"Watch," Ella stands from where we've been waiting in the living room for another possible roommate, "I'll go into the bathroom and he'll show up."

"Then hurry up and go," I chuckle, "I'm tired of waiting."

"I'm leaving the door open," she yells over her shoulder as she takes fast baby step to her bathroom.

Shaking my head, I don't even reply. This is typical Ella. We've been friends since we were born. Aunt Becca's been friends with Dad since they were teenagers and did a movie together. Even though El drives me nuts, she's like my third sister.

As soon as she shuffles her way into the bathroom, there's a knock on the front door. 

"I freaking told you!"

A smile forms on my lips as I make my way to the door, "Hurry up, I'm not waiting for you to start."

"You're a douche, Blain," she calls out.

Ignoring her remark, I open the door to see a gorgeous tall blonde male standing in front of me. I have to look him over for a second before I speak. He's taller than me, which is a feat as I'm six foot. And let's not talk about his pale blue eyes hidden behind those geek chic glasses.

"Well, hello there. Are you Henry?"

Nodding, he awkwardly lifts his hand, "Yes, you must be Blain."

I take his outstretched palm and give it a good shake, "That's me."

"Nice to meet you," he comments politely as he drops his hand.

I give him a smile. Gesturing inside the house, I step out of his way, "Come on in. Ella will be out in a second. We want to get to know you a little bit before we let you move in."

He nods as he makes his way to the living room, "That's fair."

"Yea, we've interviewed a few crazies." When he doesn't move from his stance next to one of the couches, I place a hand on his shoulder, "You can sit anywhere you'd like."

Tilting his head a bit, he gives me a confused look, "Alright."

"This is my favorite couch," I point to the red couch against the wall. We have four of them in here - red, blue, brown, and olive green - plus Ella's oversized grey arm chair that we call 'the beast'. She's the only one that will sit in it because I think it smells like broccoli. "You can join me if you'd like."

What can I say, he's attractive and it's been a couple days since I've gotten any. If this roommate thing doesn't work out, maybe I'll get to know him another way.

"Why do you have so many couches?" he asks looking around the room as we take our seats.

Shrugging, I explain, "More variety. If I get bored with this couch, I can go to one of the others."

As I finish the sentence, I barely see the little brunette before she's barreling into me. Another Ella trait, she's a bit out of control. She fixes her short hair as she sits up on me.

"Henry," I say pushing her off my lap, "this is Ella. El, Henry."

"Nice to meet you," she extends her hand out to him as she takes her seat in the beast.

He nods, "You too."

"Now," I start, "Let's get to know you."

"Alright."

"We know your name is Henry, but who are you?" Ella asks.

"Well, um, I'm an administrative assistant. I'm twenty-two. I'm pretty quiet," he shrugs as if he doesn't know what else to say.

"What's your last name?" I request, trying not to check him out again.

"Thomas," he nods. "It's Thomas."

Ella folds her legs underneath herself and perches forward, "You have two first names!"

His eyebrows scrunch together in a cute way, "Thomas is my last name. Henry George Thomas."

"You have three first names!" she extends her fingers and claps her hands together.

He looks over to me, but I just shake my head, "She's always like this."

"So, Henry George Thomas, what do you do for fun?" Ella continues.

He looks at her, "I, um, don't do much at all. I like to read. Sometimes I paint, but I don't do that a lot because I don't have room where I am now."

"You're hired!" she shouts and stands up.

He looks over to me again, I shrug, "You'll get used to it."

"Listen," she cocks her hip to the side and crosses her arms over her chest, "we've interviewed like ten people. The first six freaked out when they saw us. The next two only wanted to get away from their parents so they could party. Number nine kept checking out my butt and number ten couldn't even look us in eye. You, Henry George Thomas, are everything we want. You're quiet, like us." On that I have to roll my eyes. Ella's never been quiet a day in her life. "You're thoughtful, like us. And most importantly, I don't think you even know who we are."

This just dawns on me as she says something. He hasn't asked us; he hasn't looked at us funny; he hasn't even made the vaguest of recognitions.

In my shock, I look into his eye, "You don't, do you?"

"I'm sorry," he apologizes and looks between us before settling his eyes on me. "Am I supposed to?"

Chuckling, I shake my head, "No."

"Like I said," El waves at us before extending her hand, "You're hired." He stands up and shakes her hand. To which she says, "Wow you're tall. Blain can show you around. I have to head out."

I didn't know she had plans. We usually tell each other if we're leaving, "Where you going?"

"Just have to meet up with someone," she smirks and lifts her eyebrows. She grabs her purse and keys from the counter while taking her jacket off the wall. "I'll be home later."

I shake my head again and turn toward Henry as she closes the door behind her, "Did you want to live here now that you've met us? I'll show you the place, if you want to stay."

"If you don't mind," he sits down next to me again, "I don't really know anything about you guys."

"Oh," I chuckle, looking him over, "Well, I'm Blain. I'm a detective for New York City Homicide. Ella is a songwriter and she sings really well. Although, she likes to write more than perform. We've lived here since I got out of college last year, but we grew up together in New Rochelle. We don't do much partying, but if we do, it won't be here. We don't like people to know where we live."

"Are you guys like," he plays with his fingers, "important or something?"

I take a deep breath and let if out with a sigh. I hate explaining who I am.

"You don't have to tell me," he holds his hands up as if he knows he offended me. "I was just curious."

I chuckle again lightly, "It's just awkward I guess." Shrugging a bit, I settle into the couch, "Do you know who Damon and Topher Ashton are?"

He nods, "Yea, everyone knows them. I'm not much of a movie person. I'm more into music, but they're like the biggest power couple in Hollywood."

"New York," I tell him offhandedly. When he looks confused, I clarify, "Biggest power couple in New York. They live here."

"Where ever they live," he shakes his head, "it wouldn't surprise me if they were the biggest power couple in the world."

This makes me laugh, "Well I don't know about all that."

"I do," he nods. "They've changed a lot of lives; and for the better. Although, I have to say, the movie rendition of their lives didn't do them justice. They're much more attractive than the actors playing them."

"Okay, okay," I hold my hands up to silence him. Closing my eyes, I run a hand down my face and then shake my head again, "I'm going to stop you there."

"Do you not like them?" he looks a little concerned.

Letting out another sigh, I look him straight in the eye, "No, I love them. With every fiber of my being, I love the two of them and Brie and Nikki. My first name is Sam. I go by Blain, it's my middle name. I'm their son. Samuel. Blain. Ashton."

His eyes go round and he looks me up and down. I think I hear him whisper, "Ella Rattan."

So I continue, nodding, "And Ella is actually Isabella Rattan; Rebecca's daughter."

I give him a second to let it sink in and then start again, "This leads me to our first rule: if you live here and our family members come over, there is absolutely no autographs or posed pictures or leaking to the tabloids or freaking out. It's rude and this is a safe haven. It's one of the few places they can go without being treated differently. They're just normal people, but if you want to meet them I can have them over for dinner to get it over with."

"I wouldn't want to offend anyone, honestly," he tells me.

"I know, Henry. I can tell you're a good guy. Anyway," I sit forward and pat my knees once, "if you would like to stay, we can look around. Talk about rent and all that."

He nods and we both stand. Outstretching my arms, I turn my palms upward before letting them drop back to my sides, "As you can see it's a pretty open floor plan. We're in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. I only know the basics of cooking, same with El. We get by, but mostly we order out. When Pops comes over," I pause and look at him, "that's Damian, for future reference. Topher goes by Dad," he nods so I go on. "If Pops comes over, he cooks. Or they bring food. Pops loves to cook. Dad doesn't know how."

"That way," I point to the other side of the kitchen, "is Ella's room. She has the master bedroom because she wanted her own bathroom. It didn't matter to me either way, so I let her have it."

Walking the opposite direction of her room, I gesture for him to follow me, "Our rooms are this way. My room is across from yours with a bathroom in between. They're practically the same size. Which is, mathematically, big." Walking to my room, I open the door, but stay in the hall, "This is my room. See," I point to the bed, "big enough to have a king size bed and still have plenty of room." I close my door and point to the door across from it, "That's your room. It only has a bed right now, but you can look at it if you want."

He does. He just opens the door peeks in and shuts it again.

I point to the door behind me, "Bathroom."

Turning toward me, Henry shrugs, "So that's it?"

"Well," I tell him, "your part of the rent is going to be fifteen hundred a month. That'll cover everything; rent and utilities. You can have the bed that's in there, it's brand-new. Try not to bring too many people over. A best friend or a girlfriend would be fine... or boyfriend."

It's subtle, but I would really like to know if he has one. He answers quickly, "You won't have to worry about that."

"You don't want to bring them over?" I lift an eyebrow to show concern. I don't want it to seem too obvious.

He shakes his head as his cheeks turn a pink color, "No, I don't have a girlfriend or boyfriend. And my best friend lives in California. I don't really talk to him too much anymore. It'll just be me."

"Alright," I nod. Good to know, I think. "One more thing I have to show you."

He scrunches his eyebrows and tilts his head, "You've shown me the entire apartment."

"I have," I agree and then motion for him to follow me. We walk out the front door and through the hallway to the steps. Instead of going down, we go up one more floor to the top level of the building. When we get to the door on the same side of the building as our apartment, I take my keys out of my back pocket and unlock it.

Before I open it completely, I turn to Henry and say, "Ella and I decided to rent this place because this part. As a gift, our parents bought out this floor. They had it renovated. It's all just one huge room. The door over there," I point straight across the landing, "is hooked to the other side, but it only locks and unlocks from the inside. One side is El's, the other's mine, but I think I can share."

Pushing the barrier open, we walk straight. Ella's side is first; it's completely done in music studio fashion. She has recording booths and instruments and soundboards. It's dark and sexy and has everything you would need to get lost in music. It's like an actual studio, except she only uses it to write.

"A lot of the time, Ella will disappear for hours and she'll just be up here. The whole place is soundproof so if you're reading in your room, you won't hear her. She's unbelievable though," I point out walking through the space. "If you have the time and she's up here, she'll usually let you listen in. She's a really good singer, but don't tell her that. It'll just start an unnecessary argument."

"Follow me," I walk to the door in the wall that splits my side from hers and open it up. The light floods in without peril. "This is my side. You're more than welcome to use it as long as you don't touch my work."

I have a studio set up, too. Except, mine is one huge open art studio with tons of windows and natural lighting. There are rolls of canvas in one corner and racks of paint in another. A couple different sized easels are along the inside wall right next to a full portion of wall that's dedicated to full sheets of canvas. Paint splatters the tiled floors, vaulted ceiling, and 'white' walls. The room is generally just a mess, but I love it.

I look over to him to see his mouth hanging open. I can't help the chuckle that leaves my lips, "It's pretty great. Wait," I put a hand to his chest to hold him back as he tries to walk in. He stops and looks at me in the eye, "Like I said you can use it any time, but if you value those clothes at all, I wouldn't go in there now. It doesn't matter if you do nothing at all; you will come out with paint on you. I speak from experience."

He looks down at his outfit as if he's contemplating it. He's really only wearing slightly fitted jeans and a stripped hoodie, but I don't him to ruin anything he'd rather keep. He looks over at my outfit for a second, "Are you wearing anything you value?"

I'm in just a white t shirt and jeans. I shake my head, "Nah."

He nods, takes a step back, pulls his hoodie over his head to reveal a Captain America shirt, and looks back over at me, "Can I set this on that chair?"

He points to one in Ella's studio and I nod. I take off my shoes and step inside my favorite place on earth. Henry takes off his shoes as well and hurries in behind me.

"This is amazing," he says as he spins in slow circles, looking everywhere. "How'd you do this?"

"The paint splatter is because I get a little too enthusiastic sometimes, but everything else I've gotten over time. There's a little side room over there," I point to a door on the opposite side of the room, "that holds all my finished stuff."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure."

He walks over and opens the door, sticking his head in, "What do you do with them?"

"You're looking at it," I chuckle lightly. "If I do one that I think one of my friends or family might like, I give it to them, but that's it."

He looks at the pieces again and then back at me, "Can I buy one?"

At that, I laugh, "No, you can have one though. The only money I want from you is rent money."

"I should at least be able to give you a little bit-"

I cut him off, "No, man. Seriously, if you want a piece, go ahead."

"I'll have to come back up when I'm settled." His smile is beautiful - if I've ever seen a man be beautiful - and he nods, "Alright, when can I move in? And when do you want the first month?"

"How about this," I offer as I nod toward the door connecting my studio to El's. He gets what I'm trying to say and follows me out without grabbing any art, "you can move in any day you want, but you don't have to pay until the first of next month. Call this your grace period. You have the rest of this coming month to decide if you like it here. If you do, you can pay me the rent. If you don't, then you can go on your way, no hard feelings."

He looks at me skeptically, "Are you sure?"

"Yep," I nod and put my shoes back on.

He follows suit, "That's great."

"I have to work for the next week, but Ella should be here whenever you need her. She works from home. If she's not in the apartment, she's up here," I lead us out of the studios, lock up, and walk back down the stairs. When we get back inside the living area, I close the door and say, "I'll give you our cell phone numbers. That way you can call either of us. And," I take my key ring out of my pocket, take my key off, and hand it to him. I'll have Ella copy hers while she's out, "you can have this in case we aren't here." I point at him and give him a stern look, "I'm a cop. So, if you decide to rob us or do anything stupid, I will find you."

He chuckles lightly, "I won't, I promise. This is really great, thank you."

"No problem," I tell him. "One more thing," I point to the wall next to our front door, "that is our security system. Do you know how to use one?" He nods and I continue, "I'm really trusting you here, don't let me down."

"I won't."

~A/N~

Thought I would use my regular schedule to update today.

Happy Sunday.

Be sure to let me know what you think.

Henry played by Jeremy Sumpter. Ella played by Frankie Sanford.