My Brother's Roommate

n i n e t e e n

Chapter 19 : Unusual Behavior

A light tap to my right foot startles me awake and in response, my head jerks back...right into something hard.

This something hard was the side of the kitchen island.

I ended up sleeping in the kitchen. No wonder my neck is extremely stiff.

"Buongiorno bella addormentata." Jay says to me, as if he didn't leave me here last night. (Good morning, Sleeping Beauty)

I rub the back of my neck and sigh in pain. I'm going to be stiff all day. "What time is it?" I mumble out.

Judging from the minuscule light coming in from the windows, I'm guessing pretty early.

"7:00." He responds, earning another loud sigh from me.

I grip into the island and stand up, wobbling slightly from the quick movements.

"You woke me up this early? My classes don't start for another two hours." I rub my eyes while I complain.

Once my vision cleared, I see Jay sitting at the island in sweaty workout clothes, eating left over cake.

"Uh, you're welcome for waking you up. Here, have some cake." He pushed the cake pan towards me.

"It's too early for cake."

He shakes his head. "Never."

I place my chin in my hand as I lean on the counter. "I see you woke up early to workout. I'm impressed, seeing as we partied last night."

He shrugs. "Well, it wasn't easy, but working out is part of the routine- party or not."

"Speaking of party, did you get everything you dreamed of and more." I raise my eyebrows twice.

He thought for a moment. "Yeah, I'd say it was pretty good."

My smiled faltered slightly. "Pretty good?"

"Yeah, it was really fun, too bad it was during a week day, you know? I could've stayed up all night partying."

"Celebrating a milestone birthday with school the next day isn't really ideal." I agreed.

"Speaking of which, when's your birthday?"

"Oh, not until the summer, late July. I've always been one of the older ones in my grade because of where it lands."

He rubs his chin. "Oh yeah, you did mention you were 19 to me back when school was just starting."

"It was fun though, growing up. Even though school was around the corner, we used my birthday as a last hurrah, and everyone went crazy." I chuckled softly at the memories.

Both of us were silent after that, until Jay broke the silence with loud coughs.

"Sorry." He strains out, beating his chest a few times. "Cake."

I realize he was choking on the food, so I quickly grab a glass of water and hand it to him.

He chugs the whole thing and wipes his mouth of excess water.

"I made some killer cake, huh?" I joke and he glares at me.

"What's up, who's there?" My brother yells, jumping out of his room.

He was a mess to look at, and that was putting it nicely.

His sweatpants had a few holes in them, and one of the pant legs was crumbled up to his knee, and his shirt looked to be on backwards. His hair, as short as it was, was sticking up wildly in all directions.