Chapter 1
The day was beautiful, with the wind presenting them with a nice breeze, birds singing in the trees, and the sun...
Well the sun was being a right dick, beating down on them as they (they being Rhys, Vaughn, and a friend of a friend named August) carried boxes from the moving truck into their new home. Rhys and Vaughn's new home, that is. August was just there because he lost a bet, and the loser had to help the others with their moving adventure while the winner sipped lemonade on the front porch. August made sure to kick the leg of Fiona's chair with each pass of it he made, whether he was lugging boxes marked with "kitchen" into the home or groaning as he walked back into the sun to get the next box. Fiona, on the other hand, made sure to slurp loudly from her lemonade while making direct eye contact with August as he walked up the porch.
The day was beautiful.
Just then, Rhys came over from the truck, carrying a small box and grinning from ear to ear. With the furniture having been moved in first, they had nothing more to worry about once Rhys got that box inside. He said as much, stopping in front of Fiona with the box propped up on one hip. He was glad to be done, too, as his arm's battery was just about fizzled out.
"Last one?" Fiona asked, looking up at him from under the brim of her hat. A straw one this time, Rhys noted, with a magenta ribbon around it. Cute.
"Yep!" The pop of the "p" was exaggerated, Rhys' excitement over being done leaking into his speech. Fiona finished off her lemonade, quietly, and stood up from her chair. She wasted no time in pushing the empty glass into Rhys' free hand before walking down the porch steps, waving at him from over her shoulder.
"You owe me, Rhys!" From the back of the truck, August barked out a laugh before he pulled on the rope to close the door, the metal making a loud bang as it met the bed of the truck.
"I'll uh, I'll cook dinner for you this week! Tell Sasha to come too!"
Fiona climbed into the driver's seat of the truck with another wave at Rhys, waiting for August to jump in the passenger side before she started it up.
With a mental note to buy groceries soon, Rhys went inside, stepping around the haphazardly placed boxes and pieces of furniture to find a free space to set the last box. He found a relatively out of the way spot to place it, and then walked into the kitchen, where his friend and roommate Vaughn was unpacking cooking essentials.
"So like," Vaughn began, still digging around in a box. "This is pretty cool, right?"
Rhys rolled his eyes and began to unpack too, pulling out newspaper-wrapped dishes from another box. "If by cool you mean awesome, then schyeah."
"Still can't believe the deal we got on this place, bro. All because of a neighbor who's not even in town that often. Though we really could've used Yvette, you know?" Vaughn shrugged as he started organizing silverware in a drawer, waving a butter knife around as he talked.
"We'll put an ad up in the paper or something, or on Craigslist. Can't be that hard to find a roomie without a bee allergy." They could've gotten another cramped apartment for around the same price, but Vaughn had seen the ad for their new house and couldn't believe the asking price. It was just a bit higher than their three bedroom apartment, but the neighborhood was nice and it was an actual house, not their crummy apartment. Yvette unfortunately couldn't move in with them when the lease on their last place ended due to their new neighbor's, uh, hobby of beekeeping.
When they had initially driven down to inspect the house, they noticed that there was an abnormal amount of bees buzzing around. When they asked the realtor about it, she made a face (Rhys thought she looked like she had just bitten into a lemon) and explained to them that their neighbor, Mr. Lawrence, had one or two small hives in his backyard that he tended to when he was in town, which wasn't that often. He apparently paid someone else to look after them in the meantime.
The great deal on the place? Well the guy next door was a huge dick to everyone when he was home, and his presence drove the property value around him down. But he paid everything on time and in full, so nothing could be done about it. The neighbors couldn't even call the local authorities because nothing this Mr. Lawrence did could be even considered disrupting the peace, he was just incredibly unpleasant.
When they got back to their apartment to tell Yvette about it, who had been unable to take the time off of work to go with them, she simply shrugged her shoulders and told them to find another roommate. She wasn't risking getting stung and have her allergy nearly kill her just for a house. Plus, if Mr. Lawrence turned out to be as much of a bother as the realtor said, she told them flat out that she was liable to stab him with a stiletto heel.
Rhys and Vaughn, having lived with Yvette for some time now, took her attitude in stride. Between the two of them, they had enough to make the down payment and pay the first month's bills, so they decided to go ahead with the move; Yvette was quick to find a suitable roommate to replace them, too.
"Besides, we got a whole month to find someone. I'm sure we'll be fine, bro." Rhys went to stand by Vaughn, reaching up past him to open the overhead cabinet to place plates and bowls in the space. Vaughn might have scowled at him, just because. Being tall was one thing, but flaunting it was another.
Not that Rhys was actively and consciously shoving his height in Vaughn's face by putting away dishes, but still.
"Oh, totally, bro. I mean, who wouldn't want to live with us?" Rhys could list at least four specific people off the top of his head, but kept silent, rolling his eyes at his friend. Vaughn continued on as he unpacked glasses and mugs. "I'll get that ad up online tonight, and we'll see about putting something in the local paper tomorrow."
Rhys had moved back to the kitchen island by the time Vaughn finished talking and nodded at him.
"For sure, bro. We got this."
They were so screwed.
They had little more than a week to find a third roommate, or else they would be scavenging for any loose change they could find in the couch or loose dollars they'd lost in the wash just to meet the next month's rent, not to mention their utilities and other basic needs.
Like food, for instance.
Rhys sighed as he slipped on his shoes by the door before walking outsider with a quick goodbye to Vaughn, heading to his little Honda in the driveway. He had maybe an extra hundred stored in the bank for groceries, while the rest of it was going towards his portion of the mortgage and bills. Vaughn didn't even have enough to pitch in for food after taking away his part of the bills, either.
Rhys sighed again, his head lolling back as he stood next to his car, eyes closed to the sun and fingers lazily gripping his keys.
They had yet to garner a decent reply to their ad, with the only applicants being a couple of really sketchy people who couldn't hold a job for more than a month or wouldn't even admit to having a job. Rhys couldn't help but complain over social media, tweeting out their troubles only to gain a string of sad-faced emojis from Yvette above an attached photo of her and her new roommate, a girl named Maya or something, making over-exaggerating frowns.
Rhys had mentally checked her off his Christmas list, though he knew he'd still end up getting her something anyway.
Fed up with the sunlight on his face, Rhys righted himself and rolled his shoulders in an effort to get some of the stiffness out of them. His right shoulder had been acting up lately, a side-effect from the robotic prosthetic he had, and was being more of a pain than usual. Still, it wouldn't stop him from trying to feed himself and Vaughn, so he unlocked his car and made to get in, only...
Something caught his attention.
A big, black, shiny something. In their neighbor's drive-way, which had been vacant since they moved in nearly three weeks ago, sat a clearly expensive sports car, though Rhys couldn't tell what the make or model was.
Huh.
So the elusive Mr. Lawrence was home.