She grins. “I knew you weren’t. Where are you from? Your accent isn’t one I’ve heard.”
“West Virginia and we’re good as long as no one tries anyDeliverancejokes on me.”
“No idea whatDeliveranceis, but I love the accent.”
“If you don’t know, then I’m not telling you and thanks.”
“What’s your major?”
“Psychology. My mom had some mental health issues so I want to try to major in something where I can help people who struggle.”
“Girl, same. My dad is bipolar and it made me want to know more so I could help him, so we’re in the same major.”
“Cool. Well, I’m not after an athlete for a boyfriend. I have no baby mama designs. All I want to do is finish my last two years. Maybe grad school or medical school after that. Not sure yet.”
“I don’t want to be able to write prescriptions.” Jenny shudders. “I don’t want to deal with the people who don’t want help, only the high they can get.”
“Well, they all want help even if they don’t know it.”
“True, but I’ve seen my dad’s therapist attacked by people who only wanted drugs. It scares me a little.”
Yeah, that would suck to be in that situation, but I’m not going to turn someone away who might truly need help. I don’t plan on writing any kind of pain med, only meds dealing with mental health.
“So, you’re a transfer student and not a freshman?”
I nod. “I did online classes while I worked and took care of my nana until she passed right after Halloween.”
“So why all the way out here instead of somewhere closer to home?”
“It’s not home without her or my brother who’s stationed half a world away in the Navy. I wanted a fresh start somewhere as far away as I could get and they offered me a full academic scholarship here. It’s my own fault I didn’t get a dorm since I made my mind up last minute and all the rooms were gone.”
She makes a face. “They should hold onto a couple of rooms for last minute decisions.”
“They should, but that’s life.”
“So we actually have two rooms left, but neither are great. Sorry.”
“No worries. All I need is a place to store my books and sleep.”
“The rooms each have a queen sized bed, dresser, and desk. They both have their own bathroom so you won’t have to share with the rest of us or fight for counter space. Six girls in one house has a lot of product.”
God’s truth. “I don’t need that much space, honestly.”
“Well, we have the basement room. It has its own entrance, but there are no windows down there at all. The pool table and a couple other games are down there as well. The guys tend to use it a lot and they can get loud. Then there’s the attic. The room runs the length of the house, but we use it for storage too, so you’d have to fight your way through boxes or find a way to organize the mess. All the holiday decorations and stuff goes up there.”
“Attic,” I say without hesitation. “I need to concentrate on my classes and lots of noise isn’t going to help. I’m quiet, so you won’t have to worry about noise from above.”
“You sure? I mean, it’s going to take a lot of work to turn that place into something livable. Me and Cara had planned on cleaning it out this weekend so we could rent it. The girl we kicked out after last semester did a lot of damage to her room, more than we could pay for out of her deposit and Dad said it was up to us to pay for the damages. He fixed everything, but we have to pay him back. That’s the only reason the attic and basement are available. We’d never planned to create rooms in either space until Stacey wrecked her room.”
TMI, but whatever. “I’m sure. Don’t worry about it. I’ll get it organized. I just need a quiet place to think and sleep.”
“Cool, it’s yours then. I just need your check for first and last month’s rent.”
After I write it out, she gives me a key and a tour of the house. I can actually park in the back and go through the kitchendoor instead of the front. There’s a door in the kitchen that leads down to the basement and up to the attic, so score there.
There are no words to describe the look of “I’m sorry to have to show you this” on her face when she takes me upstairs. The first thing we come to is a wall of boxes. Jenny shoves a few of them aside and leads me deeper into the space. There’s a bed, desk, and dresser shoved against the very back wall. Dust coats the surface of everything.
I can work with this.
