“Uh, no thanks. I’ve got stuff to do,” I mumbled, unable to come up with a better excuse.
Stu lit up a cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke. “I saw you talking to that freak,” he said, surprising me.
“Flynn?” I asked.
“Is that his name?” Stu countered.
“Yeah. That’s his name. And when the hell did you see me talking to him?” I asked. And why did I feel like I was being interrogated?
“At Darla’s. You guys seemed pretty cozy.” Stu blew out another puff of smoke, this time in my face.
I coughed and waved a hand in front of me.
“What’s it to you, Stu?” I was getting annoyed by this whole conversation.
Stu dropped his cigarette and stomped it out.
“It’s nothing to me. Just thought it strange that you were hanging out all friendly like with the tard. Seems to me you should be a little more selective in who you hang out with,” Stu remarked.
I was going to blow my top. Stu Wooten was the last person I needed shit from.
“Look, Stu, I don’t hang out with Flynn. And if I did, that wouldn’t be any of your business! And he’s not a tard. He has a name. So freaking use it!” I had to take a deep breath to calm myself down. I was getting strangely worked up.
Stu didn’t say anything about my outburst. And that made me feel even more foolish. What had possessed me to defend Flynn like that? But it infuriated me to hear Stu disparage him like that.
“Whatever. Later, Ellie,” Stu said, climbing up into his truck and I was left standing there feeling completely unsettled.
12
-Ellie-
“This one is adorable! It even has a little balcony!” Dania squealed. The realtor, who had introduced herself as Barbara, stood just inside the door with a fake smile plastered across her smug and judgmental face. She had been irritatingly condescending since Dania and I had arrived at the apartment complex on the north side of Wellsburg.
She had taken one look at Dania with her protruding belly and instantly made up her mind about the two of us. The sad thing she wasn’t entirely wrong. Her preconceived notions were entirely too accurate.
Yes, Dania was the flaky unwed mother who continued to smoke like a chimney and drink like a sailor. And I was the brash and aggressive friend with little education and even less class.
We were a white trash duo from the wrong side of the tracks.
“Now this one is $450 a month and that includes utilities. The landlord is strict with rent payments and they are expected on the first of every month. If you are more than three days late more than once, you will be evicted,” Barbara, the realtor explained, her eyes darting toward Dania, who was still freaking out over the awesome cabinets.
I narrowed my eyes while crossing my arms over my chest. “I understood when you explained it the last two times, ma’am,” I said coldly. Yeah, I get it. We weren’t the ideal renters. But she didn’t have to be rude about it.
Dania came over and pulled me by the hand down the short hallway. My friend was thrilled because this was the last three-bedroom available in our price range. Low-income housing wasn’t exactly hard to come by in Wellsburg but given the space Dania insisted we needed, it didn’t give us a lot of options. It was amazing how picky she was when right now she was living in a studio apartment with a broken toilet.
This apartment was situated in a rundown part of town. I wasn’t entirely sure how Miss Realtor Lady could look down her nose at us when our potential neighbors would include a known meth dealer and a woman rumored to turn tricks at the truck stop off the highway.
Apparently, unwed mother and her bitchy friend were near the bottom of Barbara’s list of shitty people.
I wasn’t impressed with the interior. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t that great either. However, it would be a decisive step up from the place where I currently lived. There didn’t appear to be a mold problem and the locks seemed to be working. Health and security were both pluses.
“You’d get the smaller room of course. I’ll need the big one and the baby will need the other larger one for all of his stuff,” Dania was prattling on. I tried not to get pissed about the fact that I was helping her out and she was shafting me with the box room.
She had been insistent that we needed enough space for the baby, even though still refused to commit to raising it. More proof that Dania’s thought process wasn’t rooted in reality.
I took a deep breath and counted backwards from twenty. Blowing up would end up in a nasty scene that I didn’t want to have in front of the ass**le realtor.
“Sure, whatever,” I muttered, heading back out into the living room.
Barbara was texting on her phone and looking extremely put out. Her cheap polyester suit had to be sweltering in the late September heat. West Virginia was experiencing an extended summer, with temperatures soaring into the nineties for over three weeks now.
Barbara’s makeup was smearing under the layer of sweat on her face and I smirked as she tried to fix her sagging hair.
“When will the place be available?” I asked, openly laughing at her pitiful attempts at straightening her appearance. “I think you’re starting to melt, sweetie,” I batted my eyes innocently and pointed to a glob of foundation that was running down her cheek.
She huffed and pulled out a tissue from her pocket, blotting her face. “It won’t be ready for another month or two. The landlord has to do some work on the unit to get it up to code. But if you’re interested, I’ll tell him to put you on the list for consideration,” she said waspishly, obviously annoyed that I’d noticed her crappy makeup job.
“That would be great. But put it under my name, Ellie McCallum. I’ll be the only one on the lease,” I told her with a glare, daring her to argue with me. I knew Dania’s credit was shot and while mine wasn’t great, it would at least pass the required check.
“Fine. I’ll let him know. I have your phone number. So I’ll be in touch if I find anything else that suits your needs,” she said, already opening the door to herd us outside.
Dania was still oohing and ahhing over the place and I was sick and tired of breathing the same air as Miss Makeup Impaired.
Barbara didn’t even bother waving goodbye when we parted ways. Nasty bitch.
“Let’s go get something to eat! I’m starving!” Dania said, rubbing her belly.
I still had to finish my reading for tomorrow’s class and I was hoping to get a shower before my shift at JAC’s in a couple of hours, but Dania wasn’t one to recognize the word no.