The Rules of Dating My Best Friend's Sister(9)

“So we’re all good with giving it to her rent free?” Owen asked.

Everyone nodded.

“Alright then,” he said. “I’ll call her back later and let her know she has a place to stay for as long as she needs it.”

***

“Hey, I’m glad you’re home.”

I opened my apartment door to find Owen on the other side. “What’s up?”

“Lala is supposed to be arriving about two today, and I just got a call from a client who wants me to show them an apartment right now because they’re very interested, and I already have an offer coming in on it from another agency. I was supposed to give Lala and Warren a hand moving her stuff in. Any chance you could help them out in my place?”

I felt bad saying no. But Dr. Douchebag should be able to carry the boxes himself. The apartment was fully furnished, so it wasn’t like he had to carry anything big. “Sorry.” I shrugged. “I have plans.”

“Shit. Okay. I’ll try Brayden and Colby.”

“Alright. Good luck today.”

“Thanks, man.”

Owen started to walk away, but turned back. “By the way, I caught Frick and Frack, the teenagers from hell in 410, up on the roof again last night. They had buckets of water and were trying to dump them on unsuspecting pedestrians this time.”

“Seriously? Mrs. Martin from 408 called me to complain two days ago that they’d been blasting music all night. When I went up to tell them to knock it off, they were home alone. I thought I scared them a little. Guess not. Have you seen the mother lately?”

“Nope. And we didn’t get rent this month either.”

I shook my head. “They’re old enough not to need a babysitter, but they’re not old enough to live alone. I’ll see if the mom is around later and have a talk with her if she is.”

“Thanks.”

I shut the door, feeling like a complete piece of shit for saying I couldn’t help Lala. But the last thing I needed was to be around her and her fiancé. Since she was moving right next door, I was bound to hear them when they arrived, and that would make me feel like an even bigger scumbag for hiding out in my apartment. I needed to make myself scarce, so I scrolled through my contacts for someone to make plans with. I didn’t have to scroll very far.

I’d hooked up with Anna a few times, and just last week I’d run into her on the subway. She’d told me to text her. So I did. I asked her to a daytime movie, though I had no interest in seeing one. She texted back quickly, sounding excited about getting together, which made me feel like shit yet again.

I wanted to be gone by the time Lala arrived. So after I took a shower, I figured I’d take a slow walk uptown to the theatre where I’d told Anna I’d meet her in an hour. But when I got outside in front of the building, there was some sort of commotion. A guy was yelling and flailing his arms, standing beside a car pulled halfway into a parking spot, nose first. Meanwhile, another car was backed halfway in. It wasn’t until a woman got out of the other car and slammed the door that I realized it was Lala getting yelled at. Shit. I ran over just as the other driver began walking toward her.

“Hey.” I stepped in front of her and put my hands up. “Slow your roll, buddy. What’s going on here?”

Lala pointed to the guy. “I was trying to back in, and he raced up out of nowhere and is trying to take the spot. He was definitely not behind me when I reversed to parallel park.”

I looked at the guy. He was bald, with a big belly and ruddy face. “Listen, dude, the lady is moving into this building right here today.”

“I don’t give two shits where she’s going,” he spat. “I saw the spot first.”

Lala put her hands on her hips. “You did not!”

“Come on, buddy. Even if you were here first, can’t you just be a gentleman and let her take the spot?” I pointed to the backseat of her car, which was filled with boxes. “She’s got a lot of stuff that needs to get moved.”

He folded his arms across his chest. “Blow me.”

“Very nice.” I shook my head. “You’re a real peach, I can see.”

Lala opened the back door to her car. “Fine. If you’re not going to move, I’m just going to leave my car parked like this and carry my boxes up. I have a lot of them, so if you’re thinking of waiting until I’m done, it’s going to be a while.”

“Uhh, Lala,” I leaned in and whispered. “I’m not sure you should leave your car parked like that.”

She pursed her lips, reached into the car, and grabbed a box anyway. “Oh well.”

I looked at the guy and shrugged. “You heard the lady.” Then I loaded a few boxes into my arms, and Lala and I headed to the front door of the building. The guy screamed something about having her car towed.

Lala stopped at the door and yelled, “Go suck an egg, baldy!”

Inside the elevator, I grinned. “That was pretty badass.”

She set her box down and showed me a shaking hand. “I guess it was the adrenaline pumping because I’m shaking now. I’m a big chicken.”

I chuckled. “Could’ve fooled me.”

The elevator dinged on our floor, and I motioned with my chin for Lala to step off first. Halfway down the hall, the bottom of the three boxes I had stacked in my arms burst open, and everything inside fell to the floor.