Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

There it was again, that odd little sound that didn't belong with the music she was currently listening to. Melanie looked to the side with a focused expression, pulling away one side of her headphones to listen in better. Sounded like something was being dragged against the floor, and with it came a quiet grunt of effort from her roommate. Now feeling even more confused she pulled her headphones off her head entirely, leaving the music playing, and leaned over the railing of the loft which made up the majority of her space in the apartment.

A large brown box slid just into view from below. It was still open, showing all the contents inside and Melanie recognized them all. What was that girl doing?

"Uh, Kate?" Melanie asked as she descended down the short flight of stairs that connected the loft to the main floor.

"Yeah Mel?" her roommate, Kate, replied as she was hauling another box out of her room to set it on top of a different that was already sealed shut.

Realization hit Melanie immediately, along with a sense of panic. "Kate. Buddy, chum, friend, pal," she sputtered, "What are you doing? I thought you'd be sticking around for, at least, another month."

Kate set down the box in her arms, easing herself of the current burden with a 'phew.' She then put her hands to her hips and looked to Melanie. "Okay, so, the bae actually managed to find a better place than the one we'd been looking at, so he grabbed it, which pushed our moving in forward since there's nobody there anyway. So, I figured I'd get a head start on that."

"What am I supposed to do now, though? Kate, I can't pay the rent for this place by myself!"

The apartment certainly wasn't the largest, but it did have enough space for a few people to live comfortably. The rent in question was a bit high due to the factors of it being on the nicer end of town as well as the general layout. Apartments with lofts tended to be more expensive than others.

For Kate and Mel's apartment, guests were immediately greeted by the kitchenette as soon as they walked in the door. To the left was the living room and to the right was Kate's room as well as the single bathroom shared between the two of them. Up above, in the loft, was Mel's room. There was enough space for her bed, the built-in closet, and her desk which hung close to the railing allowing her a view down below into the living room if she turned her head to the side.

Kate put her hands on Melanie's shoulders, making the girl look her in the eye. "Mel, calm down. I plan things out, remember? I've already paid for this month's rent, so you're good on that end. All you need to do is find somebody to move in with you before next month's rent is due."

"Oh, yeah, sure, you make it sound so easy," Mel replied, disbelieving.

"Pfft. You'll be fine." She then gestured wide, inferring she was talking about the entire space of the apartment. "Look at this place. Somebody will want to move in with you." She paused, looking as though she was going to add something. Then she did. "Thanks to my impeccable taste in decor."

Mel narrowed her eyes and gave a playful glare at Kate, although her lips were still curled up ever so slightly in amusement. She knew it was true. She then threw her arms around Kate's neck in a hug.

"I'm going to miss you."

"Me too, Mel. You've been an awesome roomie. I wish the same luck for the next one to move in with you."

"Thanks, Kate."

"So, you going to help me move out?" Kate asked after the moment passed.

"Psh, no way. You're on your own."

"Mel," Kate drawled out like a whining child. "But my back hurts. My neck hurts. My arms hurt. My feet hurt."

"Shaddap!" Mel barked, laughing anyway.

Kate was gone by the week's end.

It was strange walking into the apartment after that. There was an emptiness that filled in the place where Kate had been, making itself known through the unusual silence of her absence. It was a near constant reminder to Mel that she was alone now, which made her feel all the more pressed into finding a new roommate. She was just used to there being another signal of life--vivacity--around her and so she unconsciously tried to fill that void by moving around the apartment a lot more than usual.

By the end of the first day after Kate moved out Mel was already feeling like she was losing her mind. It was just too quiet and there was only so much that she, herself, could do to alleviate that. She heaved a sigh as she flopped herself onto the couch in the living room, opening up a bottle of her favorite orange soda. She felt she could splurge a little bit in her choice of food and drink for a day or two...maybe three.

Waking her computer back up from its self-induced sleep due to inactivity Mel went about putting out information that the apartment had an open space for somebody to move in. She made sure to try and word things as nicely as possible so that it would appeal to more possible tenants. She wasn't great when it came to writing stuff like this because of the limited number of characters the text box allowed. She had been better with essays while she was still in college, but that skill was withering with each year ever since her graduation.

She looked over the information she had written down one more time to make sure that there weren't any typos or grammatical errors. She really hoped somebody would want to move in quickly once she posted the information. Melanie was about to confirm the post when she paused as a little idea tiptoed about in her brain. It was a silly idea, but one that interested her nonetheless. She sat there for a moment staring at her computer screen as she thought over how things would play out if she dared to add that last bit of information to her post.

"Ah, screw it, I'll do it," she muttered. Then, with a look of resolution she added one more line before sending it.