MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
11:45
Why aren't you answering your phone? I mean, Cole TRIPLE ICE Benton??? He's not even remotely your type.Did you have a stroke? Did he? Seriously, twin, what's going on???
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
11:50
OMG, is he gay? Are you like his beard? Is this you being way too nice again? Because we've talked about this.
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
11:53
Okay, if he's gay, does he have a boyfriend/lots of hot lovers? If so, do you get to watch? Is it, like, your new job, to watch and beard?
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
11:57
If you get to watch, can a friend watch, too? Asking for a friend. The friend is ME. Cuz Cole Benton is FOINE!
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
MISSED CALL NOTIFICATION: PRUDENCE WASHINGTON
12:02
Damn, our break is over! Why aren’t you answering me???
Because I didn't have any good answers. For her. Or myself.
I stowed the phone back in my fanny pack with a sigh, then yanked on the bus cord to request that the driver pull over one stop early.
Fifteen minutes later, I emerged from the Cal-Mart closest to my apartment building with enough meal-replacement protein bars and rice and beans to get me through the weekend. Meat wasn't happening like I'd hoped it might this weekend, before I forgot that rent was due. But at least I had enough of my tip money left over to buy a few rat traps.
The first thing I did when I got back to my studio apartment was give it a deep clean before setting a bunch of traps for the rat who'd stolen the last half of my last protein bar. There were no signs of him in the cabinets, thank goodness. However, I doubted I'd seen the last of him.
Let's face it, my apartment was a dump, chosen shortly after Pru was forced to kick me out of the apartment we shared following her parents' death in a car accident. Of course, she would’ve loved to keep me on as a roommate. But she'd been left in charge as her younger brother's only guardian, and there were only two bedrooms. So, sadly, I'd had to set out on my own since none of the other Benton Girls had rooms available.
The studio I'd found was cramped and in a questionable neighborhood, but it was also super-cheap and right on a major bus route, so I'd never had any trouble getting to work anywhere on the Strip.
When I moved in a little under a year ago, I’d thought it would be a temporary situation—good preparation for New York, where I'd be paying three times as much for the same apartment. And, after my life blew up, along with all my future plans, I'd actually been grateful for my choice. For a while, the apartment's good outweighed its bad—until my furry roommate showed up.
Now I couldn't even imagine taking a much-needed nap before my Tourmaline shift for fear of waking up to the sight of that rodent's beady eyes.
