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That day that Kit stepped into my house covered in soot and snow was the first day of him living there. He said over and over that he didn’t want to inconvenience me, but I wouldn’t hear of it, not after he’d spent so much time getting me back on my feet. I made up the spare bedroom and let him borrow some clothes until the shock wore off enough to go out and shop for more.
Kit spent the first couple of weeks going back and forth between the police station and the wreckage of his house. It had been easy to determine that the fire was arson, considering it had started outside of the house. It was immediately obvious from the remains of a broken bottle and the scorching on the foundation that someone had thrown a molotov cocktail from the driveway. However, it was almost impossible to determine who had done it. They questioned Kit, ruling him out as a suspect to collect the measly insurance payout for his late father’s crumbling home. Kit insisted on paying me rent as he took more time off from his own work to settle in and get things organized. I wouldn’t take a dime from him, much to his annoyance.
Things slowly settled down and slipped back into the way they had been the previous summer, when Kit rescued me. Every morning was a jogging session, no matter what the weather was, followed by a quick breakfast before we headed off to work. Every night was home-cooked meals and movies on the couch where Kit would usually fall asleep next to me. Although, if I’m being honest, I usually fell asleep first. Things were comfortable and sweet between us, like we were kids again.
Cheryl and I continued to hook up, but it slowly started to become something more. The night at the Christmas party had been thrilling and we repeated it many times. But there was something else growing under the surface. I wasn’t quite sure what to call it yet, but something was happening, we could both feel it.
There wasn’t any news about the fire for weeks until Valentine’s day when Kit received a strange text from Brandon. It read ‘I hope your Valentine’s Day is a HOT one ;)’. Brandon hadn’t answered any of Kit’s texts since before Christmas. It struck Kit as odd that he’d just message out of the blue. He took it to the police and they said that it wasn’t enough to go on, but Kit wasn’t ready to give up yet. He told me that something felt off and he was going to investigate. He responded like nothing had changed between them, putting on a facade to figure out what was going on.
Eventually, after texting with Brandon a couple of days, Kit let slip that he was living with me. And, just to add insult to injury, lied and said that he had been sleeping with me for months. I was there when his phone began to blow up. One quick glance at the messages and we piled in the car, heading back to the police station. Kit handed his phone over to the police and they brought Brandon in within a day, a full confession complete with threats on Kit’s phone. He didn’t stand a chance in court and Kit blew him a kiss as he was dragged away to the jail cell.
That Saturday morning as I was frying bacon and Kit was laying his head on the table with a steaming cup of coffee in front of him, he asked me something surprising.
“Ryan,” he began, “Do you mind if I stay here?”
“You know you can stay as long as you need Kit,” I replied, flipping the bacon with a fork.
“What if I want to stay?”
I looked over at him for a moment, unsure of what he meant.
“I don’t know if I feel safe around here right now. Not after what happened,” he continued, talking into the surface of the table. “I feel safe here... would you mind having a roommate? I won’t get in the way and you and Cheryl can have the place whenever you want, that’s not a problem.”
“You want to move in with me permanently?”
I was surprised to say the very least.
“Not forever...” he hesitated. “Just... for now.”
I didn’t hesitate, “Of course you can stay here.”
“Really?” he lifted his head up, looking at me with those groggy eyes.
“Kit, we’ve been best friends since we were kids,” I laughed. “Who wouldn’t want to live with their best friend?”
“Thank you Ryan, you are doing me a huge favor!”
“Just do me a favor in return.”
“What’s that?”
“Please don’t bring home any more arsonists.”