The Spanish Roommate

Three years, three years down the drain. Great.

“You know what, fuck it.” Adam said, my boyfriend, the love of my life I thought. I thought wrong.

“What do you mean, ‘fuck it’?” I question even though I know exactly where this is heading. “Are you an idiot Ashley, I found someone else, this” he gestures to me then him, “were over, I don’t know what I was thinking. Leave.” Was the only thing he said before I stormed out of the room tears urging to fall out.

I hear him shout “YOU HAVE THIRTY FUCKING MINUTES TO PACK YOUR SHIT AND LEAVE.”

To be honest I don’t know where I would go, I am a 20-year-old with parents who kicked me out after finding out that I was dating my thought to be love of my life in high school. Adam. My parents were very strict, they only ever cared about school. Where would a 20-year-old go?

After packing and leaving that useless bastard, I drove, where? I don’t know. Right now, I am just hoping for the best.

After finding places to stay, searching on google for the cheapest option to stay at, I finally found a motel nearby where I work, the coffee hut and decided to stay there for a few nights until I got back on my feet, well I’m hoping I would get back on my feet.

The next day I woke up at five in the morning, I just couldn’t sleep, the love of my life cheated on me left me, and I stayed with him and left my parents. That’s what you would do if you loved someone. Sacrifice. But I will never do that again. Never again.

I would never fall for someone again and sacrifice my whole life just to make this one person happy. Adam was my first heartbreak. Why me? I have done so much for him but why me? I got up and took a shower trying to get yesterday’s memories to disappear like it never happened. Trying to get those three perfect years to disappear.

Brushing my teeth and putting my hair in a messy bun I dragged myself getting ready into my work uniform. I wasn’t bothered to look good today or try act my best to be happy. I just felt numb, and I felt pain. Betrayal. I still can’t get his perfect image out of my head, how attractive and cute he was, how caring and nice he was, how he would always buy me flowers. How he comforted me when my parents kicked me out.

I hate Adam, I hate how this happened to me. I never want to fall in love again, spend time for the person you love just to make them happy. Never again.

I went to work. The last place I want to be right now. The only thing making me go is because my best friend works with me. Jessica, or Jess.

She has always been with me since day one, she is understanding, we have the same taste in everything. She’s like my twin or a dream sister that I never had, she would always help me through rough times. She is just an amazing person in general. She is my amazing person.

I drove ten minutes and in those 10 minutes, I questioned my existence, listened to songs, then just questioned my life again, until I ended up at work, ugh.

I got out of the car dragging my feet across the floor as i opened the back door to the staff room, and there I saw the happy and naturally beautiful Jessica. Before I could even look up from the dirty floor she pulled me in a hug, as she always does.

“Ashley! how was your da-“she paused as I looked at her, mind you I have bags under my eyes, red eyes from bawling my eyes out, no makeup, horrible hair, and glasses thinking that it would hide my hideous face.

“what happened?” she questioned looking concerned “Adam broke up with me, he kicked me out, but I don’t want to talk about it, and really I’m not in the mood for anything right no-” she cut me of pulling me into a big hug as I hugged her back.

“Are you okay?” she asked ” I guess” I said bluntly “where are you staying and if you say your car Ashley, I swear” she continues but I stop her, “a motel, I am staying there for a few nights, it’s all I can affor-“.

“NOOOOO” she screams “not those old shit holes, you are not staying in a filthy old motel, stay at mine” she says “alright no need to scream, what about your roommate”

Jessica lives with her roommate, though her roommate can be very annoying he pisses me of most of the time.

“Oh its fine, he has gone to this business trip or whatever it is, he won’t be back till tomorrow” she states as we both start getting ready to open up “alright I guess I could stay over for a few nights” “good, now come on apparently it’s going to be busy today” as Jessica unlocks the doors ready for customers to enter.

At the end of our shift, it was around four in the afternoon, I said to Jessica that I will meet her at her apartment. I drove off to the motel to check out and then to her house, sleep deprived and honestly tired of life.

I reached the apartment complex, we both go to university but different ones, hence me living with Adam, but we don’t talk about him anymore.

Jessica ended up bunking with Dex, her roommate. I think they have feelings for each other but won’t admit it, I will be happy for them if they do end up being together, it will be cute especially third wheeling them.

As I walked inside the complex, I managed to find the elevator and went to level 5. I haven’t been to Jessica’s apartment for a while, we only ever see each other if we plan something or work. I wonder if Dex looks the same or not? I haven’t seen his annoying ass for a while now.

As the elevator doors open, I look for room 306. 306... 306... I say in my head as I look for the room. “Oh, here found it.” I murmur to myself as I knock on the beige door in front of me.

I rock back and forth on my heels waiting for someone to open the door as I play with my bags in front of me. Then someone opens it. Jessica “you know I really thought you bailed on me and went back to the motel, took you long enough” she says slightly laughing.

“Oh sorry, I was checking out” I say chuckling “alright, come in” Jessica explains smiling.

“Gosh I haven’t been here for so long!” “Yeah, oh here’s your room, and I found out Dex the Dinosaur is coming tonight not tomorrow” Jess says disappointedly

“Oh, well so much for personal space” I say laughing

“I know right, anyway we are ordering pizza and having a marvel movie night” Jess says as if we are going to a party “yay” I say smiling, she looks at me realising who I am thinking about.

“Oh forget about Adam, its girls night now” Jess says as she closed my door giving me some privacy.

I looked around at the bedroom, there is a bed in the far corner of the room and a study table just in front of it, there is a bedside table next to the bed and a window that is in the middle of the back wall, a closet just next to the study table, then the last part a bathroom on the other side, next to the bedroom door. Its not those bad disgusting apartments that you see in movies. Its nice like a penthouse but a smaller version. A very small version.

I start unpacking and putting everything in its place. I go take a shower to get out of my misery and the sweat I am covered in, you know try to look decent, but I don’t, at all.

After I get out of the shower, I wrap a towel around me making my way to the closet to get my clothes, but as I get out, I hear someone on my bed saying hi

“HOLY SHIT” I scream “sorry did I disturb something.” They say smirking. Dex. Of course, its him.

I hear the door open “what’s with the screaming?” Jessica asks, but then looks at Dex “Can you get your fat dinosaur ass out of here, seriously she is getting changed” Jessica says.

Dex stands up groaning “you ruin all the fun” he says as he winks at me while walking out, I roll my eyes. What an Idiot.

After getting ready in a marvel sweatshirt and some checkered Christmas pants, I walk downstairs, only to hear Jessica and Dex talking.

“So wanna tell me why your friend is here?” he says, “Adam broke up with her” she answers, “Her boyfriend?” Dex asks “ex” Jessica corrects, “why? what happened?” he asks, why does he sound concerned?

“She didn’t tell, and I don’t think she wants to, now stop talking about it, and don’t you dare talk about it with her, it will only make her feel worse.” Jess says, see she’s a good best friend.

“What so I can’t talk to her?” Dex questions “look I know you like her...“.

Bullshit Dex does not like me, Jess continues.

“But she isn’t in the mood, now if you don’t mind me, we are watching movies, so leave us alone” She says “fine” is all Dex says as he walks upstairs looking at me as I walk down them.

He doesn’t like me, there is no way, he likes Jessica, doesn’t he? Well, I am way out of his league anyway, there’s a 100% chance he does not like me.

I come downstairs as Jess notices me coming in “OMG, I love that jumper, but umm why the Christmas pants? Its November” Jess says.

“It’s called Christmas spirit, ever heard of it?” I say sarcastically “alright I see where you’re coming from” Jessica says laughing.

We ended up having a avengers movie marathon, we started with The Avengers, “Steve is hot as fuck” Jessica says “hey, not as hot as bucky” I say, even though he wasn’t in this movie.

“Why do you always fall for the enemies?”

“They are so hot when they are badass” I shrug as we continue watching the movie.

We then watched Avengers Age of Ultron, then we both got tired it was 10 at night, so much for an Avengers movie marathon.

“Night Ashley, have a good sleep” Jess says as she walks in her room “Night” I smile at her as I walk into my room. I lay in bed, another restless night.

I checked my phone 12 in the morning, and I am still not asleep, I checked again 12:01. WHY CAN’T I JUST SLEEP! I hear my door open, only to find the one and only Dex.

“hey” he says, “do you need something?” I say, that sounded rude. “i-ummm nope just, you know what never mind, night.” “Night?” I say slightly confused.

It was now 12:10. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to look through old photos, of Adam and me.

As I scrolled through each one, I felt pain, tears, betrayal. I started to cry, I started breaking down, feeling numb, overthinking.

What did I do? Was I not enough? Who has he been seeing behind my back? Why me? Did I do something wrong? Was I not pretty enough?

I started to be quieter, I was going to wake someone up, I covered my mouth as I cried myself to sleep.

That was a bad idea.

I woke up to see Dex sitting on the edge of my bed, “what are you doing” I say sleepily while rubbing my eyes

“oh umm I heard you crying last night so I came to check on you...” he says, “two questions” I say as he looks at me “how long have you been here for, and since when did you start caring about me?” “I just came now” he says completely ignoring my second question.

I look at him “Ashley, I’ve always cared about you”.

I woke up, it was a dream. Why the fuck was I dreaming about Dex? I decided to forget about it, one dream means nothing.

I went into the bathroom and decided to get ready. I felt a little better, but my eyes were red from last night.

———————————————

2 weeks later, Jessica and I have been having different shifts, so we rarely see each other except for the couple minutes between our shifts.

Most of the time its day shifts for me and night shifts for Jess. When Jess is working, me and Dex have gotten closer somehow as we are both alone together.

Being we usually have nights together, we have been cooking with each other, getting to know each other over board games that Dex always wins, that asshole, and movies, I found out that Dex also loves Marvel even more than me, but he simps for the marvel women instead.

He’s Spanish and I have been begging him to say something in Spanish, but he ever says anything. I am trying to convince him to

I also opened up about everything with my parents and Adam to him as well

Me and Dex are talking together and laughing over Dex’s stupid childhood, “Ok your turn” Dex says

“What’s one thing about your childhood that you never talk about” he continues.

“I’m ticklish, my parents would tickle me every time they get the chance. I was always ticklish on my stomach” I said smiling “really” Dex says looking at me with and evil smile.

I put my hands over my stomach as I stutter “y-yes” I say slowly getting up “I’m thirsty” I say heading for the door, but before I could reach it Dex grabs me by the waist pulling me back “AHHH” I scream while laughing at the same time.

“you aren’t going anywhere amore” he says smirking while he is on top of me, “amore?” I say smiling at him “you don’t like it?” he says looking into my eyes, “no, I mean yes, yes I like it”, I like it except I have no idea what it means?

He laughs then starts tickling the shit out of me while I scream and laugh, squirming to get out of his arms as he laughs as well.

After I finally catch my breath and I am able to talk I finally say something, “D-Dex, p-please stop I am actually really thirsty” I say slightly laughing while breathing heavily.

“Alright fine” he says chuckling letting me go, as I open the door he says something “get me a glass to please” while he winks at me, I blush a little as I walk downstairs, but I hear Jessica talking on the phone.

“You can’t come now, she is home” then the other person speaks, but I couldn’t make out what they said, I’m assuming Jess has found someone she likes, so I go back upstairs.

“And where is that glass of water you said you’ll get” Dex says, but I didn’t answer, I was thinking about what Jess said. Was she talking about me?

“Ashley, hello” Dex says waving his hand over my face “mm, sorry Jess was talking to someone downstairs”

“and how is that stopping you from getting my glass of water amore” Dex says moving a piece of hair out of my face.

“sorry” I say as i lay in bed looking at the ceiling, while Dex is propped up on his elbow looking at me, “everything good?” he asks

“yeah, I think Jess was talking about me” I say looking up at him, “why would you think that?” “well she said ‘you can’t come now, she is home’ I don’t know what it meant” “oh, well it probably meant nothing” he says with a reassuring smile, “I guess, I’m going to take a shower now” I state as I get up walking to the bathroom

“I have to study for the final exams” Dex says as he leans against the wall “shit, I have to as well” I say panicked “how about we study together?” he asks “yeah sure” I say walking into the bathroom.

After I showered, I got into a towel to get my clothes from the closet, until I saw Dex sitting on the bed.

“Shit, stop scaring me like that” I say as I saw him “sorry I thought I could wait here for you; I’ll look away I promise.” He says turning around.

I walk up behind him and said “no, you’re getting out”, he turns around looking at me, then leaving without saying a thing.

I got changed and opened the door to see him standing there, “hey” he says “hi, ready to study” I say, and he nods as we walk over to my bed.

It’s been half an hour as we study in silence while music plays in the background.

“You never told me what your major is?” Dex asks out of the blue, “oh, um Business, I’ve always wanted to start a business” I say tucking a piece of hair behind my ear.

“That’s cool” he says smiling “what about you?” I say looking at him. “Oh engineering, but it’s not like I am going to get a job, my parents own a family business, me and my brother are next after my father” “wow, I would never be able to do engineering” I say looking at him, “yeah it’s pretty cool”.

We ended up studying for 4 hours until we both got tired, “I should go to bed” I say, “yeah me too I’ll just check if Jess is here or not” Dex says, “ok Night”, “night Ashley” he says winking before leaving.

I was thirsty and needed water, I went down stairs to see Dex standing in the kitchen in shock, Jessica standing there with Adam in front of her, his hands on her hips, I started to tear up.

“i-I what’s going on” I said, my voice cracked from the tears already starting to stream down my face.

“Ashley, its not what it looks like I promise” Jessica says coming towards me as she tried to hug me “no-stop” I say pushing her off. I sprint out of the room tears streaming down my face as the image of them kissing replays in my head I hear a voice behind me.

“Ashley wait, slow down” it was Dex he came up behind me and hugged me I started crying he whispered in a sweet kind voice “you must be freezing out here it rain cats and dogs, hey why don’t we go to my parents’ house they don’t live far from here”

“But we would have to walk and it’s raining” Dex reached into his pocket and pulled out some keys. He walked over to shelter, and Dex spoke “wait here I’ll go grab my bike and we can leave”

After about 5 minutes I hear a roaring noise coming down the road I looked up tears still streaming down my face Dex pulled up just in front of me he passed me an extra helmet and I jumped on holding him tight as we drove on the highway passing cars.

We stop at Dex’s ‘house’, but this is no house, it’s a fucking castle.

“You like it?” Dex looks at me smiling “yeah I do” I say as I get of the bike.

By now it has stopped raining, but I am all soaking wet.

Then it hit me, what will his parents say?

“Umm Dex” “yes amore” he says while putting his bike into the garage “what about your parents?” I say as I walk up to him.

“Oh they are out on a trip for the family business” he cupped my face “but we need to get you dried up you’ll get sick” I nod as we walk up to the door as he unlocks it with a key. “come” he says holding out his hand.

_________

Short chapter but it gets better