If my life were a fairytale, when the second son promised me a life beyond everything I knew, I would have believed him. I would have waited and trusted that there was going to be a happily ever after for at least one of us.
But my life was more like a horror story. The golden child always got his way, and not only did I throw away my life and any chance at happiness, I also betrayed the only boy who ever made me feel like I belonged.
In the end, I was more of a villain than the perfect, wicked boy I hated with every fiber of my being ever was.
Ollie
“But… you’re a girl.”
It wasn’t the second or even third time the very cute boy who answered the door had muttered the exact same phrase. I had knocked and announced I was the new roommate moving in today. He looked adorably dumbfounded, and the other boy standing in the entrance to the living room with his arms over his wide, muscular chest looked very annoyed.
I’d expected pretty much this exact reaction since I’d gone out of my way to make sure the current residents of the house didn’t know my gender when I filled out the rental application a few weeks ago. The ad clearly stated a male roommate was preferred, and it was common knowledge on campus that this particular house had a ‘no girls allowed’ rule. Apparently, it was how the boys who had all lived together in this house since they finished freshman year kept the peace and managed to remain friends rather than rivals all these years. One of the roommates had graduated an entire year early, leaving the other three boys behind, and left a vacant room in the converted Victorian a couple blocks away from campus. It was a highly coveted rental, so surely I wasn’t the only female applicant hoping for a chance to get past their gender preference, but my reasons for pushing so hard to get picked had little to do with the location, and everything to do with one of the current occupants.
I sighed and cast a dramatic look down the length of my body.
“I am a girl. No matter how many times you say it, or how hard he glares at me,” I hooked my thumb in the direction of the glowering football player hovering behind him, “that isn’t going to change. The fact that I already signed the lease and put down a deposit, as well as the first and last month’s rent, won’t change either. I know the rental ad said you would prefer a male roommate, but the actual homeowner picked me as the best applicant and already took my money. This is a done deal.”
Thank goodness.
The elderly landlord picked me, but only after I’d tracked him down and begged and pleaded with him to let me move into the house regardless of any objections the boys might raise. Luckily, he was a kind, decent man who wasn’t immune to big ol’ crocodile tears. He was also the father to several daughters, and a grandpa to a couple adorable little girls. I don’t think the no-girls-allowed rule was ever his in the first place. I gave him the CliffsNotes version of why I had… no, why I needed to move into the Victorian, and promised I’d be the best tenant he’d ever had. The biggest selling point: I reminded him that the three boys currently occupying the property were going to be leaving soon after graduation, but I still had three years left of school, if not longer. I was undecided on my future plans and pretty much everything else in my life. The only thing I knew for certain was that I was exactly where I needed to be at the moment.
The big, unsmiling jock grunted and narrowed his eyes at me from behind the smaller guy in the doorway. It was a struggle to keep up a calm, cool front when the guy’s stock in trade was being good at intimidation, both on and off the field.
“The old man must be going senile if he approved you. I’ll call him right now and get this straightened out.”
I lifted a dirty blond eyebrow back at the big guy and plastered on a fake, sickeningly sweet smile. I’d had a lot of practice playing nice with someone who wanted me to cower and walk away from confrontations. “Go right ahead. When you