Noah
Move in day was supposed to be
simple,Boxes,Furniture,Awkward introductions,Maybe an argument about who gets the bigger room. Nothing I hadn't handled before.
That idea was out the window the second she stepped foot through the door.
But She stood there like she wasn't sure she was allowed to even breath the same air or exist here,One hand gripping the strap of a worn out backpack, the other wrapped around the handle of a suitcase that looked like it had survived at least three airports and one emotional breakdown .Her curly hair made her look like a Disney princess in the best ways possible
Her eyes were blue,Not the sharp, icy kind of blue that people liked to brag about but Softer,Curious,Like she was always thinking about something else while pretending to pay attention. The way she looked at me for half a second made which my chest tighten, though I had no actual reason to feel the way I felt.
She was small. Five two, maybe five three if I lied to myself. Drowned in an oversized hoodie and jeans that dragged on the floor like a literal mop but the mop would probably be taller than her . Nothing flashy nothing revealing that screamed for attention.
But here I was finding it hard to take my eyes of her and her brown skin and light blue eyes
"Oh," she said, looking up at me Way up in shock. "You're… tall."
Her voice snapped me out of it.
I leaned casually against the doorframe, hoping she couldn't see how badly my heart had jumped. " and You're,short."
She blinked. Then frowned. "I'm five five."
I laughed before I could stop myself.
That was a terrible lie
She did not laugh back.
"That's rude," she said, pushing past me into the apartment. "I don't comment on your excessive height."
"Excessive?" I repeated, amused with a smirk. That's the first I have heard that.
She struggled with her suitcase, dragging it across the floor inch by inch(not surprising considering the fact that the bag was probably the same size as her). I watched her for half a second too long before stepping in and lifting it effortlessly.
She looked at me. Then at the suitcase. Then back at me.
"Show off." She rolled her eyes
"Occupational hazard," I said.
She huffed, but there was something there. A flicker of a smile she didn't want me to see.
I was already in trouble and I knew that this wasn't going to end well.
I wasn't supposed to notice girls like this Not anymore. Not when my life was already complicated enough. Not when I had worked so hard to make sure this apartment was as normal as possible.
No drivers,No penthouse,No last name recognition.
Just Noah,College basketball player,Roommate. Regular guy.
She dropped her backpack on the couch and looked around the apartment like she was cataloging every detail. The slight crack in the wall near the kitchen. The uneven bookshelf I hadn't bothered fixing. The unopened box of kitchenware still sitting by the counter.
"So," she said, hands on her hips. "Which room is mine?"
"First door on the left," I replied. "Mine's across the hall."
She nodded, dragging her suitcase toward it. Halfway there, she stopped and turned back to me.
"I'm Mila btw" she said. "And before you say anything, yes, I know this is weird. No, I don't know how we ended up roommates. And yes, I triple-checked the lease."
That made me smile. "I'm Noah."
"Yeah,I know" she said. "Your name's on the Wi-Fi."
Of course it was.
She disappeared into her room, leaving the door slightly open. I stood there longer than I should have, listening to the sound of drawers opening and closing, the soft thud of boxes hitting the floor,while resisting the urge to go in there and kiss her until...…
This was a mistake.
I already had a girlfriend.
Lena had made that very clear when she kissed me goodbye that morning, red lipstick pressed deliberately against my cheek like a warning label. Cheer captain. Blonde. Blue-eyed. Perfectly polished. She hates the idea of other women even looking my way so when she finds out that my roommate is a girl...….
She is definitely going to lose her mind.
I went into the kitchen to distract myself, opening the fridge to grab a bottle of water. The contents were small but enough . Eggs. Milk. A small tin tucked neatly in the corner. Caviar. I barely registered it. Just another thing I'd grabbed without thinking. The habits of someone used to luxury but careful about appearances. I didn't notice it consciously, but she would. I knew she would.
Then I noticed the small things around the apartment I never thought about before an almost invisible espresso machine, a cutting-edge laptop I hadn't used yet, a sleek wireless speaker that I probably paid too much for. None of it screamed wealth, but it spoke quietly to someone who notices details.
When I turned back, Mila was standing there.
She froze when she saw me holding the fridge door open, her gaze flicking briefly inside before snapping back to my face. Something unreadable crossed her expression.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing," she said quickly. Too quickly. "I was just… thirsty." She smiled awkwardly as she reached for a bottle of water, but I swiftly grabbed one and as I handed her a bottle of water. Our fingers brushed for half a second, but it felt longer. Electric. She pulled back like she felt it too.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of boxes and small talk. She unpacked with a kind of focused intensity(which was kind of scary) while lining up books and notebooks with careful precision. Robotics manuals. Coding textbooks. A small metal project she placed gently on her desk like it mattered.
Nerdy. Brilliant. Beautiful.
Deadly combination, I was a goner before I even spent the night with her
At one point, she sat cross-legged on the floor, hair pulled into a messy bun, chewing on the end of a pen while staring at her laptop screen like it had personally offended her.
I leaned against the doorframe. "You always glare at machines like that?"
She didn't look up. "Only when they deserve it."
I laughed. Again.
She glanced at me. "Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Smiling like you know something I don't."
I shrugged. "Maybe I do."
She rolled her eyes but smiled to herself for a moment
By the time evening arrived, I had ordered takeout. She tried to protest when I paid.
"I can split it," she said.
"It's fine," I said.
She hesitated, then nodded. "Okay. But next time, it's on me."
Next time.
That phrase shouldn't have meant anything. It did.
We ate on the couch, knees brushing accidentally on purpose. She talked about the robotics team, about competitions and sleepless nights, about how people always underestimated her until she proved them wrong.
I listened. Really listened.
At some point, my phone buzzed on the table.
Lena.
Mila's eyes flicked to it before she could stop herself. The name. The photo. Blonde hair. Perfect smile.
Her expression shifted. Just a little.
"Your girlfriend?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said. "She's… intense."
"That's one word for it," she muttered.
I stood, smoothing my shirt automatically, and walked to the door. When I opened it, Lena stepped inside like she owned the place.
Her eyes went straight to Mila.
Up and down. Measuring. Calculating.
"Oh," Lena said sweetly. "You must be the roommate."
Mila stood too, suddenly very aware of how small she was. "Hi."
Lena smiled wider. "I hope you don't get too comfortable."
The tension snapped tight between them, and I realized how impossible this was going to be. Mila glanced at me, her gaze flicking toward the small luxury hints in the apartment the caviar, the sleek gadgets I hadn't noticed and I saw recognition in her eyes, though I didn't. Something about the way she paused, the tiny lift of her brow, told me she was already noticing the little cracks in my carefully controlled world.
And in that moment, with Mila standing there trying to look unbothered, and Lena marking her territory like a lion staring down its prey, I knew one thing with absolute clarity:
This was not going to be simple.
And somehow, without meaning to, I had already crossed a line I should not even know exists.