Aaron groaned as his phone ripped him from sleep. Cracking his eyes open, he looked at the clock on his nightstand. Who the hell was calling him at eight in the morning? He rolled over and pulled a blanket over his head as his phone finally went silent. He began to drift back into sleep when his phone went off again.
Throwing aside his blanket, he sat up and grabbed his phone.
“Do you know what time it is?” Aaron asked his older brother angrily. He held the phone away from his ear as his brother laughed.
“Come on, this is a respectable time to be up in the morning!”
“I was up until two working on a paper,” Aaron grumbled as he stood up and stretched his free arm over his head.
“Sorry, sorry” Jacob chuckled, “but hey, I’m going to be there in about ten minutes, so open the door.”
“What, where? Here?” Jacob was a real estate investor and had several properties. Aaron had been living in one of them for the past six months, but his brother had never visited before.
“Where else? I’m bringing a friend too,” Aaron was trying to keep up with the conversation as he hurriedly pulled on a pair of sweats.
“Who?”
“You remember Daniel right?” Daniel had been Jacob’s best friend for over a decade, though Aaron had only met him a handful of times.
“Ya, sure” Aaron hurried around his apartment, picking up the books and papers that were strewn across the living room. He tried not to be irritated with his brother’s sudden appearance. He was letting him live here rent-free after all.
“Well....the thing is, Daniel’s apartment flooded last night, he actually pretty close to you, so I told him he could stay with you until his place is fixed. I hope that’s ok.”
Aaron paused, his hand hovering over a textbook. “What. With me?”
Aaron’s stomach twisted into knots. He didn’t like the idea of living with someone he barely knew.
“It’s only for a few months!”
“A few months…” Aaron closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was his brother’s best friend...and he lived in his brother’s apartment...for free.
“Ya, it’s ok with me” Aaron tried to keep the anxiety out of his voice.
“Ok, great. I’m picking him up now, we’ll be there soon” Aaron felt a little guilty hearing the relief in his brother’s voice. He knew that if he had said no, his brother wouldn’t have pushed it.
Aaron ran a hand through his hair after hanging up the phone. There was no way he’d have time to shower before they got here, but he could at least get cleaned up a little. He started a pot of coffee before heading to the bathroom.
Just as he finished brushing his teeth, he heard a knock at the door.
He opened it to see his brother’s grinning face. The next thing he knew, he was enveloped by his brother's strong arms.
“Jacob, jeez, I can’t breathe” he mumbled into his brother’s chest. Jacob towered over him at a staggering 6’6”, Aaron himself was just under six feet. Jacob and Aaron had the same sandy blonde hair and hazel eyes.
Aaron took a deep breath as his brother finally released him. He peered past his brother to look at the man who would be living with him for the next few months.
Daniel was a few inches taller than Aaron. He had a curly mop of dark hair and cat-like green eyes. He was slimmer than both Jacob and Aaron.
Aaron stepped back and held the door open, “Come on in guys”
The apartment was large, larger than anything Aaron could have afforded on his own. The main room consisted of an open, spacious kitchen and living room, separated by a wide island. Aaron had a desk set up on one side of the room, it was surrounded by bookshelves.
He had a tv in the room but barely used it.
“Have a seat,” Aaron motioned to the couch, “Do you want some coffee?”
“Thanks” Daniel smiled as Aaron poured three cups of coffee. He dug out some cream to add to his and his brother's cups.
“Um, Daniel, how do you take your coffee?”
“Black please”
Aaron grabbed two handles in one hand and carefully walked back over to the couch. After setting the cups down on the coffee table, he plopped into a chair.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear about your place” Aaron wasn’t totally sure how to interact with Daniel. His brother was eight years older than him, so he never had much contact with his friends.
“Thanks, and thanks for letting me stay here,” Daniel took a sip of his coffee, “I really didn’t want to have to stay in a hotel and short-term rentals are impossible.”
“Oh, it’s no problem,” Aaron nervously scraped at his cup, ”the apartment came furnished, and I never bothered to change much, so there’s another bedroom already set up. Oh, you can change whatever you want of course…” Aaron’s voice trailed off, he knew he was starting to ramble.
Jacob gulped down the rest of his coffee, “well then, I should get back to work,” he said as he stood up.
“What, already?” Aaron stood up as well. He really wasn’t ready to be alone with his new roommate.
“We could get breakfast or something,” Aaron said, his eyes pleading with his older brother.
“Sorry kid, but I’ve got to run,” Jacob smiled as he ruffled Aaron’s hair, “if you two need anything let me know!”
Aaron sat back down as the apartment door swung closed, “tsk, he could have at least stayed a while after waking me up so early in the morning!” A blush crept over his face as he remembered Daniel was still there.
“Well, that’s Jacob for you,” Daniel said with a small chuckle.
“Though I guess it’s my fault you were pulled out of bed so early, so how about I treat you to breakfast?”
“Are you sure, I mean, don’t you want to get settled?” Daniel had only come with a small suitcase.
“What about the rest of your stuff?”
Daniel let out a small sigh, “Most of my stuff is trashed. All I have are some clothes and my laptop.”
“Shit. What happened?”
“Pipe burst above my unit. I’d been out most of the day for work, so thankfully my laptop was safe...but everything else was soaked.” Daniel finished off his coffee, “So I actually need to go out and run a few errands anyway.”
“Ok, do you mind if I grab a quick shower first?”
“No problem,” Daniel picked up his bag, “Which room is mine?”
Aaron walked across the living room and pushed open a door. The apartment had two bedrooms on opposites sides of the living room. There was a third door between the rooms, which led to the bathroom.
Daniel poked his head in. The room was pretty plain. It had a double bed and a desk. One of the walls was lined with even more bookshelves.
“You have a lot of books…” he said as he set his bag down on the bed.
“Oh, yeah. I can move them into my room if you want.” Aaron had really only used this room for storage and for the occasional overnight guest.
“No, it’s fine. Would it be okay if I read some of them?”
Aaron smiled, he loved finding fellow bookworms, “of course!”
Aaron turned back to the door, “just give me 15 minutes and I’ll be ready.”
Daniel nodded as he unzipped his bag.
***
“I’m ready when you are” Aaron called towards his new roommate's door as he shrugged on a sweater.
The door opened to reveal Daniel's bare chest. Aaron’s breath caught at the sight of well-defined bronze abs. He cleared his throat as he felt a blush creep up his neck. Daniel pulled his shirt on and grabbed a light jacket.
“Here,” Aaron handing Daniel a small key ring, “the bigger one is for the apartment, and the smaller one is for the mailbox...we’re number 10. I can show you where they are on our way out.”
“Thanks,” Daniel pulled a larger keyring out of his pocket and worked his new house key on, “and seriously, thanks for letting me stay. I know it must be weird to have someone who is pretty much a stranger in your house.”
“You’re not that much of a stranger. I mean Jacob talks about you pretty often.” Aaron pulled the door closed behind them and locked it.
They made their way to the street, stopping briefly for Aaron to show Daniel around the building. The morning was cool but sunny. Aaron hadn’t noticed that the leaves had already started to fall.
Stopping at a small cafe, they found a table and placed their orders.
“So, you’re a grad student right?” Daniel said as he sipped some orange juice. “Biology?”
“Ya, I’m in my second year,” Aaron thanked the waitress as she brought their food.
“What are you planning on doing after you finish school?”
Aaron swallowed his food, “I’m focusing on microbiology. I would like to go into research and development.”
“What about you? I don’t think Jacob has ever mentioned what you do for a living,”
“Oh, I’m a writer,” Daniel said as he dug into his omelet.
“Really? Anything I would have read?”
“Um, maybe,” Daniel paused to take a bite, “my most recent book was called Now You See Me, it came out last month.”
“What, wait a minute, do you write under the name ‘David Underwood?” Aarons forked was paused above his plate.
Daniel nodded.
“Are you serious? I love your books, I have all of them!” Aaron set down his fork, “Why didn’t Jacob tell me?!?”
Daniel shrugged, “don’t know” he chewed another bite of food, “I’m glad you like my work though.”
Aaron leaned back in his chair. He couldn’t believe his brother’s best friend was his favorite author. Jacob was such a jerk for not telling him.
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