Chapter 3-1
973 Words
CHAPTER THREE
"This guy is such an asshole!" complained Alex to her friend and new roommate, Felicity Linden. "You should see these emails he keeps sending me. You can tell he does not give a single f**k that he's raising the rent so high."
As Felicity was busy cooking dinner, she only nodded and kept chopping onions. Felicity was kind enough to cook for both herself and Alex on occasion. Although Alex's older sister was a talented chef, Alex hadn't inherited the cooking gene. Her only specialty was peanut butter and honey sandwiches. And takeout—lots and lots of takeout.
Felicity soon handed Alex a plate of orange chicken stir-fry she'd made from scratch. Alex hummed happily as she ate. "You could give Jocelyn a run for her money," she joked. "This is so good."
Felicity ducked behind her blond hair. Her hair was usually in her face, mostly because she was self-conscious about the large wine-stain birthmark that covered the left side of her face from temple to jaw.
Alex had once mentioned that Felicity didn't need to hide behind her hair, but Felicity had refused to listen. Despite her sweet, shy demeanor, Felicity had a spine of iron when she needed to use it.
"Don't tell your sister that," said Felicity with a smile. "She's way too competitive. She'd probably make us compete to see who's really the best."
"Oh, she'd sabotage you, no question. Jocelyn's ruthless."
After they'd eaten, Alex was once again checking her email. In the past week, she and this Aaron Morrison character had exchanged several emails, each reply getting terser. Aaron refused to budge on the huge rent increase. When Alex had even admitted that the bookstore was struggling, he'd had the audacity to reply, That's not my problem.
"It's such a d**k thing to say," said Alex as she poured herself another glass of wine. "'That's not my problem'! He could've at least sounded sympathetic."
"To be fair, it isn't his problem," Felicity pointed out.
Alex scowled. "Whose side are you on?"
"No one's. I'm just watching this cage match and trying not to get hit with any flying objects."
Alex laughed despite herself. "I'm not above throwing furniture at this guy's head at this point. Good thing he's in Seattle."
"Please don't get arrested for assault. I'll have to find another roommate then."
"Oh, that's all I am to you? Half the rent?" joked Alex.
Felicity shrugged, smiling. "You said it, not me."
Alex had been living on her own up until the last year, when she'd asked Felicity if she wanted to move in with her to help offset her living expenses. And also because she already knew that Felicity would be an easy person to live with. She was cleaner than Alex, she was responsible, she made sure their utilities were paid on time. All in all, Alex had probably gained more from the arrangement than Felicity had.
Then again, Alex had a feeling, despite her shyness, Felicity longed to be more social. She rarely dated; Alex had never seen her even go on a second date with a guy. If anything, Alex could get her friend out of the house on a regular basis.
Alex's phone alerted her to a new email. Her last reply had amounted to, It's my problem, sure, but you could also try to work with a long-term tenant who's always paid her rent on time.
She opened Aaron's latest email, her jaw dropping as she read it.
Looking at the building's records that Stephen gave me, you were late on your rent on five occasions in the past three years. I'd hardly consider that to mean "always."
My offer still stands as is, no matter how many times you email me.
"Five times! My rent has been late once, maybe," fumed Alex. "And it was because I switched banks and things got messed with my automatic payments. Five times, my ass!"
"I wonder where he got that number." Felicity frowned.
"He's probably just making s**t up now." Alex downed the rest of her wine, her heart hammering in her chest despite the warmth of the alcohol.
She began typing her reply message, an evil grin forming on her face. When she started laughing evilly, Felicity asked, "What are you doing, Alex?"
"I'm telling him exactly how I feel about him."
"Are you sure that's a good idea—"
Before Felicity could stop her, Alex pressed reply. Her expression was triumphant.
"What did you send?" Felicity took the phone from Alex's hand. Felicity found the email, her face going pale. "Alex, no."
"It's not that bad."
"You called him a selfish dickwad!"
"Did I? I thought I changed that to asshole." Alex shrugged. "It still applies."
Sighing, Felicity returned her phone and then took her wineglass away. "I have a feeling you're going to regret this once you sober up."
"I'm not drunk."
"Tipsy, then."
Now Alex was getting annoyed. "I don't need you to lecture me. This guy was lying about me and using it against me. He deserved it."
Alex knew she sounded like a child in that moment. Redness crept into her cheeks, but soon drained away when she reread the email still open on her phone.
At the salutation—Eat my ass—Alex put her head in her hands. "What have I done?" she groaned.
Felicity patted her on the shoulder but said nothing. That was never a good sign when even Felicity didn't have advice.
"I guess you're going to have to pay the new rent," said Felicity eventually. "Or…”
Alex looked up, hopeful. "Or what?"
"You're going to have to grovel. Big-time grovel. More groveling than you've ever done before."
Alex collapsed onto the couch, sighing loudly. "I was afraid you were going to say that."
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