Falling For My Flatmate

It was a rainy night when a cat sealed our fate.

The wind blew socks off my neighbor's washing line, and Michael's cat, Fluffs, mewled. Fluffs scratched on the other side of the door, continuing his meowing.

I nudged the door open with my foot, holding a big box of my belongings. Looking at my box to make sure I still had everything inside, I took a few steps forward. Thinking about how my boss spoke to me before firing me, I felt the tears threatening to burst from my eyes.

Fluffs hurtled onto the street when I kept the door open for too long.

"Oh no!" I turned to see the flash of a chubby gray shape zooming past me. Dropping my cardboard box with a loud crash, I ran outside after Fluffs.

My flatmate Michael Cross loved Fluffs. Fluffs was his only family member in the city. I was so screwed if anything happened to Michael's cat.

I sprinted down the street as I saw Fluffs run to the right. Fluffs ran like Usain Bolt, and I ran like someone out of breath. I called Fluffs by name, but it was the wrong time. Fluffs finally stopped to look back, his big eyes glancing to where I stood calling him.

Just then a bicyclist collided with Fluffs. Fluffs jumped but I still heard a sickening crunch.

I wailed, "No!"

Fluffs lay there in front of a cyclist whose bike lay flipped on the side as he tried to avoid the cat.

I ran to Fluffs, and I called 911 with my phone, my fingers trembling. Fluffs was unresponsive but still had a pulse.

"Please, help! My friend's cat got hit by a bike!" I cried.

Minutes later, two ambulances arrived along with a police car. Fluffs and I went to the veterinary hospital, where I waited for the surgery news.

I called Michael, who was in the middle of his classes that evening.

"What! Where are you, where's Fluffs?" Michael asked.

Michael came running, his glasses askew and his brown hair flipped to the side. He laid a hand on my shoulder and he asked, "Are you okay?"

His formal clothes and coat were damp from the rain.

"No, I'm so sorry Michael! I didn't mean to leave the door open for that long. I just got laid off from my job and I wasn't thinking properly. Oh god, Michael," I bit my lip after I blurted out what happened.

"Slow down," Michael said.

He was so kind and I didn't deserve it at the moment. He should have flipped tables, swore at me, something more than those big comforting eyes that gazed at me.

We'd been roommates for a year. Michael was in his second year of his research PhD now and for the past year I'd been working full-time at an English education company. We had both responded to mutual friends who asked about roommate availability, since we were both looking for roommates at the time.

"Have you had any water?" Michael said, walking to the water machine to fill a cup for me.

I burst into tears when he handed me a cup and spoke soothingly.

"I don't hate you or blame you Marie. I know today was hard for you too. You texted me about work, remember? I'll wait for Fluffs. You should go home to rest." Michael pointed to the phone hanging out of his pocket.

I nodded and accepted his suggestion, moving to go when the surgery room's light turned off. With bated breath, I waited with Michael.

The doors swung open and a young woman who looked to be in her thirties came to greet us. Her long black hair swept up into a bun under her surgery cap and her eyes were visible above her cute blue mask. Recognition sparked in Michael's eyes and he smiled at her.

Huh, they knew each other?

"Michael, good to see you. So we've done surgery on Fluffs. He had temporary paralysis during the accident. But now he is responding well, and you can see him soon."

"Jenny, thank you so much, I owe you one." Michael hugged her.

I watched them, rubbed my shoulder and then looked at the ceiling.

"No, just doing my duty. Hey, who's this?" She looked at me, with an inviting grin.

"Oh, this is my flatmate, Marie. Marie, this is Jenny. She's my best friend's baby sister."

"Hey, I'm not a baby anymore." Jenny laughed with Michael.

"Speaking of, Bradley wanted to talk to you about something, I forget what. You know him, always rambling about his ideas. But I told him you're at my hospital and he's coming soon...oh there he is!" Jenny pointed down the hallway.

A tall man with curly black hair and dimpled cheeks appeared and walked toward us.

"Mike, my man!" Bradley slapped Michael on the shoulder.

Michael returned the weird man slap handshake thing.

"What brings the esteemed Hollywood here?" Michael asked.

Hollywood? Like, the movies?

Bradley rolled his eyes and he said, "Well, I do have a proposal."

I looked between the two of them and my eyes widened. Wait, were Michael and Bradley...

"I wanted to ask you if you'd be a part of my new project. I would need you, your house, and your flatmate for a couple of months."

My ears perked at the mention of this.

"Hell no," Michael said instantly.

"I'll let you guys talk," Jenny smiled, walking back into the surgery room.

"You didn't even listen to the rest of it." Bradley said.

I felt the urge to put my hand up.

Bradley looked at me, confused.

"Hi, I'm Michael's flatmate," I said.

Bradley smiled, and he said, "Michael, you never told me your flatmate was stunning, or that she was a woman."

"Does it make a difference?" Michael huffed.

"I guess it doesn't." Bradley smiled again.

"Hashtag, Room Life. It's the concept for the new show we're doing. We are doing a couple of seasons but I wanted to ask you and your flatmate to be my first pair. We want to film a daily life kind of vlog of flatmates in the city and air it bi-weekly. The first season is ten episodes. There will be some mini challenges for you two to do, for example watch a scary movie together. It's a mega paid opportunity."

That last part really caught my ears.

Michael mulled over the idea, before he spoke, including me in the conversation.

"Well, I do owe your sister. Guess it's up to my flatmate if she's in then I'm in."

I felt embarrassed to admit that I needed the money since I'd just lost my job, and couldn't afford rent after the next seven months or so, but I nodded nevertheless.

"Sure, I'd like to try it. Can we hear more details first though?" I asked.

Hollywood, or Bradley, was so happy. He was smiling ear to ear and I was worried he would lose his smile if it even stretched wider than that.

And that was how Hollywood's company started broadcasting my life with Michael on live television in the months to come.

Michael and I hardly hung out in the past year because of our busy schedules.

But now all of a sudden we were spending time together as Bradley/Hollywood's crew set up their cameras and equipment.

"So we will set up cameras in all areas except for the bathroom and your bedrooms. They will be small so it shouldn't bother you much. Twice a week we will come into the flat for extra filming and gathering B roll. There will be a messaging group opened between key crew members and Marie and Michael so we can communicate. We need time to edit the clips before releasing episodes, so we will finish filming of the week every Thursday night and the episodes will be released every Saturday. We will turn off cameras for Fridays and turn them back on Sundays."

Hollywood explained in depth to us before the filming days started.

Me and Michael nodded, agreeing to the terms and conditions of the filming. Thankfully we had a spare storage room so that the crew could keep their things in there or take a moment to rest if need be.

Michael had a break from his studies while I was job searching, so we would both be at home while the filming happened for now. Before the actual filming we needed to film some promotional stuff too.

"For the promotional filming, we'd like you to just spend a day as you normally would. The cameras will pick up the scenes, but we will also schedule a time in the afternoon for the crew members to come film in the style of a Q&A."

We waited until Fluffs was in recovery stage and able to come home. Then we accepted the invite officially and went to sign contracts regarding the reality show.

On the morning that promotional filming started, I woke up feeling joyful. I finally had a long eight hours of sleep.

"A break from eight AMs!" I said to myself. I made sure all important parts of my body were covered because the camera would pick everything up as soon as I exited my room. Humming, I grabbed my hand towel to go to the shared bathroom.

Our flat was relatively big, we had a living room and a kitchen of decent size. But when we moved in our landlord told us the downside of the shared bathroom, because of some plumbing problem that hadn't been fixed when the construction of the building went on.

Michael was usually either still in bed or out for a run, but when I opened the door, he was there just coming out of the bathroom.

In all shirtless abs glory.

Drool worthy, glistening drops of water running down his skin and disappearing into his towel that wrapped around his lower body.

I'd never seen him without a shirt before.

That man was fit. I held on to my hand towel, feeling a sensual rippling below my stomach.

It made sense, what with his daily morning runs. But seeing it in person was so different.

"Oh, hey." Michael smiled. Even his smile was inviting and I didn't know what to do with my bodily reactions in the morning.

I gaped at him, opened my mouth, closed it. Then nodding politely I darted past him into the bathroom.

There was a second where our bare shoulders brushed and I shivered.

Splashing cold water on my face I told myself to get it together. This was no time to crush on my handsome flatmate. No time at all. I blew dry my long black hair and put cream on my face. Patting my face, I grabbed my face towel and left the bathroom with one last "stand down, girl" to myself.

Michael was in the kitchen making breakfast.

"Hey, Marie do you want anything for breakfast?" He asked as I stepped into the living room with my laptop.

"Uh, no I'm good thanks." I said.

"I can't hear you from here can you come into the kitchen and say that again?" Michael said.

Putting my laptop down, I walked to the kitchen. Fluffs lay taking a nap by the television and couch.

And when I entered the kitchen, I couldn't help but to say, "oh god."

Michael was clearly not skilled at cooking.

There was a burnt smell coming from the toaster, dirty dishes lay everywhere and as Michael flipped the eggs they jiggled and slid off the pan onto the griddle.

I rushed to turn off the toaster and pull the burnt toast out.

"Let me help!" I declared.

Michael stepped back, a sheepish grin forming on his face.

"Sorry Marie. Thanks. I'll wash the dishes." He stepped aside.

Okay, so the man couldn't cook to save a life. Just like my dad. I sighed, scraping the remainder of the eggs burning into the trash and adding some hot water before leaving the pan to cool down so it would be easier to wash.

"I'm thinking pizza tonight!" Michael exclaimed when I handed him a new plate of scrambled eggs and sausages, along with a glass of orange juice.

His eyes lit up and he said, "wow thanks Marie."

"Mhm, no problem. So what flavor pizza are we getting?"

Michael passed me the menu pamphlet.

At the same time we both blurted different things.

"I'm allergic to mushrooms."

"I hate pineapple on pizza."

We looked at each other and laughed.

"Wait you don't like pineapple on pizza? What!" He said.

"Oh no, we have a pineapple pizza criminal in the house." I hooted.

Michael chuckled and he said, "alright no Hawaiian pizza tonight. Off the table?"

He peered at me with cute eyes and I rolled my eyes.

"Definitely off the table."

"Fine." He pretended to huff and cross his arms.

--

That afternoon the crew came into our flat to film the question and answer portion of the promo video and take some photos.

"Hi, I'm Fern! I'll be leading the crew here. If you have any questions do let me know. We'd like to start with Marie first then Michael. And we'll finish up with a quick photo shoot. Sounds okay?" She asked us.

Michael smiled and I nodded.

Fern was a loud and friendly woman, and I liked her instantly. I guessed that I wasn't the only one who liked her, because there was a crew member who kept giving her the google eyes.

"Alright Marie. It's so good to meet you! Thanks for being willing to participate in our show!" Fern started.

I sat on our couch, feeling slightly awkward with Fern facing me and the lights and cameras in front of my face.

"Oh it's my pleasure. I'm glad I get to be part of this." I waved my hand around.

Fern asked the question, "So when you and Michael met what was your first impression of him?"

I giggled then and I said, "he looked like an uptight nerd to be honest. He had different glasses back then and his hairstyle was all gelled too. His shirt was tucked in and his trousers rolled up at the bottom."

Fern boomed with laughter along with me.

"Ah I see, I'm curious to see that!"

I smiled and I said, "I'm sure I can find a picture and show you sometime."

"We'll ask him and know what he thought of you too later." Fern winked.

"So how about your interests? Are they quite different then?" She asked.

"Oh yes, probably! Aside from our love for languages, I'd say we have different things we like doing. He likes running and gaming, I like reading and writing." As I responded it made me reflect.

The reason why we didn't hang out that much was also because we did different things outside of our main job and studies.

"Wow, that's great though, you can teach each other about your interests. So in the past year, have there been any hiccups as you lived together?" Fern pressed on.

"Not really? Well, there was a time when I forgot to feed his cat, and a time when he forgot his house keys and I was sleeping. That was quite disastrous." I said.

"Oh wow! What happened then?"

"He went to sleep at his university friend's place, and called me the next day!" I said.

"Haha! Hm okay, that's all for today Marie thanks so much!" Fern said, gesturing for the cameras to move away.

As Michael did his segment of Q&A I busied myself cleaning my room.

When Fern called me to come take pictures, I smoothed my hair down and went to the living room.

Michael lounged on the couch, still chatting with Fern. When I entered he glanced up and his face brightened.

"Hey, Marie!" He said.

"Hiya," I responded, taking a seat on the armchair beside him.

"We're thinking of zooming in on your interests. So maybe Michael can pretend to run and Marie can take a book and "run" into him?"

Fern demonstrated with that besotted crew member and he seemed to die from happiness.

I smiled and I said, "okay! Let's do this!"

And that was how we ended up falling to the ground together, me in his arms, him breaking the fall with his hands. We might have scratched a camera or light shade, but thankfully everything was fine in the end.

A snapshot and day to remember.

The first official day of filming on a Monday arrived along with an announcement.

"You'll be having a game night tonight as your mini challenge of the day!" Fern texted us in the morning.

I forgot about that part where we would have to do mini challenges. It was probably for the entertainment of the audience. I hadn't thought much about the prospect of thousands of people watching us on television until we went to the production studio to sign the contract that day.

Hollywood/Bradley was literally the VVVIP of show producers, everyone seemed to worship the ground he walked upon. And his company hosted one of the popular television programs across the city.

It started nerving me to think that I would be taking part of #RoomLife that could be seen by so many people. I wasn't worried that much about audiences going crazy over us, they'd probably get bored and turn to a different channel within minutes. Surely life between me and Michael was not that fun to watch?

Not wanting a repeat of shirtless Michelangelo, I tiptoed over to my door and peeked outside to see if Michael was there. The coast was clear, so I ran outside, almost slipping on the floor.

Maybe I shouldn't have cleaned the floors so well since now they shined and were squeaky clean, easy to trip and fall over. That was a weakness of mine, clumsiness. I blew a strand of hair away from my face just as the front gate opened.

Dashing back to my room, I closed the door, heart pounding in my ears. Unfortunately I stubbed my toe painfully and that made me shriek in pain.

"Marie?"

Michael called my name.

I walked out acting nonchalantly, as if nothing happened. Hobbling a little, I said, "yeah, what's up?"

Michael's eyebrows pointed inward and he said, "you okay?"

"Uh yeah, perfectly fine." I tossed a hand in the air.

"Did you see the text from Fern?" Michael slid his phone out of his pocket.

"Yeah I did. What kind of games do you think they want us to play?" I asked.

"Not sure, I'll ask if they need us to get anything. I'm going to be working on my paper for most of the day though," Michael grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, his Adam's apple bobbing as he drank from the bottle.

"Okay, I'll be job searching too but I can help out whenever." I said, my eyes tracing the line of his throat.

Ugh, stupid pervert self! I slapped myself mentally.

"I'm gonna take a shower, do you need the toilet?" Michael gestured to the bathroom.

Shaking my head I averted my gaze and I said, "nope, I'm good."

I needed to avoid thinking about Michael shirtless otherwise my body temperature might explode from heat.

Fern texted again with lots of emojis and italicized words.

"The CrossBit Games will have three mystery rounds and will be hosted by yours truly virtually. These are the items we need that may have to be bought for the three rounds.

Apple x2

Any pack of round cookies x2

M&Ms x1 packet

Black cloth 8 x 9 Inch fabric x2

A set of dice

Donut any flavor x2

Packet of chips x2

A cameraman will come and accompany 🙌🏻 you for your shopping trip, I will handle reimbursements. Make sure to wear sports shoes 👟😉🎥"

We both came out of our rooms, Michael scratching his head and me doing a mental roundup of items needed.

"I guess we're going shopping?" Michael said to me.

"Yay!" I was secretly jumping circles in glee because I wanted to go buy groceries since the week before but we'd been busy with promo stuff. Speaking of, the promotion aired tonight just before The CrossBit Games (after Fern).

"By the way do you want to watch the promo video together?" I asked Michael as we got ready to go buy the items.

"Yeah, sure!" Michael smiled and I about melted inside.

The cameraman who I dubbed Google because he really liked Fern appeared as we went outside. It was hard to focus when he filmed us from behind, but I tried my best to keep in step with Michael's long legs.

"You okay so far?" Michael nudged me softly.

"Oh me? Yeah I'm fine," I smiled, my lips curving upward as we walked to the nearby superstore.

"You? How's the paper going?" I asked.

"It's going alright," he said.

We didn't really keep fruit at home so it was weird going to the fruits section. There were some elderlies and some younger moms buying fruits and vegetables.

Michael moved towards the door and said, "I'll go get the cloth from the store next door! And I can grab the chocolate, chips and donuts too."

"Okay I'll get the cookies after paying for the apples," I said.

I chose Oreo's peanut butter flavor. As I rounded the corner, Michael came jogging towards me.

As Michael held out the black strips of fabric my mind went south, like way south.

Me in a blindfold laying on the bed with Michael above me, grabbing my hands and putting them over my head. Crawling over me, placing his hands on my thighs and leaning down to-

"Oh shit, brain is going to dirty land, stop!"

I thought.

"Marie?" Michael's voice shook me out of dirty land.

"Huh?" I realized I'd been standing there without a word as the camera pointed towards us, for a total of ten seconds.

"Oh, sorry I was thinking about what else I need for groceries," I made up some excuse.

I grabbed a random baguette as we walked to the cashier.

"Got it!" I said loudly.

--

Late afternoon we sat on the couch, with all the required items laid on the coffee table. Michael flicked the remote on and the Ring channel came on, the channel where our show would air.

I gasped and covered my mouth as the first scene was us wrapped around each other falling to the ground.

"Oh my god they caught that? I thought they weren't filming during that photo shoot!" I exclaimed.

Michael was laughing, his eyes closed as he rocked back and forth.

I felt mortified. And even more so when the next segment came on and it was my interview part where they were asking me my opinion and first impression.

I covered my face as I heard my voice calling him an uptight nerd.

Michael was still smiling though for some reason when I dared to look at him.

Then I understood why because the next one was him telling the camera of the time when he got really angry at me just for being asleep.

"That girl sleeps like a rock, under a tunnel, under the earth's crust!" Michael was saying.

I looked at Michael then and smacked him lightly on the shoulder.

"Seriously? You had to reveal my sleeping habits to the world?" I said.

"Well you revealed my poor fashion choices." He teased me.

There was footage of me in the hallway running to my room and the memory flooded me with big embarrassment in the form of pink cheeks.

Michael was gazing at me and still laughing though so it was a good sign for the moment.

There was another scene with Michael in the kitchen too. He was singing some random tune but I heard my name in the song.

The screen narrated, "Season 1 of #RoomLife airing next week with Marie and Michael. Tune in and don't forget to vote for your favorite moments at www.ringtv.com! Win prizes, get excited!"

"Seriously there's voting going on?" I said.

Michael pulled the website up on his phone and I almost choked.

There were those incriminating clips being played on loop and a voting poll for favorite moments beside a big real-time chat box as the promo aired.

Comments were filtering in, with many people saying "#COUPLEGOALS!"

"We need a ship name for them!"

"Hahhahaa so funny. They're cute together."

"Not as cute as the cat though."

I looked at Fluffs who was so unbothered by the world.

Michael looked up at me at the same time that I looked at him. He seemed to want to say something but then our doorbell rang.

Our phones buzzed with notifications in the group chat with Fern.

It was time for the CrossBit Games.