Chapter 6: Chapter 6

"Hey." He says politely, turning away from his doorway. "If you're looking for an Airbnb, that metal bed probably won't cut it." He chuckles and I laugh, looking at the ground.

"Um no I'm Carlo's friend." I answer, trying to keep my heart rate down. Why can't I just keep it calm? "I'm Juls."

"Juls." He repeats, stepping into my room with me and I nod, swallowing the ever-forming lump in my throat. "I'm Kent." He answers, putting his hand out and I gulp, placing my hand out just the same. I keep my emotions in check and carefully shake his hand.

"N-nice to meet you." I answer, hating myself for the stutter. I pull my hand back, fearing the sweaty palms would start up again.

"What are you doing in Carlo's empty room?" He asks with a grin and my stomach knots up.

"Um, looking at it actually.' I answer. "He told me you're looking for a fourth roommate.'

"Oh sick, yeah." He smiles and I feel relief. He doesn't think I'm a geeky loser so that's good. "Did you meet everyone else?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're actually trying to decide if I should move in or not.' I laugh and he chuckles.

"So that's what all the whispers in the kitchen are about.' He sighs and I shrug. "I don't know what they have to talk about, I think you'd fit in." He says with a wink and my heart beats so fast I'm convinced it can be seen through my skin. "I'm going to toss my gym bag in my room but it was nice to meet you.'

"You too.' I sigh, feeling my body relax as he steps out of the room, but not before winking at me again which nearly gives me a heart attack. I need to chill out

"Juls!" I hear and Carlo walks back down the hall and I clear my throat, tucking my hands into my back pockets. "Did you meet Kent?" He asks as Kent comes back out of his room, closing the door after him.

"I did." I admit and his eyes meet mine, those green fucking eyes are going to end me.

"Well cool, come out and we'll go over some important stuff." He says and I nod, following him out to the kitchen. I pull my phone back out on the way and send my mom the rough address for where we were.

The five of us stand around the peninsula in the kitchen and Mark pulls out a copy of the lease.

"Here's our lease." He says politely and I smile. "If you want to and everything Juls, we'd like you to move in.' He says, sounding relieved that I'd turned up. "You can look this over and ask us any questions you have, then we can arrange for our landlord to meet you and you can sign it with us.'

"Okay." I shrug, quickly flipping through the document.

"Do you want to live with us?" Kyle asks, sounding skeptical.

"Yeah, I don't have any problems with it." I shrug. "Are you all serial killers or something?" I ask and they all snort.

"No, just asking.' He shrugs. "Some girls might not like it."

"Honestly, I'm desperate." I admit, shaking my head. "I can't do my commute anymore, it's killing me, I work at the campus pool and this would give me more flexibility if you'd have me. I'd love to move in. I have perfect credit, I'm quiet, I'm tidy and I can cook?' I ramble and they all raise their eyebrows, looking like I was saying the right things and I sigh in relief.

"What can you cook?" Kyle asks and Mark shoves him.

"What are you like?" Kent buts in and I shrug, trying to avoid his eyes. Looking at him made it hard to keep a train of thought.

"I'm an arts student, my days are pretty full and everything but I'm flexible. I guess I'm probably more on the quiet side." I shrug. "I won't throw a rager or anything and fuck up your nights."

"That's key.' Mark insists. "It's cool to all talk about it first or something but do you like to party? Or is that not your scene?"

"I like it." I shrug. "Maybe not all the time but I have nothing against a night out.'

"Cool?' Mark says and I nod. "You're tidy?"

"Yes, really tidy." I assure them.

"Your room is your business, leave that as messy as you want, but we all pull our weight and clean up the common areas and bathrooms?' He shrugs and I nod. I expected nothing less.

"That's great, I'm glad you're clean." I shrug and they all chuckle. "I'm happy to tidy up.'

"Well then " Mark says looking over the four of them and they all nod.

"We'd like you to move in.' I smile and give Carlo a hug, just needing to hug someone. This was so incredibly exciting. They all clap and I feel my heart race, I'd be so much better off down here. Even if I did live with three guys. "Look over the lease and we'll talk soon, move in as soon as you want, Carlo's basically moved out."

"This is so awesome." I admit, picking up the lease. "Thank you guys, so much."

"Please, you're the one doing us a solid.' Kyle admits, looking relieved. "This is totally going to rock, I've been saying for years that we need a feminine touch in this place." Kent and Mark roll their eyes and I tuck the lease into my bag.

"Oh! I should probably get your guys' numbers to communicate and all." I sigh, rummaging through my bag and pulling out my phone.

I opened a new contact and passed it over to Mark first, he seemed like the one to get in touch with about all of this.

"There's a group of girls that live above us, we're all friends and go out together.' Kyle says and I nod with a shrug. I wondered if they planned on including me in things or if I'd just become one of those people that they lived with but that they weren't particularly close to. I really hoped they'd at least offer to hang out with me. But these guys were definitely different from the people I usually befriended. They were cooler than I was.

"Cool." I shrug, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. The phone gets passed to Kyle and then Kent takes it. My body tenses up at the idea that he's going to give me his phone number. These are guys I'd never fucking approach because they're out of my league and they're giving me their phone numbers.

"Juls?" I hear and I look up to Kent. "Your mom's calling." He answers and I shrug, taking my phone back. My fingertips accidentally brush against his and a shiver rolls down my spine.

"Shoot, I need to run. But I'll be in touch and work this stuff out." I assure them and they all smile. "Thanks again.'

"No, no. Thank you.' Kyle chuckles.

"And so I don't forget," I sigh, turning to give Carlo a hug. "Have a good time with your new job.'

"Thanks Juls." He mumbles. "Thanks for moving into my room."

"Thank you for giving it to me.' I mumble, he lets me go and I wave to all of them.

"Bye Juls!" I hear a low chorus and I smile, walking out the screen door and back up the steps to ground level.

I can't stop smiling, I'm too excited about this. I can't believe how lucky this is, I need to make a budget and get everything ready to go.

I can only see two possible problems for me right now. Number one, mom and dad are going to flip out when I tell them what I've done. Number two I'm going to have to figure out how to live with Kent.

And honestly, I'm more nervous about the second one.