The Roommate

Sid was out for a lot longer than he anticipated, which gave Bri tons of time to relax and enjoy her night alone. She didn’t fear being alone, but she hated feeling lonely at times. However this time it gave her enough space from him and time to get acquainted with her new home. After checking where everything is she decided it was time for bed.

Bri woke up extremely early to get ready for a work meeting. It was around 5:30 to be exact. She turned off her alarm and checked her notifications, thankfully not seeing anything new, since she was swamped enough as it was. She rolled out of bed and walked down stairs to the kitchen, keeping quiet not to awaken Sid. She kept the lights off, not wanting to deal with the bright lights Sid had installed, plus she didn’t even know where the light switch was.

There was something about the mornings Bri loved. The peace and quiet, the nip in the air, seeing the day wake up… It was one of her favourite times of days. As she made herself a tea she completely drowned her thoughts and stayed focused. Right as she began to pour the hot water into her mug the light turned on and she let out a scream.
“Jesus!” she yelled, grabbing her chest and pouring the hot water all over the counter.

Sid stood at the light switch with his mouth open wide. “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to scare you!” He instantly ran to help her wipe up the boiling water. “Did you pour any on you?”

“No, no! I’m okay thankfully,” she blushed, slightly embarrassed by her reaction. To be fair, she is extremely jumpy and hates to be scared.

“Good. I’m so sorry about that. I heard some noise and wanted to know what it was. I haven’t lived with someone else in so long I forgot what it was like to have someone around.”

“It’s okay. I’m sorry I yelled Jesus. I hope you’re not religious. Well, there’s nothing wrong with being religious, what I meant was-”

“I know what you mean. No need to worry. I grew up an east coaster, everyone says that when their scared. So what are you doing up so early?”

“I have a meeting, so I gotta get ready for that. I don’t know how long it’ll take to get there. Why are you up?”

“Hockey practice at 7:30, then a little dryland training after that. What time will you be home by?”

“Probably around 4.”

“Do you want me to make anything for dinner?” Sidney asked, praying she would say “yes” and he would get a chance to know her better.

“No, no, it’s okay. I might have to go out with the client today so I don’t want to commit and not come through. I can take care of myself for tonight, thanks,” she smiled, walking by him to go upstairs with her mug of tea.

It wasn’t until she left that they both realized they were in their pj’s and completely ungroomed. They both shuddered at the thought the other person saw them in that state, but couldn’t help at how cute the other actually looked.

**Bri’s POV**
Walking into the office I was a ball full of nerves. My papers were flying loosely in my hands, and my purse was falling off my shoulder. At least I look good today, I thought to myself. Taking a seat in the large boardroom I braced myself for the torture this meeting was going to be.

I only really knew one person within this company so I chose to sit next to her. She felt like the only person I could relate to at the table who has the same kind of vision as myself, and she was another positive ray of sunshine.
Diana, the head honcho of this place, cleared her throat and began to speak. “Due to the overwhelming growth within the brand we need to start writing about more broader topics so we can pick subjects to write about and have tons of material available.” She doesn’t make any sense.

“I want to start assigning you all specific topics to start writing about to contribute to our website. You will all still be participating in growing other companies brands, but we have hired a new set of employees to focus specifically on that. We want to base this off of where your biggest strengths are, and challenge you with writing creatively on topics you're not so familiar with.” The dramatics this woman is going into is a little unsettling right now, holy cow.

Diana started a list on who the new PR team was primarily going to be, which does affect me to an extent. If I’m not included in that team, what am I going to do? As soon as that thought entered my name, I heard her say, “Bri will cover love and relationships.”

Great, the one thing I’m not an expert at. Give me a restaurant and tell me to review them, take a few pictures and promote another companies work, I can do that. Want me to snap a few shots for a company's Instagram page? I can do that too, and pull my own items to photograph. I can genuinely say this job is not starting out the way I thought it would.

After the meeting I walked to my cubicle with a heavy head. How the heck am I going to write about love when I don’t even know what it is? Let alone on a daily basis! My cubicle mate could tell I was a bit distraught.

“Not impressed with your new assignment?” Mya asked, taking a seat.

“Not at all, you?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“I’m doing health, what do you think?” she shot me a look indicating she was far from impressed. “Not even fitness. Just health. All I want to do is write about McDonalds.”

“For the record, I would totally read about that.”

“Thank you, I thought so. You got such an easy topic, I’m envious.”

“Well when you don’t know what love really is, you wouldn’t be saying that.”

“But do any of us really know? You’re young, who cares what people think? Write about experiences that you wish you had or one’s you don’t want to experience.”

“Thanks for the advice. I’m going to need it,” I shook my head. “And I still have to go to a fashion studio to do some work on their after school music program.”

“Isn’t that stupid how they changed our roles entirely? I didn’t sign up to be a health blogger! And look at all those little College interns taking our positions. Standing at the photocopier, laughing and sipping their Starbucks while they show each other funny pictures on their phones. Remember when that was us?”

“You mean last week? All I know is I don’t want to piss Diana off. My freelance work is extremely slow right now. I can’t take this part time crap.”

“Just think of the money you’re making in this dump.”

“Doing it all for the money and the resume,” I replied, picking up my purse, camera, phone and placing my car keys in my mouth so I could juggle everything.

“Have a good shoot!” she wished me, as I gave her a thumbs up and walked out of the office.

This is not what I signed up for.

**Sid’s POV**
The gym absolutely kicked my rear end, but I needed it. I’ve been too distracted to focus on what I’m here for. While we were on the ice my teammates would razz me about how out of it I was. I’ve been trying to get out of this slump and so far it’s helping having Bri to somewhat distract me from the pressure.

When I got home from practice, therapy and from destressing a bit in my car, I came home to the usual, an empty house. Bri did tell me she wouldn’t be home for a while so I figured I’d make myself a stir fry, unsure if she liked it or not. That way I was safe for left overs for tomorrow. I had a pre-season game to prepare for.

After my meal was finished and it made its way into my digestive system I was walking to my room. In passing I saw Bri’s door open a little bit. Do I look in or not? Curiosity got the best of me and I opened the door a bit. She did really well decorating the place, making it her own. Before I could really get a good look, I heard the front door open. Time to get out before I get caught!

Notes

Outfit of the Chapter: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=209549615
Happy belated Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadian peeps! :)