Stories From VO1.2

Mariel Pavlova

Mariel didn't know Gina personally and she never really got to as time passed in their shared space. She was nineteen when she moved to the city, a new kid in a strange place who couldn't afford rent on her own. A newspaper advertisement solved that issue. The number of answers to the request was dizzying but a lot of them turned out to be eccentric weirdos. Mariel was relieved when she found Gina. Finally, someone who spoke and acted like a normal person and didn't want Mariel to smell their cats.

Mariel wasn't expecting to make a friend out the situation. This was to be a strictly mutually beneficial financial arrangement. Still it would have been nice to have a amicable relationship with her potential at the least. With Gina that wasn't possible.

Sure, Gina was an okay enough roommate. She slacked on her share of the dishes but managed to keep all of her messes contained to the inside of her own room. Once, while she was returning with her own laundry, Mariel peeked. A cracked door revealed towers of clothes, a messy dresser, and complete disorganization all around.

They weren't hostile or anything to each other but Gina remained standoffish. Every one of Mariel's invitations to hang out together were declined, eventually without excuses. They watched the same shows, had similiar tastes in food, but Gina would never park herself on the couch with Mariel when there was a new episode or join her at the dinner table. She'd even order takeout separately!

Mariel eventually gave up on attempting to form some sort of relationship with Gina. They weren't obligated to be friends. Perhaps that was what Gina was trying to say. Either way, Mariel got the point. They came, they went, maybe they grabbed something from the fridge at the same time. They had to share a bathroom but an unspoken schedule developed when Mariel grew fed up of Gina hogging, and messing up, the bathroom every other night.

The roommate application form that Mariel stole from online and Gina filled out indicated that Gina was a columnist for one of the big newspapers downtown. Memory failed her on the name of the paper and column but Mariel inferred from overheard conversations that it was about celebrity news and gossip. She went to a lot of fancy events and watched Samantha Parker's bit on Spotlight every night. That peek through the door also showed stacks of notes and loose leafs stuff in every nook and cranny.

For all of Gina's flaws, one of them being that super annoying boyfriend who always called the house strange hours of the night and the other being not covering her nose and mouth when she coughed or sneezed, she seemed to be dedicated to her job and she had to be good at it. Rent money hit Mariel's well in advance of the deadline and sometimes, when they did order takeout together, Gina would put all the food on her charge card.

If all of this only cost a distant roommate and sanitizing the house down every time Gina got germy then it was a pretty good deal. Mariel thought she was handling it well until she was on her way out Friday night karaoke and Gina coughed into her face. Not by, not near, but mouth to nose. It was wet.

That was the straw that broke the camels back. She had to say something about it this time. All week Gina had been hear and there and coughing everywhere. She could get someone else sick if she wasn't careful, and Gina wasn't careful at all. So Mariel snapped and pushed her out to go to the doctor and not come back. Then she headed back to the bathroom to fix herself up.

It took thirty minutes for Mariel to scrub her face and reapply her makeup. She wasn't going to sit there and make sure Gina actually went to the doctor. Gina was a big girl and Mariel had her own plans. She just knew she was going to stop by a pharmacy on her way to the bar. If Gina made her sick she was going to be so pissed.

***

Mariel was so pissed. She was sick, suffering from Gina's irresponsibility. There was nothing Mariel could do to vent her frustration because she hadn't seen Gina three days. She was probably quarantined in Saint Mark's cursing Mariel like Mariel was cursing her.