House Mates

The Abused: Nick

3 months later...

"Why don't you just dump her a**?" Dave scoffed.
Nick was ranting about his girlfriend again. She was never nice, he didn't even know why he moved in with her. But he couldn't leave! Right? She always said that he'd never find anyone else and would just go crawling back. Nick always believed her.

"Dude, that b**ch is so emotionally manipulative it's nuts you didn't dump her sooner, " Dave pointed out.
"She's not emotionally manipulative! She just doesn't want me doing things without her!" Nick defended her.
Dave rolled his eyes.
"Isn't your lease almost up?" Dave asked.

"Are you suggesting I move out?!" Nick asked, "she'd flip!"
Dave's nostrils flared and he sighed angrily.
"Just use the excuse that you don't have enough money to keep living there and that you need to move out. It's not breaking up, " Dave offered, though he wished it was.

Nick chewed on the inside of his lip before asking, "how am I going to find a place so soon?" Nick scoffed.
"I'll help you find someone. Just, tell her after you sign in and pay with the other person, ok?" Dave ordered.
"Why?" Nick asked.
Dave stood up from his spot on the couch.

"This is to get you away from that b**ch. If you tell her that you're moving out she'll just guilt trip you into staying! You're going to hold your ground and if you already paid then it'd be bad if you didn't move into the next place!" Dave explained.
Nick let out a shaky breath but nodded.

-----

Techno is calling accept?

Yes.         No. 

Nick scurried out of the apartment and held the phone close to his ear, holding on tightly. If Amy found him like this she'd immediately assume he was cheating and take his phone away for a week screaming at him that he was hers and only hers.

He couldn't have that.

"You out?" Dave asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to go to the nearest McDonald's, " Nick explained.
"I'll meet you there."

Click.

And so he left and drove his car to the closest McDonald's. Dave lived fairly close.
He was actually the only person Amy had let him speak to in the past 8 months of their relationship, considering they worked together and were high school friends.

She didn't even let him talk to his parents unless he was being secretive and hid from her.

Nick came to that McDonald's so often he knew almost all the staff by name. He doubted they remembered him at all but he remembered them very clearly. Maybe it was because he had no one else?

He ordered and a couple of minutes later he received it. They weren't busy, in fact, they were pretty barren, so it was pretty quick.
It was 12 in the morning so it made sense.

Dave arrived only a minute and a half later with a computer.
He sat beside him and set the computer up.
"Wanna grab something?" Nick asked.
"Mmmm, Nah I ate at like 10. I'm good, " Dave assured him.
He scrolled for a minute before finding what he was looking for and turning his monitor to show him.

Nick scrolled through it.
7 bedrooms, 4 1/2 baths, close to the college, nice neighborhood, animals allowed (1 free-roaming pet per person[like cats or dogs]).
4/7 rooms taken, (all boys in case you're uncomfortable with living with only boys)

The add was surprisingly extremely nice like the poster just genuinely wanted everyone to be happy. One look at the price-, "holy moly that's cheap! Was it a misprint?! There is no way it's only $200?!"
"That's what I said! The guy I found it off of now lives there and he says the dude who's renting it out is super sweet, pretty lenient, and it is, in fact, $200 each month!"