Chapter 14: Chapter 14

I slept like the dead last night, I woke up in bed at almost nine and sigh, slipping out from under my sheets. I need something to eat, I'm literally starving.

I pull on a sweater over my shorts and t-shirt, sliding on my slippers and I look at myself in the mirror over my dresser before stepping outside.

I can hear voices down the hall in the kitchen so I make a trip to the washroom first. After I finish my quick morning routine I step back out into the hall and make my way to the kitchen.

Kent's cooking with his back facing me and Kyle and Mark look extremely hungover, slumped onto the peninsula.

"Morning." I say quietly and Kyle perks up, walking over quickly throwing his arm over my shoulders.

"Juls, you're the best." He insists, unnecessarily kissing my head and I furrow my eyebrows. "Those cookies were awesome last night, thank you."

"I think we ate most of them actually." Mark admits and I lean on the island. "Sorry."

"That's okay, I made them for everyone."

"Let's not forget they came from a package before we praise them a little too hard." Kent mumbles, turning off the stove.

He brings two plates of eggs and bacon to the island and grabs himself a third one. I sigh and walk around into the kitchen to make myself something, since Kent once again has decided not to include me.

He's left the kitchen in a state which really bugs me. I cleaned it spotlessly last night. I clean it up every time I use it and it feels like I'm always cleaning a mess that isn't mine.

But I won't say anything about it, not when I'm the newest roommate. I just sigh and open the dishwasher to unload it.

"So how was your guys' thing last night?" I ask, trying painfully to make conversation.

"It was cool, sorry we didn't say anything. It wasn't a big thing, it was just some of the guys we knew and we just kind of drank and talked, it wouldn't have been that fun for you. There weren't any other girls there." Mark tells me and I shrug. "Plus, you looked kind of tired after your shift."

"I actually really was." I admit, knowing I enjoyed my sleep last night.

"It wasn't a party or anything, plus we felt bad about just leaving like that. You were in the shower though so we just sent you a message." Kyle adds, shoveling food into his mouth and I shrug.

"It's really alright, I don't mind." I assure them, finishing up unloading the dishwasher. I might just have cereal or a granola bar, I don't really want to cook anything.

I can hear footsteps on the metal stairs down to our place and everyone turns their head to see what the noise is.

"Knock knock!" I hear in a high pitched voice as our apartment door opens. I turned and watched four girls step through the threshold, they were all giggling and talking and I was just confused. They all looked like carbon copies of each other, fake blonde hair with highlights, curled to perfection or perfectly straightened. They all wore some article of clothing from Lululemon, whether it was a tank, leggings, bike shorts, a sweater. The second they stepped inside it was like the scent of Victoria Secret followed them.

"Hey." Mark says with a chuckle. "What do you guys want?"

"We're bored and we just wanted to see what you were all up to." The first one says, looping her arms around his shoulders and he tries to shrug out of them.

"Yeah." Another one adds, coming to the edge of the island to stand next to the Kent. "Hey? She whispers to him in this breathy voice and he stares dead ahead at the wall. I just keep loading the dishwasher, hardly noticing what any of them have to say. I normally get along with other girls, but something told me I wasn't anything like them and we wouldn't mesh.

"So, did you guys find someone to fill Carlo's room?" The third one asks as they all crowd the counter, filling our kitchen up.

"Yeah, she's standing right there?' Kyle huffs, gesturing to me in the kitchen. I smile politely and stop what I'm doing.

"I'm Juls, nice to meet you." I say as nicely as I can and all of their faces drop.

If I was to guess, they were all expecting a new guy. Someone who they could all flirt with and that would look like these guys who were all supposedly their friends. But instead, they had me and I could tell that disappointed them.

"Oh, I didn't know you'd be looking at girls to move in with you." The second one standing next to Kent says. "One of us could have."

"Why would we ask that when you all live upstairs?" Kent asks, sounding irritated and I put the pieces together. These were the upstairs roommates that they knew.

"Well so I could be closer to you." She says playfully and he just rolls his eyes and stuffs some of his eggs into his mouth. He seemed less than impressed with all of them.

"Juls, this is Emma, Ava, Chloe and Piper?' Mark butts in and I give him a thankful smile. Piper was the one sitting closest to Kent, she kept looking at him but he refused to look at her. Nice to know I'm not the only one.

"Well," Chloe says, leaning in from behind Mark again who once again, shimmies out of her space. "We had something to tell you-"

"But maybe we'd better save it for later." Piper cuts her off, looking at me and I narrow my eyes. What's her problem?

"Whatever you're going to say, just fucking say it, Piper. I don't have time for your shit." Kent says curtly and I almost snort.

"Well, Abby's throwing a party tonight at her place but I didn't want to say it in front of Juls. You know, out of respect" She sighs, running her purple acrylic nails through her hair. Wow, that's low, even for her.

"Why not?" Kyle asks.

"Well because I didn't know you had a new roommate and Juls wouldn't know anyone there." She shrugs. "Abby doesn't know her, it wouldn't be fair to just invite someone extra.'

"Juls's coming.' Mark insists and Piper's eyes narrow. "She lives with us and she's our friend, she's coming."

The other three don't seem to mind, I'm still not clear on which of the other two is Ava or Emma. They all kind of look the same but it was clear that Piper was the prettiest, and my guess was the other three all tried their best to look like her.

"Oh-um well, you know numbers and stuff?" Piper continues. "The cops break stuff up all the time around this time of year, we wouldn't want it out of control-"

"One person isn't going to make a fucking difference." Kent tells her, finishing this list of excuses Piper was coming up with. "I'll call Abby myself, I guarantee she won't have a problem with it.'

Woah, that was new. I've literally never heard Kent defend me, ever. Maybe he was more just taking a stand against Piper. His eyes flick up to mine and my stomach feels like it's free-falling.

"Great?" Piper says, plastering on this fake smile. "So, what's everyone up to today?" She asks, pulling a piece of bacon off of Kent's plate. He huffs and immediately takes it back from her, eating it as fast as possible.

"Nothing much, I'm going to the gym at twenty." Kyle says.

"I'll come with you.' Kent grunts, shoving back from the counter.

"Wait." Piper insists, grabbing his arm and he immediately removes his arm. "We should all hangout tonight before we go to Abby's?'

"Can't, I'm at practice until seven,Juls works until six, Kyle's at work until eight." Mark tells her pointedly.

"And I'm going for a run." Kent tells her, dumping his dishes in the sink and I just raise my eyebrows.

Seriously, Kent?When I'm right here loading the fucking dishwasher.

"Well is it the gym or a run? Because you can't seem to make up your mind.' Piper fires back and he rolls his eyes, physically shoving her out of his way and stomping down to his room.

"Thanks again for the cookies, Juls." Kyle says politely, sliding his dishes into the dishwasher with a smile.

"No worries." I tell him and he disappears down the hall, slowly, I'm being left alone with these girls and I don't want to be.

"I should get ready to go.' Mark sighs and I look at the clock. I have to teach a swim lesson in an hour and I should start getting ready.

Mark helps me load up the dishwasher and then walks down the hall to his room too. The four clones all stand around the island, manicured fingernails wrapped around fancy iPhones, clicking away on the screens.

"So Juls, how do you know them?" Piper asks and I shrug.

"I knew Carlo, he offered me the room and I met the guys. They seemed happy with me moving in so I did.' I explained with a shrug, getting a box of granola bars out of the cupboard and pulling one out.

"And how long have you been here?" She asks. "I've literally never seen you before.'

I hate this, it feels like she's trying to send some territorial sign to me that I don't belong here. I won't let her make me believe it.

Just a few days. I shrug. "I have to get ready for work, but I-um… I guess I'll see you tonight."

"Guess you will." She smiles and I nod, walking down to my room. She gives me really strange vibes, I'm not necessarily in the position to hate my roommates friends but those four are something else.