5 The Next Level #3
“Imagine if someone opened the door right now,” he said, “and they found you bright red, with your hair and clothes messed up. What do you think they’d say?”
“That you’re a dumbass,” I replied. He laughed, opened the door to the apartment, and let me through. Then he ran past me into the living room and cleared his throat, like a speaker making an announcement to a crowd:
“I left empty-handed, and I’ve returned with a new roommate!”
I dragged my suitcase in behind him.
“Excuse me?” Will asked.
“I’m going to live with you guys,” I said, sounding a little too enthusiastic. “For now, I mean.”
“She’s just being shy,” Ross said, throwing an arm around me. “We’ve decided to take our relationship to the next level. So I’d like to ask you all for a bit of privacy and respect in this moment of extraordinary happiness for us.”
Naya was freaking out and kept saying, “Wait, what?” I had to tell her it wasn’t true as Ross wiped a tear of laughter from his eye. “I’m just going to stay here for a while. If it’s all right with you guys.”
“Fine with me,” Will replied. “You can’t be any worse than the two roommates I already have. Do you know how to cook?”
“Yeah, a little,” I said.
“Finally!”
Ross, looking offended, asked him, “Hey, what about my chili?”
“Your chili’s disgusting,” Will said.
“My chili’s the bomb! Jenna, don’t listen to them. I’m going to make it for you one day and you’ll fall even deeper in love than you already are.”
“What he means is you’ll hate him even more than you already do,” Sue murmured.
Everyone joined in making fun of him and the one recipe he knew, and Ross raised his chin and told them, “I’ll pretend I haven’t heard any of this because I know that deep down you love my chili, and anyway, I’m in a good mood. Now come on, Jenna.”
“I’m coming,” I said, lumbering behind him.
Ross ran ahead of me and jumped on his bed like a happy child, pointing at a closet with a full-length mirror hanging on it and telling me I could use it.
“The dresser is all the space I need,” he added.
“I’m a simple man, after all. Now you just make yourself comfortable, change clothes if you need.
I’m going to go get us some dinner. What would you like? ”
“You’re letting me pick?”
I drew a blank. I wasn’t used to choosing. Anything. Ever. At home, my brothers always decided everything. Among my friends, it was always Nelle. And if I was with Monty, he was the boss. That made me kind of sad, and I mumbled, “I don’t know…pizza?”
“Sue’s tired of pizza. But you know what? I just remembered I don’t give a damn. I’m your errand boy. If it’s pizza you want, it’s pizza you’ll get.”
He took off with an energetic step while I stayed there unpacking again. I was halfway done when Naya knocked at the door and came in. Looking sad, she told me she was going to miss me.
“Ross is right,” I reassured her. “We’ll see each other more here than in the dorm. Anyway, I think it’ll just be for the semester, and then I’ll try to get back in.”
She sat on the carpet next to me and helped me stuff my socks into a drawer. Soon malicious curiosity replaced her sorrow.
“So you’re going to sleep in Ross’s bed?”
“Yeah. So?”
“Nothing. I just think you guys make a cute couple. You look good together. Your personalities complement each other.”
“Too bad I have a boyfriend, then,” I replied, not really knowing what to say and preferring to make a joke of it as I kept putting away my clothes.
“Imagine if we went on double dates,” she said.
“Yeah. Like I said, too bad I have a boyfriend.”
Naya laughed and went on helping me, then left so I could put on my dumb pajamas with the slippers that looked like little stuffed dogs. I took out my contacts and put on my glasses. I hated wearing them, but my eyes were dry. I opened the door and found Ross there about to knock.
“The pizza’s getting co…” He stopped midsentence, laughed, and said, “My God, you look beautiful. Especially your shoes. I’m going to need to get a pair of those.”
I shook my head and said, “Just let me know when you’re done making fun of me.”
“I am, basically. I didn’t know you wore glasses.”
“I usually don’t, because I hate them. But I needed to take out my contacts.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Glasses make you look like an intellectual.”
“And what do I look like when I don’t wear them?”
“That’s a trap, and I’m not falling into it,” Ross responded.
“Let me have another sweatshirt,” I said, and he grabbed me a black one with the words Pulp Fiction on it and an image of a sexy woman. I threw it over my head. Instantly, I noticed his scent. I wondered if anyone had ever liked how my clothes smelled. I hoped they smelled as good as his.
“That used to be my favorite,” he said.
“Used to be?”
“Yeah. Then I got the Kill Bill one. That’s what I wear now.”
This sweatshirt was bigger than the Pumba one, but it was comfortable and I liked it. We walked to the living room. Sue had already vanished, and Will and Naya were watching TV.
“What’s on?” I asked.
“This radical makeovers program. This chick just got a nose job and it looks terrible, and now she has to go get a dress for some fancy ball.” For a while, Naya was glued to the TV, but soon she and Will got up to their usual business while Ross and I stared at the screen and cracked stupid jokes.
Then, the inevitable moment came: Will announced they were going to the bedroom and Naya took his hand, glancing back at me on her way out and saying, “Sweet dreams, Jenna.”
Not long afterward, Ross got up, too, yawned, and said, “I think I’ll actually do the same.”
“Don’t we need to clean up?”
“Leave it for Sue. She’s like a magic fairy. When you wake up, none of this will be here. And don’t think you should be nice and do it for her. There’s a delicate ecosystem in this house, cleaning up is her thing, and I don’t want her to attack you on your first day here.”
I followed him down the hall, but turned off at the bathroom, where I looked at myself nervously in the mirror.
I felt terrified, and I wasn’t even sure why.
It was just Ross, after all. Will had said he was harmless.
Like a stuffed animal . I gathered my courage and walked to the bedroom, shutting the door behind me.
Ross was standing there in pajama pants, finishing putting on his T-shirt.
It looked good on him. Really, really good. But what did that have to do with me?
“Do you have a favorite side?” he asked.
“Honestly, I don’t care.”
“Cool, I’ll take right then.”
He flopped down carelessly while I stood there on the verge of panic. I undid my hair, took off my glasses, and rubbed my eyes. Then I tried to break the ice with a joke. “If you want to do something bad to me, this is your chance. I’m blind as a bat.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for the future,” he said.
He stretched his arm out to turn off the light, and I lay back, looking at the ceiling in the darkness, hearing my own heart pounding. He yawned again, relaxed as ever.
“Good night, Jen.” He looked over as he said it, and I held his stare for a moment.
I was frozen. I often did that when I was uncomfortable.
He noticed, and then I thought I should dig myself out of that situation, so I told him, “Good night, Ross,” and turned my back to him, trying to relax and hoping I would fall asleep.