The Roommate Rulebook

Rule 4

Rule 4 - not proofread, ignore any mistakes, I'll fix any later.

            Dev was leaning against the side of his car when I reached him, giving me a look that suggested he'd been waiting a while.

            "Any luck?" he asked when I reached him. I shrugged, not knowing anything until the shops that I gave my CVs got back to me.

            "I don't know. But let's be honest, I'm a college dropout, it's not the most appealing quality for a new employee," I muttered as I looked up at him. He sighed and scratched the nape of his neck.

            "I suppose not." He unlocked the car and gestured for me to get in, starting the engine with haste.

            In the past two hours, I'd managed to hand out over 10 CVs and enquire about several positions, resulting in annoyed looks from shop assistants and a variety of application forms. I placed them on the seats behind us and rested my head against the window.

            "I asked Matt about a job at the bar we went to," I said and Dev let out a wry laugh.

            "You've got no chance, cuz," he said, smirking. I frowned and twisted in my seat to face him.

            "Why would you say that?"

            "Ash's mum owns the place, the woman is evil. She only hired Sid because she's a friend of the family. That was the last time she took anyone on and that was about a year ago," Dev explained, honking the horn when we came to a stop behind traffic. I groaned and glanced at my cousin, unsure if he knew about what Ash and I had discussed the day before. I say discussed, it was more of a dispute.

            "You could ask Ash," Dev trailed off and I grunted.

            "I'd rather fat fry my face." He let out a bark of laughter at my words and smiled.

            "He's not that bad and I'm sure he won't mind doing you a favour," he continued. I shook my head and scrunched up my nose as I looked out of the window at the queue of traffic.

            "He offered to get me the job," I started and Dev clucked his tongue.

            "He wanted something in return?" I nodded.

            "Me to attend a dinner party to represent Melinda," I spat. Dev just looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

            "Then go?"

            "Why? So people can ask me questions about my brilliant older sister? No thank you," I retorted, folding my arms.

            "If it gets you a job, go for it," Dev reasoned. "I mean, seriously, Alex, two hours or so for some work?" he replied as we started forwards again, the traffic beginning to clear.

            My cousin had a point but my pride was the only thing getting in the way. I didn't like Ash as it was, let alone ask him for a favour. If I could get him to make the offer again, it would probably be easier on my dignity.

            "And because you took so long, I don't have time to pop you home before I go down to the garage," Dev mumbled and I nodded with a shrug.

            "That's fine."

            It was everything but fine. Not only was the quick visit to the garage turning into what seemed like endless hours of waiting and leaning against the car, Ash had coincidently shown up to get his bike checked on.