tell me a secret...i'll tell you mine (editing and rebranding)

chapter 4: it's all coming back to me now.

     I'm jolted awake by the the sound of a dog barking. My ear rings. Fuck. Waking up so suddenly is never fun. As if it's meant to torture me, the dog continues to bark. I want to be mad that the house is not soundproof but I can't really be mad. This is a privilege.  Sitting up, I check the time to see that I've been sleeping for nearly seven hours. Wow, I was more tired than I thought.
The barking continues. I love animals so much but that sound is starting to bug me. I'm blaming it on England.
     My stomach growls loudly. Oh right I haven't eaten anything all day. How am I still breathing? I jump up from the bed and move open my biggest bag. I still haven't gotten the chance to set up everything in the closet. I bring out a smaller box. Opening it, before my eyes, lay my life's glory. I take a wrap of strawberry lollipop and tear it open. The sweet feeling feels me with unexplainable joy and I feel world peace returning. You probably think I'm exaggerating but I'm really not. I really love lollipops.
Now I have to go in search for real food. There are still a lot of things for Daisy and I to discuss. Do we cook together? What about house bills? How does it work here?
I exit the room to look for food. Arriving downstairs, I hear the voices of them all including Jeremy. I thought he left. They seem to be in an argument. I also hear the howling of Alex. At least she stopped barking.
       As I arrive down the stairs, an adorable looking dog crawls towards me. Wow she's so beautiful. Her fur is very hairy and white in color and she has a cute green dress on. She barks at me but it's the friendly kind. I stoop and pick her up. She immediately settles in my arms. I've made a new friend.  See, animals are better than humans. Less drama. They expect nothing from you.
"Where did Alex go?" I hear Daisy say from a place I assume is the kitchen.
"Go after her, remember the last time she left the house and all the doors and windows were locked? Witchcraft, I tell you. Get rid of that dog" I hear Jeremy say as I walk towards the kitchen to meet them all.
"Alex is right here" I answer the lollipop still in my mouth.
Four pair of eyes turns to face me. There is one new person.
"Wow, Victor what charm did you use on Alex?" I barely hear Daisy say for one reason or the other.
I blink then blink again.
"So, Victor", Daisy walks towards me and drags me into the kitchen closer to them all. They are all so nice looking, wtf.  "Meet Lucas. Lucas this is Victor", she says smiling proudly. Ok who is he to her?
I'm offended with the introduction. He should be introduced to me and not the other way around but I let it go. But now that I think of it, he was introduced to me. Why am I even stressing over it?
I look up to him. He’s staring at me weirdly.
"Hello, nice to meet you", I finally manage to say. I don't mean it. I couldn't care less about him or anyone really but it's decency, right?
He looks at me from head to toe. It’s even creepier than when Jeremy did it. Who are these people? It's more suggestive like he's trying to tell who I am with that one look and I don't like it at all. Apart from the smug look he had earlier when I entered, there's no emotion at all on his face. You can't tell if he's happy or sad. Oh right, he’s one of those dudes, blank look, good looking, probably rich, ‘I am a bad boy’ vibe, 'I've got daddy issues and I hate life' and he still hasn’t stopped staring. That unsettles me, a lot. Seriously what hole did he crawl up from? And that's not racially motivated.
"Hi", he simply says. I don't like him at all. I notice he doesn't have an accent like the rest of us but then he's only said one word. Where is he from? I mean I know he's Asian and what country? I'm about to ask but Jeremy speaks up before I can.
"Daisy told us you have like a PhD or something. How old are you? 18?" he doesn’t ask nicely
"No, I'm 21" 
“Still too young. You must have been miserable then”
It’s true.
"It's called being a genius, you dumb fuck", Daisy says.
Their friendship dynamic sure is something.
“And what’s with your accent? I expected yeehees and yeehaws since you’re from Texas”, Jeremy continues. I don't know if I should be offended at that. It's not like I don't have an accent. I do. I think I do but ignorant much? My gaze lands on Lucas again. He hasn't stopped staring at me. I can feel his gaze like a furnace and it's making me very uncomfortable. And I have Jeremy on my business too. Ugh.
“Guys, leave him alone”, Cam says. It's only Jeremy that's attacking me but the Lucas guy is also attacking me with his gaze. Can he not?
“No, it’s alright. I didn’t grow up in Texas. I grew up here in London."
Which is the truth but it still doesn't explain why I don't have an accent. I haven't lived in England for fourteen years. I guess I just didn't ever develop it.
“Really? You don’t have the accent”
I shrug and my stomach takes that moment to growl rather loudly. Yes, I'm hungry, very hungry.
"Oh shoot, you must be starving", Cam says and walk towards the cabinet and opens the microwave. She returns with a plate of meatballs and pasta.
"I microwaved this for you few minutes before you came in. I thought you might be hungry", she says.
I smile almost standing to give her a tight hug. I hand the dog in my arms that is asleep to Daisy. She also collects my lollipop and shoved it into her mouth.
Aw, we just indirectly kissed. You know we swapped spit. That sounded way better in my head.
"Thanks, Cam. You are a life saver",
She smiles again.
I dig in. It's actually very delicious.
"Did you make this?" I ask her 
"Nope, he did", she points to Lucas who is still staring at me.
Can he not?
Ah, he can cook too. I'm sure women are just lining up to get his attention. That's probably a misogynistic thing to say but probably the truth. He's a fine man.
        A few hours have passed and Cam and the boys have long gone to their respective destinations. I also learnt a lot about them, like how they all except Cam attend the University of London. Jeremy is 22 and a third year Microbiology student. He has a room on  campus though he mostly stays here at Daisy's. Cam is 19. She's Irish and attends a fashion school. She hopes to be an acclaimed fashion designer. Good for her.  Lucas, dude ‘I don’t wear my expression on my face because I’m so cool’ is the oldest at 24 and works as a freelancer. Apparently, he's also a singer who widely known in London. Good for him, I guess. As long as his fans don't stalk him here and scream at 5am, then we're cool.  He has an accent though not as strong as the rest of them. His family, well his mother moved from Japan to the United Kingdom before he was born and met his father who is originally from Italy, in Thailand before they got married and settled in the UK together. Yeah, it's a lot and Daisy was very detailed. He’s also biracial. Welcome to the club. Crazy and no he didn't tell me all this, he didn't even speak to me. He just stared at me a couple times.  Daisy told the tale.  The way she spoke about him, you would think she’s in love or something. I also have a feeling he doesn't like me much. The reason he probably stared at me so much is because he was imagining smashing my head in. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't grow past high school and is still a big bad bully. He has that look about him. Again, not racially motivated.  I don’t think anyone really likes me, they just put up with me.
            Daisy and I are seated on her couch watching some drama on Netflix. She's quite into it, I'm not. Alex is in my arms. We've grown close over the past few hours. She's a bitch, a literal bitch to everyone even to her owner but she loves me and I take pride in that as petty as that sounds.
Daisy suddenly pause the movie playing and turns to face me.
"Soooooo", she starts to say and I know where the conversation is leading. She's going to ask me to rate her friends.
"What is it?"
"What do you think of them?" Said it.
I smile at that and shrug.
"Come on Victor give me more"
"I like Cam"
"And?"
"And I ike Cam", I say smiling.
"Of course you do, she’s a sweetheart but come on Victor, give me more", she tugs at my shirt causing me to laugh
"Fine. Fine. I think Jeremy is ok when he's not sneering at me or finding ways to rile me up. What is up with him?"
"He’s just very protective. He thinks it’s very unusual and unsafe that I told you come live with me”
It is unusual. But unsafe? Man is reaching.
“And the fact that you’re a man and we’re not even dating made him even wearier. But ignore him, he’s a goat”
"He's your best friend".
She shrugs, "Like I love Jerry but it's the truth". She suddenly smiles. "What did you think of Lucas?" she raises her eyebrows nudging me.
“Is he your boyfriend or something?"
“Nah, he’s insanely hot but he’s like a brother to me. They are all like family to me”
That’s cute.
“Let's move on to other topics. When was the last time you got laid? There are some really hot girls around here and Cam’s girlfriend can introduce you to some"
I am not interested in getting laid and back up, back the fuck up.
"Cam’s girlfriend?"
“Oh yeah, Cameroon is a lesbian”
That is something I was not expecting. I'm scared to ask if Daisy is also lesbian or anything else. And I know from previous written words, people would say I'm homophobic. I'm not. I'm really not. I'm too much of a scientist not to know that being homosexual is natural as it is found in nature but do I have to be friends with this said homosexuals? No, not really. But Cam is so nice, not that gays are not. I'm going to stop before I say something more incriminating.
“She's also non binary. While she prefers she/her pronouns, it wouldn't hurt to use they/them to address her"
Yeah. Okay. Wow.
I let out a non committal hum as if I'm invested in the show playing on her TV. I'm not.
Silence follows afterwards until she breaks it.
"What about you? Has anyone or anything caught your fancy? "
"No one yet, my life is pretty boring"
It is true. My life is as pasty and blans as a redneck's ass.
"I'm sure that's not true"
"It is"
"Well, this bitch bout to spice up your life", Daisy says smiling as she side hugs me, "ugh It’s so good to have you here. I don’t know why but I trust you completely. You could be a serial killer or something. Thank god you’re not”
“Thank god I’m not a serial killer but seriously, thanks for having me. I don’t know how to repay you”
“Shuu, don’t mention it. I’m happy to help. Besides, you're giving me money.” She giggles at that. I'm not even paying her that much.
After catching up a bit about life, I say goodnight to her cause I have to be up early for the orientation at the pharmaceutical.
Having a friend like Daisy is probably one of the best things in my life right now.
It's good, really good.

Xo,
H.