Chapter 1

My boyfriend Gavin said that his buddy from college needed a place to stay for a little bit. The idea made me a bit uneasy. I wasn't too keen on having somebody else living in my apartment, especially someone I didn't know.

I had a difficult time dealing with new people. I mean, I liked kids and I was a teacher, but a grownup could be really judgmental. Kids laughed at your dumb jokes, but a grownup wouldn’t. I didn’t want him to think I was a loser or something.

Gavin was always doing things without talking it over with me first. He was so impulsive. The only thing I'd say Gavin did in tune with a schedule was work out, every day from six to eight.

I guess that was why he was so gorgeous. He had red hair, which was almost brown in color, and hazel eyes. He was taller than me by about four inches, standing at 6'1.

I was 5'10 and thin. I believe "twink" was the term used to describe people with my build. I was blond and I had central heterochromia, which was to say my eyes had two colors in each. Both started a light, sea foam green and worked out into a light blue iris. Some of my friends used to call me "cat eyes," a nickname that finally died down after college.

"Gavin" I started. I was washing dishes at the sink. Gavin was at the table facing me.

"What?"

"I...I really don't know about a new person living with us." I set a bowl aside.

"He won't steal your Turi Terre Bazu." I learned about Teru Teru Bozu when I took Japanese studies freshman year in college. I must have made one every week.

"Okay, one, they are Teru Teru Bozu and they keep the wish for sunshine alive, and two, I did not say he was a thief! I don't even know him..."

"Exactly, but I do, and he's a good guy,” he said. “A little...on the hefty side, but I plan on whipping him back into shape once he gets settled in."

"Nobody wants you to be their personal trainer, okay? You seem like a real jerk when you go around calling people fat all the time."

"Nobody wants to date a fat person." That was honestly how he felt. Like, I wished he was joking. "They like fat people as friends, but come on; would you be attracted to ME if I was a blimp?"

"No."

"E xactly!" he shouted triumphantly.

"Only because you'd start bad mouthing skinny people" I said. Bigger guys did always have a certain appeal. I sighed. "You're a real jerk sometimes. I think you might want to tone down your views." He walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

"But you still love me, don't you?" He bit my ear lightly.

"I don't know..." He lifted me off of the ground and I dropped the spoon I had been washing back into the sink. "Yes! Yes!" I said in between bursts of laughter.

I'd finish washing dishes later.