Cheater Cheater Roommate Eater

Reese Pearsall was a man so tall and large that he often stood off to the side in order to refrain from drawing attention to himself. Six feet and five inches, broad shoulders, long legs and a v-shaped torso. His athleticism was visible in the way he looked.

Fresh out of the shower after a long day of classes, lacrosse practice and training at the gym, he peeled back the wrapper of a protein bar as he stood in the kitchenette with a white towel hanging around his waist.

Though he rarely came out to loiter in the common areas, he was flushed out by the sound of his roommate Brady's most recent hook up.

The brick exterior of the building could fool a person because the interior was drywall all around. Nothing separated the two men's bedrooms but a narrow hallway that held their bathroom at the end of it.

Quiet and brooding, annoyed and disgusted, he bit into the chocolate dipped bar and tore off a piece between his teeth.

Reese could hear the movement from behind Brady's door. The eager shuffling of clothes being put on, the frantic way his roommate spoke and the panic in the voice of the woman he was with.

Then the knocking came...

Reese's eyes flashed to the front door at the sound of her voice.

Ariana.

"Brady..." She called in gently, followed by a few more raps.

Brady came flying out of the room shirtless, with alarmed eyes that locked with Reese's.

"Don't open that!" He instructed with a whisper of desperation. "I forgot she was coming tonight!"

Reese inhaled deeply, nostrils flaring, as he sighed with a hand clutching the underside of the island counter.

"Wasn't going to," he lied.

Reese always played like he was in on the bro-code. Ethics be damned, right? He and Brady weren't just roommates. They were teammates, peers, and Brady considered themselves close friends.

In reality, Reese hoped for nothing more than for Brady to get caught.

The lying, the sneaking, the gaslighting, the cheating. Reese knew Brady was the worst boyfriend on the face of the planet. He was a Grade-A asshole.

Yet every time she came around, Reese kept his mouth shut.

"Brady! Hello?!" Ariana called in again, knocking harder.

Reese peered at the door before glaring at his roommate who was ushering his hook up down the hall.

"Just wait in the bathroom until we leave. Then Reese will let you out."

Reese's eye twitched, hearing his name be involved in any of this. He always hated helping in any way, shape or form.

Ariana stood outside her boyfriend's apartment, growing irritated. She and Brady had coordinated the time. Eight o'clock she would come over and they would leave for the restaurant. This gave him time after Lacrosse practice to shower and change.

What is taking him so long? She wondered.

"Brady!"

Just as she reached up to knock again for the umpteenth time, the door moved open and her closed fist connected with warm flesh.

It was Reese, standing in the threshold like it had been built to frame him. Ariana pulled her hand back from his warm chest and shuffled away from him with wide eyes.

"Sorry!" she cleared her throat and averted her eyes to the floor. "I-Is Brady here? We're supposed to—"

"He's coming."

Deep, dark and bored, Reese's voice came out sounding irritated.

"Okay..." Ariana tried to crane her neck around Reese but he shifted his body to take up the frame. "Can I just... Maybe I can wait on the couch?"

"No," he replied firmly.

Ariana forced herself to look up at Reese and her eyebrows pulled together as she tried to read him.

What is his deal?

She had been putting up with Reese's blunt personality for nearly two years. This was her boyfriend's second year rooming with him and she couldn't understand their connection.

Reese was apathetic, cold and indifferent to everything around him. He never smiled, rarely talked and when words did leave his mouth, they weren't warm or kindly delivered.

He existed like a storm cloud, moving dark and slow, ready to drench the world beneath him in something cold.

What is her deal?

Reese sighed, crossing his arms as his eyes scanned over her.

She wore her short dark hair in a perfect slick back ponytail, baby hairs seamlessly swooped and blended in. Her make up complimented her caramel skin as well as her pale yellow mini dress. Her perfectly manicured toes stuck out of white strappy heels and he could see her matching white fingernails despite her hands hiding in the fabric at her sides.

He couldn't figure it out.

Was she willfully ignorant?

Blind?

Stupid?

Desperate?

He was considering that she might be all of those things because he could not, for the life of him, figure out how a girl like Ariana could be with a guy like Brady.

Brady was obnoxious, loud, cocky, annoying and any other girl would have left him ages ago. Ariana was pretty and sweet. So why did she go with him?

Reese knew their story.

High school sweethearts.

Brady came to Mifflin University a year before her, and she obviously followed him there. Now in his Sophomore year, he'd been cheating on the girl for nearly ten months. Reese also couldn't figure out why Brady kept the girl around.

Why not just be single?

"So, do you stare at all of your guests or is it just a me thing..?" Ariana chuckled awkwardly.

Reese didn't answer. He stared down at her, just as hard. It was less like staring and more like watching.

Calculating.

Tracking.

Ariana tried again to get some sort of conversation out of the guy.

"Would you like to offer me a drink while you make me wait out here?" She forced a teasing tone and friendly smile.

"No," Reese's rude tone made her smile drop.

That single word cut through any hope she had at trying with him.

"Right..." she whispered, turning to the side. "Didn't think so..."

Ariana tightened her ponytail with her fingers. Under Reese's intense stare, she would chew on it if it were long enough. She opted for a fingernail.

Why does he always look like he wants to chop me up into little pieces?

The silence between the two of them stretched until the sound of Brady came up behind them.

"Hey babe," he shoved past Reese, checking him back into the apartment. "I thought I told you to wait in the car?"

Reese and Brady locked eyes for a moment, Brady's full of desperation. He pat down his body, making sure he had his keys, wallet and phone.

"What took you so long?" Ariana asked, peeved that her boyfriend left her to the presence of Reese.

"Nothing, just... uh— Reese took forever in the shower," Brady chuckled nervously before slapping Reese playfully on the chest. "Go put a shirt on, man."

What a fucking douche bag...

Reese wouldn't say it aloud.

He took one look at Brady, gave Ariana one last hard stare and raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Hm," a small sound full of judgement before slamming the apartment door shut.

Ariana jumped at the sound of the door hitting the threshold but then felt like she could finally breathe again.

"Jeez," she turned on her heel toward the stairs. "Why is he always so—"

"Don't," Brady scolded her.

"What?" She shrugged. "He's always so rude. I don't understand why you roomed with him again."

Brady scoffed before pressing the button to call up the elevator.

"He's my best friend. You just don't like any of my friends. Or my teammates. Or—"

"Okay," Ariana shut down the conversation they'd had a million times.

She didn't dislike Brady's friends and lacrosse teammates. She just felt like Brady acted different around them. He always had to show-off and act out when they were around. They brought out a different side of Brady she didn't normally see. A version she didn't like.

And Reese... well, he was easy to dislike all on his own.

"You look nice tonight," Brady tugged on her skirt hem, also trying to change the subject.

Ariana smiled to herself with a small blush.

"So do you," she beamed at him.

Ariana moved her hand and threaded her fingers in his. Brady smiled down at her but there was a look in his eyes Ariana couldn't shake.

Something suspicious and it made her stomach tighten.

"Are you okay tonight?" She asked as they got into his silver sedan.

Brady never held the door open for her. Something Ariana always noticed but never pointed out. She felt that if he did it after she said something then it would mean half as much.

"I'm fine," Brady replied shortly. "Just got a lot on my plate with lacrosse starting and these classes."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Ariana took any chance she could to help unburden her boyfriend. The less he had to do, the more time he had for her but lately it seemed like no matter how much he unloaded on her, he still couldn't find time.

Well, he could but he spent it with other girls...

That's why she was so adamant they go out tonight. Besides, it was their three year anniversary. How could he skip it?

Brady drove to the restaurant where the pair shared their first campus date. A small but upscale Italian restaurant he took Ariana to in the spring of her senior year of high school. After months of social media and text exchanges, she drove up to the campus from their hometown to visit. This very restaurant was where he got her to commit to going to Mifflin the following fall.

After parking along the street down town, the couple walked in under the burgundy canopy with its twinkling lights. Brady still muttering off a list of tasks which Ariana would complete for him.

"Oh, and can you stop by my apartment tomorrow before you go to work? I need you to wash my jersey before our game," he added quickly. "I may or may not be there but if I'm not Reese'll be there. He can let you in."

Ariana ran the tasks off counting them on her fingers as she made the mental note.

"Run to the sporting goods store for a new water bottle, stop by the library to print your geography essay, go to the grocery store for more protein bars and wash your jersey... Check, Check, Check and Check!"

Brady smiled down at his girlfriend, loving the way she would do anything for him. Like his own personal assistant. He adored her and yet not an ounce of guilt lived within for his infidelity.

In fact, he couldn't wait for this date to be over so he could get back to texting the roster of girls he had in his phone.

To him, he would be doing her a disservice by being honest with Ariana. In his warped mind, being with her in her ignorance was a kindness because he knew she worshipped him.

He loved it.

More than he actually loved her.

She openly had a crush on him throughout high school, she showered him with compliments, affection and gifts. Ariana idolized him, even attending the same college as him. He couldn't just break her heart with the truth but he certainly wasn't going to stop with the cheating.

Because Brady was a dog.

And Ariana didn't have a single fucking clue.