The Roommate

The moment Bri woke up she realized she had made a mistake, especially realizing she wasn’t in her own bed. Sidney on the other hand was panicking yet trying to remain calm. He was convinced his heart was beating so hard the bed was shaking because of it. They both refused to make eye contact with each other until they awkwardly rolled over to face each other.

“I am so sorry about last night,” she said, looking him in the eye, and back down to the bed.

“I’m sorry… I-”

“Sidney you have no reason to be sorry. Last night was incredible from start to finish, I promise.”

“Even the uh…”

“Oh that was absolutely incredible,” she laughed.

“Is this… Awkward to you?”

“No?” she half questioned herself. “I don’t want it to be. Is it for you?” she asked, trying to distract her eyes from looking at his sexy body in front of her.

“A little.”

“Why?”

“Well for one I have raging morning wood and you’re in my bed… And we are roommates and we haven’t really gotten to a certain step yet in our friendship so I’m not sure how this affects us.”

She grabbed his hand and held it gently in hers, “Sid, I’m fine with this, honestly.”

“The role reversal right now is ridiculous. I am so sorry for freaking out.”

“You’re fine Sid don’t worry. I really did have an amazing birthday because of you though. I really did.”

“I’m glad, you deserve it,” he smiled, playing with her hand and resisting the urge to kiss her again. His thoughts were broken by a ring at the doorbell and he remembered it was urgent. “Crap, I gotta get that!”

He jumped out of bed and put on a pair of shorts and a hoodie then tossed on a hat and ran down the stairs. Bri was curious as to why it was so urgent so she figured she should get changed too, running to her room and throwing on a baggy Pens tshirt and shorts, throwing her hair in a messy bun.

When she heard the door close she asked if it was okay for her to come. He laughed and said he would come upstairs. She was back in his room incase that’s where she wanted him. When Sidney walked into the room he had the dog Bri had fallen in love with at the photoshoot in his arms, squirming excitedly.

“And this is the last surprise of your birthday,” he smiled, handing him to her.

“Oh my gosh Sidney! You didn’t!” she screamed, scooping the dog into her arms, bawling her eyes out.

“I couldn’t after the way I saw you two interacting that day. And I thought it would be good company for you when I’m on the road.”

“How long have you had him!?”

“He’s actually been in doggy training and is a certified therapy dog. And we actually get to meet the family who trained him for dinner soon so you might want to come to that too.”

“I swear I could kill you I’m so happy!” she yelled, crying even more. It made him feel so good to see her reaction like this.

“What are you going to name him?” he asked, taking a seat next to her on his bed. She was cross legged and so preoccupied with the puppy going wild in her arms.

“I don’t know, I’m thinking Ree-bark,” she said scratching behind his ears.

“Seriously?”

“No, I’m just kidding,” she giggled. I have to wait a bit to give him a name, see what his personality is like.

“Well you have all day to decide, would you like anything for breakfast?” he asked.

“No thank you, I’m too excited to eat,” she giggled.

He laughed and walked out of his room, knowing how happy he just made her feel. He wasn’t stupid knowing how hard of a time she was having here. He had an afternoon skate in the afternoon just to stay nimble so he figured it would give her the alone time she needed.

She got ready before his skate and got ready for her day working at home. She officially came up with another idea about being spoiled for her birthday and the first time you hook up with someone after dating. Only, her and Sidney aren’t dating. But it’ll help with her work situation.

Work situation, shit. She had an event for a job that night she completely forgot about. What’s she going to do with the dog? She bit her lip in conflict. Maybe Sid could watch him while she goes out?

Meanwhile Sidney was just skating casual laps around the rink with the boys, telling them about what went down a few hours before, and thanking them for all their help. He didn’t go into detail about them having sex yet, but he thought they could tell.

He wanted to get home as quickly as possible to see Bri and try to figure out what they were doing, and to surprise her with the idea of him making dinner for once. Why he’s becoming so romantic for someone he’s not dating yet he will never know, but he’s liking where this could be going.

“So does he have a name yet?” he asked, walking in to see Bri on her stomach playing with the dog.

“I’ve decided on Marty.”

“Why Marty?”

“It suits his cute personality.”

He laughed, dropping his hockey bag on the floor. “So what’s the plan for tonight?”

“Well, I have to go to an art gallery tonight for a big show to take some pictures, so I have to leave this little guy for about two hours. What are you going to do?”

“Well I was going to suggest making dinner, but looks like you have plans.”

“How about a movie when I get back?”

“So you can snuggle the dog?” he asked with sarcasm, then realizing what he said was bad.

“You jealous?” she winked.

“A little bit. I mean, we didn’t even have morning after sex cuddles,” he laughed, while she walked up to him and placed her arms around his waist, almost as if she was going to kiss him.

“You’re right, we didn’t,” she licked her lips. “But I have to go get ready, so you stay cool down here.”

Such a tease.

Bri walked up to her room slowly and got herself ready for the evening ahead of her. She knew she had to dress appropriately but she genuinely didn’t want to go to this event, especially for a job she doesn’t even like anymore. She placed her hair in a sock bun and called it a mission complete, grabbing her camera and walking out the door of her bedroom.

“Well don’t you look nice?” Sidney asked, taking her place on the floor and playing with Marty.

“Thank you,” she smiled, beaming with confidence that she got his approval yet again. “I’ll be back in a few. Wish me luck.”

“Bye mom,” Sidney said in his baby voice, waving Marty’s paw.

“Don’t miss me too much,” she cooed, closing the door behind her.

The event was painfully boring and she wished she hadn’t been assigned to the job. The art was beautiful but the people were horrendously rude to her and treated her like a lowlife. It wasn’t until one younger woman approached her with an odd question.

“Hey, you look like the girl who was out with the Pittsburgh Penguins last night.”

“Pardon me?” she asked, deeply mortified at the pictures that might be out there.

“Yeah, there are a few pictures going around of the guys out last night and there was a girl there who looked just like you.”

“Oh no way, that’s so funny,” she laughed, trying to hide that it actually was her as best as possible.

“Yeah, weird. Sorry, I just had to tell you. The pictures are hilarious and you’re a legend if those were you.” Legend, Bri thought to herself, I need to search theses as quickly as possible.

Bri snuck into the washroom and pulled out her phone. Sure enough there were pictures of them all walking to and from the party bus and in one of the pictures Sidney is carrying her around his shoulder. Not the worse thing in the world, but definitely not a good image to him. Hockey fans must be pretty insane.

For the rest of the night Bri was self conscious of being recognized as the girl from the pictures. It’s bad enough she’s already been losing her confidence with this line of work but being known as what looks like a puck bunny will only make things worse for her mentally.

Although she wanted to leave early she stuck it out for the remainder of her time left and raced to the car quickly, trying not to panic or have a mental breakdown. Why these overwhelming feelings are hitting her so hard she would never be able to guess, but maybe she needs to talk to Sidney about everything, especially the night before.

Sidney got the living room all set up with the comfiest pillows and blankets on the couch and even made popcorn from his machine, knowing how much Bri loved it. He was still pretty messed up about the night before as well and needed to pull out all the stops to try and change things.

When she came through the door she excused herself to go get changed quickly and arrived back down in her sweats. “Couldn’t wait to get out of those clothes eh?”

“Not at all. It was so uncomfy.”

“What movie do you wanna watch?”

“Step Brothers,” she laughed. “Is that even a question?”

Sidney just laughed and pushed ‘play’, cuddling up in his pile of blankets he formed. Bri sat next to him while Marty was in her arms and semi-leaned into him, needing the feel of physical contact. He could sense something was wrong so he pulled her into his side, allowing her to cuddle in and feel comforted.

“Are you okay?” he asked, afraid of her answer.

“Kinda,” she trailed off. “I had a girl confront me today and tell me I look like the girl from pictures with the Penguins last night and I don’t like that. I feel like I gave you a bad reputation.”

“How?”

“You were carrying me on your shoulder, covering my bum that was practically hanging out. Fans took them and I feel so trashy about it.”

“You have no reason to at all, I can promise you that.” This was starting to break his heart for her. Yet another girl is doubting herself because of him.

“And I guess because we hooked up last night I’m unsure about where we are and where we are going or if that crossed a line or not.”

“I was worried about that this morning too Bri, you know that.”

Tears started to form in her eyes and she knew she couldn’t hold them back for any longer. “Do you feel like it was a mistake?”

He took a moment to give her a brief hug, knowing how badly she needed one, and to give him time to think of his answer. “I don’t think it was really a mistake. I mean, we were both drunk and we have kissed in the past. And I can tell you there’s been a physical attraction on my part. I think we both used the drunken state as an opportunity to break the wall we’ve put up. Or at least I did.”

Bri couldn’t help but smile by his confession of him being physically attracted to her.

“Do you think it was?”

“No. I agree that we both used the opportunity but that doesn’t make it right. How is this going to work? What are we doing?”

“What do you wanna do about it?”

“I want to see where things go with us,” she admitted. “I’ve been attracted to you for a while now, and I think it’s undeniable. But I don’t want to make things uncomfortable between us since we are roommates. It’s unprofessional for both of us to do.”

His head hung low. “You’re right. I think we should keep things where we are for arguments sake.”

“Okay…” she sighed.

Both of them knew they didn’t want to make this decision. It was selfish of them to want to hide their feelings from each other but they knew they had to do the right thing. So they sat in silence for another twenty minutes or so, both thinking.

“Bri,” he said, looking over at her, breaking her concentration from the Catalina Wine Mixer on the TV.

“Yeah?” she asked, looking at him back.

“I don’t think I can hold back,” he said in an airy voice.

“What?” she asked, confused by his words.

He leant in, cupped her face and kissed her. “I can’t hold back.”

In that moment they both knew they couldn’t, enjoying each other’s company too much.

Notes

Outfit of the chapter: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=215853926

Things always get awkward after sex doesn't it? But after a rough night out and realizing that there are a lot of questions left unanswered things can certainly get worse. Especially when they can't make up their minds.

Let me know what you think! Your feedback is always welcome :)

Thanks for reading!