I say nothing, arms folded over my chest.
“I didn’t put down the ¾ of a lasagna you ate or the food for tonight. Though I should’ve.”
He looks at me for a beat like I’m beneath his feet, and that has the effect of making me angrier.
He heads to his room and comes back with three one hundred dollar bills and drops them on the counter. “There. Fill the place with groceries for both of us. We’ll share.”
I shake my head. “Nnoooo. You’ve used about forty dollars of my groceries. You can simply buy those things on that list.” I point to the list.
“I’ll buy all the groceries. Don’t give a fuck.”
“You’re not hearing me.”
“What’s your problem?” He stalks toward me and my back hits wall. I realize that I’m letting him intimidate me, letting him dominate this situation.
“I have no problem if you stop using my stuff. You’ve been a terrible roommate. If we’re stuck here with one another, establishing some ground rules is necessary. I don’t like to live in a pigsty. It’s not fair of you to expect me to either live with your mess or to clean it up. If I have four bananas and a dozen eggs, I expect to find four bananas and a dozen eggs. Not eleven eggs, certainly not five eggs! If you run out of food and want to use something of mine, ask me.”
“You’re serious?”
“Duh!” I throw my hand up in the air.
He folds his arms across his chest.
“That’s pretty fuckin’ petty.”
How dare he!
“How dare you? Your behavior led to this. I’m a caring, generous person, usually. But, when someone takes advantage of me, I don’t stand for it. I’m not a doormat.”
I’m lying through my teeth. I’ve always just dealt with it. But, not anymore.
I continue. “We’re sharing this apartment, but we’re also colleagues so that also means that you need to respect my personal space, stop making a mess, stop stealing my food, and refrain from calling me baby or peaches or Curly Sue or any other demeaning names.”
“We’re not colleagues. I’m your boss.” His arms are folded across his chest again.
“Oh. Right,” I say snarkily, looking him directly in the eye. ” My mistake.”
“Which means I get to boss you around.” He moves in closer and puts both hands on the wall on either side of my face. He gazes into my eyes. Deep. He moistens those lips and my eyes move to them.
“I’m the boss of you, Carly…”
I look up at him and my mouth goes dry as he skims his bottom lip with those teeth again.
Wait. Hold the fuck up.
“Outside the office? Wrong. Back off.”
He’s so close, I feel the heat of his breath on me.
“Back off. I’m warning you this one last time.”
Mr. Charming melts away and now he’s glaring, with challenge in his eyes. He backs off.
“I’ll buy groceries, peaches. I’m not stingy.” He then mutters barely under his breath, “Not like some…”
My face goes redder.
“I’m actually a very sharing person. When I like people. When people treat me like a human being!”