Drowning In Hope {Smouldering Love Sequel}

~ Chapter 18 ~

Smouldering Love II

(Drowning In Hope)

Chapter 18

"Get your lazy ass up!" Noah's annoyed voice yelled from the door of Ricky's bedroom.

Saturday morning. 11am.

He was exhausted from work yesterday. Carpentry wasn't an easy job but he enjoyed in nonetheless.

"What do you want?" Ricky snarled through gritted teeth.

"I need to discuss a matter with everyone." He said 'everyone' slowly, so Ricky knew he had to be there, because he was obviously included in everyone.

"Whatever." He grunted again, pulling his duvet off his tired body to reveal just the boxer shorts he slept in. Being Ricky Young, one of the laziest people you'd ever meet, he didn't bother to get dressed and just walked straight out to the lounge room where he found, Logan, Zac and Noah.

"Where's Stoner?" Ricky yawned.

"That's what we're discussing." Noah stated, Ricky said a quick 'oh okay' and sat on the couch, ready to get this over and done with so he could go back to bed.

"I've kicked him out." Noah started.

"He's lazy, hasn't payed rent in god only knows how long and he was breaking rules. Everyone knows and follows the rules of this house, it's stupid to even have rules. You guys are my mates I shouldn't have to make rules, but you all know how much I hate cats right?" Noah sighed.

"Don't let me find any hidden creatures in your bedrooms, unless they're women. They are excepted. Now this brings me to our next issue. If you don't find another roommate by next Friday all of your rent will be going up."

None of them bothered to argue on how unfair this was, because they all knew better and just agreed to his terms. Ricky had no idea how they were going to find a roommate by Friday let alone a roommate who would meet Noah's expectations.

"Does it matter on the gender of this roommate?" Ricky enquired.

"Nope, just find me someone." Noah then turned on his heel and left the house for his shitty shed.

"What about Jim?" Zac asked after Noah had left, Logan looked confused at his question.

"Fat chance." Ricky almost laughed, Noah was not a supporter of gays and Ricky was quite surprised Zac hadn't been kicked out yet.

"I'll put word out around the track." Logan commented.

"I've got someone in mind." Ricky put in.

*

Ricky waited at the local coffee shop for his hopeful 'roommate to be'. He would meet her here and offer her the opportunity. He knew he would have to be careful about who he asked, because Noah was a difficult person to impress and get trust from.

"Hey." She spoke quietly.

"Hey Ashley." He greeted her.

"So what's this emergency?" She smiled.

Ricky got straight to the point. "We're short a roommate, are you interested?"

Ashley's eyes bulged, she wasn't expecting Ricky to ask her that at all.

"Oh um, I don't know. My parents wouldn't approve."

"So is that a no?"

"I'll discuss it with them, but don't get your hopes up. They're very likely to say no, and besides it wouldn't be all that easy to study for exams while there's always parties going on." She explained.

"Fair point." Ricky sighed. "I'll see you around." Ricky stood up from the wooden table and headed for the exit.

"Oh Ricky?" Ashley turned to face him.

"I spoke to Brooke's doctor yesterday, she's due home in the next couple of days. I'll come around and visit her and give you my official answer then." She smiled and joined Ricky in leaving the coffee shop. They exited the shop and left in opposite directions, Ricky got his phone out of his front pocket of the black skinny jeans he was wearing and sent a text message to Zac and Logan.

'First recruit is on trail - Ricky'

He headed straight home to find that it was completely deserted. 'Finally peace!' Ricky smiled to himself. He found that his curiosity got the better of him and he couldn't help but suss out Stoners old bedroom. Maybe it was bigger than Ricky's and he could negotiate with Noah to let him swap. He opened the door, it was like walking into a brick wall the smell of cat piss was so strong. He was quite surprised the smell had compacted into just this room and not the entire house. Whoever the new roommate would be, they would defiantly have to steam clean the carpet. The room looked no bigger than Brooke's room, meaning it was defiantly smaller than Ricky's. He wouldn't be bringing up the topic with Noah if the reward of swapping rooms would be a smaller room that reeked of cat piss and had a shitty view of a tree outside the window.

He shut the door behind him, glad to rid the smell of cat piss from his nostrils.

The room next door was Brooke's. He opened the door, feeling slightly like an intruder but mostly curious. Her room hadn't changed since a few nights ago when that dreadful skank Zoe had forced him in here. The duvet across her single bed was creased, the carpet stained from its previous owner and there was also a hole in the wall beside the door. Ricky remembered the previous owner of this room to have been quite a violent person, he was more than happy when he found out he would be leaving. Then his plan of getting closer to Brooke would fall into place with inviting her to live under the same roof as him. If only his attempt of saving Brooke from a horrible lifestyle had worked, all he did was put her in more danger. Ricky had realised that Brooke being with her mother was the best option in keeping her alive, but if she lived with Ricky he could at least attempt to not only keep her alive but give her the life she deserved.

Ricky had learnt the hard way just how difficult it would be. Brooke had a bunch of crooks after her, as did Ricky, and the two of the trying to keep each other sane wasn't going to be easy. Especially now that Brooke didn't want a bar of Ricky, he just couldn't do anything right.