Page 2 of Pretend for Me

“Audrey, where did you put my white shirt?” I huffed. “It was hanging behind the door last night!”

I had my suspicions about the answer, but I needed Audrey to confirm them. Audrey rounded the corner and made her way into the doorway of the tiny bathroom. “About that … so Oreo might have used it as a scratching post in the middle of the night,” Audrey admitted sheepishly.

That damn cat. I hated him. More so he hated me. Audrey’s other two cats, Mimi and Duke, were much more docile. They were orange, fluffy, and overweight; they could barely make it to their food bowl, let alone climb up the door. Oreo, on the other hand, was an insane white striped cat; he destroyed everything in his path especially if it was mine. Audrey took them off the streets. Apparently, she had a thing for strays … including me.

“Audrey, that was my last clean shirt! I didn’t get to the laundromat this week. Fuck. Bridget is going to murder me.” Ipicked at my fingernails, a nervous tic I’d had forever. Old habits died hard.

Audrey rolled her eyes and said, “Come on,” before she walked out of the bathroom. I followed behind wordlessly, knowing when Audrey wanted something, it was often pointless to argue.

Audrey flipped through the hangers in the tiny closet that housed my belongings. It was a far cry from a decade ago when all I had was a backpack stuffed with a few articles of clothing.

“Found it!” Audrey waved a black dress in my face. “She’ll be fine with this. It meets the dress code.”

I shuffled my feet, taking it into my hands. “But, Audrey?—”

“If Bridget gives you a hard time, let me know. I’ll handle her,” Audrey promised.

“So that you can tell her off and then we’ll both be out of jobs? No, thank you!” I crossed my arms. I didn’t want Audrey to fight my battles for me, and I certainly didn’t want to get her fired. However, I was out of options and running late for work, so I changed quickly.

When I had first met Audrey, Audrey insisted that I move in with her. I was hesitant. For one, I was new to the city and didn’t know anything about Midtown Manhattan. I also didn’t have a job lined up yet. Not to mention, Audrey was a complete stranger.

The hustle and bustle of New York City. The trains, the cars, the smell. I was still getting used to it all.

For the past month, I had been staying in a new shelter in the city. Prior to my move, I had been shelter-hopping all over New Jersey and worked at several diners. Thankfully Jersey was the diner capital of the world.

I just needed to save enough for an apartment, with a roommate of course. I kept looking on Craigslist but couldn’t find anything that didn’t scream serial killer den.

My dreams of working as an apprentice at an art gallery had been shut down time after time. That didn’t stop me from continuing to mail my work, hoping that someone saw something in me, something worth supporting.

I pulled on the heavy wooden doors of the post office, and just when I walked inside, I bumped into a small woman hanging something on the bulletin board.

“Oomph. Excuse me. Watch—” The woman with the short pixie haircut turned around suddenly. “Sorry, I’m just hanging these flyers. My roommate left me, and now I’m stuck coming up with this month’s rent on my own. Can you believe that? I swear young people these days. No respect.” She looked at me and smiled. “Oops, no offense.”

I laughed at her rant, maybe my first real laugh in forever. “S’okay!” I tried walking around the twenty-something-year-old, but I was bombarded by the loud, fast-talking woman again.

“Hey! Where do you live? If you don’t mind me asking of course. I mean, I swear I don’t have a machete under my bed. Just cats. I have a few. Oh, are you allergic?” the woman rambled, “How do you feel about Midtown?”

And that was how I met Audrey.

Audrey insisted on helping me get a job at the restaurant where she worked—Sonny's on 5th. It was a Michelin-star steakhouse in Manhattan owned by Bridget Thomas. She served as the executive chef as well, but also she was a hard ass who wanted everything done her way, right down to the hair pins she forced the women to wear. Audrey had worked there since they’d opened, starting as a hostess but just last year, she got promoted to head bartender. She loved to talk, so it was a perfect fit for her skill set.

I couldn’t accept Audrey’s job assistance, not if I was considering becoming her roommate. That would have goneagainst all the hard work I had done to no longer depend on anyone. So I conceded to being her roommate but insisted on looking for a job on my own, putting my art on hold for the time being.

It took a month for me to find a job as a server in New York. Thankfully, I had some money saved in order to pay Audrey the first month’s rent. But even with my background and experience, these fancy restaurants wanted someone who had previously worked in fine dining. My jobs had all been at hole-in-the-wall diners, which was why I eventually found a job at a cafe.

I had been working there for three years when the owner told me they were shutting down. I took on different odd jobs throughout the years to make rent. After bouncing my second rent check and needing Audrey to cover me, I had to finally admit defeat and accept Audrey’s help.

With a lot of pleading and a little bit of blackmail on Audrey’s part, Bridget hired me on the condition that I’d heed the warning of “don’t fuck it up.”

That was almost a year ago, and I still found myself walking on eggshells where Bridget was concerned. Mostly I kept to myself, but Audrey was always pushing me to make friends. I still struggled to let people in. Audrey barged her way in; I didn’t have a choice in the matter.

Audrey snapped her fingers, breaking me out of my reverie. “Cassie!” I turned to look at Audrey. “People like Bridget Thomas need to be put in their place. She doesn’t scare me, and she sure as hell shouldn’t scare you.” Audrey walked behind me with a brush and started fixing my hair. “Bridget is not the boss ofyou.She’s only the boss of her restaurant.”

“That we work at!” I pointed out, taking the pin from Audrey’s hand and arranging my hair to Bridget’s liking.

“Oh, Cassie, have I taught you nothing these past ten years?!” Audrey blew out a breath.

My tone softened. “You’ve taught me plenty.” I smiled at Audrey. She would never know how grateful I was to have someone like her in my life.

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