First Time | Protector 3.1 | Wattys2017

Chapter 34

*trigger warning*

Chapter 34

Jerome

       Ryder walked into the apartment, carrying the mail that he just got. He was flipping through all the envelopes, seeing who each one was for. He put all on the counter before handing me one. "This one is for you," he said.

       "Is it from my parents?" I asked. "If it is, you can burn it in the oven."

       Ryder looked at the return address. "No, it's from VidGalore."

       I took the envelope from him. "Ooh, it's probably my cheque."

       "Your cheque?" Ryder asked. "You get paid for vlogging?"

       "Uh, yeah," I said as I opened the envelope. "I thought you were a genius."

       "I am."

       "Then you should have known that people do get paid from vlogging," I said. "You know, because of the ads in the videos? I've been getting paid ever since the December I started vlogging. That's how I've been able to help pay for the apartment."

       "Really? I thought it was because of your job at the cafe."

       "Nope," I said. "I got fired from that, remember?"

       "Oh, yeah," Ryder said. "Why did you get fired again?"

       "Because I was always arguing with customers," I said. "And a lot of girls were hitting on me, so I kept telling them, sometimes rudely, that I was taken. My boss gave me way too may warnings."

       I took the cheque out of the envelope and looked at it, even though I already knew how much I was getting paid. "Ooh, look at all of those zeros," I said. "Just kidding. I don't get paid that much."

       "How much do you get paid?" 

       I shrugged. "Depends on the month. I got paid a lot more last month because it was the holidays, so there were a lot more ads going around. This month was only 7500."

       "Only....what?"

       "I said s--"

       "Yeah, I heard you," Ryder said. "I just don't get why you said only. That's a lot for a month."

       "The views has been going up, thanks to Dirk for trying to throw me under the bus," I said.

       Mae walked out of her bedroom and Ryder looked over at her. "You know how much he got paid this month for vlogging? Only 7500."

       Mae furrowed her eyebrows. "Only? That's a lot."

       "Exactly what I said," Ryder said.

       "Oh, and speaking of money....Well, kind of," I said. "I'm planning on finding my own apartment soon. Probably sometime in the summer."

       "What? Why?" Mae asked.

       "Uh, because it's hard living with a married couple," I said. "I have to watch you two being all couply all the time and listen to Ryder whining about having a baby."

       "Aww, baby," Ryder said. "I want a baby."

       "Jerome, I told you, you can't use that word around him anymore," Mae said. "Or otters."

       "Aww, otters," Ryder said. "I love otters."

       "I swear, you're just like a little kid," Mae said.