As unbelievable as it sounded, it was hard for a one-income home of two to support themselves in a nice apartment in the city.
Since Alice was going to school full-time, that meant that Zack was the one bringing home the bacon. Well, figuratively. They could definitely afford to bring home the metaphorical bacon, but the actual bacon was a little lacking. As was the bread. And the cheese. And the sandwich meat.
As nice as his raise and promotion to management position was, Zack wasn't making nearly enough money to support both he and Alice all by himself. This apartment complex was expensive! And Alice would have gotten a part-time job if it didn't mean risking her almost full-ride at ASU. She had to devote all of her spare time to her studies if she wanted to be able to exist like a normal person. And honestly, she'd never had a job before—her time in and out of prestigious academies looked great on paper, but didn't translate well into actually getting a job. Especially not one that would respect her demanding school schedule.
So that left three options—
1) They could find a cheaper apartment, which would necessitate more money for gas and bus-fare respectively. Plus, this place came stock with a washer and dryer, which was awesome and meant that they wouldn't have to lug their clothes down to a laundromat or something. Plus, y'know, they had just gotten settled in and... well, option one was out.
2) They could crawl home with their tails between their legs, which was definitely a no-go. Their mothers had had shitfits when they announced that they were moving across the country and out of the spread of their respective tentacles' reach, and they had worked really hard at getting them just sorta-kinda-almost okay with the idea of them moving in together. Running home now meant defeat!
So that only left...
3) Get a roommate.
It wasn't really hard for them to get a lot of people interested. This was the big city and there was a college campus nearby—there were lots of people about their own age in a similar predicament. They wanted to live near campus, and near all the fun stuff, but didn't have the money. And they had that spare bedroom for this exact reason (Alice wanted to turn it into a studio, but Zack was pretty firm in his stance that they needed to eat more than she needed to make clothes).
The real trouble was sifting through the potential candidates.
There were a lot of weirdos out there, and neither Zack nor Alice were keen on sharing their space with someone who wasn't going to pay their share on the rent. Or keep them up at night practicing his guitar. Or one of those party girls who would never be home alone because they'd always invite friends over.
But they had convened over the past few days and had finally decided on a small pool of applicants that they were going to accept. They'd worked everything out with the landlady, and she was just fine with them renting out their extra bedroom. As long as they didn't have any pets, this whole thing should go off without a hitch.
"You ready for this?" Zack asked Alice as she stood in the full-length mirror in their bedroom, "You ready to meet the person who's gonna be all up in our personal space for the forseeable future?"
"Oh stop, don't be such a baby." Alice kept her face straight as she did her eyeliner, "I had roommates back at Buttercombe all the time—it's not so bad."
"Yeah, but we just got moved out on our own." Zack leaned against the wall, "I guess I kinda wish we had a little more time to... y'know, ourselves first."
"It'll only be for a little while." Alice turned from the mirror, one eye successfully lined, "In my experience, the worst thing you have to worry about with a roommate is keeping them out of your food."
"Yeah, I guess..." Zack's head lulled against the wall with a soft thud, "You think it'll be weird?"
"Well... yeah, I mean, it's kinda gonna have to be for a little while." Alice resumed applying her makeup, "It always is. But it gets better."
There hadn't exactly been that many promising candidates. But over the past week or so, they'd managed to break it down to three potential roommates who, they decided, wouldn't be too terrible to live with. They were supposed to arrive at eleven, sharp.
And it was already 10:55...
"Al, babe? You, uh... you almost done there?" Zack snorted
"Shush! You almost made me mess up!" Alice snipped, "Al...mosssst..."
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, Zack said to himself as he watched his girlfriend painstakingly apply her makeup.
Maybe they'd have a good sense of humor, so he could laugh about the silly faces his girlfriend made when she was getting ready.
"Alright, let's do this." Alice pumped her arms in a cutesy sort of way, "Let's go meet our roomie!"
"Whoo, threeway!"
The two opened their bedroom door and did their best to look as normal as possible. They put on a pot of coffee, sat down on the couch, and waited for their final interview to arrive. The minutes ticked by slowly.
Slowly.
Slowly.
Until finally, Alice's phone began to buzz.
"Hello?" she answered cordially, "Oh, yeah, hi! We're... okay, I'll buzz you up."
She ended the call and turned to Zack.
"That was our pick. They'll be up shortly."
Not long after, there was a knock at the door
This was it, moment of truth—who would Zack and Alice be sharing their apartment with?
Alice opened the door to reveal...
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