Vanilla, Gundpowder and Peaches

Chapter 2

Searching online appeared to be futile. With nothing showing up relating to Stiles' requirements or necessary needs, she had wondered if Peter and his merry band of realtors would hit the same hurdles. He said he'd call when he had a place of interest. It had only been four days yet Stiles was beginning to worry that her phone would never ring.

Instead of driving herself insane by constantly checking her phone and vaping until the cows came home, Stiles decided to make herself busy. She began picking up extra shifts at work just in case she had to ask later on about taking some time off. Keeping her boss informed about her living conditions right now and how unstable they were. Madison was a wonderful woman; wild as can be with her blue and green hair, tattoos wrapping around her arms and legs yet had the kindness of a grandmother who spoiled her grandkids too much. If Peter called and Stiles was at work, she was allowed to close the shop in short notice if she was working alone. It was only three of them running the store with a fluctuation of customers and it wasn't like they would go under because of one afternoon closed. So long as she kept in contact about the arrangements, Stiles was safe to come and go as her realtor pleased. Plus, her workmate Gabby was way too relieved to have Stiles volunteer more shifts so she could swap times to be with her child. He was just old enough for preschool and her afternoon schedule would have to be changed to accommodate drop offs and pick-ups. Leftovers was a family and they were there not only for the money but the comradery that came with three women running business. There were always available if any of their workmates were struggling or needed support. Stiles was there when Madison was going through her divorce, and she was there when Gabby was dealing with post-partum depression, so of course the girls would be there for Stiles during her struggles to find a new home.

During the weekends, Stiles packed away most of her belongings into a few medium sized boxes. Not everything; she still left out the necessities like toiletries, some cups, bowls and plates, her xbox because let's be honest here she would go mad without something immerging her mind during her time at home. She set them against the wall so she wouldn't bump into them so much, but still readily available in case she needed to leave quickly with the time crunch. That didn't stop Stiles from stubbing her toe on the cardboard nearly every time she went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, cursing loudly at herself for putting it right near her bed. Though to be fair there wasn't anywhere else to put them; her apartment was probably about the same size as those cardboard boxes.

Stiles thought about contacting Peter and ask if there were any bites or something she could be persuaded to visit, but acted against it. He was a realtor and she most definitely wasn't his only client. He had a team of people working on it and Peter said that he would contact her right away once there were available residents that she may be interested in. She had to be patient and that she was absolutely not. It was scary. Having the impending doom of eviction leering closer with every day that went by without a reply or notification. Every day she woke up and feared that her landlord decided that he wasn't going to wait until the end of the agreed two weeks, and just decide to kick her out that very day. Stiles worried; what if, for some reason, there were no apartments for her to stay in, and she had no other choice than to go back to Beacon Hills. The city was her new home now, she didn't want to go back to the sleepy suburb that doesn't do anything. Wasting her life away and becoming as salty as Mr. Jenkins, waving her fist at kids riding their bikes too close to her house. Stiles didn't want that, but the fear was a huge possibility and she had to think rationally about her options here. There weren't very many. She had hope and utter faith in Peter's magic ability to find an apartment for her, but if he couldn't for some unforeseeable reason, then there would be no other choice but to head back to her hometown.

On a more positive note, at least now she had more money in her account after working so much recently. She wasn't going out and buying snacks and pop on a whim either but instead tried to manage her spending to ensure she doesn't go below her five thousand secured in her savings. This meant that there weren't crisp wrappers filling up the trash, or container of take away in the fridge. No, instead she had bought cheaper food to get by on in the supermarket nearby. Although it wasn't the healthiest and she had some cravings gnawing at the surface, Stiles was content with keeping her wallet untouched for now. She needed all the extra cash on hand as she could. Who knows; maybe cutting down on her junk food intake might actually put some extra meat onto her bones. Stiles was self-conscious about being so thin. Her father had always said that it was just because she had a high metabolism and a lot of people were jealous about how she could stuff her face but rare pick up any weight. A part of her wanted to have better curves than just her hips and thighs, which only got a slight roundness to them because she walked all god damned day.