Douglas entered the flat, his roommate helping him carry the bags inside the spacious living room. "Sweet place," the freshly-turned eighteen-year-old said, adjusting his duffle bag over the shoulder before it slid off.
Matthew put down the bags to catch his breath. "I know, but don't use it for parties. The landlord hates that."
Douglas nodded. "Thanks for the warning. So, where's my room?"
Matthew picked up the bags again. "Follow me."
The room was adjacent to the living room, as was another bedroom and there were no doors, just two curtains that didn't even reach the floor. In fact, he could see the beds in both rooms, and where one had a clean floor around it, the other had lingerie scattered across the floor. Douglas elbowed his roommate. "Dude?" He pointed to the lace lingerie sets.
Matthew laughed, his cheeks slightly red. "That's just my girlfriend, she's messy as hell," he said, pulling back the curtain to the room next-door and carried the bags in.
"Shit, that's some fancy shit, man," he said, looking at the black lace, the cups of the bras crazy big.
"Yeah, Olivia brings them home from work. A bonus for working at a lingerie manufacturing company, I guess," Matthew said while placing the bags by the bed.
"Damn, looks like you've gotten some bonuses, too," he said, entering his bedroom, realizing that he'd pretty much hear everything that went on in the next-door bedroom.
Matthew stammered. "We'll try and keep it down now that we've got a roommate."
"I appreciate that, but she's cool with me living here right? I'm not going to enter some crossfire here?" Douglas asked, not having the patience for drama.
Matthew smiled. "No chance. She's the one who came up with the idea. We were struggling to pay the rent by ourselves. Now, we can keep living here, thanks to you."
"Ey, just happy to help out," he said, liking Matthew already. There was no bullshit with him. Just honesty packed into a huge white guy.
"Come on, let me show you the bathroom, and then a surprise that Olivia made for you," Matthew said, patting him on the back.
Douglas followed eagerly, noticing that to get to the bathroom, he'd have to cross the living room and the door to the bathroom had no lock, as Matthew pointed out. "We have a sign, you just flip it if you're in here. You can always hear that Olivia's in here, though. She loves blasting some music in here," Matthew said, holding open the door for him.
"Okay, I can get used to that," Douglas said, his mind making note of every detail as he entered and saw the large bathroom counter, the many mirrors and the huge shower. Beside it stood the loo, just behind the entrance to the shower, actually. But there was something that was missing. "Washing machine and the drier?"
"Ah, that would be in the laundry room in the basement. The entire building uses one. Don't let Olivia go down there alone, though. The landlord can be a creep," Matthew said, patting him on the back again before leaving for the kitchen.
"Hot enough for a creepy landlord," he whispered, making notes and building his anticipation to meet his roommate's girlfriend.
"Now this, is your new heaven," said Matthew, leading him into the kitchen where everything looked tidy, for once.
"Why is it my new heaven?" Douglas asked, scratching his cornrows.
"Because Olivia can bake, and I mean it when I say it, she shows love with food. Make sure you're hitting the treadmill on the daily, or else your stomach will show it."
Douglas laughed. "Nice excuse to stay fit."
"Here," Matthew said, opening the fridge. "She made these ones for you." He brought out a plate of stacked brownie cakes, seven of them. "Hopefully you like brownies."
Douglas smiled from ear to ear. "So you dating an angel, is that what you're telling me?" he asked, taking the plate.
"Yeah, sometimes I can't believe it myself." Matthew laughed at that and then pointed to a note held up by a fridge magnet. "Wifi name and password, in case you forget it."
"Dude, that's not a safe password."
Matthew held up his hands. "I'd love to throw her bimbo ass under the bus, but I'm not exactly better at remembering it."
"Dude, your password is password. That's the most obvious shit!" Douglas laughed and put the plate into the microwave to heat them up a bit.
"Probably, but never changing a winning team, am I right?" Matthew patted him on the back and left the kitchen, heading straight to the front door.
"Wait, where are you going?" Douglas asked, pretty sure they'd carried everything inside.
"My job sucks, but I can't skip work because of it," he said, putting on a light jacket that barely fit his huge frame.
"How am I going to go anywhere if the guy with the keys leaves?" Douglas joked.
Matthew looked at him, his eyebrows living a life of their own until he burst into laughter. "Funny, we'll get you a spare key, but Olivia should be here soon. She's not working today, or she is working at the gym, but she usually arrives around midday."
"And you?" Douglas asked, his smile a constant at the thought of meeting Olivia.
"Busy day, going to be make it back around six. So, late dinner, is that alright?" Matthew asked while fitting on his shoes.
"Shit, I didn't know you had a no shoes indoors policy. I just walked in," Douglas realized.
