The Roommate by Carla Krae

wall, but thankfully the insulation was good enough to not clearly hear what was happening on the other side.   Voices were just muffled background noise.   Nobody needed to hear what happened on a toilet.
    Wrapped in a towel, I opened the bathroom door, steam billowing out, and tossed my dirty clothes in the hamper in the closet.   One thing I loved about this building is that each unit had a stacked washer and dryer in a closet on the balcony.   There was one coin-op laundry room in the complex for bulky stuff like bedding, but it wasn’t used often.
    Patrick and I had yet to run into the you left your clothes in the machine conversation.
    Hopefully when it happened it wouldn’t be with an underwear load.
    I dressed in a tee and jeans, wet hair in a bun.   Only Patrick in his room.   “Where’s your dad?”
    “Down at the truck.”
    “Ah.”   I stood at the threshold.   “Looks about done.”
    “Yeah.”   Drawers had been inserted.   The desk in the corner had his computer and a swing-arm lamp on it.   A small flat-screen TV sat on a console facing the bed.
    “Excuse me,” Mr. Clark said behind me.   I moved out of the way.   He carried what looked like two lamps swaddled in layers of bubble wrap.   “Just about the last of it.”
    “Thanks, Dad.”
    Mr. Clark nodded and left again.
    “Everything go okay?” I asked.
    “We’re fine.”
    “Good. I wouldn’t want to cause issues with your family.”
    “It wouldn’t be about you.”   He was making the bed.
    “Okay.”
    “They’ve got a bit of that empty nest thing.”
    “Ohhh.”   I was enjoying watching him move about the bed stretching the fitted sheet in place.    “Need any help?”
    “I’ve got it, thank you.”
    “Is your dad driving back to Colorado tonight?”
    “Maybe. Probably. He works Monday morning.”
    “Or he could drop the U-Haul off here and fly back.”
    “True. It hasn’t come up.”   Right.   Two guys who only said what they needed to say at the moment.
    “Whatever we do tonight, I’m interested in dinner being very easy.”
    “A little cleaning wore you out?”
    “Some people don’t enjoy cardio. And don’t say something about good health.”
    The flat sheet had been tucked in with military corners.   “Some exercise is fun.”
    “ Oh? ”
    He ducked his head.   “I didn’t mean the naked kind.”
    Probably not.   I was the one with the dirty mind around here.   “That’s the one kind I agree with.”
    The front door opened, so no more naughty teasing.   I liked making Patrick blush, but not around parental figures.   Mr. Clark appeared behind me again.
    “Everything’s unloaded, son.”
    “Thank you. Can you stay for dinner?”
    He shook his head.   “Got a flight back to your mother. Let’s get this truck returned.”
    “Right.”   Patrick came to the door and I moved out of the way.
    “Jessica, it was good to see you again. Keep him out of trouble, please.”
    “Dad…”
    “Have a safe flight, Mr. Clark.”
    They left.
    Was I tempted to snoop?   Yup.   Patrick would probably spot something a millimeter out of place, though, and I didn’t want to violate the trust we’d built.   Today was the first day he’d left the room unattended with the door open.   It’d been shut this whole week whether he’d been in it or not even though he only had a sleeping bag and a suitcase full of clothes.
    Living alone, I’d left my bedroom and bathroom doors open unless I was showering or had company.   Honestly, I didn’t care about someone seeing my bedroom unless it was really messy.   It was only just now that I was getting used to having my door closed while I slept.
    I sat down on the sofa with the box of Cap’n Crunch and turned the TV on.   The cable hookup was in the wall between the bedroom doors, so that’s where we’d put the console.
    Next thing I knew, it was dark.   Patrick coming in must have awakened me.   “Hey.”
    “Sorry I woke you.”
    “Did