I stared at him, and he shifted from foot to foot in the center of my bland apartment.

"Carter, are you uncomfortable?"

He jumped and looked down at me, his boyish brown hair getting into his eyes.

"Me? Uncomfortable? What? Well, I'm certain that you definitely must be mist--"

"Well, you're just acting awfully jumpy."

I think that Carter had a thing about being in other people's rooms. I hadn't even inhabited this one yet, and he was already freaking out. I think he had a nervous sort of Giles-from-Buffy character about him, and I'm pretty sure that if he had glasses, he'd be using the edge of his shirt to clean them right about now.

"Jumpy?" He squeaked. "Me? Well, I can absolutely assure you--well. I have to go now. Your room mate will be by a bit later...and the new ones down the hall...and I have to, you know, I have a meeting. Right. I'll see you, um, a bit later."

He quickly left the room, and I looked around and decided that this room needed some serious redecorating because it reminded me of those horrible hospital rooms that I stayed in.

And I didn't like it one bit.

Carter had not informed me as to my new duties as an unofficial, secret member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I was pretty sure that if I had anything to do with the capture of notorious serial killers or even weirdo drug lords, the public would not want to hear, "And then we asked this psychic to help..."

Not that I minded.

The heard the ring of my cell phone across the room in my purse, and quickly went over to it, and dug through the purse until I came up with it.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Jules?"

I sat down on the bland bed, and said, "Hey, Jason. What's up?"

There was a pause. "Nothing. Just...how are things, on the other side of the country? You know, away from speaking distance? Not anywhere near here?"

I hesitated. "Do you actually want me to answer, or do you want me to feel guilty?"

"Both."

I supported the arm holding the cell with my other hand. "Well, that's not fair."

"Julia, just...ew. The government?"

I lay back, and quickly decided that was a mistake because there was no bedding or pillows on the bed to make me comfortable. So I sat up again. "Jason, we discussed this before. Carter wants me to help them with a few things. And he's a nice guy."

"For being a pervy FBI agent."

"Oh, stop it."

Pause. "Okay, fine. I miss you."

"I know you do. You miss stealing my cookies."

"Umm...I thought you stole mine?"

Pause. "Right. Have you heard from Cody?"

"Julia!"

Pause. "What? I'm just curious."

"You know, I really hope you meet a guy down there because you need to get over him."

"I know."

"Hi!" I heard from toward the door.

I looked up, and this apparently was my roommate.

"Jason, I have to go."

"But--"

"Love you, bye."

I pressed the "end" button, and flipped closed the cell phone, looking at her.

She was about my height with dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. She looked frighteningly happy to be here, and I decided that I might need a break from her every once and a while or I'd die from sugary happiness.

"I'm Mallory," she said.

I stood up, and shook her hand. "Julia," I replied. "It's nice to meet you."

She flashed me her sugary smile, and I thought, yes. Definitely needing a break soon.

previous / next

New home, new roommate. - 2004-03-07

Nothing like the end of an adventure. - 2004-02-07

Not the end. - 2004-01-24

Yes, Yoda - 2004-01-15

Brown rock from Brazil for my birthday - 2004-01-03