Jerry Hoskins closed his eyes and counted to ten, cursing for the hundredth time that he had ever accepted that fucking Craigslist ad looking for a roommate
He picked up his gallon of milk with a furious look in his eyes and shook it, watching the half-inch of milk left in the bottom slosh back and forth, growing frothy.
Written in bold, optimistic sharpie across the side of the jug were the words "JERRY'S MILK! BUY YOUR OWN!" As if messages like that had ever fucking worked on Chris. For a second Jerry weighed just letting it go. Their lease was almost up. In a month he would never have to see Chris Denson ever again.
But the principle of the thing was what mattered. Principle was why Jerry still marked all of his things in sharpie, even though it never even made Chris hesitate. And it was why he was going to march over to Chris's room, just like he always did, even though he knew that it wouldn't accomplish anything.
Jerry closed the fridge door with his hip and made a beeline to Chris's room, seething with resentment. Jerry didn't see himself as a difficult person. Disciplined maybe. Strict with himself and others perhaps. But difficult? Never. Jerry wouldn't even care if Chris helped himself to an occasional glass of milk, or a roll of toilet paper, or a frozen pizza Jerry had bought.
But it wasn't just once in a while. Chris's casual "borrowing" was fucking constant. Jerry's asshole roommate wouldn't buy anything if he could mooch it. And that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was his fucking attitude about the whole issue...
When Jerry swung open the door to Chris's room, his huge, muscular roommate was lounging back on his bed as usual. The bastard had a huge bowl of fucking cereal in front of him, happily munching away, milk fucking dripping down his chin.
But Chris wasn't alone tonight.
Seeing Kelly North took a little of the wind out of Jerry's self-righteous sails. Kelly was Chris's girlfriend, and she was the sort of girl who made Jerry feel awkward and tongue-tied just from her presence. She was a petite, spunky firecracker of a woman. She was the head of the college dance team, and she had the lithe, tight little body to prove it. Kelly had thick, natural blonde hair perpetually pulled up into a casual ponytail, a sprinkling of freckles over her cute features, and playful brown eyes that always made you feel like you were either in on the joke, or the butt of the joke, depending on her mood.
Jerry usually felt like the butt of the joke.
Kelly was the sort of girl who had been able to easily attract the hottest guys in high school, and never considered looking further than that when it came to dating. Why would she when she had the hottest, richest, coolest guys drooling for her?
The fact that this impossibly gorgeous girl was dating his asshole roommate was enough to make Jerry feel awkward around her all on its own. But what had happened a few months ago made being around the gorgeous young woman sheer torture for Jerry...
"J-man!" said Chris, around a mouthful of cereal. "Ever heard of knocking? What if me and Kelly had been getting busy in here?" His voice was joking, but there was an undercurrent of cold cruelty that was impossible to miss. Chris was a mean, spiteful meathead who had taken one look at Jerry on move-in day and instantly classified his new short, thin roommate as beneath him in every way. He had treated Jerry with casual disrespect ever since.
Chris raised a thick eyebrow at Jerry. "Well anyway. What can I do for you?" he asked, conspicuously taking another big bite of breakfast cereal. Kelly suppressed a giggle, covering her mouth in amusement at the sight of Jerry standing flustered in the doorway with his empty jug of milk.
"Chris..." said Jerry vaguely, trying to fight through the sudden awkwardness of seeing Kelly unexpectedly. He raised the empty milk jug and sloshed its pitiful remaining milk around. "You can't just take my stuff. You need to buy your own shit." He had planned to come in with guns blazing, but in the moment, his voice sounded weak and whiny even to his ears. Kelly snorted another giggle, turning to bury her face in Chris's shoulder.
Chris grinned and held up a finger, raising the bowl to his lips and gulping down the remaining milk, making Jerry wait as he downed the last of it. He let out a loud "Ahhhh!" much to Kelly's breathless amusement.
Jerry could see it in Chris's shit-eating grin. He was about to say it. That same old fucking phrase that he used every time. The one that made Jerry's blood boil.
"Jesus, J-man, didn't they ever teach you anything in kindergarten?" asked Chris with nasty fake-friendliness, "Sharing is caring!"
Jerry felt his pulse rev up. This time he wasn't going to let it pass. He had heard enough of that fucking phrase. He was really going to let Chris have it. It didn't matter that Kelly was here. She could listen too. Maybe then she would stop looking at him that way.
But as he opened his mouth, Chris bulldozed over him with his booming, confident voice. "Now get the fuck out of my room, Jerry. Me and Kelly need some private time, and we don't want a little perv like you sniffing around. Right, babe?"
Then Jerry turned and saw the amused disgust in Kelly's deep brown eyes. The same expression she always wore when looking at him ever since that day a few months ago.
And he caved. Jerry turned tail and retreated from the room.
There was just no way he could face a beautiful girl like Kelly now that she knew all his deepest darkest secrets.
...
Kelly North stared up at the ceiling, listening to her boyfriend snore noisily next to her. Kelly could never count on pillow talk or cuddling from her big lug of a man. After every session, he would roll over and be out like a light within minutes, no matter what time of day. It was one of his many bad habits.
Kelly sighed and shook her head at her own bitchiness. She was being unfair. In a lot of ways, Chris was talented in bed. His size was perfect: big but not painfully so. More importantly, he had stamina and power, which was a must for Kelly: she loved a man who could take charge and throw her around a little.
It wasn't his fault that Kelly's mind had been... focused on other things lately.