One?

by Jennifer L. Cahill

  ‘Ok, fair enough, but why you would have work papers here is beyond me.’ Charlie decided he had had enough fun for one day, and conceded defeat.

  ‘Great he bought it, now I will have to distract him while I move them upstairs. Maybe I could hide some of the pairs under the bed.’ Penelope was trying to develop a covert operation to get the shoes past Charlie.

  ‘Have you got the keys?’ Charlie asked, looking at Penelope with his most innocent expression – he had her in a total tizz now, with the shoe comments, and he knew this would wind her up…

  ‘I thought you had them!’ ‘Oh my god… if he has lost the keys I will kill him!’ Penelope went pale.

  ‘Just kidding! I do.’ ‘This is too easy!’ Charlie was delighted with himself.

  ‘Here we are, home sweet home…’ Penelope was delighted, it really did feel like home… she leaned against the front door so relieved to be actually on the inside of it, and stood there for a moment to compose herself. Just as she had finally regained composure and she was halfway up the stairs, there was a loud bang upstairs.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ Penelope turned to Charlie, she looked terrified.

  ‘I don’t know, but I don’t think we should hang around to find out!’ Charlie wasn’t taking any chances… he turned to head back down the stairs.

  ‘I’m scared.’ Penelope looked terrified, she couldn’t move, she was rooted to the spot.

  ‘Hello, is that you Mrs Evans?’ A female voice floated down from upstairs.

  Charlie and Penelope hesitated for a moment on the stairs, staring at each other, and then Charlie said, ‘Eh… Noooo… we are the new tenants, hold on we are coming up.’ Charlie was completely fine now that he knew it was a woman… he was something of an expert on those…

  ‘What do you mean you are the new tenants? I thought this place was empty. I dealt directly with the landlady and I moved in yesterday.’ The young woman’s voice was trembling now, no doubt she was feeling the same way they had been feeling two minutes earlier.

  ‘We dealt with the letting agent, you know… Mrs Evans.’ Penelope sounded frantic, this was a lot to take in, in such a short space of time. Penelope found herself face to face with a young woman on the landing.

  ‘Oh… I see well, Dorothy told me that Mrs Evans hadn’t filled the place so she was dealing with it herself, Mrs Evans is a bit dotty so maybe she forgot… she tends to do that sometimes.’ The young woman’s voice calmed down when she realised that there was a woman with this guy, even if both of them looked like they had just stepped out of a magazine.

  ‘I see.’ Penelope was not backing down, not for one second.

  ‘Well, we’ve paid our share of the deposit.’ Charlie sighed, trying to be practical, he had now joined the two of them on the landing.

  ‘So have I,’ the young woman retorted, they could see now that she was only a girl, early twenties at most.

  The two girls stood there glaring at each other. Neither moved an inch.

  ‘Oh my god, what do I do now? Neither girl is budging. Are they even breathing?’ Charlie thought to himself, it was like watching a bullfight. Charlie knew that he had to do something… fast!

  ‘Ladies, ladies… this is not a huge deal, let’s call the landlady and we can sort this out.’ Charlie gave them his most winning smile, and waited for them to calm down a little… or at the very least to start breathing again.

  ‘Ok, I’ll call her.’ Penelope decided to call her to make herself useful. She didn’t like the fact that moving day had been ruined by someone being in their house!

  The time that passed felt like an eternity. It seemed like their whole future depended on whatever the landlady decided. Penelope was not too impressed! Everything she owned in the world was stacked, neatly, and labelled of course, outside The Abbeville pub, and it was only a matter of time before the customers started occupying the tables outside the pub. She had had to pay a fortune to get the movers in, and there was no way she was going through all of that again. It was bad enough packing up and getting her things here.

  ‘Ok, she said she is coming over to sort this out.’ Penelope started to feel slightly relieved now that she had spoken to the landlady, and that she was going to come straight over to sort it out.

  ‘When will she be here?’ the young woman enquired, she was still completely on edge. Her voice sounded tense. Her cat-like green eyes were nearly black her pupils were so dilated from the shock, and she stood there in a loose sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms, one rubber glove on, and the other one in her left hand. Her long straight brown hair was scraped back into a messy bun, and she felt like a five-year-old as these two towered over her 5ft2 frame.

  ‘About an hour, she’s coming down from North London, and you know what the traffic can be like?’ Penelope softened her tone a bit, the poor girl looked terrified.

  ‘What is your name, by the way? I am Charlie and this is my friend Penelope.’ Charlie decided to lighten the mood a bit, the poor girl still looked petrified.

  ‘Penelope, Penelope! What kind of a name is that?!’ she thought to herself.

  ‘Nice to meet you, I’m Zara, Zara Stephens.’ Zara removed the rubber glove, and shook hands with the two of them, they were both way taller than she was, she felt like a small child in trouble! This was not a good start to her new life in London.

  ‘Well, I suppose we should just put the kettle on… that is if we even have one.’ Penelope thought it was best to be practical, maybe a cup of tea would calm them all down a bit. Tea was always the ultimate cure, particularly for awkwardness.

  ‘Good idea.’ Zara looked slightly relieved, she was dying for a cup of tea, in fact that is where she was headed when these two arrived into her life without warning.

  The thoughts were whirring around in Zara’s head like a tornado… ‘How on earth did this happen, who the hell are these two!? Just when I was settling into my new house, and they show up, I can’t believe this. What do I have to do to get a bit of peace and quiet! They nearly gave me a heart attack when they came in. I wonder what Dorothy is going to say, I mean, there are two of them, so that’s double the money into her account already. She is a friend of Mum’s though, so that should work in my favour,’ Zara reflected.

  ‘Oh my god! The doorbell nearly gave me a heart attack!’ Penelope jumped slightly when the doorbell went. They were all still on edge despite the tea and pleasantries.

  ‘I’ll go get it.’ Charlie was dying to work his magic on the landlady… there was no way he was giving up this place!

  ‘Hello I’m Dorothy, the landlady… I believe we have had a bit of a misunderstanding.’ Dorothy surveyed the scene, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife, and poor little Zara looked terrified.

  ‘Yes, well actually it turns out that Mrs Evans told us that we could move in, not knowing that you had told Sara.’ Penelope offered an explanation..

  ‘Zara!’ Zara shrieked a little more emphatically than she really should have, she didn’t normally overreact, but the atmosphere was highly charged!

  ‘Sorry… Zara… that she could move in.’ ‘Oh my god I have pissed her off already, that’s not a good start!’ Penelope thought to herself.

  ‘Oh dear, I’m sure I told Gladys that I was going to look for a new tenant myself, she is a little forgetful, maybe she just simply forgot. Would either you Zara, or you two, be willing to give up the house?’ Dorothy was trying to sort this out as soon as possible, she was double-parked outside.

  ‘No.’ Penelope was firm.

  ‘Not particularly.’ Charlie echoed.

  ‘No.’ Zara was not giving up that easily. This was the first time she had even lived away from home, and she couldn’t even imagine how to begin to find a place to rent in London, it was so big and scary!

  ‘You see the thing is, Zara has moved all of her stuff in already and my stuff is… well quite literally… on the doorstep, and Charlie’s is outside in the car.’ Penelope was trying to paint the picture a bit
clearer for everyone.

  ‘Ok, well would you be willing to share the house, I usually rent the house out to groups of four people, and I’m sure you weren’t planning on paying all of the rent on your own.’ This was the only solution as far as Dorothy was concerned.

  ‘Well we were actually planning on advertising for one or two new housemates.’ Penelope liked the idea, the thought of any more house-hunting was far from ideal.

  ‘I was going to look for three.’ Zara started to relax a bit, she had no idea how to look for housemates… she had only been in London for 24 hours so far, and was only coming to terms with not living at home anymore!

  ‘So if you all decided to move in together, you would only need to find one new housemate between the three of you.’ Dorothy was convinced that this was the right thing to do.

  ‘Well… I suppose that does take the pressure off a bit.’ Penelope liked the idea, first impressions aside, Zara seemed like a nice girl, and as she seemed to know the landlady… that would make maintenance of the house much easier if anything went wrong.

  ‘I think I would be ok with that, I mean you two don’t look like axe murders or anything…’ Zara smiled for the first time since they had all met, the others warmed to her immediately.

  ‘Quite the opposite actually, she looks more like Grace Kelly and he looks like a typical trustafarian. Such an unlikely couple! I wonder if there is anything going on between the two of them… interesting…’ Zara thought to herself, as she finally looked at them from the point of view of being housemates and not intruders.

  ‘And we were going to have to look for housemates anyway…’ Charlie was loving this, no need to worry about these things. The two girls had got so worked up over nothing!

  ‘That’s settled then, you three can sort it out amongst yourselves… I have received the money into my account, and I will send you a copy of the lease so that you can all sign it. Zara tell your mother that I was asking after her.’ Dorothy was very relieved, she liked the look of the two Londoners, and she already knew Zara.

  ‘Ok, thanks.’ Penelope showed Dorothy out. A sense of calm descended on the house, just in time for Charlie and Penelope to move the rest of their stuff in before the Abbevillagers started occupying the tables outside The Abbeville pub to make the most of the sunshine.

  Chapter 5

  The Battle of the Bedrooms

  Now that they had all decided to live together… there was only one question remaining… who got the big bedroom with the en suite bathroom? This was going to be tricky.

  ‘Zara, which room did you move into?’ Penelope tried not to sound too interested.

  ‘The smaller one on the second floor, the rent is slightly lower on that one, so I went for it… I thought the two doubles would be easier to find housemates for…’ Zara had weighed up all of her options very carefully before she moved in, and her room at home was actually smaller than the one she had move into, so she was happy with it.

  ‘Good point’ Great one down, one to go! Penelope thought to herself.

  ‘So now it’s down to the two of us.’ Penelope walked into the kitchen where Charlie was rummaging in the more or less empty cupboards.

  ‘What is?’ Charlie muttered, he barely even looked up… he was starving!

  ‘The big bedroom on the top floor?’ Penelope wanted that room, Penelope needed that room… Penelope had to have that room!

  ‘It’s more rent… the decision is easy, you can have it if you like… after all you have so many shoes… eh I mean “work papers” to store.’ Charlie winked at her and went back to scavenging in the kitchen.

  ‘Ah I didn’t realise that, well, I don’t mind paying a bit more for it.’ Penelope was already half way up the stairs with the polish and the vacuum cleaner when she said this to him.

  ‘Ok, that’s settled then, I’ll take the double room below it.’ Charlie turned around and realised he had been talking to himself.

  ‘Zara, did you hear that? Charlie is going to take the smaller double, that just leaves the tiny room upstairs… what way do you want to do it… do you know anyone who might be interested?’ Penelope dropped into Zara’s room on her way up to hers.

  ‘There is one guy I know, he might be moving to London too, I’ll text him to see if he’s interested in the little room’. Zara was finally happy with the way things were working out, if her friend took the room that would be great.

  ‘Great!, why don’t we get unpacked, and then we can all head out for a drink when we are settled in… Charlie have you got plans tonight?’ Penelope shouted down to Charlie.

  ‘Nah, was just going to hang around here…’ Charlie shouted back up from the kitchen.

  ‘Zara? What about you? Do you have plans?’ Penelope asked Zara..

  ‘No, not at all, I have literally just moved to London, I don’t really know anyone here yet, a drink would be good, do you know anywhere good around here?’ The mere mention of alcohol perked Zara up immediately, even though she found London very… very scary… she was dying to see what the bars and clubs were like.

  ‘Lots of places, there are more bars around here than people.’ Penelope was relieved that Zara had said yes, things were off to a good start. She continued her journey up another flight of stairs to her new bedroom.

  Zara was really looking forward to going out, but she felt so dowdy compared to them. Somehow her clothes were all wrong for living in London. This had never even occurred to her before she met these two. Of course she had been to London before, but living in SW4 with pretty much everyone being in their twenties and thirties was a whole different experience. Everyone she had seen so far had been so trendy or so cool, and she had to make a good impression on her new housemates. She found Penelope quite intimidating, she was beautiful, and she was still in her suit from work so she looked extremely elegant, everything matching! Zara had only ever seen people like that on TV.

  ‘Oh no! What to wear!? I know it’s only a casual drink, but I’m sure Miss Perfect will be all dressed up to the nines. I bet her shoes cost more than my entire wardrobe. I can’t wait to start working and to finally have money! I feel like such a student still! I will go shopping when I get paid at the end of the month… I can’t wait. I’m dying for a drink actually, my nerves are in tatters after all of that stuff this afternoon, with the two of them arriving in and the landlady. At one point I did think they were going to get the house and I was going to have to find somewhere else. I can’t believe it’s my first day at my new job on Monday, I hope the people are nice, and I must try and figure out how to use the bloody Tube… I’m so scared of it, the Tube map looks like the most confusing thing I have ever seen… apparently the colours are supposed to make it easier!? What a joke. They make it look like vomit! I hope I’ll get used to it eventually. I couldn’t believe that she had so many boxes to move in, they could not have all contained shoes. It said SHOES on the side, but there’s no way, unless each shoe was wrapped in bubble wrap or something. Even if they were in boxes in the big boxes, there would be too many. I’m dying to see her collection if they are all shoes. I can’t wait to buy new shoes myself actually… that’s the first thing that I’ll buy when I get paid. That Charlie guy seems so laid back, the two of them are so different, I’m surprised they are friends. Ok, let’s see… I think I’ll go for jeans and a black sparkly top, I don’t want to look like I have overdone it. Ok, that works… now, what shoes? Oh my god! I have barely any shoes down here with me, I left most of them at home. It will have to be these pointy ones. They are ok I suppose, quite dressy. I’ll go down to see if they are ready.’ Once Zara had chosen her outfit, she calmed down a little, she had a lot on her mind, as her whole life had just changed in the past 24 hours, and she hoped it was for the better… a new job, a new house, new friends?… a new life!

  ‘Oh, I didn’t realise you were waiting for me.’ Zara was a bit embarrassed when she came downstairs and the two of them were waiting in the hallway.

  ‘Don’t w
orry… we wanted to let you settle in… I only unpacked a few things, otherwise I would be here all night!’ Penelope laughed, Zara still looked so anxious… but it was nothing a few drinks wouldn’t sort out!

  ‘Where are we going?’ Zara asked.

  ‘Let’s go and have a look, there are so many bars around here, my favourite one is called Sand bar, but it might be really packed tonight, there are always queues at the weekends. There are a few others, let’s wander down the road and go into the first one we fancy… Charlie, any preferences?’ Penelope was dying to go to Sand bar, but they had left it kind of late, and there was no way that she was going to queue. Sand bar was inconspicuously tucked in among the residential areas of Clapham on the border of Brixton. It was the perfect mixture of a beautiful space, beautiful drinks and amazing R&B music. It was a favourite among some celebrities who knew they could visit without being bothered. There was a down-to-earthedness in Clapham that you simply didn’t get in nearby Chelsea. It was glamorous without being pretentious.

  ‘Nah, that’s cool, whatever… as long as there’s beer.’ Charlie was so easy to please.

  Zara surveyed Penelope’s outfit… ‘She’s not that dressed up really, I was expecting Gucci-looking clothes… she actually seems more down to earth when she is not in her power suit! She looks more suited to be going out with Charlie dressed in Jeans and a trendy t-shirt… the trendy casual look. I bet the jeans cost a fortune, but they are made to look old and worn. I wonder if she gets those eyebrows done or if she does them herself?’ Zara was getting caught up in her scrutiny, she couldn’t help herself. It was a lot to take in and process.

  ‘Here we are… ah… the magic words… “Happy Hour”.’ Penelope saw no queues, great… she could murder a Strawberry Daiquiri.

  ‘Looks good.’ Zara smiled at Penelope, nodding like a lemming. ‘Thank god for Happy Hour I’m so broke until I get paid!’ Happy Hour was one concept that Zara was very familiar with! It was starting to feel a tiny bit more like home now.