Emily POV
So with no place to stick my head, I had to go back to my little town and give up my scholarship at the university's economics faculty.
"Yes Lolo, I know perfectly well what would happen" I say seriously, sounding a little annoyed: "The point here is that that ad is very strange, and that building looks too expensive for my budget."
"I'm going to put it to you like this Emily, in this hand..." She extends her left hand making a fist: "We don't have anything. Only bad places, ugly places, and without the basic tools for human survival."
She raises her eyebrows, questioning if I am understanding her and I nod. She then extends her right hand with an open palm and continues.
"While on this one, we have a nice place in Kensington with good amenities in a nice building. Maybe whoever rents it is an elderly lady who doesn't know how to attach photos, that's all." She puts the laptop down on the coffee table and turns around, facing me: "So Emily, what are you going to do?"
My mind goes blank at her question. I exhale deeply, consider all my options and finally give in to her request. If I don't make it on this one, a bus is waiting to take me straight to my parents' house.
"I'm going to call 'the old lady" at the number there, to see when we can go see the place" I get up in search of the phone, under the inquisitive gaze of my roomie: "Since you're the insistent one, we'll go together."
She nods without much imposition and watches me as I dial the number on the phone. I let the device rest on my ear, and wait for the other line to answer.
One ring, two rings, and someone on the other line answer: "Hello?"
First warning alert, the person on the other end is a man.
"Hello? Good afternoon, I'm calling about the room ad in Kensington" I cover the phone's microphone and gesture to my friend that the caller turns out to be a man, not some senile old lady.
She shrugs her shoulders, downplays the situation, and encourages me to continue the conversation.
"Yes, yes, I am the one who is renting the room, what would you like to know?" He answers vaguely in a deep and somewhat raspy tone of voice. From the tone of his voice, I can easily conclude that he is a young man and evidently inexperienced in the real estate industry. Well, promoting his place, it sucked.
"Everything." I laugh a little trying to lighten the heavy and uncomfortable conversation, but my interlocutor does not respond to my good gesture: "I mean, the ad is not very detailed but it does interest me."
"Well, if you are interested in the ad you could come to see the apartment and right here I give you all the information."
I raise my eyebrows in surprise at the informality and coarseness with which he answered me. I go over in my head one more time the reasons why I was doing this and exhale deeply.
"So, when could I go see the department then?" I ask trying to sound as serious as the person on the other end of the line.
I hear him clear his throat, talk to someone next to him and get back on the call: "If you're interested, you could come by today" He replies.
"Today?" I say loud enough for Lana to hear, she nods vigorously: "Okay…"
I agree to meet with him today and with paper and pencil, I ask for the name of who he is talking about.
"Nathan Vandenn" He replies appropriately, leaving me in limbo for a few seconds. The last name Vandenn was not a common surname, and I know somewhere I had already heard it mentioned: "Who am I speaking to?"
"Emily Mason." I answer him, and he questions me again in dissatisfaction.
"Full name and ID, Miss Mason" He asks me, causing me to wonder, but I still agree to give him my information.
"Okay Mr. Vandenn, I expect to be there in an hour or so. Do you agree?" I ask and he agrees at the appointed time and without much attachment ends the call: "Yes, of course, have a nice day too."
I say sarcastically and with no interlocutor on the other end of the line, I toss the phone onto the couch and plant my gaze on Lana.
"So it's a man" She punctuates and I nod dejectedly. Not to be alarmist or prudish, but I preferred a thousand times to share housing with a woman than with a man. Besides, the fact that he sounded as young as I made me even more uncomfortable. "Come on, don't let that discourage you, go get your things, what's on the way."
I obey her and go straight to my room to change out of my cafeteria uniform. I put on some jeans, a warmer pink hoodie, and some white sneakers and pick up my bag with my things on my way to the door.
As I reach the street the cold London air hits me right in the face, the city was more airy than usual so I opt to pull my hair up in a messy ponytail before it gets more tangled than it already was. Lana takes my hooked arm and together, amidst pleasant conversation we walk to the subway.
***
"Next station: Hammersmith."
It sounds over the loudspeakers, it touched Lana's head who was already falling asleep and that being our call we get off the subway. We crossed the turnstiles, walked straight to the stairs to exit the subway, and once I passed the last step, the breath caught in my throat as I saw what was in front of my eyes.
The sun seemed to be much brighter on this side of the city, the abundant green of the grass decorated the panorama of the immense and flowered parks that bordered the street, the buildings and houses all had a beautiful well maintained Victorian style while the people looked to be of the upper class.
"How much do you think it costs for rent here, pretty girl?" I murmur to Lana still dumbfounded as she continued to admire the buildings on the street. Even in the distance, I think I see what appears to be a beautiful museum.
"Don't overthink it Emi" She takes my hooked arm again and drags me into the street. She looks at the address on the paper and I hear her sigh: "What we have left is this place."