We're Almost There

22. Oh How Cute. It Thinks We're Friends.

Twenty Two

Erin

She couldn't figure it out.

She should've been able to help Kenzie, to stop the bleeding. The hospital visit wouldn't have been necessary.

It was as if something was blocking her magic. But the only thing that could make an angel's magic come to a standstill was... a devil's magic. 

Erin balled her hands into fists. He had gone too far this time. She grit her teeth and teleported straight to his living room.

Unfortunately, he was in the same spot. Erin ending up sitting on his legs. Embarrassed, she quickly stood up, only to be shocked by his appearance.

"Miss me, Golden Girl?" Tristan asked, his voice ragged. He was lying shirtless on his couch with a heavy blanket pulled up to his waist. His skin was a sickly shade of green-ish grey. A cast was on his left hand, while he sipped a beer with his right. Tristan's entire aura had changed, he didn't radiate evil anymore.

"What happened to you, Diablo?" Erin asked, exasperated.

Tristan didn't even look at her, just out the window on the wall across from him. "You know diablo his Spanish for devil, right Rin?"

"Yes, I do. But why are-"

"It doesn't apply to me any more. I broke a big rule about being bad." He swung his head back onto the armrest and finished off his beer, then threw the bottle behind the couch, where it shattered.

Tristan looked at her with his big blue eyes. He kind of looked like a lost puppy. "What do you know about midlens?"

Erin had heard of them before. They were devils who turned good or angels who turned bad. All she knew was that they got really sick, but no one would tell her any symptoms.

"Not much," she admitted. "Why? Are you okay?"

Tristan brought his hands to his heart. "You care, Golden Girl? How sweet."

"Tristan, tell me what's going on."

He gave a cocky smirk. "I have an idea of how you could make me."

Erin ignored his statement. "Tell me."

Tristan rolled his eyes. "Ugh, fine. C'mere." He swung his legs off the couch and sat up right, patting the spot next to him.

She sat down, feeling the warmth from where his thighs had been. Putting her chin in her hands, she was ready to listen.

Tristan snickered. "You look like a five year old. Okay, anyway, yesterday, when you asked for help to find Kenzie-"

"You offered it."

"-I agreed. Which I really shouldn't have done. But I did. So the Big Guy got very mad, broke my hand, evicted me from my apartment, and made me a midlen. The end."

"Wait, evicted you? How are you living here?"

Tristan looked at the clock. "I've got about three more hours before they want me out. Do you know of any warm park benches I could sleep on?"

Erin rolled her eyes and made her own bad decision. "Do you want to live with me?"

Tristan's eyes lit up. "Oh golly! You really mean it? Like for forever and ever?!" He then laughed at his own sarcasm. "Thanks but no thanks. I don't need the charity."

Erin sighed. "It would just be one friend helping out another."

"Oh how cute. It thinks we're friends."

She then remembered why she came there in the first place. "Wait. I came here for a reason."

"Did you now?"

"Of course. Anyway, I was wondering if you had anything to do with Kenzie fainting. And her high blood alcohol levels."

"Technically, the drinking and fainting and crap were her own fault. All I did was drop my aura-"

"What?!"

"Calm down. The decisions she made were all her own."

"No they weren't!" Erin shrieked, standing up. "She was under your influence! Oh my gosh, I can't believe I ever invited you to live with me. You're such a jerk!"

Tristan just laughed, and Erin knew that she could never intimidate him no matter how hard she tried. Erin just shook her head, and walked to the door. "Never talk to me again," she whispered, stepping out of his apartment.

She expected him to shout something back, but only silence filled her ears. However, nothing had ever seemed louder.

Frustrated, tears brimmed her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. They tasted salty on her lips, and Erin realized she hadn't felt as human as she had in the last twenty four hours than she had in a long time.

************

Once Erin returned home, she flopped down on her couch, beginning to understand the tiredness of 21st century teenagers.

She wanted to talk to Kenzie and spend some time with her, but she was doing a lot of repair work just within her family. That just wasn't Erin's business.

Sighing, she grabbed To Kill A Mockingbird off her coffee table and opened to where she had left off.

"You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

Erin really loved this book, especially because it was set in a time when she was alive. She understood the language and actions more in this book than she did in the world today.

Just as she was getting lost in the pages, a knock came to the door. Before she could get up, the person on the outside let themselves in.

"Ding dong." Tristan laughed, and swung a backpack from his shoulders onto the floor.

Angrily, Erin sat up straight. "What are you doing here?"

Tristan looked genuinely shocked at her statement. "Moving in," he stated. "You told me that you wanted me to live here so we could have wild, kinky sex. Don't you remember?"

Erin's entire face including her ears turned pink with embarrassment. "I never, ever said that."

"Huh, well, whatever." Tristan shrugged. "Where's my room?"

"You don't have a room!" Erin protested.

"I see," he said with a grin. "We're going to share a bed."

Erin walked up to him and started fuming. "Stop saying those things! You don't live here, and you're not going to! Okay?"

Tristan crossed his arms. "I didn't want to have to do this..."

Nervousness filled her from head to toe, so she took a step back.

"You remember that first time I saved your pet's life?"

"Kenzie isn't-"

"And we agreed that you owed me a favour? Because I remember that day quite well."

A darkness filled Erin's mind. "Fine," she had said, agreeing to his unknown demands, "I promise."

"Something tells me you know what I'm talking about," Tristan continued. "So I could care less what you think, roomie."

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I honestly love writing Erin and Tristan's conversations. How do you think this new living situation will go between them?

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! There's still plenty to come. Also, I posted a new story called Life, Love, and Then Some. It'll be filled with one-shots, poems, maybe some things I've experienced, and more! I'll be starting to post in it soon :)

As usual, please vote, comment, and share this stories with a pair of roommates!

~Paige