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~LOSING IT ALL~



02| A NEW HOUSEMATE?

"DAMNIT, JEN. ARE YOU TRYING to get us all killed?' Camille disparages.

She has, with an exemplary reflex stopped the wagon from charging straight into the Porsche by hitting her feet furiously into the brake pedal, bringing the hunchback wagon to a screeching halt barely away from it.

Panic and dread having swept over me, leaves me stoically frozen against my seat, while I stare blankly out of the wagon's windshield recuperating from shock.

"I-It wasn't in-intentional." Jennifer stutters from behind, her voice low and quivering slightly.

Camille puffs out her cheeks aggressively, and turns to look at me. " You okay, Hayley?" She asks solicitously, lightly grabbing me by the crook of my elbow.

My heart keeps pummeling against my ribs, beads of sweat that has gather against my temples snakes down to my chin. " I guess so." I mutter.

"Guys, I'm so sorry. I-I was just trying to gain your attention." Jennifer explains. "The boys said that we were having a new housemate. I was so baffled, I merely wanted to convey the info."

"What?' I cry despairingly, twisting in my seat to glare at her. "A new housemate?"

"Yes. Jayden and Newt are bantering about it in the group. The new guy is Dale, a freshman."

Like a Ferrari, I pull out my iPhone from my Tote bag and quickly head to sift through our WhatsApp group chats. It wasn't a faux, Jayden Reed, my boyfriend, did actually orchestrate everything.

He's a childhood friend from home.
He needs a place to layoff while he gets
an apartment off campus. I can't
turn him down.
~Jayden <3

And where exactly will he layoff?
~Newt ;)

The spare room, of course.
~Jayden<3

But it's my gallery. I paint in there.
Where am I supposed to dispose my
portraits?
~Newt ;)

We'll figure it out, man.
~Jayden <3

"Whatever is going on back there, it'll be a hassle trying to convince Newt otherwise." Camille says, reading the chats over my shoulder. I sigh, tugging my hair behind my ear. A new housemate?

Yelling above the noise of the traffic, the honking horns, and milling people, a short, swarthy man is waving a newspaper in the air. My gaze lingers a little more as my brain reels off. It's absurd trying to bring another fellow into our click, likewise, no one turns away a friend they know since childhood.

The traffic light turns green, and Camille honks her horn at the Porsche in front. The rest of the ride is silent, well, except for the music that keeps playing from the stereo. But the tension remains, we are all anticipating to meet Dale, Jayden's childhood friend.

The last slivers of sunlight has slip behind the horizon, and a vast magenta arch now spreads across the sky as Camille pulls the station wagon into the small parking lot behind the old Victorian house standing in austerity amidst newly renovated ones.

LOSING IT ALL //HAYLEY PARKERWhere stories live. Discover now