Here To Stay

Chapter Three

Zach

He was a girl.

"You are a girl." I bit my lip in regret as soon as the words left my mouth. Daring to look at her, I lived the meaning of a phrase I had distinctly heard of: if looks could kill, I would have been six feet under. Stepping forward, I tried to apologize.

"I am really sorry. I didn't mean-"

"It doesn't matter what you meant. What do you want?" She interrupted, scowl gracing her face. Yet, my eyes were still stuck on her hair. Whatever the reason was, they intrigued me. As if cut roughly by an unprofessional, her hair barely extended past her neck. Before I could ask her about it, her scowl brought me back to why I was in front of her in the first place.

"I am looking for an address- 106 Fir Street."

She paused for a second before groaning while throwing her head back. "You've got to be kidding me."

I squinted my eyes in confusion. Then came four words from her that surprised me.

"You are Zachary Smith?"

"Yes, but how do you know that?" No reply. The girl gave me a look-over with an unimpressed expression before walking to the cab I had taken. My confusion stood in place when she told me to take out my bags and pay the driver before continuing to talk to him.

"Joe, would you please wait for two minutes? I'll be right back." So, she was aware of what politeness is, I noted.

"Come with me." When I didn't move, I was met with another scowl. Was annoyance the only emotion she could express? "I am not going to punch you. As much as I want to." The last part was muttered so low that it probably wasn't meant to be heard, but it got me to follow her lead.

Despite how much I doubted her assurance to not physically hurt me.

We came to a stop near a dark brown lamp post. "Two blocks down, there is a Red Brick House on the left. Xander will be there."

Before I could turn my head back from the street to thank her, she had started walking back to the cab. Shaking my head, I followed what the girl had said.

According to her instructions, I reached a red-painted house. The dried grass and wilted flowers gave it a dull look, but they could be taken care of with only a bit of effort. I climbed the four steps leading to the door and rang the bell.

Shuffling could be heard from the other side just as the door flew open. In front of me stood a tall guy in a black t-shirt and grey joggers. Looking at my duffel bag and suitcase, he grinned and opened the door completely.

"You must be Zach." What is with everyone already knowing my name? At least it made sense for him because we would be living together. "I am Xander, your roommate." He introduced himself.

"Hey." I greeted him with a nod.

"Were you able to find your way? Most people get confused because the house is a little off the main street." We entered the living room and made our way toward a turquoise couch. The walls were painted the same colour as the couch, and the other furniture was of off-white colour to maintain a colour theme. On the centre table were two laptops, a charcoal-coloured camera and a few scattered papers. The laptop near the camera was shut.

"I did get confused. Thankfully, a girl helped me- choppy black hair, short. She somehow already knew my name."

Xander let out a short chuckle, "So, you've already met Lee."

"Lee?" I questioned, trying to figure out if that was the name of the girl I met a few minutes ago or someone else.

"Leah. She lives in the house across the street. You'll be seeing her often." Well, that is going to be interesting. She looked like she won't hesitate to punch me if I wasn't careful.

He asked me for my identity card for verification and gave me a brief introduction of Cameron and Charlotte, or Charlie as he told me to call her, while he did that. The latter was Leah's housemate and was supposed to be responsible for all the tenants. Apparently, she was also a finance major in her third year, which meant that we would be in the same classes.

After that, we did a quick tour of the house, ending at my room on the first floor. The ground floor had three rooms- living room, kitchen, and Xander's. On the first floor were two rooms that were taken up by Cameron and me.

I thanked Xander once he was done showing me around and left me to unpack.

As I stood at the door, I took in the room. On my left was a door leading to the washroom and connecting to a sliding closet. The latter had mirrors as a cover. In front of the closet were a single bed and an adjoining nightstand. The study desk was pushed towards the right wall and in front of the entry. The upper half of that wall was a window, which gave a direct view of the street I came from.

The daylight streaming from the window brightened the entire room. I liked it.

Noticing the layer of dust on the furniture, I got to work and started cleaning. Because Xander had already informed me where to find all the cleaning equipment, I saved time instead of having to look for it.

Two hours later, ninety percent of the unpacking was done. I fell on the bed, tired. My sight fell on my phone, which lay on the nightstand. I took it and decided to scroll through chat with a particular person for the umpteenth time in the past few months.

Opening Cassie's contact, I stared at the previous messages on the screen.

-Message sent a year ago-

Hey Cassie, this is Zach.

This is my new number

I am sorry it took a while to text

-Message sent a year ago-

Hello??

Cassie? Pick up my calls.

-Message sent 10 months ago-

How are you?

How are Alice and Reece??

I'm trying to get back soon.

-Message received 9 months ago-

Cassie: You are not needed here anymore.

-Message sent a month ago-

I am coming back.

I wondered if my sending a message would even affect Cassie anymore or make her respond. If only my phone had not broken that time, none of this would be happening. She would have understood my reasons, and I knew she still would if she heard me out.

Before coming to Asheville, Cassie could block me from any form of communication I could manage- calls, texts, even emails. But I hoped that when I met her in person now, she would listen. Showing up at grandpa and grandma's door would cause a mess, which may or may not worsen the situation.

I decided my next step would be to meet Cassie alone to let her know I was back.

-x-

I am not kidding when I say I am on roll yay! I have literally written four chapters in five days. Although I kind of had an idea what to write and had drafts saved from months, most of this is fresh and written from start to end, without copying anything from the said drafts.

Happy reading! 

- Sam <3