the fourth roommate » alex ernst

TWENTY TWO

Call me when you land.

It was instructions I was given several times throughout the three days I was gone. You'd expect it to be from Alex, but no. David desperately wanted me to call him when I landed although it would be two in the morning for both of us. That meant he'd either be sleeping or in a club in Vegas partying. When I warned him of these things, all he said was, "call me when you land."

So when I landed in Los Angeles at one forty nine in the morning on the twenty second, I called him like he asked.

"Hello?" it was a sleepy voice, and I knew I caught him either right before he went to sleep or while he was sleeping.

"Uh oh! Poor baby, did I get you while you were sleeping?" I asked sarcastically in my best baby voice, hearing him chuckle from the other side.

"You just can't live your life without being sarcastic, can you?" he laughed, and I heard Liza mumble 'shut up' in the background. Yikes.

"Nope. Why'd you force me to call you?" I responded as I approached the baggage claim in search of my hot pink suitcase. It was nowhere to be found.

"Okay, don't be mad..." he started off, which was never a good thing.

"Oh my god, what'd you do?" I groaned in exhaustion. There were many, many possibilities of what David could've done to ruin my life.

"Okay, when you get to the apartment, check your email. Your plane ticket should be in there."

"My plane ticket? What?" I stopped to think for a second, and the realization dawned on me. "David, you didn't."

"Listen, don't be mad! I bought it when you were fighting because I thought Alex was gonna be an asshole the whole time unless you made up. Then you made up early. And we already had your plane ticket bought, and Alex keeps complaining about missing you, and I miss you, and I want you here because it's my birthday. The flights at four in the afternoon, so that gives you time to go home and repack and make sure Dom didn't kill Bailey and then come back, okay?"

"David..." I sighed in defeat, knowing now I had to go. "I hate you."

"Thanks, Mas, you're the best," I could hear his smile through the phone, which made me feel slightly bad about being so reluctant to come. It was his birthday after all... "and under no circumstances will you tell Alex or anyone besides me and Jason that you're coming. It's our birthday present for Alex; we want to surprise him. I'll explain more when I pick you up."

"How are you going to sneak off at 5 in the afternoon the day before your birthday to come pick me up?" I posed the question because it was something that needed to be addressed. The plan was to go out to eat so that at midnight, they would be in the restaurant singing to David, which means everyone would probably start getting ready really early. I wanted to know why David thought he, the main birthday boy (since Alex hated birthdays), could make a run to the airport and back without drawing any attention to himself. It seemed impossible.

"Just trust me, okay? I'm going back to bed, I'll see you at five tomorrow. Bye," he hung up before giving me a chance to speak. I shrugged and picked up my suitcase, making my way out of the airport to find Dom who was waiting for me outside.

"Hey Dom," I smiled when I finally shoved the suitcase in the back and got in. It was good to see a familiar face after so long.

"Mason! I missed you. Heard you made up with Alex," Dom commented. I laughed.

"That's a bit of an understatement considering you saw me naked on Facetime with him," I joked and Dom laughed his usual, loud laugh. "But yes, we made up."