Russell
“Monday?” I blurted out. “You need me to move out by Monday?”
Vic scratched the back of his head and avoided my eyes. I’d only been living with the guy for about three weeks, but still, I thought we were at least getting along.
“It’s not personal,” he answered. “You’re a great roommate and all. But Carly wants to get back together, so I can’t really say no.”
He stood across the kitchen table, his dark hair falling over his eyes. Since I moved to Pittsburgh last month, I’d spent more nights than I cared to remember listening to Vic complain about his recent breakup. Considering he was a random stranger from the internet, I figured it could have been much worse.
I plopped down at the table. “How am I supposed to find a new place by Monday?” I asked, more to myself than to Vic.
He turned his palms up, obviously forcing the apologetic expression on his face. “Sorry, man. Monday is the first, and you didn’t sign a lease. Wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
I let out a puff of air, frustrated. It actually didn’t have to be this way, actually, if he didn’t want it to. I opened my mouth to argue, but I knew it wasn’t going to get me anywhere. Vic was essentially a stranger, and as he turned back to the fridge, his back told me exactly how much he cared.
I squeezed my fists tight, fighting off a rising wave of hopelessness. I’d moved my ass to a whole new city with big dreams and promises that I’d finally start living the life I wanted to live. No more hiding and fear and hesitation. I was going to strike out on my own, and even better than that, I was going to look fucking amazing doing it.
Except that I hadn’t done any of that yet, and now I was sitting at the kitchen table in the same boring grey sweatshirt I always wore, thinking about my empty checking account while my roommate unceremoniously kicked me out.
“I’ll be fine,” I grumbled, weakly trying to save some dignity. “Got a busy day. See you later.”
Without another word, I grabbed my backpack and a light jacket, then headed out the door. Fall was turning into winter, but the sun was out and the day was actually warm, and I thought I would save a few bucks on bus fare by walking to the woodworking studio.
I took stock of my options. My job at Starside Books was enough to pay my bills, but after using a chunk of my savings for the move out here, I didn’t exactly have a cushion. I had Sunday off, which gave me one day to search for a new apartment, but what if I didn’t have any luck? Was I going to have to sleep in the store or something?
The carpet’s so prickly and old. I shuddered just thinking about it.
A brisk wind tickled the back of my neck, and I hurried across a busy intersection, then headed down a block of brick industrial buildings. The more I thought about my circumstances, the bleaker it all seemed, so when I arrived early for class, I swallowed my pride and pulled out my phone.
“Russell,” my brother Peyton answered. “What’s up, man? How’s Pittsburgh?”
I frowned. “It’s good,” I lied. “I’m liking the job. Just some roommate problems, but nothing big.”
“Bummer,” he answered. “You going to find a new apartment?”
I smiled and leaned back against the brick building. Just hearing a familiar voice was reassuring. “I should. Kind of hard to find a place around here, though.”
“How bad is the roommate?” he asked. “Like, ‘me freshman year of college’ bad?”
I laughed. “Nothing is as bad as a room filled with crusty microwave lasagna trays and dirty socks.”
I considered telling him the whole truth, that I’d been basically screwed over by a stranger already and was out on my ass, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was the youngest kid in my family, and the rest of the siblings still treated me like the baby.
When I was fifteen, our dad died, and the grief of it ripped through our family. It tore everyone apart, me included, but I watched as we all came together, too. Everyone did what they could to contribute, and we learned to get by with less and to take care of each other more.
Now, eight years later, things were finally stable again. Mom was getting to take some time off for herself, and our oldest brother Colton was happily running the family hardware store that Dad had left behind. After leaving home, not a single one of the Young siblings had needed to crawl back home for extra support or financial help, and I wasn’t about to let myself be the exception.
They’d all taken care of me enough already, thank you.
“I guess I was just calling to see if you had any tips,” I asked. “There’s not like a secret website where you can find last-minute housing, is there?”
“Yeah there is. It’s called Casey and Blake dot com. Heard of it?”
I bit down on my bottom lip. “I told you, I’m not going to live with your high school friends,” I objected.
“Why not? They have a spare room, and they offered. It would at least give you time to look for a better place.”
I tapped my sneaker against the pavement as another cool breeze hit me.The real answer was simple. Casey and Blake were excruciatingly hot. When I was a teenager, the two of them lived rent-free in my horny imagination. They’d hang out with Peyton in the basement after school, and as soon as they took off, I’d run upstairs and lock myself in the bathroom to jerk off, positively quivering over my older brother’s very hot and very straight friends.
