That Bubbling Feeling: A Feel Good Roommate Romance Novel

Chapter 14

Jonah

The next morning, I awoke to find that I was alone. I stretched my bones and looked around the room. The jeans that had been strewn over the top of my computer chair were no longer there, and the whoopee cushion and other miscellanea that had been sitting on my nightstand had disappeared as well. I pulled open the drawer. Just as I’d suspected. It was all in there, and it looked like she even tried to organize it.

Perhaps I was a deeper sleeper than I thought.

I swung myself out of bed and planted my toes on the carpet, rubbing my eyes and yawning before making my way to the living room. My beautiful girl was sitting on the couch by the window with her feet up and her laptop on a pillow over her crossed legs. She immediately closed her computer and set it on the table, smiling at me with her full attention as I walked in.

“I didn”t mean to interrupt,” I said.

“You didn’t,” she promised, lifting herself from her seat.

“How long have you been up?”

“Less than an hour.”

“Without a coffee?”

She pointed a finger in the air as if that was exactly what she was waiting for me to say. With a few quick steps, she stood in front of me, arms pressed behind her back. “I almost considered going downstairs to find one when I realized you have not given me my keys, sir.”

I stuck a hand under my T-shirt to scratch my rib and shook my head. “No keys for you. You can just stick with me at all times. I have a set, after all.”

She crossed her arms and started tapping her foot impatiently. I didn’t think it was such a bad idea, but if she insisted…

I turned to the bowl atop the small, wooden table by the door, grabbing a set of keys with a pink tag on it. I tossed them to her. “Now it’s official.”

“Oh, I thought it was official when I saved you all hundreds of dollars by taking up my part of the rent for this month.”

I puffed a small laugh through my nose. “You’ll find money has little sway around here. Coffee machines, on the other hand…” I wandered over to the kitchen and stood by the giant, black contraption, placing a hand on top. “Dump a mug over June’s ice cream, and she’ll let you get first shower. Get Oli a cup with chocolate sauce in it, and he’ll stop pranking you for a week. Bring me a coffee to bed, and I’ll make all your dreams come true.”

“What kinds of dreams?” she asked amusedly, tilting her head to one side as she threw her keys on the table.

“You’ll just have to try it and see, pretty girl.”

I observed her closely as she lifted an eyebrow, watching the way her chest rose slightly with the quiet gasp she sucked in.

“My goodness, Jonah. When ever did you get so flirty?”

Ever since you decided to come home and all was righted in my life.“Perhaps I’m feeling extra handsome today since I have this nice manicure.” I held my hand in the air to show off my horribly painted fingers.

She giggled as she approached and stood next to me by the coffee machine, one hand picking up a dirty plate in the sink and the other grabbing the sponge that sat by the faucet. “Younavigate our expedition to Mars with that thing, and I will take care of the dishes.”

“We have a dishwasher, Kai.”

She sighed. “Of course, you do.” She turned the water on and squirted dish soap onto the sponge. “You need more Fairy.” She shook the nearly empty bottle of Dawn dish soap in the air before setting it down.

“That is dish soap, and we hardly use it. You know…because of the dishwasher. That amount will last us another month.”

She lifted a soapy hand and flicked a clump of suds at me. It landed smack dab in the middle of my chest, seeping into my T-shirt. “Take that smirk off your face and get going.” She nudged her head to the coffee machine.

I smirked as I loaded it up, pointing out different parts of it as I went and ensuring my voice was extra condescending; just because I knew she hadn’t had her coffee yet and was twice as easy to annoy. “This is the power button. Here’s the water tank in the back, and this is the steam wand…”

“God,” she said with a groan. “There are words for everything.”

I giggled at the back of my throat. “Yeah, Kai, that’s kind of the thing about words. They describe things.”

“You know, a stovetop alone could replace your coffee machine, microwave, and that milk-heater-upper thing.” She pointed to the extra milk frother we had on the counter.

“It’s a milk frother, Kai.”

“It’s excessive, Jonah.”

I always found it incredibly amusing when she got defensive, almost the same way she felt when I got uncomfortable and grumpy. Kai was never overtly proud nor did she look down on others for any reason, much less for what they did or didn’t have in their kitchen. But she did get confused, and her best way of covering it up was to get snippy. She did the same thing when she was angry.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” I teased.

“Do not belittle me,” she snapped.

All right, all right. She needs a coffee.

I chuckled as I said, “Feel free to sit on the couch and choose something to watch.” She was especially partial to Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner in the mornings. “I’ll bring you a coffee for your morning cartoons, and you will love me forever.”

“I already love you forever,” she mumbled, abandoning the dishes and turning toward the couch area.

Oh, how I wished.

Kai and I spent the morning sprawled on the couches. While I remained reclined comfortably, she went from sitting cross-legged, to lying on her side, to hanging her head off the seat with her feet up on the back of the sofa. When her face had filled up with too much blood, she groaned and turned herself around to place her chin and forearms on the coffee table, the bottom half of her body still crumpled up awkwardly on the cushions. It was like sitting next to a restless sloth with the way she hung on the furniture, shifting around in five-minute intervals. I stared at her curiously. I hadn’t known it was possible to be flexible in such odd ways, but good for her.

“What are we doing today?” she finally asked, our coffees long since drained and our cartoons becoming repetitive.

Just then, Oli emerged from his room, pulling a T-shirt down over his belly. “We’re recording, little sis. You seem to forget we’re in the middle of making an album.”

She sat up straight and cocked her head. “What are you, like, famous or something?”

“No, no,” he said. June scurried out behind him, tying the string on her sweatpants, and he looped her under his arm. “We’re just three losers with too much hair.”

“Oh, I love losers with too much hair,” Kai crooned.

“I’m glad to see you’re still alive, Kai,” June said. “I thought the coffee machine would’ve eaten you by now.”

Kai picked up a couch pillow and threw it at June’s face.

“She tried to wash our dishes byhand,” I said.

Kai picked up the other pillow and threw it my way. I caught it and launched myself over her to wrestle her down to the couch. She shrieked with glee and grabbed the pillow hard, trying to tug it from my grasp.

It wasn’t until she began tickling my neck that I surrendered fully and jumped backward, slapping a hand over my chest. Wrestling with the girl I liked in my pajamas was risky enough, but doing it while she touched my neck? No thanks. My body would’ve made this inappropriate very quickly.

“Ha!” Kai pointed a finger at me. “I win!”

I flipped her off, catching the slightest whisper from June as she and Oli stepped toward the kitchen area. “Lovebirds.”

No more than twenty minutes later, we were all in our respective rooms, readying ourselves to get to the studio. I changed out of my sweatpants that served as pajamas and into my sweatpants that served for going out in public. I topped the outfit off with a black T-shirt. It seemed pretty standard to me. We weren’t going anywhere fancy, after all, and I certainly didn’t feel the need to impress Noah or his girlfriend, Tiff. And Kai, well, I wanted to impress her, but I had also learned that those types of efforts were futile. She got closer when we were comfortable, not when I wore nice clothes. Better that way, because I had no desire to dress myself up.

Despite all that, Kai began pulling things from one of her still-packed suitcases, asking my thoughts on several different shirts that looked exactly the same in different colors. She tugged on fabrics and held them out for me to see, folding them back up and switching to the next before I even had time to formulate a full thought. She always wore pretty similar things, anyway. When she wanted to be casual, it was usually baggy jeans and a crop top; either a band tee or a funny graphic tee with some obscene joke on it. When she wanted to look more dressed up, it was usually a miniskirt and a mini-er top. She looked excellent in all of it. So, if she wanted my opinion, I’d give it to her.

“We’re just going to the studio. Nothing fancy. I’m wearing this.” I held my arms out to the side.

She laughed and smacked a hand on her thigh. The girl thought I was joking. “Jonah. You can’t wear your pajamas in public.”

My eyes gaped. They were not my pajamas. They were cleaner, less ratty, otherwise identical versions of the same suit that constituted my pajamas. How dare she not notice that I’d changed?

Of course, I understood that my getup probably wouldn’t fly in Spain, but it was certainly acceptable for the day we had ahead of us, and even more acceptable for how little I cared if people thought I looked like crap. “This isn’t Madrid, and they aren’t pajamas.”

Her arms flopped down to her sides as if she hadn’t known that before I said it.

Ah, shit.

Between the coffee machine, the dishwasher, and the clothes, she must have felt totally useless. And that wasn’t a rude assumption to make. I knew Kai. She put in enormous amounts of effort to simply live life, just to be confused by it all anyway. That’s what I loved about her. She went out and did all the fieldwork so I didn’t have to, and then we got to chat all about how none of it made sense. Her input was practical experience, mine was logic, and our varying perspectives made for some interesting discussions. It was honestly the fuel that kept me going.

But I’d made her feel completely stupid. I was sure of it. She had that look on her face.

“Everything is weird, Jojo. I don’t know how to do anything. How am I supposed to be an adult here? I don’t even know how to register to vote or…load the dishwasher.” She swung her arm out to the side.

I approached her to mend my mistake. “Kai, you just got here. You’ve been gone for years. Things are bound to be weird. Besides, your clothing options are much more suitable for LA than mine. I just simply don’t care what I look like.”

“Yes, you do, Jo.”

I puzzle-pieced her head under my chin, hugging her as I spoke. “Why would I care what I look like when I’m constantly next to you? You are the very distraction that allows me to be such an invisible asshole and I love that about you.” She let out a giggle as her body relaxed. I decided to continue gently just in case she needed to hear it. “You know, you don’t need to ask permission for things, Kai. If you want to put your feet up, or buy a percolator, or leave a mess on the floor until after you’ve had your coffee, just do it.”

I released her, and she looked up at me.

“Yeah.” She stared at me with wide eyes as if to cover up all the gears turning in that head of hers. I might’ve made her feel bad again, but I felt it necessary. “Sure. I know that. I just, uhm, I don’t know.” She flipped me a fake, toothy smile and turned back to her things.

“You can keep your guard up if you want, for a little while, if that makes you comfortable. But you don’t have to.” For being the more emotionally open one, it did surprise me how tall her walls sometimes stood. It was almost like a guessing game. She was so incredibly open that one wouldn’t expect how much she actually kept inside. It was her little secret, and on the occasions she permitted it, mine as well.

“I didn’t really notice I was doing it, actually. I guess I thought I was being respectful.” She went rummaging through my closet and pulled out one of my T-shirts and an identical pair of sweatpants to mine. She paused, looking at them. “I used to have to ask permission for things.” By the way she said it, it seemed she was just realizing it, or perhaps recognizing it, for the first time. “I used to have to ask permission because I never knew what would set Javi off. And after that, well... I’ve been mostly alone these last two years. I had this, like, super rigid routine that I did every day without fail to keep myself busy. Now I don’t need it anymore, and everything outside of it feels foreign. I gotta get used to being around people again. And fancy kitchenware.” She chuckled softly, covering up her monumental admission with a little joke and a laugh.

It did not go unnoticed that she was about to wear what she considered to be pajamas in public, but I still waited to see if she’d ask permission to use my clothes. I hoped she wouldn’t. I hoped she’d never ask for anything she wanted ever again, that she’d simply take it.

“I want these today,” she said, holding the clothes in my direction. A declaration, not a question.

I offered her a small grin. “Progress.”

She tucked herself behind the closet door and began changing as I turned away and moved some cables around on my desk without reason.

“You know, there’s no problem with wanting to look nice,” she said from behind me. Speaking up. More progress. “So, I’ll do the whole depressed musician thing with you today, but you can’t always use me as an excuse to keep being a loser.”

I heard her shuffle back out into the room, and I turned around to show her I was offended by her comment, though I wasn’t. “I do not use you as an excuse to be a loser. I use you as an excuse to go at my own pace.”

She bent her arms and put her hands on her hips, cinching the T-shirt that hung over her loosely. “Your dilatory, indolent pace.” She shifted her weight from one hip to the other.

I was never a huge guy, but I was big enough for those sweatpants to bunch up at her ankles. My skinny jeans, though too long, actually fit her almost tightly, a fact she often reminded me of when I made her upset and she wanted to smack my ego back down to earth. But my oversized clothing absolutely swallowed her up. She was hardly intimidating, standing in front of me covered in loungewear, poking fun at my lack of ambition.

Though, I knew she was kidding. As unchanging and uninterested as I painted myself to be, the fact of the matter was that Oli, Noah, and I had written and produced countless songs that were quite successful and were working on an album projected to do just as well. We had a whole business going. Originally, we kept up with merch, social media, production, creation, management, everything, all by ourselves. It wasn’t until that became truly impossible that we hired a few people to help us.

So, no, I wasn’t lazy or indolent or even dilatory in my efforts. My focus simply went to other places. She knew that. Just like I knew how hard she had worked ever since I’d known her, despite not knowing how to use a fucking coffee machine.

◆◆◆

“Jeez, Jonah. This stunning creature comes all the way from Spain to meet us and you can’t even afford to gift her some nicer clothes?” Justin said, slapping between my shoulders.

“Kai, this is Justin,” I grumbled. “Our manager.”

Fucking prick.I was excited for Kai to finally meet Noah and the team. I was excited for her to see the studio too. It was pretty standard and definitely nothing fancy, but I knew she’d love seeing how everything worked. Justin was the only part that worried me. He was excellent at his job but, my god, did he suck to be around. He was the quintessential frat boy who lived too long and had too many good connections. If only his dad weren’t so well-known, I would’ve never had to meet this fucking guy.

Kai smiled falsely at him as she folded her arms over herself and tugged at the sleeves of our T-shirt. I attempted to apologize with the glance I sent her.

“She knows who I am,” Justin said. “I’ve been your manager for a year. There’s no way I haven’t come up. And I certainly know who you are.” He surveyed Kai. “I’ve seen that Instagram of yours. Shame these pajamas don’t show off your best assets.”

Kai’s eyes widened as she jumped back a step, her arms tightening across her body. I saw it then. That vacancy. Almost two years later and there was still something missing from those eyes. My heart shattered at the sight of it. She was still fucking there. Broken Kai.

“I’m just kidding, doll.” He laughed aloud, showing off those giant, white veneers as his sandy-slicked hair glinted under the overhead lights. “But I do have a proposition for you.”

Justin rested his arm around Kai’s shoulders, and she flinched just enough for me to see it. I looked at her, pondering her reactions. I’d never seen her so uncomfortable in my life, never seen her so closed off. And I didn’t think it entirely due to the fact that she needed to get used to being around people again, as she’d put it.

“Okay,” she said, maintaining the smile she’d been wearing since we arrived.

Justin winked at me. “Let’s let the guys get into it and we’ll chat, okay?”

“Okay,” she repeated.

He finally turned away to tend to something I didn’t care about, and the door to the studio opened, revealing our bassist and his girlfriend.