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- How in the world I'm gonna get jenni and kevin to become roommates after talking to eachother for 4 months at 3am every other dayLike what would make jenni offer her place to kevin besides learning he's staying in a shitty motel in town
- It would be the promise of additional spending money for jenn
Atp in the story: jenni is referring to him at the bap (bay area phantom) but is skeptical bc she's never seen him kill or do anything to harm her outside the stalking, they're on first name basis now, she's ok with him walking her home (shes still scared of the dark lol) but lays into him about hanging around her place once she's in, any questions she has about kevins activities outside of their meetups he answers honestly
"Where've you been staying this whole time?" Jenni questions Kevin. Another conversation running the length of her shift, she leans back into the padded booth and listens to the scratch of her hair against the peeling pleather. She watches as he scribbles out a single word, sliding today's conversation napkin to her. 'Motel', it reads and Jenni's scrunching her nose in disgust.
"You're staying in that roach motel? Might as well burn all your clothes now."
Kevin shrugs at that, taking a measured sip of his coffee. His face still remains carefully covered by the shadows of the hoodie and loosened gaiter temporarily pulled down. Jenni focuses on the scar cutting up the right side of his mouth, interrupting the fullness of his lips before it all disappears from view with a swipe of his tongue and a quick tug of the fabric.
"What do you recommend?" A lilt of sarcasm in the deep scratch of his voice. He knows that she knows there's nothing better for at least 20 miles out.
"Brand new spots at the cemetery." That receives a sharp suck of teeth and another quick swig of coffee. The silence between them is brief, but stretches an eternity for Jenni before she speaks.
"You could stay at my place. Provided you split rent."
Kevin freezes in every sense of the word, fingertips poised on the rim of his mug. She cant see his eyes but knows a cold gaze is attempting to pin her down.
Now this silence has weight and an inscrutable buzz. Jenni stops trying to meet his gaze, stares into the darkness where Kevin's face should be and pushes ahead. It's a heady feeling, something new, exciting. She clings to it, an urge to dig a deeper hole.
"You've already given yourself a tour. Three hundred a month includes utilities, fifty-fifty. " Sixty-forty, Jenni weighed the possibility of Kevin finding this out and it seems low enough to take the gamble of a lie. In her mind, helping her with building a proper savings by footing the bill was the least he could do.
Kevin sits up straighter, taking the napkin back with a smooth slide of his hand and replying '0 sense of self preservation' to which Jenni giggles around a mouthful of raisin bread.
"I already said if you're gonna do it, then do it. Shit or get off the pot." The comment added to the lack of action so far further convinces Jenni she's dealing with a look a like, less dangerous but just as weird and mysterious. Something in her is buzzing now, the promise of change roiling to the point she starts gently biting the inside of her lip, the need for a cigarette to soothe creeping up.
'What's the catch?'
"Pull out bed in the living room is a queen so you're gonna have to squeeze. No pets." She watches Kevin finish off his coffee and takes the opening to go on a leisurely smoke break.
"The first is in two weeks, let me know by next week, think on it or whatever." She collects her plate, same song and dance of deposit for wash, grab freshest carafe of coffee, refill for him and she's slipping into the back of the diner, running on automatic. She doesn't take heed to Kevins scribblings quickly filling the inside of the conversation napkin.
By the time Jenni gets back, Kevin is gone, napkin gone, but mug remaining.
He shows up a week later after going MIA, duffle bag slung over his shoulder and hands her eighteen hundred in cash at her doorstep at 8am.
She gawks, eyes wide and disbelieving at the stack of mixed bills now in her hands. He looms expectantly in the doorway, blocking out the early morning sun. A part of Jenni feels she's been called on a bluff. Another knows this is more than she bargained for.
Ultimately, she needs to count this money and do some envelope stashing, so she backs up and to the side so Kevin can stoop and squeeze himself inside.
"Uhm..." She's split between watching Kevin toe his boots off on the tile and the dark brown stains on a number of the bills as she cradles, shuffles the stack in her hands. "Bathroom over here, coffee maker in the kitchen, don't really use it. Linen closet there for bed stuff. Don't eat my rice pudding in the fridge-" He's touching her for the first time, a gentle push against her shoulder using his thumb and the knuckle of his pointer finger. Sound dampens, a dark buzz and blurry strangeness replacing all as he moves past her to the side bathroom. And then it's gone with him, leaving her head fuzzy with adrenaline.
For a few months rent, she allowed something unfathomable to move in and make a home with her. Jenni heads to her room, gripping the price of her life in her hands, making peace with the fact this wasn't her first rodeo
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