roommates at best

T W E N T Y S I X

It had only been an hour and my follower count was up, from the 120 family members and randoms I knew from high school, to 68k.

"I told you that would happen," Alex laughed after asking me how my Instagram was going. After getting home, we decided to walk a few blocks to get boba. Of course I put the whole thing on my story, being sure to tag him. People were so invested yet they had no clue who I was.

The comments had begun as well. Guys commenting how good Alex had done getting me. Girls commenting how low his standards must be if he was seriously dating me. Those comments kind of hurt but I tried my best to brush them off.

"You're cute," he said, casually sipping his boba on the walk back to the house, "don't let people get to you. I promise it's not worth it."

While I did digest what he'd said, I lingered on the cute comment. He'd been complimenting me more than before, and more often. Or maybe I was overthinking it and he was just being nice.

Walking, we came across a park with a playground. The sun was preparing to set and the park was mostly empty, minus a few kids who were gearing up to go home for dinner or homework or whatever kids had going on. I headed towards the swings without a thought, taking in the surroundings as I finished my drink. After looking around to appreciate the trees and black fence that surrounded us, I looked ahead to see Alex pointing his phone towards me.

"Sorry," He laughed, typing then slipping it into his pocket, "I was posting a story."

Of me??

He made his way to the swing next to mine and we both swayed back and forth, as if a light breeze was blowing us around. It had been a minute since we had been alone together. After we hooked up, I started avoiding him like crazy. I don't know why I did it, I think it was just instinctual in an effort to avoid being hurt by him. Was hooking up with my roommate fun? Yeah, it was. But was it also stupid? DUH.

We sat in silence for a minute before he turned his knees towards me.

"Why have you been avoiding me?"

It was like he could read my mind. I wasn't sure if the embarrassment was clear on my face, but my cheeks started to warm, so I'm sure they were turning red.

"I um, I haven't been avoiding you." I couldn't make eye contact, but I felt his eyes glued to my face. He laughed in disbelief,

"Winona. It's been three days and we haven't seen each other or even spoken to each other. You've been avoiding me."

Busted. But I mean, he did have a point. I conjured up an answer, still avoiding eye contact.

"I don't know," great start, "I think I'm just... kind of scared."

"Of?"

Deep breath in and out.

"Of getting hurt by you." I said it. A moment passed and he didn't respond. Not exactly what you want after practically confessing your feelings to somebody. I stared at his shoes, the silence so heavy, I thought it would push me off my seat.

"You're afraid of..." he cleared his throat, "me hurting you?"

I nodded.

"I mean," he continued, "I can choke you less if that's what you'd like-"

Now my eyes shot up at him, the blush of embarrassment on my cheeks spreading to the rest of my face.

"Alex no! Oh my gosh are you kidding me? I don't mean like that!" He looked confused.

"Oh gosh," I groaned, knowing what I had to say to get the point across. "I mean that I'm into my roommate but we hooked up and now I don't want to catch anymore feelings. That's why I've been avoiding you."

His face scrunched up, processing what I had said. He looked away before getting off his swing and taking a few steps forward. His back was to me, but I watched his arm reach up before he scratched his head. He paced for a minute before standing still again, back towards me.

I had never felt so stupid. I just laid my feelings all out for him and he got up and started walking away. My cheeks were hot at this point, despite it being a cool 65 degrees while the sun was setting.

But this was the whole reason I had been avoiding him. Our fake relationship caused me to develop real feelings and I knew he wouldn't want any part of it, especially since he was capable of getting literally any girl just by looking at them. I don't know why I thought this fake relationship thing would be a good idea in the first place, especially since we still had to work together.

"Forget I said anything," I said as fake nice as I could, in an effort to not make things awkward for work, if I still had a job after this.

Getting up off the swing, I swiped my empty boba cup and headed to the trash can. I glanced over my shoulder, hoping to see some kind of response from him. He was still turned away from me, so I decided to just call it a day.

"I'm heading home," I called to him before turning around. Thankfully we were just around the corner and I had my key with me. Tossing my boba cup in the trash can next to the park entrance, I turned the corner and went on my way.