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WARM WELCOMES

E L L I E

T he taxi cab comes to a screeching stop in front of the tall, multi-complex apartment I’ll live in during my enrollment at Gildenhill University. I pay the driver and hurry out of the car, bursting with excitement as I unload my suitcases from the trunk. It speeds off behind me before I even have a chance to say thank you.

Standing alone on the sidewalk, I realize I’m about to finally meet the people I’ve chosen to room with for the following two school semesters.

This can either go one of two ways: in my favor or the latter.

I pray that it’s the first one.

I stand at the apartment entrance and allow my senses to take in my new, unfamiliar home. Street lamps, store signs, and car headlights give a beautiful glow to the bustling city before me. I listen to the mixture of laughter, chatter, and music while the smell of Chinese takeout from a few meters away causes me to salivate. From the history-laced brick and stone foundations of the apartments surrounding me to the quaint, charming bar, Gullie’s , that catches my eye, I find myself falling more in love with how alive London makes me feel.

I reach for the buzzer beside the main double doors and press it before I have a chance to change my mind.

I’ve video-chatted with my soon-to-be roommates several times in the past few months, but the realization that I’m finally meeting them in person chases away my excitement for my new home and replaces it with nerves.

I know the weight of a first impression. The last thing I want to do is screw mine up.

The speaker alongside the entrance suddenly buzzes. “Dave’s Sperm Bank! You spank it, we bank it! How can we help you?”

“Evie?” I recognized her familiar, feminine British voice immediately.

“This is sheee!”

“It’s Ellie,” I tell her, happy to see her bubbly, bold personality is just as lively as I remembered it being over the phone. “Your new roommate!”

“Oh my God, Ellie?! Harvey! It’s Ellie!” The speaker crackles with racket that I can’t quite make out. “We’ve been waiting for you all day! Come on up. Second floor. B20!”

The door immediately clicks to my right, and I smile, elated by Evie’s welcoming energy. Having been previously warned about the building’s lack of an elevator, much to my dismay, I waste no time in finding the stairs and beginning my ascent. My arms and calves are on fire when I reach the second-floor landing, and a sigh of relief escapes my lips as I turn the corner of the main hallway.

B20 happens to be the first door I see to my left, and the flat can’t be missed.

An exotic shade of orange paints the door, and my pupils constrict at its brilliance. A rainbow-splattered doormat lies before me, and I grin at the words stamped against the pattern.

Jolliest Bunch of Assholes.

I’m about to knock on the glossy metal door when it opens wide. Evie bolts out of it, bubbling with pure, unfiltered enthusiasm as she wraps me into a generous hug. Like second nature, I return her embrace.

“You made it!” Evie squeals, squeezing what little life is left in me after a long day’s travel. Once she releases me, she pauses and allows her dark eyes to scan me briefly. “You’re even prettier in person!”

“So are you!”

I love her bright-teal-dyed pixie haircut and the colorful piercings on her ears, eyebrows, septum, and nose. I also adore the way the eccentric, colorful makeup she chose to wear today not only accents the small features of her face but also coordinates perfectly with the outfit clung against her short, petite, dark-skinned body: a ripped, whitewashed denim dress, a cropped lime-green and purple striped shirt underneath, and a pair of black, well-worn Doc Martens on her feet.

“So here she is in the flesh.” I turn to the calmer, deeper voice behind us. Harvey smiles when he sees me, stretching his long, pale arms around me. “I think Evie, here, might have had an actual seizure if she had to wait another second longer to meet you.”

“Yeah, I probably would have,” she huffs.

Harvey’s tall, slim body steps away and takes the suitcases and bags at my feet. He swings his dark brown hair away from his striking green eyes and carries them through the front door. “Welcome to our humble abode, Ellie.”

The words are a welcoming sentiment. These two have managed to make me feel so genuinely welcome in only a matter of minutes.

“I’m so happy to finally meet both of you in person. And this place!” I gawk, admiring all the colors and unique details inside the apartment. Everything about its interior looks so fun and full of life—a physical representation of the two people before me. “FaceTime didn’t do it justice at all. This is incredible. I’m speechless.”

I notice how everything in the flat blossoms with character as my eyes take in all the eclectic decor scattered charmingly throughout the living space. Bright, abstract artwork covers the walls, and behind the living room lays a tiny kitchen with fairy lights strung around its ceiling.

“You wanna see your new dominion?” Evie suggests.

“Yes, please!”

“Come on then!” The hardwood floor creaks beneath her excited skips as she yanks me to the last room at the end of the small hallway.She opens the door for me to see inside and says, “It’s pretty bland right now. Theo never really decorated much when he stayed here, but hopefully, you can change that.”

Theo?

“Think of it as a blank canvas for you to play with. Go crazy. Make it your own. Hell, install a stripper pole if you want!”

I giggle, “I’ll consider it.”

“As you should. We could use a little bit of entertainment around here.”

I let myself carefully look over the room, quietly appreciating my new living space despite its small size.

There’s absolutely no room for a stripper pole.

It really is an empty canvas, though—so opposite from the rest of the house. Light beige walls, a full-size bed, and a bedside table are all that exist in the room, aside from two framed, vintage photographs hanging above the bed. One picture features tattered and worn piano keys, while the other captures the beauty of the London skyline. My fingers lightly trail along the photos’ dark, wooden frames, and my mind wonders if these images might have belonged to the guy who stayed here before me.

The sound of luggage dropping to the floor startles my attention away from the images.

“You hungry?” Harvey asks, standing in the doorway. “Evie, Theo, and I were just about to head out and grab something to eat. Want to tag along?”

“Yeah, sure. Some food sounds amazing, actually. I’m starving.”

“I bet you are. You’ve had a long day today.”

“But would it be okay for me to shower real quick?”

“Yes, you can wash your stank arse up before dinner. I insist,” Evie chastises.

“Ignore her,” Harvey chuckles, rolling his eyes as he gives her a reprimanding shove out of the room. “It’s what I have to do about 99% of the time.”

“Oh, fuck off, Harv,” she laughs, skipping off down the hall.

“Loo and shower are right outside of your room, here. Take your time. We’ll leave whenever you’re ready,” he says, leaving with a smile.

Once Harvey and Evie’s footsteps disappear, I let myself fall back against my bed and stare off into the ceiling above me. I still can’t believe all of this is happening to me—can’t believe that after all these years of dreaming, I’ve finally made it to London.

Really, actually, and truly made it.

I could so easily allow the soft give of this mattress to lull me to sleep right now, but my heart cries to see more of this great, big city. So, I hitch myself up off the bed and head to my suitcases. I ruffle through them quickly, loading my arms with clothes, a towel, and my toiletries bag.

As I approach the bathroom, the door swings open without warning. An abrupt force—tall and hard—slams into me, knocking the breath out of me. I fall back onto the floor, along with all of my things. A set of piercing gray-blue eyes lock with mine as I glance up, and my heart starts beating dangerously in my chest.

Man .

This is definitely a man in front of me.

I’m sure of that much as I take notice of the prominent ridges of his large shoulders and the tall, brawny build of his body. His dark blonde hair is tousled and styled messily on the top of his head, and there’s a light stubble against his defined jawline. The forest green shade of his t-shirt reminds me of the pine trees back home, and I try not to linger on how nicely it fits over his broad torso—or the size of his brown leather ankle boots and how well they complement the dark wash of his jeans.

Black tattoos snake up and down the length of both of his arms and as my eyes follow their inky trails, I attempt not to let the sudden tug of intimidation radiating off of him take hold of me.

“You okay?” he checks, offering out his hand.

I force myself to snap out of my thoughts and reach out to take it, but I can barely see anything other than the silhouette of his massive body as it crouches in front of me. My arm accidentally catches the strap of the cross-body bag slung against his shoulder, pulling it, along with all its contents, onto the floor.

Piles of music sheets spill all around me.

“Dammit,” he curses, dropping to his knees.

I scramble off the floor quickly and try to help him clean up the mess we’ve made—technically, I made—but one of the papers slips between my fingertips, its thin edge searing my skin.

“Ow,” I hiss .

The page drops back down against the floor as a trickle of blood drops from my finger. I watch with horror as it lands on the paper and seeps into it.

No.

No. No. No.

He abruptly yanks the music sheet from my vicinity. “Are you kidding me?”

“I’m so sorry.”

With my other, unscathed hand, I attempt to help him pick up the mess once more, but he’s not having it one bit. “Could you, please, just fucking stop?”

The blunt request is like a wound to my chest, shocking me and leaving me completely speechless.

I was trying to help…

But I do as he so rudely requests and fucking stop . I gather all of my things before standing, forcing my trembling hands still before I attempt to apologize again. “Look, I really am sorry. I wasn’t paying attention when I came out of the bedroom and—”

“Obviously,” he interrupts, rising off the floor.

“You don’t have to be an ass. I said I was sorry. I didn’t mean to spill your shit.”

“Shit?” he scoffs.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

He looks me up and down, his eyes leaving a trail of scorching heat along my body. “Who the hell even are you?”

“Oh, now you want to exchange introductions?” I narrow my eyes at him, crossing my arms along my chest as my remorse transitions into disbelief at his crassness. “I’m Eleanor, you dick. The new roommate.”

He rolls his eyes. “Of course you are. My name’s pronounced Theo , by the way. Not dick.”

“You know, you think you’d play a little nicer to your friends’ new guest?”

“You mean the one who spilled my music and bled all over it… and then proceeded to refer to it as shit? ”

“I was trying to help.”

“Well, Nora—”

“Eleanor. Ellie,” I clarify. “Not Nora .”

“Well, Nora, ” he says again, not giving a shit about my preferences. “You didn’t help. In fact, you made it worse. So if you plan on being around more often, you should probably start being more considerate of the shit that’s around you.”

“Aww , that’s nice advice,” I scorn. “It was an accident. Maybe you could try being more considerate to the people around you.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “You first.”

I meet his gaze firmly. “You know, I would love to sit here and argue with you all night, but honestly, that sounds really fucking boring. Excuse me,” I say, shoving past him. “Theo.”

I’m not entirely sure, but out of the corner of my eye, I swear I see him flinch as his name rolls off my tongue.

“Have a great fucking shower.”

“Oh, I will,” I assure him, rolling my eyes.

I go to shut the bathroom door but freeze as I notice something pink and cylinder dangling between Theo’s fingertips.

“Wouldn’t want you to bleed out on anything else, would we?”

He flings the clean— thank God, never used —menstrual cup my way before I can even conjure an appropriate response.

I catch it before it hits the floor and slam the bathroom door, falling back against it as I fight to get a grip on my fleeting dignity. There’s a pulse in my ears and a tremble in my fingers as I soak in everything that just happened.

I throw a towel up against my face and scream into it, releasing all the tension and frustration of the day— of that interaction. When I’m sure I’ve gotten the majority of it out, I go to inspect myself in the mirror.

I look like a hot freaking mess.

My cheeks and nose are a flaming red. Dark circles have formed beneath my blue eyes, making it look like I haven’t slept in days, and my golden-brown hair is a bundle of knots on the top of my head.I try to brush my fingers through the tangles and distract myself from the thought of that guy’s fingers on my damn menstrual cup, but it’s no use.

That memory is going to haunt me for the rest of the night.

I force myself to breathe, strip myself of my clothes, and step into the shower. I turn on the faucet and let the water get as hot as possible. I need something to help relax my tense shoulders, but as I wait for a thick billow of steam to form around me, Theo’s voice replays in my head, and I find every muscle fiber inside me tightening more.

Who the hell does he think he is calling me Nora like that? I’d love to see how his ass would react to me calling him a name he didn’t go by. Judging by his behavior just now, I’m sure the little hothead would probably throw a hissy fit.

I’d love to see it, too.

And you know what... Teddy does have a nice ring to it .