Modern Darling

6

Tabitha had never needed to look for a roommate before, and she had no idea where to start.

The rest of the day had been dampened by Lilac's confession. After the beach she had watched her best friend stuff her belongings and their memories into her pink suitcase. She cleared the mail from the table revealing it's scratched surface for the first time in weeks, and gave Tabitha a kiss on the forehead.

"Talk soon." She promised, closing the door slowly behind her. As soon as she had left Tabitha crumpled to the floor. She willed herself to cry but no tears came. So instead she lay on the hardwood floor until the sun peeked it's ugly head up in the sky and she had to go to work.

I'm happy for her. I'm happy for her. I'm happy for her.

She repeated it over and over again, hoping soon she would mean it.

"Taby!" Andrew smiled as she entered the locker room. He was wearing a wrinkled orange shirt under his green vest today. His hair was messy over his forehead and his long eyelashes blinked Tabitha back to reality.

"Woah, no offence. But you look rough T." He said. Tabitha was so tired she hadn't done any of her normal routine. So she was in fact aware of her disheveled appearance.

"Really? I had no idea." She deadpanned.

"Oh come on, even on your worst day you know these other fools don't have anything on you." The compliment was both appreciated and detested. Tabitha slammed her locker shut and turned to walk away.

"Hey wait!" Andrew called after her. "Common T, you're my work-best friend. You can talk to me." Tabitha hated that he was hers as well. She couldn't stand most of her co-workers. At least Andy never bothered her with his personal issues or asked for longer breaks so that he could call his girlfriend during work hours.

"Lilac's moving out of our apartment." She confessed. It felt good to say it outloud. Andrews eyebrows knit together as he put the pieces together. The mention of Lilac's name on occasion. The lunches she would bring and the purple curls that would follow Tabitha around the store sometimes. "She's moving in, with her very serious, and perfect for her boyfriend."

A smile tugged on Andrews lips. He could tell that Tabitha wished she had a perfect boyfriend.

"I'm sorry T." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He could feel her body tense under his touch but she smiled and Andrew chose to take that as a victory. "It's hard being our age. It feels like everyone is moving at different paces, like suddenly now we're all competing to cross some finish line first."

Tabitha pondered this for a moment. That was exactly how she felt. It felt nice to think that she wasn't the only one who felt like she was running behind.

"And as far as the roommate thing goes, I could help you out." Tabitha raised an eyebrow he wasn't possibly suggesting that-

"I'm a Facebook Marketplace professional." He shared proudly. "We'll get you the best roommate Toronto has to offer. Mark. My. Words."

Tabitha tried to picture the perfect roommate. It was difficult. She had never imagined herself sharing the apartment with anyone other than Lilac. The idea of a stranger sharing her mugs, and sitting on her furniture made her stomach turn. But she nodded appreciative of the extended kindness.

"Thank you Andy." She replied slowly, he smiled scrunching his nose at her.

"Anything to get out of being on cash." He chuckled. "We could start right now if you wanted."

"I think it'll have to wait." Tabitha laughed, knowing she hadn't even started her supervising tasks for the day. Andrew gave her a lopsided grin, taking her laughter as another silent win.

"Alright, well then lunch it is. I'll convince Pete to sneak us some burnt HMR." He winked. Andrew knew everyone in the store, he was one of those men who needed to be social in order to survive. Tabitha knew if she was like that she would have died a long time ago.

"See you then." She agreed, unable to respond any other way to his extended kindness.

"Great!" He clapped running out onto the grocery store floor.

They sat in the lunchroom facing each other. As promised Andrew had ripped the top off the cardboard box the store sold potato wedges out of and split them between them. He stuffed four in his mouth at once and whipped his greasy fingers on his work vest before pulling out his computer.

"Let's get started!" He announced typing loudly on his keyboard.

"Let's start with some key traits. What would you want your ideal roommate to be in life?"

Loud, morning person, bad puns, three jobs.

"I guess clean?" She said aloud. Andy's mouth twitched upwards.

"Okay anything else?"

"Nice?"

"Clean and nice." He repeated, "Got it."

I rolled my eyes at his tone, he was being so charming it was obnoxious.

Tabitha and Andrew spend the rest of the thirty minutes lunch hashing out details and fighting over the best wedges. By the end of it Tabitha was a believer that Andy was in fact a facebook marketplace professional and potentially a new friend. He shared with her the fact he had two cats named Ping and Pong and that his favourite colour was, unsurprisingly, orange.

Tabitha had found herself feeling light again. She saw Lilac in the way Andrew never gave up on her despite her constant attempts to undermine herself. She saw Lilac in his smile and the way he chewed. Tabitha just for a moment let herself be hopeful.