Page 10 of A Roommate for Christmas
“Noodles!You are so naughty!”Again, Wren’s tone with Noodles had no sense of frustration or command.
“No matter how hard I try, he just can’t seem to get potty trained,” Wren said with almost a laugh in her voice, sealing her fate in the roommate interview.
MaybePaige could have gotten past the annoying barking—after all, it couldn’t possibly be happening all day, right?—but she absolutely could not get on board with a dog who was going to relieve itself in her home.
Wren grabbed one of her poop bags, cleaned the mess, and handed Paige the leash.
“You don’t mind holding on to Noodles while I toss this, do you?”She walked away before Paige could even answer, but instead of heading toward the door to the street, where there was a trash can conveniently next to the café, Wren headed straight to the trash can at the stand next to the counter with the napkins and sugar packets and threw the poop bag in.
It took everything in Paige to pick her jaw up from the floor.Was she being punked?Were there hidden cameras somewhere?Because this meeting was only going from bad to worse.
Thinking quickly, she stood up as soon as Wren got back to the table.
“Wren, I’m so sorry, I’m needed back at work for an emergency.I’m afraid I need to go!”Paige lied through her teeth.“It was great to meet you—and Noodles—and I’ll let you know about the room.”
Paige wasn’t necessarily afraid of confrontation, but she did not want to be associated with Wren and Noodles any longer than she needed to be.
“No problem, girl!”Wren replied, completely unfazed by the past five minutes.“We’ll look out for a text from you!”She finished her sentence with a wink, holding up Noodles and making a wave motion with his paw.
And with that, Paige hurried out of the Starbucks with secondhand embarrassment and no roommate prospects.
Chapter 4
“Nadia,I’mtellingyouit was awful.Imagine the horror stories you read about bad dates.That is exactly what this was like.She didn’t even bat an eye at the fact that her dog took a shit inside a Starbucks.And not to mention herservicedog,” Paige said, rolling her eyes and then imitating the wink Wren had given her.
She had just gotten home from work and FaceTimed Nadia to fill her in on her tragic second interview.
I know it’s only Tuesday, but do you want to come over tonight and order sushi and watchLove is Blind?”Paige made sure to sound desperate.“I think Jeremy and Kylie are going to have that fight they’ve been teasing over the last few episodes.”
After a miserable day, all Paige wanted to do was curl up on the couch, stuff her face with imitation crab and rice, and watch the shit hit the fan for other people.
“I can’t tonight, Paige.I told Linus we could finish unpacking my things.All my boxes are starting to drive him crazy.”
“Fiiiiine.”Paige sighed.“More edamame for me then.”
They spent a few more minutes catching up on Nadia’s workday until Linus popped on the screen to whisk Nadia away to do their chores.After hanging up, Paige sat back on the couch, listening to the silence that flooded the apartment.
It was weird having things so quiet.She and Nadia had lived together for so long, she had gotten used to constant background noise.But now, Paige was alone with her own thoughts.
She couldn’t quite identify what she was feeling.But she had been sensing it creeping in the back of her mind for a while now—growing stronger with the sudden silence.
With all the quiet, Paige realized that while Nadia and Linus included her in just about everything they did together, she had become more and more lonely this past year.
Since high school, Paige had always had someone all to herself.First it was Nadia.Then Chance.And while Nadia had always been there, it wasn’t the same with more of her focus shifting toward Linus.
Sure, they still had plenty of solo girls’ nights when they were roommates, but now instead of swapping miserable dating and hookup stories like they used to in their college and early Chicago days, Nadia shared frustrations that come with a six-year relationship, and Paige shared excuses for not going on any dates at all.
Dating had been fun and casual when they first moved to Chicago and she and Nadia were both doing it.But once Nadia got serious with Linus, it left Paige to be the only one looking for a one-off fun time, or with the pressure to actually find Mr.Right.
And she thought she had with Chance.Until he decided to get in bed with the blonde new hire.
Paige hadn’t dated at all since the breakup.She couldn’t help being afraid to open up to someone knowing that person had the ability to shatter her heart again.
Logically, she didn’t want to be with Chance anymore.He cheated on her, came crawling back to her promising it meant nothing, and then after a week of being alone, decided he might as well start dating the girl he cheated with.
He sucked.She knew it.And Nadia knew it even before Paige did.
It didn’t take long after Chance’s Christmas party confession for Nadia to tell Paige how shereallyfelt about her new ex.
