The Memory of Fate (Book 4)

9. Time to Think

Patrick

I don't think I have ever been so tired as I was after this one week. Working a nine-to-five job sucked, but at least it was a job. That's what I had to keep telling myself. But even when I got back to Kat's at the end of the workday, I still spent hours every night either looking up apartments online or visiting some in person.

It was downright exhausting.

I had been to so many places this week, I felt like I was never going to find a good place. Any places that I'd have to myself were too expensive and anything cheep were either too disgusting or the people seemed like assholes. I wish I wasn't too prideful to take back what I said to my mom and move back into the basement.

I took a deep breath before knocking on the door of this next apartment. I just came from one across town that had reeked of weed. I hope the smell wasn't still on me.

A girl answered the door. She was probably a little younger than me, and she was pretty, if I were into girls. She must have been the one I talked on the phone with yesterday.

"Hi," she said. "Patrick? I'm Theresa. Come on in."

I followed her inside, eyeing the place up. It looked recently moved into, with some boxes still piled up along the wall. But otherwise it looked homey and clean. Clean was a good thing.

"So, my roommate is in the shower and will be out in a minute. But why don't I show you around?"

I nodded my head, but we didn't get any further than a couple steps before a door opened and a man with only a towel wrapped around his waste stepped out. I couldn't help but notice how attractive he was. The wet hair flopping over to one side. The scruffy beard look. The toned abs. The only thing that threw me off were the scars under both of his nipples. I wondered what those could be from. They didn't look new, but they didn't exactly look old, either.

He blushed. "I'm uh... I'm going to get dressed," he said. His voice was slightly higher than I had expected, but it seemed to suit him. "Excuse me."

I watched him as he hurried into a room and shut the door. I guess that was his bedroom.

"That was Bennett," the girl said. "He usually does wear clothes. I promise."

I nodded. "Yeah, okay." Honestly, if he walked around naked all the time, I wouldn't complain. As long as he let me touch him too. He definitely had a fuckable body. Hopefully he was gay.

But that wasn't a question I was about to ask. Not when there were more important things to discuss.

Theresa motioned for me to follow her. "Come on. I'll give you the grand tour." She started walking towards a door at the other side of the room, still talking. "I moved in a few weeks ago. Bennett sort of officially moved in as of today. Right now, the rent for us is kinda high, but splitting it three ways will make it so much more manageable. And you will have your own room, but you'd have to share the bathroom, kitchen, and living room with us."

That didn't seem too bad. Granted, I've never lived with other people before besides my parents and these past two weeks with Kat and Joey, but I'm guessing neither one of them would threaten to bang down the bathroom door because their bladder was being pressed on by a baby and they need to go right now. At least I seriously hoped not.

While we were in the kitchen, going over all the legal shit, Bennett joined us. He was wearing dark skinny jeans and and an oversized gray sweatshirt. I have to say, he was rather cute in it.

"Now, neither of us are dating at the moment," Theresa was saying.

"Me either," I said, stopping her from wherever she was going with that statement. "But I like to bring people back at night, if that's alright? They won't ever stay the night."

Theresa and Bennett looked at each other and both shrugged. "I guess that's fine." It was the first thing Bennett said all night since getting dressed. "It's your room, your life."

"I appreciate that." I didn't think too many people would be supportive of that. "Also, the people I bring back at night are guys. I'm gay. Just putting that out there."

Bennett nodded his head. "So am I."

My heart quickened slightly and I tried to get it to slow down. Even if I took the room - which I still wasn't positive about - I couldn't sleep with my roommate. I would have to face him the next day and every day after that. I couldn't handle that.

"So, what do you think?" Theresa asked.

I nodded. "It's nice. The rent is the right price. I'm looking at another place tomorrow though that's a bit closer to my work. Is it alright if I call you about it by the end of the week?"

"Of course," she said. "Just know that you're not the only one looking at the room. If we don't hear from you before we get another offer... you would be out of luck if you decided you wanted to take the room."

I guess that made sense. Just showing up today wasn't any sort of guarantee. Honestly, I should have just agreed right then and there, but I needed time to think about what it would be like to live with someone I'd want to fuck all the time. So I lied about having another apartment to look at it. Big deal. It's not like they'd ever find out that I lied. Or why.

I'd give it a couple days to think it over. Then I'd call them back. At the very least, I had to figure out if I wanted to live here and never be able touch Bennett, or I don't live here and get him into bed with me at some point when I do find a place.