A few more people were in the kitchen. The dining room adjacent. An attached patio from there.
She led the way past the people standing by the sink. One was a shorter girl with sleek brown hair, bright brown eyes, and a wide smile. She saw Savannah, the smile remained, then her eyes tracked to me, to the box, to my backpack, and the smile dimmed. Dramatically. It was damn near gone as Savannah walked past her, reaching out, a hand tapping the girl’s arm in hello. The girl had been talking to another guy, another meathead-type. He had on khaki shorts, a polo shirt, and a beer in hand. He reached forward, touching the girl’s waist, but she stiffened. And hissing, she stormed past us, those frosty eyes on me. She almost clipped me at the shoulder, but I was ready. Free hand and all. It was a good thing she swung out of the way at the last minute, or I would’ve shoved her right into her guy.
Savannah turned toward what looked like the garage door.
My room was in the garage? For real?
She motioned to me, her smile now forced and pasted on. “Down here.”
Down here was a door that went to the basement, and once we were down there, it was a lot quieter. I almost sagged in relief.
She noticed, her eyes crinkling. “Not one for parties?”
“Not one for people who don’t want me here.”
Had I… Oh shit. I had.
I clamped that free hand—see, I knew there was a practical use for it—over my mouth. I was blaming the lack of sleep and sheer will that had me driving across five states in two days. “I’m sorry,” I said with my hand still over my mouth, so it was awkwardly moving with my lips. “I didn’t mean that.”
She snorted, turning to the right. “Why not? I would’ve said worse.” She motioned ahead. “Come on. I’ll show you your room.”
She went through what looked like a section of the basement that had been turned into an apartment. There was a kitchenette area. A medium-sized fridge. A tiny sink. A tiny oven that my grandma might’ve used in the ’30s. There were two tables. One was decked out with a red plaid plastic tablecloth, and another that was simply a brown round table. A few chairs around each. She motioned to a room attached to the kitchen, to the left of the stairs. “That’s Lisa’s room.” Her eyes flicked upwards. “The one we just passed by.”
Oh.
Lovely.
We’d braid each other’s hair and exchange best friend beads, that much I was sure of.
Then Savannah was continuing on, going through the kitchen and into another room. It wasn’t separated by a door, just a half-wall partition, and this room was obviously a game room. An old pool table. A foosball table. Even a bar tucked in the corner.
She kept straight, continuing on to a door on the other side of the room.
Dread lined my insides and she opened the door and stepped inside.
There was no more house to go.
I couldn’t be in that room. It was literally right next to a party room. There was a bar, for fuck’s sake.
But I stepped to the doorway and peeked in.
The room was bare. A bed in the corner. An empty nightstand.
“Come in.”
I did, and she shut the door.
A desk was built into the wall behind the door with shelves above that. A dresser was beside it.
Another door was attached on the far end of the room. I assumed it was the closet.
It wasn’t.
She opened it and stepped through. “Okay. So. I know this room sucks. I do. Char left and everyone shifted rooms. You got stuck with this one. And I’d like to say we never use that room, but we do. And I know I didn’t answer your question above, but we do. Often. We’re big into football.” She seemed to hesitate, biting her lip, before rushing on. “But here’s the upside of this room.”
She stepped out of the way, pointing ahead. “You get your own bathroom.” She knocked on the door to her left. “This is the furnace room/water heater room/your closet.” She swept it open and there was a hanging rod put up. A lovely closet. Sort of.
“But…” She shut that door, and there was one last one (I was hoping) behind her. She opened it and I was looking up at a set of stairs. “You have your own entrance and exit as promised, and just beyond that door, down the fence line, is a parking spot that’s all yours. Nicole, one of the roommates you didn’t meet, her uncle owns this house. We’ve been living here every year since after our first semester freshman year. And Char leaving, it struck a chord. She never told us she wasn’t coming back until she called last night.”
“Last night?”
Was that my voice? That high-pitched squeak?
She nodded, her eyes heavy. “Yeah. And she informed us she got us a new roommate, a Dusty (we shouldn’t make fun of her name because she seems lovely), and we were supposed to forward all her bills. Seems she decided to spend a semester abroad with a boyfriend none of us knew about.”
I gulped. “I applied to come here two weeks ago.”
She grimaced. “When’d you meet Char?”
Oh. Lovely. Again, so sarcastic here.
“I didn’t. I answered an ad.”
Her eyes bulged out. “An ad?” Her voice was squeaking like mine.
I nodded. This wasn’t good. This so wasn’t good.
“I didn’t know I was walking into this.”
Savannah clasped her arms over herself, hugging the ends of her elbows. “Us either. And Lisa and Mia’s reactions, Char was the closest to them. They’re not mad at you. They don’t know you. They’re mad at Char. You get it.”
I did. I placed my box down, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Look. I don’t know anyone else here. I’m transferring into my junior year. I get that you guys don’t want me here, but I’m here. I’m good for the rent and I already paid Char for the first month’s rent.”
Her mouth clamped shut and her cheeks got red.
Oh no.
“Tell me she forwarded that to you guys?”
“She didn’t. No.”
No. Nope. I couldn’t speak. “So I paid…”
I trailed off at her look, again.
“Char never sent us money. She lied to you. My guess, she kept the money.”
Oh, now I was mad at Char, too.
I groaned. It was just my luck. Fuck’s sake. Again.
“Um.” Savannah edged toward the door. “So, yeah. You’ll have to pay again. And I’ll, uh, I’ll leave you to it. I’ll get your key, too.” She paused, looking down. “Sorry about Char being a bitch, and a thief.”
Sorry. Right. That wasn’t super helpful for this month’s rent.
Another roar sounded from above, and we could hear them yelling out, “INTERCEPTION! YES!”
She gave me an uneasy grin, pointing upwards. “Feel free to come and hang out. We’ve got lots of pizza and beer.”
Then she beat it. I was fairly certain I saw her kicking up dust behind her, pun so not intended there. She couldn’t get out of here fast enough. And to a degree, I got it. I understood it. I felt for her, but she left, shutting that door, and I let out the biggest sigh in my life. Or the second longest sigh in my life. But I guess it was better than tears.
Here I was. At a school I’ve never toured. In a house I’ve never seen. Living with people I’ve never met. In a state that I never thought I’d even visit.