Rosey was a possum with the face of a European badger. Her cute make up and clothes however wouldn’t fool me anymore. She gave me a large tooth smile while stepping into the kitchen, “Tommy boy!!! I thought I heard you!”
My mind was still racing trying to figure out what was happening. My voice was calm and stern, “You’re not supposed to be here.”
Rosey playfully swatted at the air, “Oh come on! You can’t leave me out of all the fun! Besides, that ransom note with the fake kidnapper was completely bogus! Gotta work on that backstory a bit.”
I sighed, “My backstories are convincing, thank you. And I can leave you out of anything I want. I broke up with you. That’s the literal definition of leaving you out of my entire life. We agreed to never talk again. Why the heck are you here?”
“I did a little snooping and I heard you were going somewhere fun! Besides, you’re SO sensitive about the weirdest things. I had to look out for my little Tommy boy. And Bow Wow Wendy here was just about to show me my new room!” Rosey’s smile beams as she gestures to the room beside mine.
Meanwhile Wendell seemed to loom behind her with a contorted expression of pure rage, “Don’t call me that…”
I sigh, “I swear I can not get rid of you to save my life.” I then glare over at Wendell, “This cookies and cream bubblegum chewer is the last thing you’re gonna want here. She is pure positivity and roots around in EVERYONE'S business until she can force you to be positive about yourself against your will.”
Wendell’s eyebrow raises with a smirk, “Everyone? I’d bite the bullet if it means she can annoy the shit out of you two for me.”
Dante huffs, “I think she should stay. We could use a little positivity here for once.” Wendell shoots Dante a glare.
Rosey raises her arms in victory as she squeals, “YAY!!! I can’t wait! A new friend group! We’re going to have sooo many sleepovers and friendship bracelets!”
Rosey lunges out at me for a hug as I quickly spring back out of the way. Just as I did, I heard the low chuckle rise out of Wendell, “First loud sounds and then hugs too? This is going to be too easy.”
At this point Dante rolled his eyes and walked to his room to slip out of the conversation.
I squint at him, “So you’re going to try and scare us out? Do you not want tenants? Why even offer a place to stay if you don’t want anyone here?”
Rosey blurts out before Wendell can even speak “I bet it's a deep rooted issue in feeling like he doesn’t belong and so he’s pushing everyone away in some melodramatic fashion to gain the sympathy of his peers. That or he’s just possessed by a grumpy ass ghost with family issues.”
Wendell looks down at Rosey in disgust, “The hell are you on about?” he shakes his head, “I have tenants for the money and ghosts don’t exist. This is just how I am.”
Rosey giggles, “Yeah they do sugarplum. It’s Wickerwoods. This place is known totally for cryptids and crawlies.”
Wendell grumbles under his breath at her, “You’re believing lies like a sheep. It’s not cryptids, it’s thieves and murderers. They just use that paranoia to get away with it all.”
I retorted, “Criminals or not, I still don’t see how you get any money with a price this low. It’s a borderline handout that you’re getting nothing out of.”
Wendell steps past Rosey and leans in towards me again. His nose inches from my face as he sneers, “Fine. Then I’m doing it to get mad. If you don’t want to be poked and prodded like a bug under a microscope, I’d suggest you move your ass out and live in a shitty motel where you get murdered in your sleep. Better yet kidnapped. With fur like yours at least you won't get cigar burns for misbehaving like the others.”
This probably wasn’t my brightest idea. I had myself set on staying here at this point out of spite of how he acted. So I reached up and flicked him on the nose with my middle finger.
There’s a decent thunk from the force as he flinches and covers his nose with a loud growl. His eyes fill with rage but only for a moment as it washes away again to irritation. For the brief moment I thought he would raise a hand but they went back down into clenched fists.
His eyes watered slightly from his nose as he spoke through gritted teeth, “I’d watch your back if I were you.” He exhaled through his nose in my face like an unruly bull. He then stands up straight again. As he walks to his room he stomps and slams the door, rattling a few picture frames on the wall.
Rosey leans over to my ear and only half whispers, “Between you and me, I think he’s gotta crush on you.”
I give Rosey a bewildered look, “It really is just a rat's nest up there huh?”
She responded with a head tilt of slight confusion and a smile. Shaking my head, I headed to my room for the night, hoping it was all a nightmare.