Rules for Being My Roommate

**All characters are legal adults, over the age of 18**

Neil and I agreed there wasn't anything tying us down, so we may as well move as soon as possible. As he eloquently put it, "The world is out there waiting for us! Let's have an adventure."

I hired a moving company. Once you get past your twenties, you realize it is well worth it to hire some guys with a truck instead of doing the labor yourself, at least that's how I felt. We kept the things we needed short term in suitcases and the rest drove off to Riverside, where I'd arranged for a storage unit.

We had to drive separately, of course, so we could bring both cars. It was a long day of driving. We spent much of it on the phone with each other, made stops together. By the end of the day, we arrived at the hotel and practically collapsed from exhaustion on the bed.

I opened my eyes and stretched, then heard, "Oh good. You're awake." Neil was sitting at the hotel room desk, reading a book by the light of the lamp. He got up and handed me my travel mug filled with tea he'd evidently brewed downstairs in the continental breakfast. He kissed my forehead, "I gotta be honest with you. I've been wanting an orgasm since I opened my eyes this morning." He was already removing his clothes.

I sipped my tea and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I know. Too early for you. I was gonna use my hand, but I would like to hold you if that's Ok." I nodded and set the mug down on the nightstand after one more warm drink.

He sat in the bed with his back against the wall. I curled up underneath his arm, snuggled within his embrace. He ran his fist slowly up and down his hard cock. I didn't open my eyes very much, but I could see how swollen he was. My hand lightly caressed his torso and I reflected once more on how wonderful his young body was.

He pumped casually, up and down his thick shaft. With my head against his skin, I could feel his heartrate rising He didn't groan, but his breathing was deep and heavy when white fluid flowed out of the head of his cock. He wiped his hand off on his bare thigh and sat back, holding me. Yeah, I'd say it was a good way to start the day.

*****

I'd looked into a rental house we could check out. We drove off a little while after we had breakfast. We pulled up in front of the place and parked across the street. Neil had a strange expression on his face.

"What do you think, Sweetheart?"

He hesitated, "It's... fine."

I raised an eyebrow and held up my hand with pinky extended.

"That's a pretty big yard and I really don't like doing yardwork."

I burst out laughing at that. Funny as it was, he was right. I'm not what you'd call a garden gal. A yard wasn't something I cared about. "Apartment it is."

That actually made things a little easier, since I wasn't as worried about seeing the place ahead of time. I was able to find a three bedroom well within the budget my new job afforded me. It worked out that we'd be able to get the keys on Neil's first day at his new store. I texted him the address and he came over when his shift was done. We signed paperwork and took the elevator up to our new home. It was huge, not only because there was no furniture at the moment. The walls were significantly taller than our old place and the common spaces were a good bit bigger as well. The master bedroom had a great walk-in closet so Neil wasn't going to have to keep his clothes in a dresser in the living room. As we explored each new space, I enjoyed seeing Neil's wide-eyed wonder. "This place is really ours," he whispered, not quite believing.

"You got it, Love. And you know what this is?" I stood in the doorway of one of the smaller bedrooms.

"No. What?"

"Your new library."

He stared at me, "Really?"

"If you want it to be."

He grabbed me by the waist and spun me around. I giggled and clutched him tight. When he set me down, he had the biggest smile, "Stella... This is amazing! Thank you so much!"

"Of course, Handsome."

Our new home also came with a balcony that gave us an amazing view of the mountains. Neil stood, taking in the sight and I told him I was ordering pizza. It feels like tradition to order pizza your first night in a new place. I stepped into the kitchen to make the phone call, then I took advantage of him having his back to me. I took off my clothes and tossed them onto the kitchen floor. I had to kinda shimmy to get up onto the countertop. It was very cold against my bare skin. I definitely didn't look very elegant but no one was watching me so it didn't really matter.

"Neil, Sweetheart, would you come in here please?" He walked into the kitchen and froze when he saw me sitting on the counter. I had one foot in the sink, which gave him a wonderful view of my sex. My other foot dangled and swung as if this were the most casual thing in the world.

"Whoa," he said with eyes huge.

"Care to help me break this place in?"

He was instantly kissing my neck and his arms explored my waist. I grabbed hold of him with both arms to support me. This wasn't the most stable position to start with, much less with the way his tongue was making me feel.

His fingers found their way to the lips of my sex. Mine gripped hard onto him. I could feel my lips parting at his touch. I leaned back as he pampered me. "Magic hands," I whispered then bit his ear. I knew the angle wasn't going to be right for him to be inside of me, even though I really wanted his cock by this point. I was content to let him finger my clit in that blissful way... And I knew I could make up for it later.

I threw my head back and moaned when my orgasm came. My arms clung tightly to his body... and then I got a cramp in my leg. "Mmmm... oh... ow ow ow!" Neil looked at me, confused and concerned. "Help me down, please."

He didn't quite have to lift me, but he was supporting my weight as I lowered to the ground.

"Are you all right, Love?"

I tapped his chest, "Yes, and you were wonderful. Thank you, but me on top of that counter is not going to be a regular thing."

He laughed, "I'll keep that in mind."

The doorbell rang. "I got it." I scurried over and opened the door wide.

The delivery guy looked to be younger than Neil. His hair poofed out in all directions under his ball cap. "Whoa!" Two Whoa's in half an hour... not bad, Stella. I reached for the pizza box, bright smile on my face.

"Hey, a... Could I get a picture?"

I narrowed my eyes at him for a long pause, "One photo. You can use it tonight to get yourself off. Then, you delete it, permanently."

He nodded and immediately reached for his phone, "Yeah. Ok."

I pointed a stern finger at his face, "I WILL know if you don't delete it."

He nodded again, more seriously this time. I set the pizza box down on the ground, put my hands on my hips and posed for him. He snapped the photo and I pointed at him one more time. "Delete it tonight."

"I will. I will. Congrats on the new place."

I waved my fingers at him and closed the door. Neil stood in the kitchen, arms crossed in front of his chest and a very skeptical expression on his face, "And HOW exactly are you going to know if he keeps that picture... or posts it?"

I shrugged, "Men usually do what I tell them when I'm naked."

His arms dropped and his face looked as if I'd just said something deeply profound, "I absolutely cannot argue with that at all."

I took a bite of pizza and set the box down on the counter. Between my first slice and my second, I got dressed and walked out the sliding glass door to the balcony. Neil and I stood together, eating pizza and looking out at our new view. I felt his hand rubbing the small of my back, "Welcome home, Stella."

"Our home," I answered him.

*****

We still had a few nights in the hotel since the apartment didn't have furniture yet. The next evening, we made a trip to the Swedish furniture store, mostly for Neil's library. Bought a few more bookshelves for him and a big comfy chair. I got myself a desk and chair for the days I'd be working at home. This time, I arranged for the things to be delivered and for someone to come assemble them all. Again, so worth it to have someone else do the hard work.

I had the storage items delivered the same day, so within a week, we had our bed in our new master bedroom. I was hanging clothes in the walk-in closet while Neil happily unloaded boxes of books onto his new shelves, which would offer much more room to expand his collection.

I came across a box of mine that I hadn't looked at in several years. It had been sitting in my closet and I had once tentatively planned to use it to playfully embarrass Neil when he someday brought a girlfriend around for family dinners. Not a viable plan anymore.

Instead, I walked into Neil's library and knocked on the doorframe. He was kneeling down, but stood when he saw me, universe's biggest smile on his face. "Hello Gorgeous. What do you have?"

"Something I thought you'd like to see." I handed him the box as he sat down in his chair.

"Oh. These."

"You remember."

He held up a paper with words written sloppy, so big they covered the entire page, "I LOOOVE YOU, AUNTEE STELLA."

"Yes. I remember," I could see his face quickly growing red.

"How old do you think you were when you wrote that one?"

"My guess would be four."

I stepped closer to his chair and rubbed his back. "That sounds right. This one's my favorite."

He picked up the next paper, which read, "You are SO BOOTIFUL." His blush grew deeper. "I mean... I really am kind of in love with your ass."

"I noticed."

He ran his fingers along the old paper, wrinkled from when he'd folded it to be in his pocket before he'd handed it to me. "You kept all of these."

"I did. They're pretty precious to me."

"I must have seemed so... silly when I gave these to you."

"Actually I thought you were incredibly sweet. I thought it was pretty adorable that you had a crush on me."

"Stella, I've never known anyone like you, and I think I've been in my love with you my whole life."

I ran my fingers through his hair, felt his arm wrap around my waist, "You and those... eyes. Those wonderful eyes."

*****

My new job was fantastic. I got along great with the team. I loved the projects I got to work on. From what Neil said, he liked this Odyssey Bookstore way more than his old place, "The biggest section in my old store was the religious books, but this one's got more fantasy books and all these classic reprints with ornate covers, and there are SO MANY board games. The customers are awesome. I am SO GLAD we moved here."

I came home one evening and he wasn't there, even though I knew he'd been off work at least two hours before. I waited a while longer then sent a text to find out where he was. He responded quickly that he was hanging out with some friends. That was new. I'd never heard him talk about friends before. Good for him. I texted that he should enjoy himself.

A few days later, I decided to bring some Chinese food home. He was off work that day and I was looking forward to surprising him. The apartment was empty. I texted Neil and he responded, "At REALMS with friends."

So much for that surprise. Another evening alone.

This quickly became a pattern. It wasn't every night, but it was frequent, and it was becoming gradually more annoying.

Until one night, I came home and Neil was there... but he wasn't alone. He was sitting on the couch reading a book. Beside him was a very striking woman. She wore a black dress with a puffy tutu skirt. She had these lace gloves that ran the length of her arms, but left her fingers uncovered. The pattern of the fabric was like a black doily one might see on an old lady's coffee table. She wore these wing-tipped glasses with glitter-sparkly purple frames that extended out to the side of her face. Her head was shaved on one side. The rest of her hair was orange. I'm not saying she was a Redhead, I mean her hair was orange; like a curly, wavy pumpkin on her head. She was holding knitting needles in her hand, with a clump of colored yarn. I couldn't even guess what it was going to be.

Neil looked up at me with a huge smile, "Hey Sweetheart! Welcome home."

I looked at them both confused, "Hi?"

"This is Sandy."

The woman waved energetically at me, but her smile reminded me of a kid who just got her braces off. "Nice to meet you, Stella."

I was suddenly very uncomfortable with her knowing my name, "Sure. You too."

Neil draped his arm over the back of the couch, orientating to face me better, "How was work?"

"Just fine. I'm gonna..." I raised my eyebrows and pointed down the hallway. "Yeah." I headed past them into the bedroom and shut the door behind me.

It was a short while later, probably fifteen minutes or so, when Neil came in and leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed in front of his chest, "What's wrong?"

I answered with a grumble, "Why does something have to be wrong?"

"Because I know you."

I sighed, "Who is she, Neil?"

"I told you. Her name's Sandy. I met her at the Bookstore. She's the one who told me about Realms. She..."

"How long has THIS been a thing?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You and SANDY." I said her name like John Travolta in Grease.

"What about us?"

"Oh my God, Neil! How long have you been sleeping together?"

"EXCUSE ME??!!" It was very rare that Neil was angry the way he was at that moment, even more rare he got mad from one single comment. "You think we're having SEX!?"

"Tell me I'm wrong."

"Damn Right you're wrong!"

"So what was she doing here?"

"KNITTING!"

"And she had to do that here?"

"I invited her here because she's my FRIEND."

"And all you were doing was reading a book?"

"REALLY Stella? You don't believe I was READING!? Reading is like the number one thing I do!"

By this point, I was growing aware that I'd jumped to an unfair assumption. I could see the hurt along with the anger on his face, "I... ummm..."

"Stella... Do you actually think that I would cheat on you?"

I felt very small when he asked me that. My answer was little more than a whisper, "No."

He held his hands open in front of him for a moment, then shook his head, "Unbelievable." He walked out and the bedroom door slammed behind him.

******

I sat on the bed for a while. I felt awful for accusing him like that. I hated knowing I was responsible for the hurt I'd seen on him. Partly, I wondered how that had even happened. I don't think I've ever been jealous with a guy before. Why had I acted like that? I was interrupted from my miserable introspection by the smell of food cooking.

I opened the door and walked hesitantly down the hallway. My timing was evidently good, because Neil was just scooping the shrimp scampi into a bowl. He got a slice of garlic bread out of the toaster oven, set it on top of the pasta and handed me the bowl along with a large cup of ice tea he'd poured for me.

"Thanks," I muttered. He nodded without looking at me, then he began fixing his own plate. "It smells amazing." I could see him raise an eyebrow, but he still didn't look up. "I hope mine has some crow for me to eat."

"What?"

"Eating crow. When you get proven wrong and you feel humiliated afterwards."

He nodded silently then took a bite of bread.

"Neil... Sweetheart... Will you talk to me?"

"I didn't do ANYTHING wrong today." He wasn't yelling anymore. He was calm, but still had a point to emphasize.

"No. You didn't."

"First of all, Sandy and I didn't DO anything. We sat on the couch. I read a book and she knit... Knitted. I don't know how to say that past tense. Not important. That's all we did. Nothing else happened."

"I know. It wasn't right of me to accuse you. I shouldn't have said that."

He gave another brief nod, this one in acknowledgement. "Second. When we moved here, you said this was our home. Yours and mine. You said we were partners. Equals. Did you actually mean that?"

"Yes, Sweetheart. Of course I did."

"Then how come the first time I ever have someone over, you get mad at me? Having a friend over in my own home shouldn't be this big a problem."

"You're right. That isn't fair to you. I was just... surprised."

"Because she's a woman?"

I didn't want to admit to that one, but it was true. I nodded sheepishly, "Yes."

"And that's the third thing. This is the biggest one. You have all these rules. It's been that way since the beginning. I can't be affectionate with you in public. I have to act a certain way around certain people. Fine, every single time you've given me a new rule, I've stuck to it. Then, you make a rule that I have to pursue a relationship with another woman. You make me promise even when I told you I didn't like it. Your friend comes over and suddenly, we're having a threesome, but then you see me just sitting beside another woman, and you freak out. So what's the deal, Stella?"

"I didn't know at the time."

"Didn't know what?"

"I didn't know that I'd be jealous." There was silence. He waited for me to go on. "I've never been jealous before. I've never had a relationship that mattered to me as much as this does. Most guys I've been with, it was just physical. When it was over, oh well. I didn't care, but you... Neil, you matter to me. I don't want to see you with someone else. I want you with me."

You know how being naked doesn't actually feel as naked as bearing your soul to someone? I felt all kinds of exposed right then.

"Stella, I don't want someone else. I mean, yeah, Mikayla was awesome and I really wouldn't say no if you wanted to do that again sometimes, but I don't need that. I'm certainly not going around looking for someone else to be with. You are what I want, Stella. On whatever terms it comes, I am always going to love you and want you. Do you get that?"

"I do... and I trust you, Neil. More than I've ever trusted anyone. Sweetheart, you mean the world to me."

He nodded and I saw that the tension had finally melted away. "I'm sorry that I hurt you today." He reached over to hold my hand.

His touch was instantly soothing, "Apology accepted." We were quiet for a little bit. Our bowls had cooled down some by this point. "This is really good by the way."

"Seemed like the right choice for tonight." Another silent pause, "And by the way, Sandy is Ace."

I blinked, mentally picturing Snoopy when he gets on his red doghouse and wears that leather pilot's helmet. I was almost positive that wasn't what he meant, "She's what?"

"Asexual. She doesn't date and sex isn't something that interests her. One of the reasons she's so comfortable with me is because I don't hit on her. She likes being around other people."

"Huh." It took me a little while to process that. Neil could have told me that at the start. Instead, he'd made sure we had a conversation that we needed to have. There was a lot of wisdom in that. "You are... Really something else, you know that?"

He grinned, "I've heard it once or twice."

"Can I ask a favor?"

"Of course."

"I love that you have this new social life here. I want you to get to hang out and spend time with people, and even to bring people here, just... could you communicate with me? Send me a text and let me know if you're going somewhere after work, or if someone's here? Just so I know how to plan my evening a little better?"

"That is a totally fair request. I promise to be more considerate when it comes to communicating with you. Speaking of, we're gonna be at REALMS tomorrow night? Would you like to come with me?"

"I'd love to."

"It's a date then. I'll pick you up when I get off."

Dinner was finished a short while later and Neil was by the sink, washing the dishes. I came up behind him, laid my palms on his shoulders and rubbed down his entire back. His hands braced on the counter and his eyes closed. I could tell he was happy to receive my touch.