Housemates (boyxboy)

Chapter 12

I'd been sitting on the couch in the living room after a long day at work when I heard a knock at the door. I wasn't expecting any visitors and figured Alec's new girlfriend, Amber would've been the lone traveler, but when he made no effort to move from the other couch, I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

Perhaps Zion had another acquaintance for the night. Or maybe Vinny's mother decided to stop by and make sure he'd been eating his meals properly.

But when neither of them left their bedrooms to welcome the visitor, I sighed before pushing off of the couch to finally let them in.

My eyes widened upon the sight of the person who stood on the other side and almost thought Zion had turned into a woman. Apparently, Zion's older sister was back in town and she was seemingly almost as exotic as he was. The two looked as if they could've been twins, only her hair was longer and her eyes twinkled a light shade of green instead of a dark brown which was how I deducted she wasn't him.

She moved with elegance and grace that seemed to blow her flowing hair out and she smiled softly, much unlike her stern younger brother as she entered our home. Her arm was marked up with tattoos and I wondered if Zion had been the one behind the needle. His creations never failed to mesmerize me.

Well, I hadn't spared a word for her and she hadn't spoken to me either and instead welcomed herself inside. She placed her large, leather bag down by the door and tucked her light, blonde hair behind her ear.

"Where's Vincent?"

I heard Alec choke over his drink in the living room after Zion's sister asked me such an absurd question and I couldn't seem to formulate a sentence without completely forgetting the English language.

"Vincent?" I asked in return, making sure I'd heard her correctly the first time.

She folded her arms across her chest and tapped her foot on the floor as if she was impatient and I was wasting her time. I couldn't help but see Zion in her in that moment.

When I was finally able to remember how to speak properly, I said, "He's probably in his room. Why-"

She didn't listen to my very important question and rushed by me, her long hair flowing behind her as she made her way to Vincent's bedroom.

Alec's head peered from behind his couch as he too watched the odd scene unfold. The two of us listened as Vincent's door creaked open and immediately closed again.

Walking back, I plopped down on the couch and glanced over at Alec who's expression mirrored my own very confused one.

"Does Zion know about this?" Alec asked me and I shrugged.

"I assumed you were the only one who was interested in older women," I replied.

Alec snickered. "Shut up."

Leaning back, I stared up at the ceiling. "Good for him. But, also bad for him."

"Why's that?" Alec asked.

"I'm sure Zion isn't going to be too fond of this," I said.

"I wonder how and when it even began," Alec said. "Vinny's never mentioned her before and we've only met her one other time."

"It sure is weird," I said.

"I'll say," Alec replied.

Silence then ensued between the two of us as we focused our attention back to the television screen. It was odd, but I wasn't as conscious of Alec as I used to be. Perhaps I really was getting over him.

We'd been watching the news for a while until a bedroom door slowly creaked open again and the two of us whipped our heads around to find who'd exited. A head of light blond hair showed at the top of the stairs and the boy rose his arms over his head in a stretch as he yawned. He stumbled down the stairs and steadied himself on the railing due to his exhaustion.

Without a word, Zion slumped in the seat beside me on the couch and breathed out a long sigh.

"I don't want to go to work," he said, hanging his head down.

He clearly wasn't aware his sister was in Vincent's room at the moment. Lifting his head up when neither Alec or I replied, he looked around and ran a hand through his hair which he let fall down his face.

"Where's Vinny?" he asked.

"Your sister asked the same thing not too long ago," Alec told him and I puffed out a laugh.

"What?" Zion asked. "Annika?"

"Yes," Alec replied. "Annika."

"What about her?" Zion asked.

"Wake up, man," I joked, shoving Zion's shoulder.

Zion rubbed his eyes to rid of the sleep that plagued them. "Annika is here?"

"Yeah," I said. "Well, more specifically, she's in Vinny's room."

"Why?" Zion asked.

I laughed again. "How would we know?"

"She didn't tell me she was back," Zion said.

"Aren't you curious as to why she's here to see Vinny of all people?" I asked.

Zion simply tugged at a hair tie around his wrist and pulled his hair back in a small bun. "No."

Alec and I exchanged glances before Alec spoke up again.

"You're not?" Alec asked.

Again, Zion's mysterious side showed once more.

"What Annika chooses to do with her life doesn't concern me," he said. "And neither do her acquaintances."

It was hard to ask anything else when Zion spoke like that with such coldness so, I didn't.

Zion then silently slid off of the couch and made his way to the front door as he slipped on a pair of shoes. His keys dangled in his hand and he turned back to look at me, his eyes staring into mine.

"Come with me," he said.

I raised an eyebrow and pointed a finger toward myself.

"Me?" I asked.

Zion nodded his head simply. "Yes."

"Aren't you going to work?" I questioned.

A smile slowly spread across Zion's lips as he began to answer.

"You've been thinking about getting a tattoo, right?" he said.

"Well, yeah," I said. "But I haven't thought about what exactly to get permanently inked onto my skin yet."

"Just come with me," he said.

I didn't want to deny him because I wasn't in the mood to deal with his attitude if I didn't go and I did owe him for not going to the wedding I was supposed to.

And so, I followed Zion out to his car as the two of us headed over to his workplace.

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