Page 11 of Archer
“Maybe she actually has a brain,” Crow said, sitting with his back slightly turned to the table, as if only half-engaged. Surprised that he seemed to have some input to add, I turned my head to show I was listening. “If she believed you didn’t have any other motive, she’d be an idiot. What the fuck did you expect?”
“Well, at least a thank you would be nice, yeesh,” I said, sipping my beer before scrunching my nose and grabbing the coffee. “Since she’s walked through the door, she’s been…mean.”
All the guys burst out laughing, with Ripper saying, “Poor Archer got his feelings hurt.”
“No, it’s not—it’s.” I took a deep breath to regroup my thoughts. “I’ve just never seen this side of her. She’s always been so… sweet.”
“Well, looks like you’ll be bending over backward for this one, Arch,” Wrench said, and I shook my head.
“Nah,” I said. “Fuck that, it’s not worth it. Ripper, wanna pick up some chicks tonight?”
“And where are you gonna bring them home?” Crow asked. “Back to your place so you can explain why you’ve got some pretty little angry baker running around?”
“Oh, fuck…” I slumped deep into my seat, lifeless, the realization holding the weight of the world on my shoulders. “I didn’t even think of that… Goddammit!”
All the guys burst out laughing again until Wrench asked. “Can’t you just go to their place?”
“Yeah, but what if they have roommates, or a husband or something? What if I waste all my time and money on some chick just to find out she doesn’t have a place of her own?” I tossed my face in my hands, before pulling them down, stretching my skin. “What have I done?”
Once again, they laughed.
“Fuck this,” I said before scarfing back the remaining half of my pancakes and sipped the coffee, ignoring the beer. Without saying anything else, I pressed my palms to the table to propel myself from the table.
“Where are you going?” Ripper called as I turned my back to them, heading to the door.
“I don’t know,” I said, but I knew where I was going. I was going home to earn Rose’s trust. Even if she didn’t want to sleep with me, maybe we could make an arrangement where she stayed hidden whenever I brought company over for the night. All I knew was I made a huge mistake, by impulsively offering to let Rose live with me, and I had to try to fix it.
When the elevator opened up on my floor and I walked down the hallway, I prayed things would go better this time. Opening my door, I was surprised to see her unflinching with her back toward me. I was about to make my presence known by shutting the door until I noticed her fingers trailing along my leather jacket hanging on the back of my green armchair that matched nothing else in the room.
My breath hung in my throat as I watched her nails graze the green and yellow patch with the orange flame stitched in the center. A smirk grew on my lips. Every girl loved a bad boy. Feeling confident, I decided to greet her by saying, “I bet it’d look even better on you than me.”
Halfway through the sentence she gasped and spun around with a wild, furious look in her icy eyes.
Oh fuck, I thought.What now?
Chapter Six
Rose
I was sipping the coffee, deciding to make this food last all day so I wouldn’t need to leave the bedroom, when I heard the front door open and close. Clamping my mouth shut to stop my breathing, I listened for any stirring in the apartment. After almost thirty straight seconds of holding my breath and not hearing a sound, I exhaled. Still too nervous to go out to inspect, I took another sip of the coffee, noticing the notes of hazelnut in the blend.
“Makes okay coffee…” I muttered to myself before enjoying another sip. Grabbing the spoon, I spooned out a chunk of the grapefruit and was pleasantly surprised by the sweetness mixed with the sour. “Huh.” He must have put some sugar on it. An interesting detail, I thought to myself, but didn’t dwell on it too long. Instead, I savored every ounce of the citrus fruit.
After eating my eggs and saving three quarters of the toast and all the bacon for later, I listened again for another sound. None came and I decided to brave the apartment.
The apartment was still. Quickly, I rushed to the front door and checked the ragged dirty mat on the floor. When I noticed the shoes that sat next to mine the night before were gone, I sighed in relief. “Thank god.”
Immediately, I ran to the refrigerator, searching for food like a scavenger. He said I could help myself and I wasstarving. After my stunt this morning, escaping into my room, who knows what he’d do. Maybe he’d limit my food intake or something more sociopathic. Regardless, I had to make these brief moments of solitude count.
There was a surprising variety of food in the fridge. Leafy green spinach, red cherry tomatoes, portobello mushrooms, and orange bell peppers sat in one of the clear crisper drawers at the bottom. Inside the translucent drawer next to the vegetables were Granny Smith apples, sliced pink watermelon with the black seeds still intact, bright yellow lemons, and grapefruit. Above the drawers were eggs removed from the carton and individually placed in an egg holder, a block of cheddar cheese and a wedge of havarti, a carton of skim milk, and prepared meals labeled with days of the week.
The organized and healthy selection caught me off guard. I was expecting hot dogs and bologna, maybe some expired milk and moldy leftovers, but his fridge looked healthier than mine and my dad’s. Pleasantly surprised, I moved to the pantry to find equally stocked and organized shelves. On the shelves were different shaped pastas, whole grain rice, baking supplies, boxes of crackers, cereals, and granola bars, and more delights that made my stomach grumble.
Deciding on the cereal, because it was difficult to track if any went missing, I poured myself a heaping bowl of Cheerios and splashed a little milk into it. I ensured that when I took a seat at the breakfast island, I was facing the door. As soon as I sat down, I devoured the bowl of cereal, then poured another. Quickly, that one disappeared, and I slurped back the remaining sweetened milk until the bowl was dry.
Not wasting time, I hopped off my seat to wash and dry the dishes before placing them back where I found them. Then, I found a plastic bag in one of the drawers near the stove and filled it with crackers, grabbed a couple granola bars, then scurried back to my room to hide them under my pillow.
Before leaving the bedroom again, I glanced at my phone to see if my dad had called me with any news.
