To note: there’s some bdsm elements and a little bit of a fetish scene towards the end that I felt advances the plot and I’m hoping those not into it, can appreciate that.
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A recently single man has a new roommate. She’s got a girlfriend so it’s not going to be a problem, right?
—
I’d had a few break ups and undoubtedly, some stung for longer than others. During my University days, I hadn’t managed to hold down a relationship — not from a lack of trying but mostly from unlucky circumstance. In my first year, I got into a relationship with a girl in her final year and while we were solid for a few months, as her graduation approached and she got a job in another city, we knew that would be the end of it. In my second year, I walked into the kitchen at a house party to find my girlfriend tongue-wrestling with a guy she might have just met. It was her house so I couldn’t even throw them out, as much as I’d have wanted to. I’d dated a bit after that but became a lot more guarded about relationships and probably over-thought it all.
It was towards the end of my final year when a few of my friends and I decided we need to take a night-off from relentless studying and just have some fun. We went to a bar in town and having felt like circumstance was always going against me, I had no complaints when I literally ran into Jen that night. Looking back, I never understood why I decided to break into a light jog to catch up with the waiter who had brought the wrong burger over. It was a busy bar and running into someone was almost inevitable. I knew immediately that Jen was full of class — styling out the wine stains on her white shirt while proceeding to put me and my panicked state at ease, she was funny and pretty too. She said afterwards that she instantly knew we’d get on and it felt natural to move away from her friends and spend the rest of the night talking to me. Sometimes you know.
Breaking up with Jen was tough. She was a few years older than me and had got further along in her career than I had. She worked in policy (I still don’t know what she actually did…) and she was aching to travel for work and all of the experiences that come with it. I was working as a project manager in a large technology company and was making good progress but I wasn’t established. I worried if I left too soon it would be a huge mistake, having yet to deliver any high-value, career-making projects.
The tension began to eat into our relationship, our sex life and our happiness. Jen was extremely open and adventurous with sex. She was naturally quite submissive with a high sex drive and it would never take too long for her to get me in the mood and for us to have incredible sex. She loved to tease, often walking into the living room in lingerie or sending me a picture of her laying naked on our bed, ready for me to taste her sweet pussy. Sometimes she’d just drop to her knees without a word said, take my cock out and suck it until I came in her mouth. Eventually the sex started to drop away and we both realised we wanted different things. The choice was to either double-down and buy a house together or call it quits. I made the call and I think she was grateful as it gave her the push she needed to work abroad, as she always wanted.
It left me with a need for a new roommate as Jen and I had rented our place a couple of years ago and she wanted off the lease. I quickly realised going out to advert as a single, 25 year old man meant my roommate options were mostly limited to the kind of man-children I’d successfully shrugged off early on at University. Not good. A friend at work was working on our website upgrade and heard the PR Officer complaining about her lease expiring at short notice. He put me in touch with her after chatting to her and vouching for my character. I didn’t know what to expect, I’d dealt with some of the PR & Comms people for some of my projects and found them to be a mixed bag. So it was with some hesitation that I went down to the on-site coffee shop to meet her.
When I arrived, I found a smartly dressed woman sipping her coffee and recognised the PR look. “Maddy?” I asked. The woman looked up, confused. Before she could speak I felt a tap on my shoulder and my attention was drawn to the tall, slim blonde who had followed me in and was now laughing sympathetically at me. I introduced myself and offered to buy her a coffee, apologising to the smartly dressed woman as I did so.
I joined the queue and was aware of Maddy watching me. No doubt assessing whether she could live with me. I hoped I wasn’t too alarming to look at. We were about the same height — she may even have had an inch or two on me and my 5’10 stature, despite the fact that II had been neglecting my haircut needs. Ordinarily it was short and brown, matching my eyes and my stubble but I was clearly feeling the breakup more than I’d admit as beyond work and home, I hadn’t been doing much.
While our coffees were being prepared I looked over at Maddy and saw her pulling out a notebook. Maddy had her blonde hair slung over one shoulder, wearing a casual shirt and faded & ripped designer jeans. With her freckles, tan and trendy fashion sense, she could certainly turn a few heads. I felt reasonably confident I wouldn’t face that issue. There just didn’t seem to be that immediate attraction I always experienced when I met someone I knew i’d fancy. Sure, she was pretty and different and maybe even cool — but it just wasn’t there for me. So maybe it could work.
Taking the coffees, I walked over and received a warm “Thanks Adam!”. I detected a hint of an accent so I began to suspect her tan was more natural than cosmetic. As expected, she really did interview me. She wanted to know about my interests as well as my lifestyle habits — did I party? How about smoking? I thought I passed her tests and quickly thought of some questions to ask her too. Did she party, for instance? Was she expecting to have a load of friends over all the time? It seemed like her life was pretty calm, she spent a lot of time in the gym before or after work and saw her girlfriend a few times a week. She’d only just moved back to the UK after growing up here and needed to recreate a social circle. We were around the same age so that helped too. Maddy thought I’d get on with Jess and I took that as a good sign that my roommate search would be over soon.
***
Maddy moved in a couple of weeks later. I rented a van to help her do so and met Jess for the first time. She was the total opposite to Maddy, aside from height. She was tall and well-built and I wasn’t surprised to hear they met in the gym. Jess was really funny and Maddy wasn’t wrong about us getting on, which was a huge relief. I could see why Maddy liked her though, Jess was far from ugly and she’d found a look with her short hair and slightly less feminine clothes that really worked for her. I found out on the drive over that the relationship was fairly new which explained why Maddy was moving in with me, though I did wonder how long she’d be expecting to be on the lease for. Perhaps they’d move in together eventually or perhaps circumstance would get in their way too.
Jess hung out for a couple of hours and then felt she should leave so Maddy & I could get to know eachother a little more. I went to get a couple more beers at Maddy’s request and walked back from the kitchen to find Jess locked in an embrace with Maddy that seemed to be quite intense. Maddy said goodbye and walked back into the living room rather breathless.
I said, “If that’s how she says goodbye for an evening, I hope you haven’t got any holidays planned without her!”
Maddy laughed but I saw some shyness there. “I like it,” she said.
Maddy busied herself drinking some beer and we discussed what takeaway to get, eventually settling on pizza. It was a good first evening together and I suspected things would only get better as we settled into our routine. Later that night I went to bed and heard her using the bathroom for a while before settling down too. I thought about watching some porn (like Jen I also had a high sex drive) but decided against it, given it was my first night with Maddy in the house.
The following day I went with Maddy to set her up at my local gym. She mentioned that Jess had jokingly warned her off talking to the women in this gym. I laughed with her but silently raised a red flag in my mind. The girl needed friends! A gym was a good a place as any to find some. We worked out together and I was pleased to find I hadn’t lost as much fitness as I’d expected.
I was in the free weight section doing some bicep curls with half an eye on Maddy who was working hard on the rowing machine. I could see the definition in her arms and her abs. I heard a whispered, “Dayum, that girl is fitty fit fit!” I looked over and saw a couple of the more bulked up men eyeing her hungrily.
“You’re not her type,” I said evenly. They looked over and I added “I’m her roommate.” They nodded, a little embarrassed and dropped any intention to go over. I’d seen them psyche eachother up before when other new women would join the gym and knew what would have been coming.
Maddy & I finished up in the gym and went for a light lunch. I didn’t mention the ‘fitty fit’ incident; she didn’t need to hear that. I was heading out later in the evening to meet a few friends and asked it she’d like to join but she declined citing it being a Sunday.
As we worked through our lunch, she asked, “So, no girlfriend or boyfriend?”
I shook my head and told her about my recent breakup with Jen. It was the first time I’d spoken about it in great detail. I’d told friends various versions of ‘it just wasn’t working out’ but Maddy had an easy way about her that led to me breaking it all down at length. It was therapeutic, whether she meant it to be or not.
She looked down at her food after I’d finished and said with a hint of sadness, “I broke up with someone before I came back here. I found out later that she was looking to propose.”