Chapter 28: Chapter 28

I've made a huge mistake.

The apartment has become a small war zone in the last two weeks. I do regret getting into a fight with Kent, partly because I knew that day he was trying to make peace, but I told him that didn't matter to me. But also because I had changed the mood of the whole apartment. Things were getting tense, and I felt like I had to do something.

I did my best to look like I didn't care, not look him in the eyes, and not act like I was sorry.

The other part of me knew I was right to tell him he was being mean to me. I would have never met him if we hadn't lived together. I didn't like it when people treated me that way, and since high school, I'd done my best to stay away from people like that.

I thought he felt the same way about me as he used to, and I was right. He was grumpy, rude, angry, and, worst of all, a mess. He always left me with these huge messes to clean up. Mark and Kyle were also getting fed up with how Kent was treating the apartment.

I just finished cleaning his kitchen. It took me about 30 minutes to put dishes that weren't mine in the dishwasher.

The only good thing about this apartment was that I got along well with Mark, Kyle, and some of their other friends. Even more so because Abby and Chase always wanted to hang out with me. Since Chase asked me to join his study group, we had also become pretty good homework partners.

In about 30 minutes, he was supposed to leave, and I needed to wash my clothes. I sigh and go to my room to get my basket. I take it down the hall to the half-bath and open the washer to find that my clothes are still wet. Who was theirs? They hadn't been cleaned in a long time.

"Hey Julianna." Mark says this with a smile, and it makes me smile.

Things weren't as awkward as I thought they would be after Mark had that girl over. We figured it out, and now it's a joke that sometimes makes us laugh.

"Hey, do you know these things? When I ask him, he makes a face.

"Kent's." When he mutters, I sigh. "I have to go to work, but we'll see each other again later."

"Okay, see you." He walks away after I say something and wave.

I quickly closed the washer's door, straightened up, and walked down the hall to Kent's room.

I knocked once, but no one opened the door. This is stupid, because the man isn't special and doesn't have the right to poop everywhere.

"Kent!" I knock again to get your attention. I knock again, and all of a sudden, the door flies open and he opens it, leaving my hand awkwardly hanging in the air. I take a quick breath because, when it came down to it, he was a scary person.

"Julianna." I roll my eyes when he says something. He had started doing the same thing. He started calling me by my full name when he saw my credit card. What are you doing here? He asks, crossing his arms and moving his biceps.

"I need to do laundry." When I answer, I try to sound strong.

"And you need help, do you?" He laughs in a sarcastic way, and my eyes get small and my lips touch. "That's sad, but I have something going on right now."

"I don't care, go dry your clothes." I tell him angrily.

"No." He shrugs, and my eyes get bigger. "When I'm ready to do it, which will be in about 20 minutes, I'll do it. But you can move it right now if you really need to."

What a prick!

"I'm not your servant." I tell him very clearly, but all he does is shrug.

"You fooled me because you always help me clean up. He shrugs and does his best not to smile. "Well, if that's all you want, then you should go." He tells me, and then the door closes again in my face. I just blink in disbelief and I feel angry.

I will move his things.

I go back and get the empty basket he left at the bottom of the washer. I put the wet clothes in it right away and didn't use the washer.

I can't remember the last time I was so mean to someone else. I felt bad about it, but I didn't care.

I put my own clothes in the washer, add some soap, and turn the machine on. I move his basket out of the way and head back to my room. Chase tells me that he's coming over by sending me a message on my phone. I grab my books and laptop and go to the dining room.

He knocks on the door and walks into the apartment with his bag a few minutes later.

"Hey Julianna." As he closes the door, he says in a nice way.

"Hey."

"How was your week?"

I have to agree that it is "kind of long." "It's not getting shorter, either. My first paper is due on Tuesday, and I'd like to finish it so I can turn it in."

"Are you a one-shot person?" When he asks, I tell him yes.

"Yes, I do the readings and other things ahead of time, but it's not hard once I know what I want to talk about." I just shrug my shoulders and tell him to sit down. "I just need to put on my blue-light glasses."

He nods, so I turn around, walk back down the hall, and open the drawer of my desk to get them.

I found that I could do my work better when someone else was around. They'd do it without me even knowing. After a few minutes of quiet work, I hear the washer chime, which tells me it's time to move the clothes to the dryer.

The stackable washer and dryer were always a little too high for me, but I usually just threw the clothes in and called Kyle if I needed help getting the rest of the clothes out.

Then I go back to the table, put my glasses back on, tie back my hair, and start working again.

"How's it going?" Chase asks, which pulls me out of my thoughts, and I just shrug.

"So far, everything is going well, but I haven't done much yet." I'll be honest and say I knew I'd only read the first part.

"How long is it?"

"Fifteen-hundred words." I'll admit that I had to go back through my articles to find a section I had highlighted. "It's really not that bad." He smiles at me and looks like he is thinking.

"What?" I don't know why he's staring at me, so I ask him.

"When you wear those, you look so different." He says it quietly, and I smile and move my glasses up my nose.

"Julianna!" After hearing a shout, Kent comes stomping down the hall to me. "What the hell did you do to my laundry?" He asks, and I'm trying not to laugh.

"You told me to move it, so I did." I show him this by putting my hands under my chin and making my eyes smaller. "You should have said what you meant."

"Who the hell do you think you are? I have to wash the whole load all over again, even though it could have been drying the whole time."

"I don't fit into your plans." I tell him again and again. "And you should really keep that in mind."

He gets this look on his face, as if he just realized something, and I stand up right away because I know what he's going to do. He walks quickly down the hall, and I run after him into the bathroom. When he grabs the dryer handle, I jump and grab his wrist with my elbow to keep the door shut.

"Stop it," I tell you. "It will be done soon, and you already need to wash yours again." I come up with a new plan and hold onto both sides of the dryer with both arms. I was standing on my toes, which looked silly, but I wasn't quite tall enough to do this right.

"Julianna." He grumbles and keeps trying to pull on the door, and I shake my head.

"No, it's going to stay here." I keep telling him, and finally he stops pulling and takes his hand away. I'm glad because I thought he was going to steal my laundry and give up. I was in a bear hug with this huge machine, and if he really wanted to get me off, it wouldn't take much.

Then he surprises me by tickling my ribs, which makes me scream out of character, and I let go of the washing machine right away. I start laughing so hard that I cry, and I try to get away from him by shimmying, but he won't stop.

"Stop!" I yank at his hands and beg him. It doesn't sound convincing at all; I sound like I'm enjoying it, even though I couldn't want this more. "What the hell, stop!"