The Long Lost Roommate

            Ethan was standing on the front porch, a cup of coffee clasped in both hands and the steam wafting up to tickle his nose, when it happened. The morning was still far too early for anyone else in the vast Piper Estate to be stirring, mist still clouding most of his view.

            The street, a good three yards from the front of the house and held off by a four foot stone wall and iron gate, was quiet, no cars passing, no people walking, not even a dog barking. This was the kind of morning that Ethan really enjoyed.

            Except, there was a car and it was stopping right in front of his house to let someone out. Someone carrying a duffle bag and a backpack who had no qualms whatsoever about opening the gate and moving up the path as though they owned the place.

            Ethan did a quick head count, and decided that he did not know the approaching person. It wasn’t possible for Sophie to have run away again and be returning. She usually waited a good day before coming back so no one would have any doubt that she had, in fact, been gone. Thomas was also an unlikely choice, as he had been passed out on the couch last Ethan knew.

            Which left the various friends. Jean was already in the house. He had been the one to start the coffee machine so that Ethan could have his cup. Elliot was also present, and it was unimaginable that Lily would carry such inelegant luggage.

            “Hey Ethan,” an almost familiar voice said as the figure stepped fully into the porch’s illumination. He was afforded with a wide grin that was set under a slightly crooked nose and above a pointed chin. The eyes looking at him were a grey that matched the foggy air where they peaked through a curtain of rusty blond hair.

            “Ian?” he asked incredulously. “Ian Cliffe?”

            “The one and only,” Ian laughed. “It’s been a while.”

            “Yeah,” Ethan nodded, still not quite sure if this was real. “I haven’t seen you since… since—.”

            “Freshman year,” Ian supplied.

            “Freshman year,” he repeated. “Right. What are you doing here?”

            “Well, I was in the area and thought I’d drop by,” was the enthusiastic reply. “I mean, I haven’t seen you in so long and you have such a big house.”

            “It’s, um, well, yeah, okay,” Ethan stuttered. “Come in, then, I guess.”

            “Oh, don’t be so hesitant. I’m only staying for a week,” Ian laughed. He was always laughing, or smiling, or exhibiting symptoms of a chronic good mood. Ethan remembered this from when they’d met, freshman year. Ian had been assigned as his roommate and, much to everyone’s surprise, the serious student and the goofball had hit it off immediately. Only then their roles had been reversed. Ian was the one studying hard and Ethan was the one who didn’t have his life together.

            As Ian’s words sunk in, Ethan tried to fight off the dread curling around his stomach. How was he supposed to explain this to his parents again? They were already letting him stay until his company had raised enough money that he could move into a good house.

            “Aw, how cute,” Ian exclaimed, coming into the kitchen right behind him and catching sight of a barely conscious Jean nursing his coffee. “A younger sibling! Hello there. What’s your name?”

            Jean choked slightly, blinked, and shot a confused look in Ethan’s direction.

            “That’s Jean, and he’s not one of my younger siblings.”

            “Oh. But then, what is he?”

            “Human,” Jean snapped, having regained some of his equilibrium and most of his early morning bad mood. He had been awoken by Mat’s phone going off, and been politely evicted from the room while lover boy talked to Lily.

            Ian laughed at this as though it was the most hilarious thing he’d ever heard, before dropping his bags into a chair and searching through the cupboards until he found a mug of his own. He didn’t ask permission, just poured a cup and then leaned against the counter, casting sharp, intelligent eyes around the room.

            “How did you find me?” Ethan asked finally, when the silence became too thick.

            “Oh, that was easy. I just looked up the number for Pipers in this area. There aren’t exactly very many Piper families in town. Then I just had to call and voila, I got your address.”

            “Wait. You called?” he exclaimed. “Why would you do that?”

            “Calm down,” Ian soothed. “I talked to a very nice woman who I believe is your mother and she agreed that I could stay as long as I wanted.”

            “You talked to my mother,” Ethan said dully, not sure he was actually as ready for the day as he’d previously thought.

            “Very nice,” Ian repeated, nodding.

            “What did you tell her?” he frowned, suddenly suspicious.

            “Oh, just that we were old friends from college.”

            “I haven’t seen you in five years.”

            “Old friends. I also may have mentioned how I had some great ideas to help you with your company. She seemed to like that. Said I could have my own room and a study too, if I wanted. Wasn’t that nice?”

            “He’s not staying,” Jean said firmly from his seat, throwing a glare at Ethan. “You can’t let him stay. It’s obvious that he’s a lunatic.”

            “Yes, thank you Jean,” Ethan cut in, giving him a look meant to silence him. It seemed to work. “Now, Ian, why don’t we go get you a room and we can have a little talk before the work day officially begins?”

            Ian nodded and obediently followed him out of the kitchen and up the stairs. They stopped at the door next to Ethan’s room. It used to be the Piper brothers’ secret hideout, and evidence was still there in how the furniture was arranged so that the door could be blockaded in the fastest time possible. If any girls got in there would have to be cootie clean up and no one would let them borrow hazmat suits.

            “So,” Ethan said once his friend was sitting comfortably on the bed. Were they friends? They certainly had been.

            “I suppose you want to know why I’m really here, right?” Ian asked, tracing one finger around the rim of his cup and not looking up.

            “Um, sure.”

            “How’s Katie?” he said after a moment in which it became obvious that he wasn’t actually going to spill about his past.

            “Katie?” Ethan was confused.

            “Your girlfriend. I do hope you remember her name when she’s around.”

            “Ian, Katie was my high school girlfriend. It’s Angie now. And she’s fine. Now why—?”

            “I got evicted. I was living in a town about twenty miles away from yours and thought I’d visit. I really do have some ideas for your company, though. Good ones.”

            “Ian—.”

            “Wait, Angie from World History?”

            “What? Oh, yeah. But Ian—.”

            “Give me a week to convince you that I should stay and work for your company and if it doesn’t work out, I’ve got a few more things lined up.”

            Ethan took a deep breath, thinking about this. It was highly unlikely that he would get rid of Ian any other way. The man was tenacious at the best of times. He had just been growing into his powers of persuasion, as he called them, when they’d known each other. In reality, Ethan suspected that he just talked quickly about various unrelated topics to confuse the person until they agreed with him.

            However, Ian was also undeniably brilliant. He was slightly strange, but weren’t most geniuses? And he had left college because of a job offer at a prestigious firm. How long he’d lasted there was another question, but the fact remained that he probably had a lot of experience that could help Ethan.

            “Okay,” he said finally. “Okay, we’ll try this out. Let’s go to my study and start discussing these ideas of yours.”           

            It only took two hours to convince Ethan that he was going to keep Ian as a live-in employee, but he waited the full week before mentioning it.