The Housemates

Bonding

Chapter Eight

Bonding

Adeline actually had a day off. It was shocking. Elli didn’t think she’d ever seen her housemate home for an entire day. She really didn’t believe that Addy would manage to stay all of today. Someone would ask her to take over their shift. It would happen; that was how the universe worked.

Yet when Elli went to make lunch, Addy was still home. She stood in the living room, her long black hair pulled into a messy ponytail. She had on a baggy white T-shirt and black sweatpants. The (admittedly minimal) living room furniture was pushed out of the way and a tarp sat on the floor. The frantic girl seemed unusually calm. She stood on the tarp, staring intently at the wall, doing nothing. It definitely piqued the werewolf’s curiosity.

“What’re you up to?” she wondered, moving to stand beside her.

“Trying to decide where to start. There’s so much work to do in this house and I only have so much time off and I don’t know where to start. I was thinking I’d paint the living room first, but I think I might need to sand the walls down some before I can paint them… I did not realize they were this rough. But this room needs to be painted. The outside needs it, too. The roof is leaking. The floors need to be waxed. The-” The lights flickered and she sighed. “The electricity needs to be rewired. Thank goodness the plumbing is good, but God, this place needs work and I actually have a day off and I just don’t even know what to do.”

Elli grinned at her. “Why don’t we just start with the living room?”

Addy looked at her in surprise. “We?”

“Well, yeah. I live here, too. I can help out. And what else am I doing with my time, anyways? Do you have an extra hair tie?”

She did and handed it to her housemate. The werewolf pulled her hair back and looked at the supplies Addy collected. Sorting through them, she found a package of sheets of coarse sandpaper. She opened it and handed a sheet to the human. They could start sanding down the rough walls.

“Thanks,” she said awkwardly. Was this girl capable of not being awkward?

“No problem.”

They began working on the walls, which were damaged to the point of being capable of leaving splinters. Good thing Addy decided to not to just go ahead and paint it. This place really did need a lot of work, but maybe that was what Elli could start doing with her spare time. Until she left, anyways. It would be something to keep her occupied.

“So why do you work so much?” she wondered, to fill the silence.

“College is expensive. My car is expensive. This house is getting expensive. Life just takes an obnoxious amount of cash. How do you manage to get by without a job?”

“Inheritance,” she answered with a shrug. That was a large part of it. She and Noah had received quite the sum of money from their parents’ deaths. It wasn’t the only part, though. They had also been given what, in the werewolf world, was known as “blood money”. It was a large payment made to werewolves who left their packs, a bribe to keep the secret and a symbol of how alone they now were. They were on their own, no pack to take care of them. They needed the money because they didn’t have any help. The money was a reminder of all their mistakes; that was the main purpose it served, a slap in the face.

“Is it nice to be living with Noah again?”

Elli nodded. “Extremely. Though I’m kind of surprised with both ended up living here. We’re not exactly the best roommate candidates.”

Addy sighed. “I know, but I was honestly in dire need of roommates and I didn’t have a whole lot of options. I have a… reputation… in town. I’m amazed that Richard applied, since he’s a local.”