Chapter 6: Part 1 – Starting over in the same place
= Sarah POV =
I blinked groggily and rubbed my eyes. The light was coming in from a strange place. I squinted through my fingers and wondered why the window was right across from the bed instead of to the side…did rooms often shapeshift over night?
Then the memories of last night came flooding back and I sat up straight in bed.
I was in Chris' bed.
I was in Chris' room.
'Shit' I thought to myself and carefully turned to the side, expecting to see Chris there. Instead, a familiar post-it note was stuck to the sheets on Chris' side of the bed, with no sign of Chris to be found.
I sighed and fell back against the sheets and grabbed the note, this meant that Chris had already left for work.
"Check your phone, you need to download the app from the link I sent you and sign in. Also, breakfast is in the microwave, and I already set up your computer in your room, so try your best to find a job will you? You don't want to be at my beck and call, forever…or do you?" Read Chris' note.
I bit my lip. This is seriously not how I had imagined things to go. It was different when I still had the apartment, I felt like I could leave at any time and retreat to my safety net. Like this, I felt trapped by my own irresponsible actions, in a web that Chris controlled entirely.
"Ugh! This is why I hate living with you! You have always been so f***ing controlling!" I exclaimed out loud and thrashed about on the sheets for a bit in defiance.
I tore up the note left it scattered all over the sheets and left the room. 'Good luck trying to pick out the pieces from the sheets later Chris" I grinned to myself as I thought of her crawling around on the bed, looking for pieces in the crevices.
As I reached the door, I noticed another post-it note on stuck on the door at eye level.
"First request, pick up all the shreds of post-it notes that you just scattered all over the bedroom, thanks" Chris' second note read.
I looked back at the bed and groaned. Ok, I officially have to stop doing that now.
After a good ten minutes. I had gathered every last scrap of paper and thrown them away into the waste paper basket.
I went to the kitchen and retrieved a croissant and a milk coffee from the microwave. There was some hazelnut chocolate spread on the counter and a knife, so I sat down cut open the croissant in half and added a generous helping of chocolate spread inside it.
Biting into the croissant, I recognised it to be one of Chris' hotel pastries, which surprised me as I remember she had told me she threw away all the food on her way to catch up with me and the fighting couple. Did she make this pastry fresh this morning?
The delicious buttery layers of the croissant mixed with the sweetness of the chocolate brought tears to my eyes, how did I ever assume that I could cook for Chris when she cooks like this?
I could at least wash dishes, so after breakfast was done I loaded the dishwasher and skipped off the my- I mean the guest room.
Sure enough, Chris had found the time between taking us to the storage unit and helping the movers move everything inside. And then helping me choose outfits and personal belongings to bring home, to set up not only my PC but also my gaming console and chair! It was like my old apartment, but better because I had a private chef!
I spun around happily, then froze in the middle of the room " You don't want to be at my beck and call, forever…or do you?" came back to me and I walked over and sat on the unused bed and took out my phone. It was so easy to get comfortable around Chris, but the longer I stayed, depending on her, who knows how crazy the requests were going to get. All I wanted to be was someone meaningful to her, but I think at the point….
… I've been demoted even further down the pecking order! I don't even know what the level below pet is called. Underling? Slave?
I shook my head. 'No I need to focus, I can't get sucked into depression. My life motto has always been to act first think later, and it has worked out just fine so far, so I need to keep at it! Things worked out in the end, even if it's a little strange, I finally get to sleep next to Chris!' I said to myself reassuringly.
I thought back on last night when we were in bed together. Chris had kicked off her shoes, loosened the top few buttons of her shirt, flopped onto the bed face first, and fallen asleep. So much for getting taken advantage of…
'But now we get to have breakfast with her every day!' I thought again, then remembered that I had eaten by myself a few minutes ago in an empty house.
'Well we still have a great friendship, I mean she took you in and gave you a place to stay when you were in dire need' I thought but then I remembered her standing there in the middle of the empty apartment, with a very devilish looking smirk on her face, while she listen to the new terms and conditions.
And then also, after Chris had paid the movers and they had left, while Chris bolted the doors of the storage unit, she had turned to me and pushed me up against the storage unit door.
Chris' intense eyes bore into mine and she said "Starting from today onwards, we are no longer friends, got it? You're my tenant, I'm your landlord, you owe me, big time, and I intend to hold you to it. A prank that has cost a portion of my savings and has rendered me unable to date for a while is not a prank, it's a deliberate attempt to destroy another my life, so you better be ready to pay for reparations".
"Ok so…friendship in shatters then," I said out loud to myself, a hand over my rapidly beating heart. A notification appeared on my phone, and I swiped up to open it. Something wet dripped onto the phone screen and I looked up at the ceiling, only to realise the water was in my eyes.
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Author's Note:
The Paperback & EBook Editions of "I'm broke, can I pay for the room with my body?" Book 1 is now available to read on Amazon! Book 1 covered Chapter 1 to Chapter 5, so if you would like to re-read this story offline, or if you would like to get the paperback version to your home library, get it now on Amazon!
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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D8RMRL53?ref_=pe_93986420_774957520
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