I stood at the top of the steps for fifteen minutes hoping Riley forgot something in Aiden's room or decided she wasn't leaving after all. It's not like it would have mattered if she did or not; my fate would still be the same either way. I would still be obsessively thinking about how her hands would feel touching me and unable to do anything about it.

Just when I was about to give up, there was a noise down in the living room. Footsteps started heading in the direction of the stairs. I leaned back against the wall, trying to look like I wasn't standing there like an idiot waiting for her.

"Shit!" Aiden jumped in the air when he saw me at the top of the stairs. "You need to start wearing a bell or something. "

"Or you should just pay more attention to where you're walking." I snapped.

"Sorry, I wasn't expecting the not-so-jolly green giant to be lurking upstairs in a dark hallway by himself. What are you doing anyway?" Aiden gave me a suspicious look like l didn't belong here.

It was somewhat true; I didn't hang outside my room very much when I was home. If I wasn't in there, I was usually in the basement with a guitar in my hands. I wasn't much of a "surround myself with people person" unless I was using. I was always in my own head too much when I was sober to really enjoy anything.

I stayed glued to the spot I was standing, not knowing what to say to him as he stared at me.

To say it was an awkward exchange between the two of us was a massive understatement.

"Where's Riley?" Aiden asked, immediately forgetting about the weirdness. He leaned past me to look for her in his room. His head jerked in the opposite direction to look towards my room too.

If only I were so lucky to have her in there right now. I'm not sure what I would have done if she was in there. She would probably just be sitting on my bed fidgeting while I stared at her some more.

"She said she had to go to work and then ran off." I shrugged at him.

"Oh, ok. Seriously, what are you doing standing in the hall alone?" He eyed me like he knew I was waiting to see if she would come back. It was probably just my paranoia.

"I heard your ugly ass coming up and I wanted to talk to you about the first verse of the song we were working on last night." It wasn't a complete lie. Aiden and I had been working on a few songs together and the one we were writing wasn't half bad. Aiden had an ear for creating a hook in the lyrics and harmonies that I could latch onto and create some complex melodies from. I actually did some of my best writing with Aiden around.

"I just got up. Do you ever think about anything other than music?" Aiden grumbled, rubbing the corner of his eyes.

Drugs, pussy, and music. That was about it. In fact, I thought about those three things quite often. My idea of heaven included all three at the same time.

He shook his head and walked around me when I didn't answer him quickly enough. I turned and started to follow behind him into his room. When I stepped inside, my foot landed right on a pair of his dirty boxers in the middle of the floor. I gagged as I shook it off my foot. Aiden was such a fucking slob.

"Do you need something?"Aiden asked.

"What's the deal with you and JD's sister?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

"What do you mean?" He answered in a strained voice. He rubbed at the reddish five o'clock shadow he was starting to sport on his chin. He was hiding something that he didn't want me to find out.

"You two were all over each other last night. How long have you been fucking her?" I asked, placing my hand on his dresser. It slid across the four-inch thick layer of dust growing on the top of it. I picked up my hand and looked for something to wipe it with when my eyes landed on the boxers again.

Nope, just going to go wash my hand when I was done interrogating him about the little wild thing I couldn't get my mind off of this morning.

"Riley and I aren't sleeping together. She's JD's sister. He would murder me in my sleep if I touched her." Aiden looked offended that I would even ask.

"So you are saying the only reason you haven't is because you're scared of what JD would do?" I cocked my head at him and he turned a dark shade of fuchsia.

"No, I did not say that." He defended himself.

"You don't think she's hot then?" I pushed.

"I...uh... wait, why do you care?" Aiden found his balls again.

"I don't." I bit back.

"Then drop it," Aiden said harshly. He was getting way too bent out of shape over a girl he wasn't sleeping with.

"You don't have to lie to me about it. I won't tell JD." I tried one more time.

"I can't believe we are still even talking about this."

Aiden was about to lose it. A few more nudges and he was going to crack.

"What are we talking about?" JD's voice rang in behind me.

"Nothing, Ezra has just lost his damn mind this morning," Aiden shouted out before I could say anything.

I guess that meant Aiden and I were done with our conversation. There would be no way Aiden would talk to me about his infatuation with Riley in front of JD.

"Yeah, so? What else is new?" JD cackled.

Everyone in this house was a fucking comedian. It was about time I started looking for new roommates. These guys were starting to get on my last nerve. It didn't take much to set me off. I wasn't born with a lot of patience.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready for work?" I asked JD.

"Yeah, you should too." He yawned and stretched.

He was one to talk. JD was always late to work. We both were going to be late if we didn't leave the house soon.

JD made the schedule each week and had started scheduling me on the same days he worked. He told me it was to make getting everyone together for band practice easier. I think it had more to do with the reputation I had gained around the store.

My coworkers were starting to call me difficult to work with.

It all started about three weeks ago when the new assistant manager tried to file a complaint against me to get me fired. She had been throwing hints around that she was interested in me since the first day I worked with her. She came on to me late one night while it was just the two of us doing the weekly inventory. I turned her down and she wasn't happy about it.

During the next shift that we worked together, she asked me to set up the monthly display for featured artists. The company had decided on Jazz for its theme for the month. She kept standing behind me, criticizing the work I was doing. She forced me to redo it over and over again. After I finished the display for the fifth time, she told me I was still missing something. She grabbed a box of CDs from one of the top twenty pop princesses and told me to add it. I laughed at her and she didn't appreciate it. She began laying into me like a complete bitch. By the time I had realized what I had done, I had already told her to fuck off and shave her beard. She called JD to tattle on me and the rest was history.

I was put on probation and stuck working with JD's lazy ass every day because I still didn't know how to keep my mouth shut.

"Come on, Ezra. Go get your uniform on. The truck comes today with the new stuff and the store is not going to open itself." JD smacked my back condescendingly.

"You have the keys. Can't do anything until you get there." I grumbled. I had already learned my lesson with him. I never left the house for work anymore until I knew he was gone. He would find a way to leave thirty minutes before I did and I would still always find a way to beat him there.

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting. Well, I guess I better get moving then." He laughed and disappeared down the hall.

I turned around and sighed as I began to follow him.

"Hey Ezra, what did you want to tell me about the song?" Aiden called behind me.

"Oh...." I had forgotten that I had even used that as my excuse to talk to him. I had to come up with something quick. "You were flat for the whole first verse last night."

He wasn't even close to flat, but I didn't have anything else that I could think of to say to him.

"No, I wasn't. I'm never flat." Aiden argued.

"You were. Trust me." I smirked as he mumbled under his breath behind me.