Chapter 3
Paige’s head was pounding when she woke up on Saturday morning.
Did I forget to drink water last night? The closer I get to thirty, the crappier I feel after drinking, she thought.
She heard rustling outside in the kitchen, meaning Nadia must be up and packing.
Paige hoisted herself out of bed, grabbed a sweater from her closet, and downed the full glass of water that was still sitting on her bedside table.
“Morning,” Paige groaned as she walked out into the common area. “Packing already?”
“There she is!” Nadia called. Her whole body was practically inside the kitchen cabinet rummaging for something. “Yeah, I’m just doing a sweep of the kitchen to make sure I didn’t miss anything.”
She emerged from inside the cabinet with a cutting board and a party platter dish she had painted at a pottery studio back in their college days and put them in a box that was half full.
It was strange for Paige to see all of Nadia’s things sitting together in the box. It made the fact that she was moving out all too real.
“I can’t believe you’re packing up,” Paige said solemnly. “I’ve never lived as an adult without you.”
“Stop it, Paige, you’re gonna make me cry.” Nadia’s lip quivered.
But it was the truth. They had been friends for over fifteen years, and they’d lived together for eleven of them. It was shocking they still hadn’t tired of each other.
Nadia was Paige’s best friend, her soul sister, and their friendship was the thing she treasured most. For years it had been them against the world.
In high school they bonded over their shared love for boy bands, the Twilight books, and the so-bad-they’re-good teen dramas on TV. It’s no wonder they spent hours each holiday season on the couch watching predictably cheesy Christmas movies.
They both stayed local and went to college at San Diego State University and didn’t have to think twice about rooming with each other.
During college, they partied and hooked up with cute boys, but at the end of the day they were always each other’s priority. No guy ever trumped their friendship.
As they approached graduation, Paige had an itch to get out of San Diego and live a bigger city life, and thankfully Nadia felt the same way.
They considered San Francisco, New York, and Boston, but looking at rental prices online made their wallets hurt. So, when they started looking into Chicago, it felt like the perfect balance of a big city while still being semi-affordable.
They sent in more job applications than they thought was even possible, and within a couple of months they each had something lined up in the Windy City.
Paige and Nadia took Chicago by storm with adventurous and wild spirits. There were new restaurants to try, new bars and clubs to check out, and plenty of men to meet. But like their college days, they each kept things casual, prioritizing their friendship above all else.
And then about a year after the move, Nadia met Linus, a sensible Swedish-American boy who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. He adored Nadia and made her already bright light sparkle even brighter.
They dated casually at first, but it quickly developed into something that Paige could tell was serious. And while she was overjoyed that her best friend had found her match, there was a dull sting that their time as a dynamic duo was coming to a close.
Sure, Paige had a couple of work friends who were fun to hang out with, but no one could ever match Nadia. She was the real deal when it came to friends, and Paige was going to miss having her so close.
“What are you doing?” Paige asked as Nadia karate chopped the pillows on the couch.
“Oh, I’m just tidying up for some photos,” Nadia replied. “And trying to distract myself from crying.”
Paige could see her friend’s eyes were glassy. Nadia wasn’t a big crier, so it was clear this was an emotional morning for the both of them.
“Nadia, don't worry about straightening up, you have enough to do today.”
“Don’t be silly, Paige. I’ve already packed up my closet, decorations, and knick-knacks, and taken quite a few boxes over to Linus’s earlier this week,” Nadia said. “All that’s left is the furniture, which is yours.”
The girls peered into Nadia’s room. There was a queen bed and mattress stripped of the bedding, a dresser and desk with bare surfaces, and a closet with empty hangers.
“It looks so weird without all of your things.” Paige sniffled.
“I know,” Nadia said, her voice echoing in the empty bedroom.
The friends looked at each other, fighting the urge to break down in tears right then and there.
“There’s no time for tears!” Nadia exclaimed as she pushed past Paige to grab her iPhone. “We have pictures to take, and we can’t forget I’m only a twenty-minute walk away.”
That seemed to be the point both girls were forgetting. Linus’s apartment was a closer walk than Target. Still, it didn’t make the separation as roommates less painful.
Nadia snapped photos from every possible angle of the bedroom, the recently tidied up living room, the kitchen, and the laundry unit.
“I’ll AirDrop these to you. Give me your phone.” Nadia grabbed Paige’s phone without waiting for a response. “I’ve also taken the liberty of writing out a post for you to put in the Facebook groups.”
Paige rolled her eyes and laughed. Nadia was always the “mom” friend out of the two of them. It wasn’t surprising she had basically taken care of the entire roommate search.
Even with the groundwork taken care of by Nadia, Paige still had some apprehensions about making the post.
“What if my new roommate sucks? What if I only get weirdos reaching out to me?”
“There’s always going to be weirdos out there. But I have no doubt you’ll get some good options. It’s Chicago. People are moving here all the time.”
Nadia always knew the right thing to say. Something Paige was going to miss having access to 24/7.
“You’re right. I just want to get someone in here quickly so I can start putting money away,” Paige said. The more she thought about getting a new roommate, the more relieved she was to have a plan to make up for the lack of bonus—and then some.
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you write up questions to ask in your interviews to help you weed out the bad eggs and find someone almost as good as me,” Nadia said with a grin.
“All right,” said Paige. “Let’s find me a roommate before Christmas!”
***
By Sunday evening, Paige had received quite a few messages about the open room. The unfortunate thing was that most of these messages came from obvious scammers, people asking for a rental price even less than Nadia had paid, or couples looking to share the room.
In reality, Paige had about five qualified leads, so she started sending messages to set up interviews.
Within a few hours she had three interviews set up and two messages back from girls who had already found somewhere else.
Damn, she thought. That was quick.
The first two interviews were set up for Tuesday at a Starbucks around the corner from Paige’s office. Based on her Facebook message conversations, they both seemed promising.
The first interview was with Ariel. She was a transplant from LA, not far from Paige’s family in San Diego.
She worked in environmental law, and according to what she could see on Facebook, seemed to enjoy living a healthy lifestyle.
That will be good, Paige thought. Maybe I’ll pick up some healthier habits.
The second interview was with Wren, an early twenty-something who, she learned from their short yet information-packed exchange, lived most of her life in the Chicago area but had spent the last year traveling around Europe.
Perfect, someone to give me travel advice once I start making better money.
Paige was optimistic that by the end of Tuesday she’d have a new roommate lined up, and one that she would enjoy living with.
***
As soon as her eleven o’clock Tuesday meeting let out, Paige grabbed her purse and headed around the block to meet Ariel, her first roommate interview. She walked into Starbucks and was immediately hit with a smell that didn’t belong indoors.
She saw a young woman standing a few feet inside the door in coveralls, wearing her hair—which looked a bit greasy—in a messy bun.
“Ariel?”
Paige hoped the woman wouldn’t turn around.
“Oh, hi! You must be Paige. It’s so wonderful to meet you in person.”
Ariel was about as granola as they come. Apparently she took her environmental duties to the extreme, and Paige judged based on the greasy hair alone that she only showered once every two weeks.
This is totally fine, she told herself, you can look past this. Think about all the money you’ll save!
When they reached the barista, Ariel ordered a latte with oat milk. Paige opted for a regular vanilla latte. The girls made some small talk about the colder weather and their jobs while they waited for their drinks and then found an open table near the entrance.
“I’m glad we were able to meet and talk through the possible living arrangement,” Ariel said.
“Yeah, me too. I wa—”
“I noticed you ordered a latte with regular milk?” Ariel interrupted. “It’s fine because this is our first official meetup, but I’m a strict vegan and can’t live anywhere that has any animal byproducts in the kitchen.”
Paige almost spit out the sip of dairy-filled latte she had just taken.
Surely Ariel was joking? This had to be her way of breaking the ice. Or was she actually serious about controlling the kind of food she bought for the house?
Taking a chance, Paige smiled and said, “Haha good one! Very convincing.”
“Oh, I’m not joking.” Ariel was quick to defend her original statement. Maybe Paige shouldn’t be so surprised. After all, given Ariel’s apparent shower routine—or lack thereof—it seemed clear she was serious about the environment, if not personal hygiene.
“Not only is eating animals inhumane, it’s killing our environment. I can’t be part of a household that contributes to this climate disaster.”