The Witch's Offering

Chapter 5

"I could get used to this," said Ren as the limo pulled up to the curb in front of Tyler's, JC's, and his home. Located on the outskirts of the university housing, the five-bedroom colonial was far enough away from the frat houses to make Ren's jock roommates think twice before heading over there for a weekend party.

The place had enough room for two more renters, but JC and Tyler came from well-off families and convinced their parents to pay for the other two bedrooms instead of letting some random guys take them. One became Brit's office and art studio for her graphic design classes, while the other was lined with sound padding and acted as JC's recording studio where he worked on sound engineering and design. Though he looked like the perfect candidate for star quarterback on the football team, his eventual goal was to become a foley artist and do sound on a major Hollywood production.

Meanwhile, Tyler was shooting for the big leagues and played on the Uni football and baseball teams. Instead of commandeering one of the extra bedrooms that he was technically paying for, he turned the house's study into a fitness room with treadmills, mirrors on the wall, a free weight bench, and one of those square universal machines. Ren had difficulty finding excuses not to stay in shape with a professional training center downstairs. Plus, he got the rare treat of spotting for Brit or JC's younger sister, Kelli, when they wanted to work out and their respective men weren't available.

Kelli was a bit of an enigma to Ren. He had no idea what the woman was studying as they never talked for more than a few seconds. Even when he spotted her when weightlifting, she quickly shut down any attempts at conversation. Technically, she was living with JC, or at least that was the excuse they used to keep her from the Uni required first year in the dorms. But once the administration approved staying with her brother, she instead moved into one of the sorority houses, saying that living with her brother and his girlfriend was weird. Despite moving out immediately, she still spent a significant amount of time hanging out with JC and Brit or using the fitness room. But when Tyler caught his girlfriend back in his hometown cheating on him, Kelli pounced on the opportunity. They were an official couple by the end of the week. Ren didn't think Kelli spent much time at her sorority house since then.

When the owners renovated the kitchen years ago, they designed it with college students in mind. An abnormally large refrigerator sat next to a shelf with five dorm fridges, one for each bedroom. A rectangular island with stools on one side and a bar-style commercial dishwasher on the other occupied the middle of the room. Such a high-end dishwasher was expensive and cost a little more to run since the incoming water had to be blistering hot. Ren also couldn't just run to the store and pick up some dish detergent if they ran out. However, the commercial detergent it used came in five-gallon buckets, which hadn't required changing since Ren moved in his sophomore year.

Ren was the only real cook of the bunch, the others preferred nuke-n-eat meals or eating out. The cost of dining out made it an occasional luxury for him, much like his trip to Club Lethe. His only other option was to suffer day after day of mediocre frozen dinners. Luckily, he ran across a cooking show that piqued his geeky interests by discussing the physics, chemistry, and biology of culinary arts. Within a few months, Ren became surprisingly skilled in the kitchen. He had to admit, it was pretty awesome to watch his roommate's faces light up when he told them supper was on him that night.

At some point, the house's owner removed the wall separating the kitchen and living room. Ren appreciated whoever made the decision. Not only did it open up the space, but it made keeping the cook in on the conversation easier.

The living room had everything you might expect. Chairs and couches with their respective side tables took up most of the carpeted floor. Since the study became the fitness room, they moved some of the bookcases over and added a few small slide-around computer desks for working on assignments or perusing the interwebs. The house's fireplace and mantle took up most of one wall. There was a rumor that the first student renters nearly burned the place down by letting embers from the room's fireplace fall onto the carpet during a party. Understandably, the owner capped the chimney and slotted in a gas heater. A student later upgraded the heater to one with the fake glowing logs and flickering flames projected on the back wall. It even made sounds, mimicking the crackles, pops, and shifting logs of a real fireplace. The seventy-inch flat-screen TV mounted above the mantle went largely unused unless some blockbuster recently released on Net.flicks, Prime, or D+.