Eliza

I scrape my key through the keyhole of the maroon door, feeling a sense of anxiety as I step in. A mental conversation ensues in my head at what kind of mood he will be in.

The sound of my phone ringing from my bag pursues my ear, my mom's voice booming down the line as I answer it.

"Hey honey, how was college?" She asks.

"It was fine, mom. How's work?"

"Yeah, just the same old. Listen, Lize, something's come up at work so I'm going to be staying till very late tonight."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, there's just been a complication that needs to be sorted. But um, I won't be able to make dinner so you can either cook something for yourself, and... That boy, or you can order something for yourself."

"And Theo?"

"What?" Her voice suddenly becomes background noise to a bunch of other voices that surround her.

"Can I order something for Theo as well?"

"Well, I guess you're going to have to. But honey, I have to go now. I'll see you later okay? Or maybe tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, mom. Take your time. See you later."

"Bye, Lize." She cuts off the phone, and I turn around to make my way upstairs, startled by the unexpected figure that stands before me. "Oh my gosh. How long have you been standing there?" I timidly ask, hoping a simple question doesn't turn into me feeling like I'm the reason for every speck of annoyance in his body.

"I just got down here now. I just came to bring this plate down. Your mom made me a sandwich."

"Oh. That was nice of her."

"Yeah." He looks beside me, as I stiffly come to the realization that I am standing in the way of the sink. Which he obviously needs. Great job, Eliza. "Oh, sorry," I quickly mutter, before I walk past him, hell bent on getting upstairs as soon as possible.

"Um..." His mildly deep voice makes me stop in my tracks, but I find myself stuck with my back turned to him. "I'm sorry," I finally hear, after a long pause. "About before."

My feet manage to break free from their spell, and I turn around, noticing the apprehensive look on his face. Like fear mixed with anxiety. "I just um, thought of something that annoyed me," he continues. "Really annoyed me."

"It's fine," I finally speak. "You don't have to explain yourself to me." I mentally roll my eyes to myself. I do want him to explain himself to me. Why did I say that?

"Yeah, but-"

"It's fine, don't worry." I repeat, although I don't know why. He didn't apologise again, so why am I accepting it again?" So um... My mom... She's not um... She's got something going on with her eyes-"

"What?"

"What?" I repeat after him.

"Your mom has something going on with her eyes?"

"What? No, not her eyes. I meant um, work." I feel my face turning a deep shade of red, as I reflect over the fact that I was looking so intently into his captivating eyes, I said that word as a replacement for another.

"Eliza, are you okay?" I hear him ask, sensing genuine concern in his tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sorry. Look... What I'm trying to say is, my mom won't be coming home for dinner. So I'm going to order pizza. Unless there's something else you would prefer?"

"Um, no pizza's good. But did she... Did she say it's for me as well?"

"Yeah, don't worry. Of course it is."

He nods, as he finally turns to the sink, placing the plate in it. Before he turns around and I become completely dumbfounded and mesmerized by his eyes again, my voice quickly takes control.

"Do you um... Wanna watch a movie?"

"What?"

"A movie... Do you want to watch one? With me."

"With you?" An uneasy tone is easily depicted in his voice.

"Yeah." Silence fills the air for a short while, causing me to feel even more embarrassed than I already am. If that's even possible. I feel it reaching a breaking point, and decide to stop his thoughts. "You know what, forget it."

"Forget it?"

"I just thought that now you're living here, it would be nice to get to know you, but..."

"But what?"

"Must you respond to everything I say with a question?"

"What's a question?" Anger rises to my body as I feel him trying to humiliate me, but I soon realise that this is his way of joking around once I notice something that could be considered a small smirk on his face. Well, that's a start. "I would like a movie," he says.

"Oh. Good. Which one?"

"You can choose. I'm not really good with remembering names of films."

"Well... Still think. I can wash that quickly, and then order the pizza whilst you wait upstairs in my room," I say, pointing to the plate he just set in the sink, piled on top of a few other dishes.

"Oh, are we... We're watching it in your room?"

"Yeah. Is that alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Um... You trust me in there? Alone?"

"Well, it's not like you're going to steal my Mac that we're going to watch the movie on. And besides... You were in there alone earlier when I was in the shower. And you didn't take anything then."

"No, I didn't," he repeats. "Well, I'll just go and set it up for you. And then wait for you to come to me with the name of the movie."

"Yes. Exactly," I confirm. "Um, what kind of toppings do you like?"

"Anything," he replies. "I'll see you upstairs."

"Yeah." I watch him take his first few steps up the stairs, before walking over to the sink, and placing my hands over it. I look down and breathe an excruciating sigh of... All the different emotions that have stricken me in the last 10 minutes - relief, embarrassment, uncertainty. And the one that, despite my best and worst efforts, I can no longer deny to myself: attraction.

Theo

I push the door open and step into the airy, bright room... Well, more like a chamber. The shiny wooden floor is complimented with the double bed that lies in the middle of the unfamiliar territory. Beside the end of the bed rests a cream leather sofa that sits perfectly opposite to her Mac computer. The cream walls are accompanied by paintings and portraits that resound no feelings of normality within me.

I stand at the front of the room, contemplating where to sit. It would be way too forward for me to sit on her bed; she may not even want me to. But a part of me wants to reject that idea from my brain. I want to sit there. With her. I expectantly shudder at my sudden elusive romantic thoughts - a field that has not once crossed my brain before - and quickly walk over to the sofa. Before seating myself, I switch on the computer, and then claim my seat. A picture of the most breathtaking scenery fills my vision, causing my perspective on her to be placed under jeopardy once more. I thought it would have been of her. My thoughts fail to proceed as my eyes address the subject of my thoughts walking into the room.

"Nice background," is the first thing that slips out of my tongue-tied mouth.

"Thanks... I like that kind of stuff," she says, her face expressing a sheepishness that I don't understand. "Should I turn the light on?"

"It's your room."

"I think it's better off. It is a movie after all."

"Do you know what we're gonna watch?"

"Yes!" Her face projects a sudden picture of elation. "Just hold on." She moves a chair from near the door to the front of the computer, and places her self on it. I find myself watching the back of her hair, transfixed by the dark brown locks that flow down elegantly.

What am I doing? I've never paid attention to a girl's hair before. She types and clicks away, before she stands up and places the chair back to its original position. The first thing I notice on the screen is the Netflix sign, which doesn't evoke much thought into me. But then the word "Cinderella" suddenly penetrates my vision, and I begin to cough.

"Um... Cinderella?" I ask, a hint of disgust in my tone.

"Yeah. I just love the traditional one, and I've been meaning to watch this new version. You said I could pick, remember?" She smiles at me jokingly. My heart melts at the smile, and the evident excitement on her face at the thought of watching this movie. It's not even like I can argue against her. This is not my house, nor bedroom, nor computer. It's hers. So whatever she says, goes.

I smile back at her, an act that takes me by complete surprise. It's a genuine smile. Something that has been deprived from my face for a very long time.

She takes a seat next to me on the sofa. At first, I can feel her shoulders rub against mine, but then I feel her slowly move a few inches away from me. I look up at her, and to my surprise her eyes are already on me. Burning into me. The intensity of the eye contact is noted by both of us as we collectively look back to the computer. The opening credits begin, and I suddenly feel irreducible sympathy towards myself at being subjected to watching the worst movie on Earth for two hours.

**

The rustling of my head on a surface that certainly doesn't feel like a pillow, along with the sweet laughter that sounds in my ear, causes my body to erupt from its deep slumber. My eyes open, as I shoot my body up to see the wicked stepmother parading around on the screen. The movie is obviously not finished, I grumble inwardly to myself.

"How long is there to go?" I ask, my impatience kicking in.

She stands up to press the mouse of the computer, as she reads the screen. "An hour and 15 minutes."

"What? How long was I asleep for?"

"About half an hour."

"Are you kidding me? I thought it was much longer."

She laughs at me, her eyes devoted to the screen in front of her.

"Sorry, by the way."

"For..." She begins, encouraging me to continue.

"Sleeping on you. That must have been uncomfortable for you."

"No... It was alright." She swiftly turns to me, the same warming smile planted on her face. "It was actually quite relaxing."

"Oh... Well, that's good."

"You don't like Cinderella do you?"

"Not even in the slightest bit," I reply back abruptly.

"Do you want to watch something else?"

"What happened to 'you said I could pick'?"

"I think I've changed my mind. It's no fun watching a movie by yourself." She finishes her speech with an unexpected laugh. Confusion spreads throughout my face, as I look at her, hoping she will provide me with answers.

"I don't think anyone said anything funny," I say.

"Sorry, I didn't want to tell you this because, well... I didn't want you to think I was making fun of you. But you've got a piece of hair sticking up right in the middle." She giggles a little bit before evidently forcing a straight face. Almost as if she felt I would condemn her for laughing.

"Well, can you fix it?" I almost sing in a humorous way, to assure her that it is okay to laugh.

"Yeah, sure," she replies, her throat clogging up as she stifles a few laughs. I don't know why it is so funny for her, but my body relaxes as I come to the understanding that she's not just a pretty face with a boring personality. She knows how to hold a joke.

My thoughts come to an end as I feel her hand fixing around the piece of hair. My face tenses at the acknowledgment of her eyes on me, and I join mine with hers, as she whispers "done."

No response travels through my mind as I feel an uncontainable urge to place my lips on hers, and the look in her eyes is enough to tell me that there's a major possibility she feels the same way.

That urge is also mixed with the scepticism that I still have on the fact that this is how I feel. And so soon. I don't know if I should regret the routine of my life being wrecked by coming to live in this house, and simultaneously, falling for my roommate - or be joyful that somebody has managed to make me feel more alive than I could ever anticipate feeling in the last five months.

My eyes are still interlocked with hers, and in a desperate move that I may end up regretting, if a certain parent found out for example, I conclude that I am not strong enough to refute the risk. I lean forward, which I see she takes as an invitation to move forward too. Simultaneously, our heads become all the more closer to each other, despite the slow pace they are moving at. And now our lips are almost touching, but before I have the pleasure of tasting her pink lips, the ringing of the doorbell soars throughout the entire room.

Annoyance runs through my blood, and I watch her as she looks down at her hands, to what I can only hope is disappointment. She looks back up and monotonously notes "pizza's here."