Page 1 of Ruined

1. FUCK HIM

The door to my new home swings open, and the Valenti twins tumble out of the doorway, tall and lanky and intimidating as hell.

My new roommates. I’ve only met them once on FaceTime after I’d messaged about the listing. The call lasted for about two minutes, in which one of the twins—with black-and-green hair and a perpetual scowl—took one look at me and said, “He’s cute. Pick him.”

The other twin, who’d introduced himself as Luca, shrugged and said, “I guess that’s settled.”

Things moved quickly after that. My mom got me a job as a busboy at a restaurant owned by her former fling, Guillaume. Not my first, second, or even third choice, but everywhere else rejected my application, and in this economy, I’m not above a little nepotism.

At nineteen, I’m moving away from the quiet suburb I’ve lived in all my life and into downtown Portland. I’m finally going to make my life my own.

Not my mom’s. Not anyone else’s. Mine.

And I’m currently trying not to acknowledge how terrifying that is. Meeting the twins is unsettling enough.

“Already?” the one with the scowl and black-and-green mullet asks. I think his name was Nico. “You said tomorrow.” He elbows Luca in the side.

Now that I meet them in real life, it’s even more uncanny how similar they are. They have the same faces, with delicate elf-like features, narrow-set jaws, and brilliant green eyes.

The only difference is their styles. In contrast to Nico’s dark and edgy aesthetic, Luca’s got platinum blond hair and bright, colorful clothing, making it easy to tell them apart. They look a few years older than me. Most of all, they look like they know their place in the world, unlike me.

“I said Saturday,” Luca points out. “It’s not my fault you have no idea what day of the week it is.”

“Oh.” Nico’s mouth twitches a little, but his scowl remains.

Luca rolls his eyes and turns his attention to me. “What are you waiting for? Come in.”

Hitching my duffel bag further onto my shoulder, I pick up the cardboard box containing my gaming PC—my most treasured possession.

A mix of scents hits my nose as I step past the threshold: laundry detergent, coffee grounds, and something vaguely familiar.

What is that? I flare my nostrils, trying to pull in as much air as possible to figure out whatever it is that smells so… so much like home.

The hallway leads to an open living space with a high ceiling, modest kitchen, and a staircase leading up to a second floor. The living room is decked out with beanbags, a huge TV, an Xbox, and a bunch of colorful blankets thrown haphazardly over a plush, L-shaped sofa. In every corner of the living room, there are speakers connected to the TV, and the music playing on low bounces softly off the walls.

I feel like I’ve stepped into a youth hostel, but better. Trying to take it all in, I struggle with my heavy luggage, almost dropping the PC box.

“Here, drop that off in your room.” Luca leads me to a door next to the kitchen. It opens up to a bedroom with a tiny window and tiny, well, everything.

It’s way smaller than my bedroom at Mom’s house, but it doesn’t matter to me. I won’t spend that much time here, anyway—work will take up a lot of it. Guillaume told me to come on Monday at five.

“Let’s check off the boring stuff.” Luca plops down on the swivel chair and starts counting on his fingers. “No drugs, no loud noises after eleven; if you invite someone, just let us know first, and, uh, what did I forget?”

Nico leans against the doorway, arms crossed. “Clean up your own mess.”

“Right. And pay rent on time, of course.”

“Eight hundred bucks. What a steal, right?” Nico smirks.

Luca rolls his eyes. “Nothing’s a steal these days.”

I know that full well. Rent prices are part of the reason why I chose a shared apartment. Secondly, it’s a good location and close to my workplace. Thirdly, I thought it might be fun. Now that I’m here, however, I’m not so sure about that third reason…

I glance over at Nico, who’s scowling at me. What the hell did I do? They’re the ones who put up the listing. If they didn’t want strangers for roommates, they shouldn’t have advertised it. And on the FaceTime call, he said I was cute, whatever he meant by that.

I distract myself by lifting my monitor onto the desk, then the PC itself.

Nico rolls his eyes. “Oh, great—another gamer. You have a headset, I hope?”