Lynelle

When she needed to unwind, she watched trashy romance movies. It's dumb, but the happy endings and perfect guys cheered her up in a weird sort of way.

Now though, the guys on the screen didn't quite compare to the group of men who had been living with her for a couple weeks. Plus, it was hard to get into it when Max was sitting next to her on the couch late at night, getting way too involved in the plot and commenting at the TV. Who knew he'd love this stuff so much?

She was in sweatpants and a tank top, sprawled out on the couch. He was dressed similarly, also lounging on the couch. Lynelle was pretending she couldn't see his abs through his shirt.

"Jackass! She clearly wants you, if you'd stop for one second and notice all the hints she's dropping!" he groaned, gesturing at the TV. Lynelle buried her face in her blanket, trying to muffle her laughter. He took an angry swig of the wine she'd poured for them.

"What are you shouting at?" a deep voice behind them asked. Lynelle turned, surprised to see scowling, reclusive Rowan walking to sit on her other side. Weird that he was awake this late. Max turned to him, looking emotionally exhausted from the movie.

"Clueless idiot doesn't know how to tell when a hot chick is into him," he sighed, shaking his head. Rowan nodded thoughtfully, watching the movie for a minute.

"Garbage." He dismissed the movie and opened the book that had been set on the side table at some point earlier. He had a point.

By the climax of the movie, Max was very emotionally invested in their relationship, and Rowan even let out a puff of displeased air when they had their little break-up moment.

By the happy ending, Max and Lynelle were a little tipsy and celebrating, and Rowan actually cracked a small smile for a second.

"Alright," Lynelle said, stretching out her legs so that they went over Max's lap and her head rested on Rowan's lap. Max rested his hands on her ankles. She was kind of drunk and didn't care enough to feel weird about it. She was a cuddler. "That was my movie, which you clearly enjoyed. A lot."

"So to recap, we just finished watching a romcom, which was very angering to Max," she giggled, wiggling her feet in his lap.

He tightened his grip on her ankles, smiling at her. "It's just that some of us know how to tell when a woman is dropping hints, that's all." Suddenly her bare legs over his lap felt very vulnerable. Whoa. Did she have an ankle kink or was it just him?

She grabbed the remote and navigated out of the end credits, ignoring the hot blush coming over her. "Yeah, yeah, you're a big strong man who is great with the ladies. Anyway, we watched Top Gun and Princess and the Frog," she recalled, finishing off another glass of wine.

Rowan silently moved the empty glass out of her hand to the table next to him as she looked over at Max. "Well, I've been cut off. And it's like 2 in the morning, so I think we should put a pin in this," she slurred, turning off the TV.

"Ever been drunk?" Rowan rumbled, staring at her. She shook her head, which was still in his lap, and he pressed his lips together. He gently got out from under her and was gone for a second before returning with a glass of water and Advil. She felt bad for bothering him, he looked annoyed when she shook her head.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Max asked, clearly also drunk. Rowan rolled his eyes and disappeared up the stairs with surprisingly quiet footsteps.

Lynelle and Max stumbled their way up the stairs and to their separate rooms, quietly laughing. She hoped it was quiet, anyway.

After a great shower she got into bed, thinking about how Max had grabbed her legs and smiled at her like that. Of course she wasn't attracted to him or anything... but she was definitely in need of some sexy time. If nothing else, then for her art project that she'd all but forgotten about with the presence of the guys. They were certainly distracting.

Max and her had gotten really close, and he was almost like a brother to her. Except when he... wasn't. Um. Anyway.

Rowan barely ever said anything and she really didn't know him at all but she was pretty sure he didn't like her. He always seemed angry.

Char was also a man of very few words, but he always seemed to be watching her with a pleasant look on his face. Her guess was that he was just observant and preferred to listen rather than talk.

Ethan was really sweet to her and seemed to enjoy cooking her things and getting her the occasional present, along with anything she would want. She was spoiled.

Jackson, she'd learned, was a big flirt but didn't mean anything by it. He could turn anything into an innuendo. She hadn't seen him without a smile on his face.

She definitely lucked out with her roommates. They cleaned up after themselves, didn't cause drama or throw parties or anything. None of them had even brought a lady friend home yet.

She'd been doing pretty well at pushing down her considerable attraction to them, but there had definitely been a couple moments where it was hard.

Who knew Char looked so delicious in just a towel after his shower? Lynelle did, after the incident last week. The solid 5 seconds she stood there staring at his abs were only interrupted when she remembered there was a Char attached to them. A Char who was silently smirking at her, which was very out of character for him. Why are they all so hot? She couldn't help her body reacting to them.

Lynelle fell asleep trying to ignore the hot feeling in her body they caused. Ignore it enough, it'll go away on it's own, right?