Chapter 12

Bailey was just about to sit beside me when her cell phone rang. The ringtone sounded all the way from her room, and she quickly jogged to get it. It was quite interesting to see her body move when she wore so little.... 

As if she wanted me to hear the conversation, she picked up the phone when she was right by me again. 

She didn't even bother looking at the caller ID, and just picked it up. "Hey, this is Bailey.... Oh, hey Trish...." 

This whole time I was staring at her, but my eyes popped out of my head when I heard her say 'Trish'. I mouthed 'Bailey' in an agitated voice, meaning, 'Bailey, shut the phone right the fuck now!' Then something crossed my mind: oh llama, now she knows where I am. But stupid Bailey wasn't even looking at me, she just continued to talk, "yeah, actually he is living with me." With that, I put my head on the table. I tried to relax my features, but they were stuck in the permanent frown that creeps onto my face when I’m upset and stressed. 

It was then that Bailey finally saw my face. "Oh, I gotta go... I'm sorry, I don't want to be a part of this!" 

Finally, she closed her phone. But the damage had already been done. 

Bailey just looked at me, her expression unreadable. 

"What the hell was that?!" 

"I know, I'm sorry, TJ..." She sounded sad now, and her neutral expression turned to a guilty one. 

"Now what am I going to do?" 

"I don't know, we kinda gotta get out of here... she wants to come here, wants you home... wants answers to whatever your guy's deal was...." 

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no...." 

"It can't be that big of a deal, TJ. You should just work it out with her." 

"No Bailey, you don't understand, after running away like I did... she would always expect that the answer to why I left wasn't what it really was...." 

She raised an eyebrow. "I guess. If you were a girl, I'd be calling you a drama queen right now." 

I still frowned. Oh, if only I were just being dramatic. 

"Wait, so how did she think just now to call you?" 

"She said she found your house keys laying around somewhere." 

I tried to hide my shock. Great, in my rush to hurry along I forgot my damn keys! "But how would she know to call you? That has nothing to do with the keys." 

"Well, I am your girlfriend, I don't think it would be too hard to guess... And, maybe that just made her think to call or something? I don't know." 

And then, she got up and I did too. She put her hand on my arm and rubbed it up and down. 

"Well, how about we look up a new place for you to hang out at until you're comfortable with figuring this out with your sister? But first, we should get dressed." 

"A new place to hang out at?" I wasn't quite getting what she meant. 

"Yes, like move in at?" 

I gave her a worried look, and my stomach dropped. "You're kicking me out." 

"Of course not! You just can't stay here anymore, unless you want Trish to find you?" 

"True, I suppose..." I became extremely uneasy. Who's house could I live at? Family wasn't an option since they would demand answers since Trish would've said something by now, and Gabe and Louis live with their girlfriends... I can't barge in on their households. It's tempting, but I can't imagine waking up in the middle of the night to hear certain sounds. Just... no. 

"Alright, clothes first, then computer," Bailey said. 

After we got our clothes on, Bailey booted up the computer, which went pretty smoothly. Considering her house was only average, the computer was anything but a dinosaur. 

"So... what are you going to be looking up, Bailey?" 

"I'm looking up something around the lines of 'Longview resident room mate'. So, someone living here that wants a room mate." 

I swallowed. “Okay then.” 

After looking through countless options, I still hadn’t found a place that was right for me. 

One house was the residence of an old man who wanted a room mate, free of charge. Of course, we clicked on that one. But the only reason why he wasn't charging was because he wanted pretty much a non-licensed nurse: an adult baby sitter. I felt bad of course, but... that job wasn’t for me. I have a real job. 

Another one looked promising based on the rate (only fifty simoleons a night!), but the house looked so run down... just, no thank you! 

"Bailey, this isn't working..." 

"I know." She started biting her lip, thinking. "Hey - I may have a better idea." 

She stood up and took her cell phone out of her pocket. 

"What are you doing? I mean... who are you calling?" 

She put her finger up. "I just want to see if this works first..." 

"What?" But she was already talking. "Yes, hello Ms. June... no, we're still on for tomorrow... look, I have this proposition for you, take it or leave it. TJ needs a place to stay... well, he does design houses... oh wow, that's great! We'll be there later... oh, alright, four is fine... Good bye!" 

As she closed the phone, I stared at her like, 'what the hell did you just do?' 

"So, I have a place you can stay..." 

"Where?! Why wouldn't you tell me first?" 

"Because there was a high possibility that she would say no... but, she said yes!" 

"Who is she?" 

"Well, she is one of my clients. I go there five days a week. Alicia June. Ring any bells?" 

It did, actually. She is a hot new you tube star. She sings and plays guitar. I've only seen a few of her videos before, but they're pretty good. 

"Yes... so how much will she make me pay?" 

She grinned widely. "None!" 

"None?!" 

"Yup. You just have to makeover her room and family room." 

I smiled. Well, that is something I can do. That would mean I'm pretty much making over a minor celeb's house! 

"Well, we might as well start getting your things in my car." 

So then we went on the porch and gathered all of my boxes. I was surprised that she still hadn't asked me about when I was able to get them, surely she didn't actually think I snuck out in the middle of the night to get everything... I was glad that she didn't say anything though. I'm surprised that she doesn't suspect that I did something criminal. It's not like I'm her sister and stole her boyfriend - and I'm not gay... 

And, the keys... Did she just think that I had left them in the house a while ago, not that she just found them since I just lost them? She had to... I'm so lucky she hasn't questioned me on all this, not really. 

The boxes barely fit in the car. It's funny, because I didn't really remember that part of my journey that clearly, but now that I was alert and wide(ish) awake it seemed like a tight fit. 

After we finished packing everything up, Bailey suggested we go to the beach since it wasn't four o' clock yet, and we didn't want to risk Trish coming over... 

She took us to this beach slightly out of town where no one should see us and where Trish probably wouldn't be (or my family for that matter). 

We took a beach ball and were throwing it around for a while. 

Bailey started giggling when she threw it first. "What?" 

"Oh, it's just we're throwing a beach ball." 

"Yeah... your point?" 

"Well, we're twenty four years old...." 

"True, but who cares. You see anyone around? This is amusing." 

"Nope. But you're right, it is amusing..." 

For a while, we threw it to each other and my thoughts slipped away from moving out of Bailey's house and going to Alicia June's, I just watched the ball. It was a good thing it was a beautiful still day, or the ball would've gone in the water by now. Beach balls don't do well with wind. 

After a while of throwing it, Bailey threw it by our stuff, encompassing it in a towel to ensure it wouldn't blow away (even though the winds were minimal, if there even was a wind). 

"Hey, let's go swimming." She started speed walking and when she got to where I was, she started running. 

But when I noticed the rock, and the spot, I stopped cold. 

When she noticed I wasn't following her into the water, she asked, "what's the matter?" 

"Oh, nothing. I shook my head." I was staring at the boulders - the land mark, the place I went to, where the note led me. Where I first saw Brianna... the day I changed my life. My life really did change. No longer do I make heads turn for the worse in the streets, I'm a new man.... 

"Hey, yoo hoo, TJ!" 

I looked at her out of my daze. "Come on!" she yelled. 

I ran into the water with her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

After swimming, Bailey brought us back to her house, but only for a little bit. I couldn't stay there long because Trish may come to get me at any minute... Still, I had to take my shower. Being presentable was crucial, I was going to go to Alicia June's house and to live with her, she could turn me down if I didn't look quite right! Well, what I mean is... oh, forget it. 

I turned my attention back to my shower and put my face in front of the stream of water, sucking in the heat. 

Then we got into Bailey’s car and she pulled out of the driveway. We were off. 

It was the longest half hour of my life! We barely spoke at all. My palms were starting to become sweaty. What if she didn't like me and turned me down? Where would I turn to then? What is she like, really? Is she a good-ish person? How will this work out... what if I don't know what to say? What if, what if, what if. I continued to play the what if game with myself, gearing for the worst until we made it to her house. 

When we arrived to her house, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped. No. Joke! Her house was huge, and there was a giant gate in front of it. I was pretty sure that by her attire and what not from what I've seen of her on you tube, she was well off, but I never thought she was this much! 

When I dumbly tried to press against the gate and it wouldn't budge, I said, "um, what the heck?" 

She pressed a button on its side. A voice came through a speaker. "Yes, who is this?" 

"This is Bailey Ameile. I planned to see Ms. June right now." 

Then a loud buzzing noise came from the speaker. "You may come in." 

And then when Bailey pushed on the gate it opened. I was surprised that a place would even need to be fenced in like this... who was Alicia June to be so important like this, anyway? 

"Um... Bailey?" I said as we took the long stroll to the door. "Yes TJ?" 

"Why does she have such a big house?" 

"I'll let her tell you herself." 

I swallowed hard. Great. 

Just as we arrived at the door (just), an older man in his fifties with bright red hair came out to greet us. 

"Hello Ms. Ameile. And you sir, I don't believe we've met. I'm James Ooople." 

Bailey spoke for me, "this is TJ, he's going to be living here." 

"Ah, well, that's great. Welcome to the household then." I nodded. The way he said it was quite humorous, because he didn't find it odd that some person that he's never seen of or heard of from Alicia was going to be living with him! 

When he took us inside, we had to wait for about five minutes for Alicia to come. James said that she was still primping... and gosh darn it was she taking her sweet time! We all just stood there awkwardly saying nothing. We were constantly fidgeting, until she started coming with her cat. She looked at me as she walked. 

She looked even more elegant in person. 

She laughed like she's known me my whole life, "well, if it isn't the famous TJ Evans!" 

I started to laugh, cause what she said was so ironic! If anything she's the famous one. 

"I'm no where near famous." Oh llama, I thought to myself, I've already made a bad first impression since I didn't agree with her! 

"Nonsense! My friends have had many great things to say about you!" 

I smiled. Word of mouth advertisement, the best there is. 

And then, she finally noticed Bailey, she had ignored her from the second she walked in. "Oh, hi Bailey. Is there anything you need?" Bailey just looked at her. "Um... no, I'm good." She waved goodbye. "Call me tomorrow, okay?" she whispered, then left. 

Great. Now I was all alone.