The Roommate Pt. 68

LXVIII: My Girlfriend's Ex

Liam and Lexi

Liam

Liam took a deep breath as he stopped before the door to Blake's apartment, then covered his mouth as the breath turned into a yawn. He'd barely been able to sleep last night. His mind had kept spinning and spiraling with thoughts of him and Blake. And his conversation with Tasha. He'd considered walking down the hall and asking Kiki's opinion on it as well, or calling Kekoa, but had decided against it, know that they would probably reinforce what Tasha had said.

Liam smiled thinking about Kekoa. His brother knew how he felt about Blake, and would have probably just told him to go buy everything in a flower or chocolate store and send it Blake if that's what he thought it would take to smooth things over.

Liam had almost rushed here first thing after waking up, but had thankfully remembered that Marie wouldn't be leaving until around ten. That had given him time to shower and eat and make sure he actually looked presentable before walking across campus to Blake's place. He'd waited in the convenience store downstairs for about twenty minutes, feeling a bit like a stalker as he watched for Marie. When he hadn't seen anything, Liam had walked in and climbed the stairs to Blake's floor.

Thankfully, Marie hadn't come walking down the hall. He probably could have explained his way out of it--that he was taking Blake out to celebrate with some friends, or that he was coming to apologize for the previous day--but that wasn't an encounter he wanted to deal with yet. He hadn't seen Marie since their break-up, and didn't know exactly how he would feel if that happened.

Realizing he'd been just standing in front of Blake's door for a few minutes, Liam took another deep breath to settle his nerves, then knocked on the door.

He really hoped Marie wasn't still inside.

"Just a sec!"

Liam blinked, then relax just a bit at Sophie's voice.

He heard footsteps, then a pause before the door opened.

Sophie smiled at him and stepped back as she pulled the door all the way open, dressed in a big T-shirt and PJ pants, dark curls tied up in a bun, bowl of sugary cereal in one hand. Her smile made Liam feel a little better.

"Hey, Liam. Come on in. Marie's gone. Blake's in her room. Apparently, there's some trouble in paradise?"

Liam gave Sophie a sheepish grin, cheeks hot as he scrubbed a hand through his hair and walked past her into the room.

"Good luck, dude," Sophie said, closing the door behind him, then walking past him toward her room, "I'll leave you two to talk."

Before Liam could respond, Sophie raised her voice, "Blake, your boy-toy is here. If you're still mad at him just make sure he cooks something before he leaves."

Liam smirked at that as Sophie sauntered over to her room, disappearing into it.

His expression sobered when Blake poked her head out of her room a few moments later. Liam couldn't read her expression as her eyes met his, but after a few seconds, she gave him a half-smile and stepped out from behind her door.

She looked beautiful, as always, wearing a big, oversized hoodie with her bright blue hair pulled up in a bun. It was a bit darker at the roots, so she would probably have to dye it again, soon. She didn't wear any make-up, but Liam liked that. She looked gorgeous with it on, but without it, she looked more open, more real.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," Liam said back, "I'm sorry for just...appearing here. I know I should have texted--"

Blake shook her head, "It's fine."

Silence stretched between them for a few seconds before Blake gestured to the main living area, "Want to sit down?"

Liam tried not to smile too much at that as he nodded, "Sure."

Liam unbuttoned his coat, but didn't take it off, as they walked over to the couch and sat down on opposite ends. He wanted to reach out and take Blake's hand, but he knew that wasn't the right thing to do at the moment. Instead, he sat facing the table and rested his elbows, looking down as he took a deep breath.

He waited just a moment to see if Blake would say anything. When she didn't he took looked over at her.

"I wanted to apologize for handling yesterday so poorly," he said, meeting Blake's cerulean gaze, "I know you told me that I would need to deal with this kind of thing, and I meant it when I said I could, but..."

He trailed off, taking a deep breath and forcing himself to hold her gaze even as his lip wanted to twitch like it did sometimes when he was nervous and had to say something important, "I thought I would be able to do better, but I was obviously wrong. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did, and I promise I will do better next time. If there is one."

Liam swallowed, holding Blake's gaze as he waited for her to respond.

She studied him for a moment, then surprised him by biting her lip and taking a deep breath before she spoke.

"Thank you, but it wasn't your fault."

Liam blinked, but before he could say anything, Blake continued, "You didn't handle it the way I would have hoped, and you could have made things worse, but I know how freaked out I was the first time that happened to me--I wasn't exactly thinking straight when it did, and I shouldn't have expected that of you just because you said you could handle it. You have every right to feel protective of me and act the way you did. Mostly. I know it wasn't some stupid macho thing, just you being concerned about me."

She paused, taking another deep breath as she tucked a stray lock of blue hair behind her ear.

"I think I was just really shaken up by it and I took that out on you since I couldn't take it out on that guy. For that, I'm sorry. And I was glad to have you there with me. Can you forgive me for that?"

Liam blinked. This was not how he'd expected this conversation to go, but he nodded, "Of course, Blake. I--"

"I do want to get one thing straight, though," she said, voice firm even as her eyes softened, "While I appreciated you being there, you did overreact, and I did not need you there. I've handled shit like that by myself before, and I need to be able to do that going forward without relying on you. Got it? Even if I can rely on you, I need to be able to handle it if you're not there since you won't always be there for me to rely on."

Liam frowned at that last part, but figured she just meant when she was home for break or when he wasn't physically with her. He would take what she said seriously, but he had a feeling she'd been speaking almost more to herself than to him."

Liam hesitated for a moment, then reached across the couch and took Blakes hand. She didn't pull away. Instead, she curled her fingers around his and smiled.

"I get it," he said, "I hope something like that never happens again, but if it does when I'm with you, I'll let you take the lead instead of running my mouth, okay? I really am sorry that I reacted so stupidly. I--"

Blake put her other hand over his, cutting him off, "You already apologized for that, Liam. Thank you."

She studied him for a moment, licking her lips, then scooted closer to him. Liam wrapped his arms around her. It was a somewhat-awkward side-hug, but Liam didn't care. He was just happy to have her in his arms again.

For a while, they just sat there, Liam enjoying the feeling of Blake pressed against him. Then she took a deep breath and tilted her head up, meeting his eyes.

"I know my whole situation is pretty fucked up," she said, "And me being fucked up and being mad at you like I was isn't easy to deal with. You're really wonderful, Liam."

Liam blinked shocked at the punch of emotion in Blake's voice, then raised a hand to stroke Blake's hair, pulling her closer with the other.

"And you're too hard on yourself."

Blake didn't say anything to that, but she did snuggle into his embrace a bit more.

Smiling, Liam held her like that for a while, then decided he'd probably pushed his luck as far as it would go. Blake had accepted his apology. Now that he knew things were okay between them, he would give her a bit of space.

Liam kissed her forehead, then stood up, letting go of Blake. He'd barely taken a step away from the couch when Blake shot up on her knees and grabbed his wrist.

"What are you doing?"

Liam blinked, chest tightening at the panic in Blake's voice. When he turned to look at his girlfriend, Liam found Blake's eyes wide, jaw tight. She looked almost scared.

"Don't you want to stay?" Blake asked.

Liam's eyes widened as he realized the cause of the emotion behind Blake's voice. A bit of relief washed over him, but a bit of pain for his girlfriend jabbed at his heart.

Did she think she'd scared me off?

Liam smiled, leaning over the couch and wrapping his arms around Blake. She squeaked as he lifted her up off the couch, and a moment later, her legs were wrapped tight around his waist, arms encircling his neck, head against his shoulder.

Liam supported her with one arm and stroked her hair with the other.

"Of course, I want to stay. I'd fully expected to come over here and for you to still need some space or something regardless of whether or not you accepted my apology."

Blake raised her head, meeting his gaze. Liam's eyes widened at the fire in Blake's.

She moved one of the hands behind his neck down to his chest, gripping his muscle, nails digging through his shirt.

"Do you really think I would let you leave when I can finally have you in my room again and we only have three days left before I can't see you for a month?"

Liam smiled, hopeful.

"My room. Now."

***

Lexi

"I think it was talking about Liam."

Lexi gazed at Marie for a moment, a jolt of protectiveness at the turmoil in her girlfriend's eyes shot through her. Then she took Marie's hand and led her over to the bed.

Lexi sat down, crossing her legs, then tugged at Marie's arm for her to follow. Lexi maneuvered her girlfriend so that she lay back on the bed, head resting in her lap.

"Comfy?"

Marie nodded, and Lexi smiled and threaded her fingers through the blonde's hair. She gently massaged Marie's scalp.

"Tell me what happened."

Lexi leaned back against her headboard and listened as Marie relayed her conversation with Blake. When Marie paused a few times as she spoke about Blake's incident with the guy and why she'd been so freaked out, Lexi could tell that Marie was fudging a few of the details, including the reason why Blake had been so freaked out and what exactly had happened. She didn't mind, though. Marie's roommate obviously had some secret part of her life that she didn't want people knowing about, and Marie felt it wasn't her place to share that. Lexi liked that about her girlfriend.

She might need to work a bit on her self-control in some areas, but she's rock solid in others.

Lexi had a few guesses about what exactly that secret was, but she knew it wasn't her place to ask.

"It sounds like Blake is lucky she was with Liam when that happened," Lexi said once Marie had finished. Marie nodded, "He's really protective of the people in his life. I think she had trouble getting her head around that because she was still shaken up about it."

There was a twinge of...something in Marie's voice that made Lexi frown.

"Why do you think that put you in such a bad mood?"

Marie pursed her lips for a moment, eyes taking on a far-off cast as she thought. Lexi continued to stroke her hair, spreading the blonde locks out over her thighs.

Marie sighed, "I think I was a little jealous."

Lexi blinked, about to prod, but Marie was already shaking her head, frowning.

"No, that's not the right word. It's the closest I can think of, though."

Lexi licked her lips, then asked slowly, "What do you mean?"

Marie had to think again for a moment. When she spoke, she looked up at Lexi, green eyes sparkling as she reached up to squeeze Lexi's arm.

"You know you have nothing to worry about, right? I know I fucked things up with Liam, and I still miss him sometimes, but I don't want to go back."

She squeezed Lexi's arm again, smiling, "I have something much better, now."

Lexi smiled, heart swelling a bit, "I know. You can't expect zero reaction from me when you use words like 'jealous' when talking about your ex, though."

Marie rolled her eyes, "I know. I said it was the wrong word."

She sighed, "I think--maybe I was annoyed because I feel like she's taking him for granted?"

Marie was silent for a moment, and her eyes flickered away from Lexi's as she bit her lip.

"I think about him pretty much whenever I see Blake."

Lexi blinked at the admission, but kept stroking Marie's hair and said nothing as the blonde went on.

"I feel shitty about it because I know that's not fair to her, but I can't help it. It might be a little bit of jealousy, but not in the usual way. Blake...she doesn't have a lot of friends. Just me, Sophie, and another friend, Chloe, who--"

Marie cut off cheeks coloring a bit, and Lexi couldn't help herself.

"Has the same secret that Blake has?"

Marie's eyes widened a bit, and her cheeks went even brighter. She bit her lip as she looked up with Lexi.

"Was I really that transparent?"

Lexi shrugged, "Only because Blake is the common topic."

Marie looked away, then sighed, "Anyway...I'm glad that she's friends with Liam. I've never seen her have a guy friend since I've known her, and they both seem to get along really well to the point that she'll hang out with him and some of his other friends. But whenever I see her..."

"You miss him?"

Marie shrugged, "Not exactly. He's--he was a big part of my life for a while, and things ended in a pretty shitty, abrupt way, and all I know about Liam now is that I fucked up, he hangs out with Blake sometimes and that's it. I don't know if he's still hurt or angry about how things with us went, if he even cared, or if he just moved on."

"So, it's lack of closure that bugs you?"

Marie hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "I think so. I really like that Blake has a good friend like Liam--especially for situations like what happened. Now that I'm over Liam and with you, I'm even happier for her."

Then she sighed, "But whenever I see Blake, I feel just a little pinch of jealousy. She gets to know how Liam is doing, what's going on with him. I can't even ask about it or I'd seem like a nosy bitch and probably make her uncomfortable. I even kind of miss hanging out with his friends. They were really nice and laid back, even they mostly liked to play video games."

Lexi laughed at that. Then a thought popped into her head.

Should I ask? Would that cause problems?

"Lexi? What's up?"

Lexi blinked and realized she'd been biting her lips. Her cheeks grew warm.

"Oh. I was just wondering..."

"Yeah?" Marie asked, raising an eyebrow as Lexi trailed off.

Lexi sighed, "Are you sure Blake and Liam are just friends?"

Marie took a deep breath, letting out a long sigh, "Yeahhh."

Lexi frowned, "Okay, now I'm confused. You almost sound annoyed that your roommate isn't dating your ex."

Marie shrugged, "Honestly, seeing him around the apartment would fuck with me a bit at first, and I don't think Blake likes him that way since she turned down a--"

Marie cut off, cheeks bright red.

"Turned down what?"

Marie bit her lip.

"You know how I told you Liam and I had a few threesomes?"

"And foursomes."

Marie's cheeks somehow turned even redder.

"And I told you about how I fooled around with Blake a bit?"

Lexi nodded.

Marie swallowed, "I may have asked Blake if she wanted to have a threesome with me and Liam."

Lexi blinked, and Marie rolled her eyes, sighing.

"I know it was stupid. My brain was on some kind of weird horny logic that doesn't actually make sense. Anyway. I'm pretty sure Blake isn't fucking Liam. If she was, though, I at least would know she would be good for him and that she's not a total bitch."

Lexi raised an eyebrow at the heat in Marie's voice.

"Unlike...?"

Marie sighed, folding her arms over her chest. Her lips formed into such a pout that Lexi almost laughed.

"This fucking bimbo bitch, Tasha, that lived on Liam's floor last year."

Lexi had to bite her lip to keep from laughing, "So she's hotter than you?"

Marie huffed, but nodded, "She's got abs, tits the size of her head that are apparently real, and she's fucking gorgeous. She also has these eyes that are like...actually hypnotic. I told Liam that his were like that a few times, but when I met her, I told him she had him beat."

Lexi blinked, "Damn."

"Yeahhh. I'm pretty sure she friendzoned Liam when they first met because he was all skinny and shy and awkward, but after we'd been together a while, the few times Liam and I saw her or hung out with her, she was staring at him like a piece of meat. If he's dating anyone right now, I'm pretty sure she's the one that snatched him up."

Lexi grinned down at her girlfriend. When Marie saw, she pouted even harder.

"What?"

"Is she actually a bimbo bitch?" Lexi asked, "Or do you just not like her because she's hotter than you and had the hots for your ex?"

Marie's cheeks looked like tomatoes at this point. She frowned for a moment, then sighed.

"Liam's friends are all pretty smart, and pretty nice, her included. This is one hundred percent petty bitchiness and I'm completely entitled to it."

Lexi laughed, running a hand through Marie's hair, "No arguments there."

Marie smiled, then pouted again, "At least, if he was dating Blake, I'd probably get some of his cooking again."

Lexi raised an eyebrow, "He's really that good of a cook?"

Marie nodded, "Oh yeah. You're a good cook, and I've really appreciated when you've cooked for me, but you've got nothing on him. He and his brother and his parents love to cook a lot of family recipes--really good Hawaiian and Asian food."

Lexi frowned, "Wait, Liam's asian? I thought you said he was blonde. Dye job?"

Marie laughed, "No, Liam's about as white as you can get. I used to tease him about how he couldn't tan no matter how hard he tried."

"But you said 'family recipes'."

Marie shrugged, "Liam has an...interesting family. Complicated past."

The way Marie said that piqued Lexi's curiosity, but told her it was better not to pry.

Why do I need to know about my girlfriend's ex's family, anyway?

She would need to try cooking a bit more, and a bit more diversely, over break, though. Lexi had no problems admitting to herself that she could be petty and competitive sometimes.

"Feeling a bit better, now?" Lexi asked.

Marie smiled up at her and nodded, "Thank you. You're wonderful."

Lexi grinned, then folded over and Spiderman-kissed her girlfriend.

Marie giggled, taking Lexi's face in her hands as she returned the kiss.

"So are you," Lexi whispered against her lips, "You're also a naughty little slut, though."

Marie shivered, biting her lip. She held Lexi's gaze as Lexi straightened.

"You don't know whether or not you came," Lexi continued, stroking Marie's hair, "Which means you might have cum. Disobeying me."

Marie's eyes were wide as she gazed up at Lexi. There was a little worry there, but that was overshadowed by a mix of desire and anticipation.

"It's almost like you wanted to be punished, isn't it, slut?"

Marie shivered as she gazed up at her, silent.

"Were you maybe a bit curious about what I would do to you if you disobeyed me?"

Marie was still for a moment, then nodded.

She hissed when Lexi gripped her hair tight, and shivered as Lexi ran a hand down her jaw, then her neck, and down to her chest.

"Do you think you deserve to be punished?"

Marie's eyes widened a bit further, but she gave a small nod. Her voice was small, but thick with lust when she spoke.

"Yes, Lexi."

Lexi grinned. A part of her had been hoping for this, "Let's see what works best, then. I have quite a few ideas in store for you."