Chapter 4.08

“Good morning,” Dakota said cheerfully to the girl that checked her in yesterday, “is there a mall around here?”

The red headed girl looked up from her magazine and gave her an annoyed look, “did you hear about google?”

“I did. But I really like your style so I wanted to know where you shop. I always feel like my cleavage isn’t big enough.” she answered sarcastically and walked out of the office.

The girl clearly disliked her for some mysterious reason and Dakota was starting to dislike her as well.

Maybe I should move in with Trevor and Dean. Guys are easier to live with, no drama.

She found the mall easily and one hour later she was looking through the hangers in her favorite store. The problem was, she couldn’t afford anything in there. Not if she wanted to keep a roof over her head. She used to be able to buy whatever she wanted without looking at the price tag but those days are over.

Eventually she found a store with reasonable prices and really cute clothes. She needed everything from socks to sweatshirts. Even though she tried to stay on her set budget of five hundred dollars, she went a little over.

She really needs to find a job. Good thing she purchased a cute pants suit for her interviews. She did it back in Sierra just recently. It should not be a problem to find a starter job here in Hillside.

Once she got back to the motel, she grabbed a newspaper from the stand in the office and looked through the section with job offers and apartment listings. She was shocked when she saw how expensive rent is here. It was almost double of what she paid in Sierra for the same size apartment. It seems like sharing a house with two men will be her only option at this moment.

“Hello?” a man’s voice answered the phone.

“Hey, Trevor. It’s Dakota.”

“Oh, hi. How are you?”

“Good, thanks…I was wondering if you’re still looking for a roommate?”

“We are. Why don’t you come over tonight to meet Dean and check the place out?”

“How does seven o’clock sound?”

“Perfect. See you then.”

“Do you ever do anything else?” Dakota teased as she was walking towards Trevor working on his pile of metal.

“As long as people keep putting diesel in their cars instead of gas, I don’t have to do anything else,” he returned the sarcasm.

“Ha ha, very funny.”

Trevor laughed and opened the front door, “come on in. I’ll show you around.”

Dakota walked through the door and on her right side there was a living room with three couches, all in the same color. Across from the couch there was a flat screen TV and video game console. That reminded her of Dylan. Hopefully these guys don’t spend their days playing games and drinking beer

The living room was open to the kitchen and dining area. It was one big room in the center of the house. On the left side there was a door to Dean’s room with a private bathroom which, according to Trevor, was off limits. On the other side of the house were two identical rooms with a bathroom in between.

One of these rooms was occupied by Trevor and the second one was empty. Waiting for Dakota to move in.

“Here it is,” he opened the door and let her enter first.

Dakota walked in and sat on the bed. It was the only thing in the room along with a black and white dresser.

“it’s really nice,” she was looking around, imagining herself in this room, “how much is the rent?”

“Six fifty, everything included.”

“Hmm, that’s reasonable. I may even have some money left for decorating.”

“So you’re interested?”

“Hell yea.”

“Awesome. Dean should be home any minute, I’ll introduce you,” Trevor walked back into the kitchen and put water in a coffee machine, “coffee while we wait?”

Dakota took a seat at the table and patiently waited for him to join her.

“So, tell me about Dean.”

“He’s a quiet but funny guy, very smart. Works as an accountant for a big international company in the city. We’ve been best friends since high school, he was really there for me when my dad was at his worst and after he passed.”

“He must mean a lot to you.”

“He does, but don’t tell him,” Trevor joked.

Right then a thin, pale, young man walked into the house.

“Hey bro,” Trevor greeted him, “this is Dakota. The girl interested in renting Alicia’s old room.”

Dakota stood up and shook his hand, “nice to meet you.”

“You too. Trevor told me about you. He said you’re especially good at filling up car tanks?”

Dakota looked behind her at Trevor with a threatening look in her eyes, “I will get you back for this.”

They all laughed and Dean pulled out a phone dialing clearly a well known phone number, “I’m getting pizza, who’s hungry?”

The three new friends ate dinner together and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Dakota had a great time. She felt like she belonged there, she felt safe.

Was it a coincidence that she ended up here? Whatever it was, she was grateful. Only couple days ago her life fell apart and today things just seem right. Maybe her fiance cheating on her was the best thing that could have happened to her…