Page 61 of Run, Run, Roommates
“How much?” I ask.
A tear leaks down her cheek when she tells me. It is a lot; what a burden for her to be carrying.
“It’s bad, I know,” she rushes out. “I didn’t know what I was doing when I first moved here and my shopping snowballed. For a while it was fine, manageable. And then my first roommate in the city suggested I sublet to them. I thought that was what you were supposed to do. And then they stopped paying and I couldn’t get them to move out, and I lost the security deposit because of them and the utilities weren’t getting paid.”
She’s crying now, and I pull her into my arms.
“So I thought I’d learned my lesson, and the next place we were co-tenants. But my credit score had taken a hit and so I took out a loan and then I still got fucking left in the lurch by my roommates. When I couldn’t cover the rent, I had to take out two more credit cards or get evicted. See?” she says through her tears. Her arm snakes out to point at herself. “Hot mess.”
I let her cry on my chest for a moment and then pull her back to look up at me. “A credit score is just one number. It’s not a pass/fail for life, okay?”
“Okay.” She sniffs.
“I do feel like there’s a power imbalance, though. I don’t ever want you to feel uncomfortable here, or that you have to stay with me because you can’t afford to live anywhere else.”
“Why do you say that as if it won’t last?”
Now it’s my turn to look away. “You saw me with Ash. You know what I’m like at my job.” I swallow. “It bleeds into my real life. Joe thought I was an asshole and someday you will too.”
Brin touches my chin, making me meet her eyes again. “I’ve lived with you long enough, Marco. I know who you are. And so did your brother. He loved you so much.”
I nudge her hand and kiss her palm.
“Today those qualities that you think make you an asshole made me feel protected. I wouldn’t have known what to do about Greg without you. I’m also not in that place that I was when we first moved in together,” she continues. “I mean, I still have a lot of debt, and I’m working on it. Someday, I’ll have an emergency fund, for when I need to fly home or break the lease on an apartment. And I have friends now too. I’m not alone. For example . . .”
She pulls her phone out of her pocket and taps the screen a few times. It rings on speaker three times until a female voice picks up. “Hey!”
Brin smiles. “Hey, Eva! Marco’s here too.”
“Marco! Are you calling with good news? Did you win the scavenger hunt?”
I laugh. “No, not even close.”
“I’ve got a question for you,” Brin says. “If I had to move out of my apartment with Marco right now, could I come stay with you until I find a new place?”
Eva’s tone sharpens. “What did he do? Marco, what did you do?”
“No, no, Eva,” Brin rushes to get out. “Hypothetically. He’s worried he’s taking advantage of me.”
Her voice softens. “Oh my god, of course! You can sleep on my pullout couch and we can walk to work together. We can make it a sleepover with the three of us. I have these new stick-on nails I want to try, and Shannon likes this expensive face mask and she lets me mooch off of her. Maybe I’d even kick Shannon out and you can be my permanent roommate.”
We hear a muffled “hey!” in the background. “Just kidding,” she says, which is followed by laughter. Eva’s voice comes back on. “Do I need to go over to your place and kick Marco’s ass until he stops being so worried about you?”
I answer before Brin can. “Today is not that day, Eva, but hang on to that thought.”
Brin frowns at me but Eva laughs. “Don’t forget, babe: you are a kick-ass woman, and you aren’t going to ever let someone take advantage of you again. Got that?”
“Got it,” Brin agrees.
We thank her and hang up the phone.
“What now?” Brin asks.
“The only thing that changes,” I say, “is that we keep loving each other.”
“Epically.”
“And often,” I add.
