The Rent Is Due

Roger's POV

"Where are you going?" Mark asks. 

"To find Benny," I say, "He can't evict us, he broke his word, and I'm not going to stand for it." I throw my leather jacket on and slide the loft door open. A girl with long brown hair and caramel colored skin stands in my way.

She holds a candle in her hand, "Got a light?"

"Um, no, sorry." I shove past her and down the stairs, my feet pounding down each one of them. 

The girl follows me and tries to make conversation, "So, where ya going cutie?"

"None of your business." I snap.

"Oh, fiesty are we? I like it."

I spin around and she stands on the step above me yet we're eye level, "I'm sorry, but mind telling me who the hell you are?"

She sticks her hand out, "They call me Mimi, I live two levels down from you with my roommate; you actually bumped into her earlier tonight." Does she mean Bekka?

I shake her hand, "I'm Roger."

I turn back around and start stomping down the stairs again. When I reach the next landing, Mimi not too far behind me, a loft door opens quickly and Bekka walks out in a crop top and sweat pants. Her midriff is exposed and you can just barely see the black lace of her underwear peaking out from the elastic of her pants. The straps of what I'm assuming is a bra-let, crisscrosses against her chest and then goes over her shoulders.

"What the fuck is going on out here?" She asks. Bekka looks from me to Mimi, and back to me again. "Oh, way to make a move Mimi, were you planning on bringing him back to your room, too?" 

Bekka raises her eyebrows and folds her arms across her chest as Mimi groans, "Oh shut up, that's not what I going to do and you know it."

"Oh really?" Bekka laughs without humor, "Cause that's what you said last time and look at how that turned out."

I clear my throat and both of the girls look at me, "Bekka, I promise that wasn't going to be the case. I was leaving."

She rolls her eyes, "Yeah, whatever you say Blondie."

"I'm serious," I protest, "I was leaving to go talk to Benny, the owner of this building."

Bekka looks baffled, "You know Benny?"

"I've known him for years. He used to live with me and my roommate Mark."

She stiffens and Mimi snorts, "Oh."

"How do you know Benny?" I ask.

Mimi giggles, "Oh trust me, you don't to know."

Bekka glares at Mimi as she giggles, "Shut up."

I shake my head, "Well, this little get together has been fun and all, but nonetheless I'm leaving and going to talk to Benny about evicting us."

"Wait-!" Bekka says. She steps closer to me and looks up at me, her grey eyes dark, "Could I come? He's trying to evict Mi and I too."

I shrug, "Yeah, I guess."

"OH! I wanna come too!" Mimi chimes. She places a hand on my arm and I shake her off, taking a step forward; she frowns.

"No," Bekka and I both say.

Mimi rolls her eyes, "Fine, then I'm going to Cat Scratch."

Mimi pushes past me and heads down the stairs. Bekka rolls her eyes and walks into her loft, I follow behind her by a step.

The two girls' loft is set up in a similar way as my own with Mark. The kitchen table is in the same place, but as far as the couches and love seat they've been pushed together to make one large couch that covers half of the room. However, the biggest difference between our loft's is that Bekka and Mimi's is much cleaner than mine and Mark's. Instead of papers and posters plastered all over the place, there's not a thing out of place. Everything is neatly tucked away, except for a small stack of papers over on the kitchen island. 

"Nice place," I say.

Bekka and turns and smiles lightly, "Thanks." She begins to walk away but spins on her heal to face me, "Uh, go ahead and make yourself at home, there's some beer and pop in the fridge if you're thirsty. I'll just be a second." 

"Okay, thanks." I smile at Bekka, and her eyes sparkle from across the room, she goes back into her room and I drift towards the fridge.

I walk past the island in the middle of the kitchen and the papers sitting there are bills, bills that are unpaid that are for the loft. I wonder how long they haven't paid. I open the fridge and pull out a beer and pop the top off and stare at the pictures and notes scattered on the fridge's surface. Little things are written on sticky notes, grocery lists, to do lists, love notes to each other, cute stuff. I smirk and take a swig from my drink, walking to look at the rest of the loft.