Bender (The Core Four #1)(6)
She shook her head. “So you’d rather make yourself live the same life, and play parent to your sister, than make your mom deal with the cards she was dealt in life? No, that’s just crazy. I understand that you want something better for Sarah, but she’s not your child, and you have your own life to live.”
I pushed away my half eaten sandwich and leaned back against the cool plastic seat. I’d never really thought of it that way. If I took Sarah in after I got myself settled, was I just following in her footsteps? It wouldn’t technically be the same. I would at least have graduated high school and furthered my education so I could take care of both of us. I closed my eyes and breathed in deep. The smell of fresh baked bread permeated through my nose. I think I needed to think about this some more. Maybe Macie was right.
“Change of subject. Where’s the first place we are going to go check out?” she asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“It’s a few blocks over, near all of the frat houses. The guy’s name is Seth. We’re meeting him in about thirty minutes,” I said looking at the screen on my phone.
“Oh, Seth, me likey already.” She wagged her eyebrows at me.
I laughed and balled up my napkin, tossing it at her face. “You’re hopeless!”
We both got up from the table and threw away our trash. “Let’s take my car. I’m not sure we’ll survive the journey in your old rust bucket.”
“Hey, you leave Nelly alone. I’ve had that car since high school, and she’s gotten me through some really rough times.” I stroked a hand down my fifteen-year-old silver Camry as we passed by it on our way to Macie’s brand new Beamer.
“Yeah, yeah, shut up and get in.” We laughed as we made our way to the first house.
By the time we pulled into the single car driveway, I was a ball of nerves. I apprehensively climbed out of the car and walked up to the front door. If first impressions meant everything, mine wasn’t good. The house was a single story with dirt for a yard and cracked pavement leading up to the steps. The yellow paint on the house was peeling and gave it an old dilapidated look.
As we walked up to the steps, Macie leaned over and whispered, “He sounded normal on the phone right?”
She seemed as nervous as I felt. “Yes.”
I knocked on the door twice and stood back to wait. I heard someone moving through the house before the door swung open. A tall, skinny, blond guy stood in front of me with a big grin on his face. He puffed out some air to blow his long shaggy locks out of his eyes and then reached out to shake hands.
“Hey I’m Seth, you must be Keegan.”
I held out my hand and said, “Actually, I’m Keegan. This is my friend Macie.”
I didn’t know whether I should be offended that he assumed Macie was me, or if he had high hopes when he opened the door that my tall brunette bombshell of a best friend could be his potential roommate. Either way, I watched his smile falter a bit, and I knew I was right. Well, that was strike one against him. He quickly righted himself and shook my outstretched hand.
“Nice to meet you Keegan. Please, come in. I apologize for the mess. I just got out of class, and I didn’t have time to clean up very much before you got here.” He turned and made his way into what I assumed to be the living room.
I looked around the place and saw empty pizza boxes and beer cans strewn all about. It smelled like sweaty gym socks, and his furniture consisted of two lawn chairs and a television that sat atop of a couple of stacked pallets. There was a couch in the center of the wall upholstered in fabric covered with burnt orange flowers. It reminded me of something that would have been popular in the seventies.
Strike two.
“You can have a seat if you’d like.” He pointed to the lawn chair.
I looked over at Macie and tried not to laugh. “That’s okay. So can you tell me a little bit more about the place, and the room I’d be renting?”
“Room? This house is a one bedroom with a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. I have the bedroom, and you’d get the couch. But no worries about all your clothes and stuff. That closet behind you has plenty of space for those plastic Tupperware drawers.”
Was he serious? Judging by the way he was looking at me, he was every bit serious. I swallowed hard. Oh boy, this wasn’t good. “Uhhh… would you be willing to give me the bedroom so I could have a little bit more privacy?”
He glanced from Macie, whom he clearly was checking out, back to me. “Look, if you’re worried about privacy, don’t worry about that. I have a TV in my room so when it’s time for you to sleep, I can just go back there. You can change in the bathroom, and I’ll make sure the guys from my fraternity don’t bother you when they are over. Ground rules will be laid out, and your stuff won’t be messed with.”
My mouth was hanging open by this point. “You can’t be serious. This is a joke right? I’m being Punked. Macie,” I turned to look at her, “cut the crap. You set this up, right?”
She bit her lip to keep from laughing. “No honey, I had nothing to do with this. I think Seth here is dead serious.”
“What are you two talking about? It’s a pretty sweet deal if you ask me. One of my frat brothers wanted the couch, but I told him it depended on what you thought. And truthfully, I sorta wanted a chick as a roomy.” He grinned at me.