not the leaving kind. Not unless you give her a very good reason to do so."

I rubbed a hand over my face, and then sighed in exhaustion. I had no intention to have a heart-to-heart with Ruth's roommate, or with anybody for that matter.

"You know what? I'll just be leaving so maybe you wanna lock the door behind me?" I walked back towards the door and sensed her following me.

Just outside the door, I turned back to her one last time, and saw her standing on the threshold, a hand on the doorknob, ready to close the door.

Her face still seemed drawn, like she was still turning my words into her mind, but before I could say something, her eyes snapped back to me with a spooky concentration.

"But you know, on the bright side, I think you'll get exactly what you want. I mean you can't be vulnerable to Ruth, or be devastated by her ever again if she is no longer there in your life, right?"

Before I could decipher if her words were genuine or a jibe, she shut the door on my face, leaving me standing out there like a fool.

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