chapter 3

I woke up to the sound of mumbled voices and a soft grumbling sound coming from the kitchen next door. My alarm clock on the bedside table next to me read that it was only a little passed nine in the morning. I slowly untangled myself from my sheets and stretched myself out of the bed. I was only wearing an overly large dark grey t-shirt, that fell off my shoulders, and underwear to bed, so I quickly put on a pair of black tracksuit pants before leaving my room.

I walked out of the room and was almost blinded by the light coming in from the opened windows and quickly rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, before stepping into the kitchen.

Emmett and Burney were in the kitchen, Burney was at the stove while Emmett was busying himself with plates, mugs and cutlery.

"Good morning," Emmett said. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes, please!" I yawned.

He poured me a cup of coffee and handed it over to me.

"Two sugars?"

"Just how you like it," he responded almost immediately.

"You know, you're the best thing to happen to this world, nay the universe!" I exclaimed as I brought he mug to my lips to take a sip.

"I know," he laughed. "I can't believe you used the word 'nay'."

"Neither can I," I laughed.

"Hey, Ali!" Burney shouted over his shoulder. "Are you okay with a big breakfast this morning? I'm making, eggs, bacon, sausages, mushroom... just the works," he asked. My stomach grumbled in response.

"I will eat anything and everything!"

"I told you," Emmett said.

"I just wanted to confirm," Burney responded, with a shrug of his shoulders. He began flipping something in the pan.

"Did you need any help?" I asked.

"No, I'm all good. My mother's Jewish, so if she ever found out someone was helping me cook, she'd kill me," He said over his shoulder and I laughed. It wasn't until now that I realised, he was wearing a 'kiss the cook' apron. The sizzling of the stove grew louder as he placed bacon onto the stove.

"I'm surprised Zac isn't awake yet," Burney said, but just as he said it, a loud thud came from the back of the house, followed by the sound of running footsteps until Zac appeared in the kitchen.

"I smell bacon," Zac said, his eyes half closed as if he was still half asleep. He wore his white t-shirt and grey sweatpants. His brown hair stood up in all places on his head. God, he was really beautiful. I don't think I've ever classified a guy as beautiful before, but he was.

Emmett and Burney laughed.

"He's like a Rottweiler," Emmett laughed.

"Really? I saw him more as a German Sheppard," Burney added and the two of them laughed.

"Ha ha, very funny!" Zac responded. He walked further into the kitchen and went straight to Burney, cooking at the stove.

"I've got everything, Zac. Eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, even pancakes," Burney listed again, making Zac's face light up.

"I fucking love you, Bernard Gad, like so fucking much!" Zac whined, wiping away fake tears.

"I know, I know!" Burney smiled and swatted Zac in the arm with his spatula when he picked a piece of bacon from the pan.

"Coffee," Emmett stated, handing Zac a mug.

"I fucking love you, Emmett Reid, I love you so fucking much!" he laughed again as he took the mug and took a sip. Emmett only stood there shaking his head with a small smile.

Zac turned to me next, his eyes travelled my body before stopping at my face, making me nervous. His smile from earlier almost disappeared when he looked at me. He noticeably swallowed, and his jaw was bouncing underneath his skin.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said and leaned on the marble island I sat at, leaning on his elbows, with his coffee raised to his mouth. I could feel my face heat up when he called me beautiful.

He smelt really good, like rain and mint mixed with the coffee in the room.

"How did you sleep?" A smile pinched up at one of his sides, revealing a dimple.

"Fine and how about you?" I asked. I tried to keep my tone light.

"Like a log," his smile grew wider. He looked directly into my eyes and it was only then that I realised his eyes were the strangest shade of blue, with grey intertwined. He was honestly the most beautiful guy I had ever seen, and it hurt me to think that he would never be interested in someone like me. I could feel my face and chest getting even hotter with every second passing of our unspoken staring contest, the heat rising from my neck.

"Ali, can you help with the plates please?" Emmett asked, causing me to break our eye contact.

"Of course." I hopped off of the stool and quickly grabbed as many plates and cutlery as I could and brought them to the table, grateful for the distraction.

"Does anyone want juice as well or a top up on coffee?" Emmett asked, bringing out some plates of food.

"Both please!" I said, after setting up the table.

"You can get the juice and I'll do your coffee."

I went to the fridge and got a bottle of orange juice out, but as soon as I closed the door to the fridge, Zac stood in front of me, almost too close.

He coughed in his throat. "I'll take the juice and you can get the cups."

I nodded, and quickly moved away from him to a cabinet I thought had the cups in it and collected four glasses.

"Alright everyone. Dig in," Burney said, finishing up on putting the plates full of food onto the table.

Emmett handed me my coffee and we all took our places at the table and dug in.

I was already on my second plate of food before Burney interrupted me.

"You weren't lying, Emmett," Burney laughed.

"What?" I said with my mouth full, looking between the two boys.

"I told him that you could eat," Emmett said with an apologetic smile.

"Piss off!" I laughed. "I love breakfast food."

"I told him that too," Emmett continued.

"So, Ali, what have you got on for today?" Zac asked, he was also finishing off his second plate.

"I don't know, I may need to get clothes ready for work tomorrow night, but I would like to start looking for a car..." I looked towards Emmett, hinting at something. He laughed.

"I will take you to look for a car and I'll even throw in a little Emmett help!" Emmett said, causing me to giggle.

"Thank you!"

"Have you guys got any plans for today?" I added, swallowing the last of my coffee. I looked between the guys for a response.

"I'm doing whatever you're doing!" Emmett said.

"I have to complete an assignment," Burney added, pouting his bottom lip out.

"I have work at 12," Zac said, sharing a look with Burney and they both pouted together.

"Where do you work?" I turned to Zac.

He looked at the two other boys before answering. "I work at a Pharmacy," he said, a matter of factly. He kept his head down, so his brown hair fell across his forehead.

"How long have you been working there?" I asked, finishing off the last on my plate.

"Two years now I think," he laughed, shrugging his shoulders.

I smiled a tight smile at him. He smiled back at me for a brief second before he looked away.

"So, what is for dinner tonight?" Zac looked between the three of us. "I strongly believe we should get pizza!"

"You're literally the only person that I know who can eat a massive meal, like this, and still wonder what is going to be for the next meals to come," Burney laughed.

"I'm a hungry person," He shrugged.

"Okay, Ali," Emmett said, getting up and collecting the plates. "Start getting ready and then we can head out in an hour to look at some cars, okay?"

"Okay," I responded almost immediately with a grin and after placing my own plate at the sink, I practically ran towards my bedroom.

After putting on a quick application of makeup and choosing loose fitting black balloon pants, a polka dot shirt and converse sneakers on, I was ready to go. I put my hair into a ponytail on the top of my head and quickly looked in the mirror before I left to ensure I looked okay before grabbing my handbag and leaving the room to meet Emmett at the front door.

Emmett and I went to a couple different used car lots nearby, one place in particular only sold monster trucks, which Emmett suggested I wouldn't look too bad driving. After we looked for cars, we ended up going shopping for a little, but we ended up coming home empty handed.

"All I'm saying is that, you have an ass built for a truck," Emmett laughed.

"That is so not funny," I tried to contain a smile, but I broke when he continued to laugh. I sat at the island in the kitchen that I've become so familiar with, while Emmett made us a cup of coffee. "I would look good in a monster truck," I smiled, then grabbed my cup of coffee from Emmett with a smile.

"Are you excited about work tomorrow?" He asked, as he took a seek next to me.

"Surprisingly, yes."

"What time do you start?"

"I start at six."

"And what time do you finish?"

"I finish at two in the morning."

"Just try not to wake me up, okay?"

I laughed. "Only if you make me breakfast in the morning!"

"I think you'll be the one who has to make breakfast for me," he laughed. "Seeing as you're already up."

"Do you want breakfast at three in the morning?" I challenged.

"No," he smiled with his coffee to his mouth.

"Then shut up," I laughed again. I was worried that with me moving in, Emmett and I would become different towards each other, like maybe he would resent me for interfering in his personal life, but from today, I see nothing has changed between our friendship from when we lived next door to now living together.

I finished the last of my drink.

"I need to shower," I said, walking to the sink to wash my cup. "Thank you for taking me today."

"Not a problem," Emmett said, picking up a discarded newspaper left on the bench. "There towels in the first door at the back of the corridor." Emmett pointed down the far corridor to my room.

I walked to my room and gathered my shower supplies and put them into the bathroom that Emmett and I shared before walking down to the corridor to grab a couple towels and went to have a shower.

The shower was large, much larger than what I was used to living back at home. I tipped my hair back under the water and drowned my thoughts.

I washed my hair thoroughly and shaved, planning a to-do-list for work tomorrow and letting all the tension of the move to be washed away. By the time I was done, the sun had set leaving the bathroom settling in a soft light. I used one towel to dry myself off and wrapped it around myself like a strapless dress and used another towel to dry my hair.

I poked my head put of the door.

"Emmett?" I called and after a second later I decided that he wasn't there anymore.

I grabbed one too many towels and decided to put them back into the closet. I padded down the hallway, feeling a couple droplets from my hair fall around me. I saw a faint light at the end of the hallway and realised it wasn't Emmett's room, but the room at the end of the back corridor. I continued walking until I was at Zac's bedroom, his door left half open.

I put the left-over towels in the closet and leaned out to take a peek into the room.

Zac lay in his bed, wearing only grey sweatpants low on his hips, his chest bare. My heart skipped a beat as my eyes ranked over him. He had black beats covering his ears a soft hum came from music playing, his eyes down casted to something in his hand. He was reading a book. He held the book with the back half curled to show only one page, his other hand rested behind his head. The faint light I saw was a bedside lamp and it painted a very nice glow against his caramel skin.

His room was similar to mine, only his bed faced the front of the house, but it was hard to focus on anything else in the room when Zac was there.

I took a step closer, to peer deeper into the room to see what book he was reading, but when I did the floor creaked and Zac's eyes snapped up from his book to inspect the sound, or maybe it was because I was basically halfway through his door now.

He put his book aside and got up from his bed.

I tried to stop my eyes from wandering from his stare, but my eyes quickly dragged his body up and down.

He stopped at his door and raised his hand to put against the door. His eyes quickly dragged down my body that was naked apart from the towel, and my hair was down, soaking my shoulders and the top of the towel. My heart felt as if it was in my throat, it was beating so hard. His eyes ranked up my body and stared into my eyes.

He slammed the door in my face, leaving me breathless.