They drove the twenty minute drive to the flat in complete silence. Evelyn spent the entirety of the drive staring out the window, trying to take in what little she could see of the city. They pulled up to a building, and Patrick turned to her after shutting off the engine.
“Just a heads up, I do have a flatmate. He’s my partner in the detective work. The flat has two bedrooms, and you’ll ust use mine. I don’t want you to be frightened if you’re wandering around and you run into James.”
Before waiting for a response, Patrick grabbed all of the bags and exited the vehicle. Evelyn sighed and opened her door. She had to run to catch up to Patrick as he unlocked the door to the building. She followed him down a hall to the first door on the left. He opened the door and began flipping on lights as he moved through the smallish flat.
Upon entering the flat, Evelyn found herself in a small, crowded living room. There was a couch along one wall, and desks lining the other two. Immediately to her left was a door, to which she assumed was a bedroom. The kitchen was open into the living room, and wasn’t very large. Past the kitchen there was a short hallway which she assumed led to the bathroom and the second bedroom.
Patrick moved to the door on the left, throwing it open. The room was sparsely decorated, and the solid green bedding on the queen sized bed was rumpled, and looked as if it were never made. He dropped her duffel and backpack on the floor at the foot of the bed.
“This is my room, you can use it for the duration of your stay. I’ll take the couch.” He turned and left the room and headed toward the desk that was set up under the window. He placed Megan’s duffel on teh floor next to his desk chair, and booted up his computer. His desk was a mess, covered in papers and empty energy drink cans. In fact, the entire flat was a mess. It truly held up to the stereotypical “bachelor’s pad” environment.
Evelyn looked around at the empty energy drink cans and beer bottles that lined the surface of most of the furniture and the counters in the kitchen. She counted at least three pairs of socks strewn about the floor. There was a wet towel on the floor in the middle of the hallway, as if the two feet into the bedroom were just too much to handle to travel. The floor of Patrick’s bedroom was littered with clothing. Whether they were clean or dirty she wasn’t quite sure.
“You can have a seat,” Patrick said, not looking up from his computer screen.
Evelyn looked toward the couch and wrinkled her nose up in disgust. The couch looked like something they found on the side of the street. The brown upostory worn and stained and the cushions sagging.
“I’m actually kind of hungry. I haven’t eaten since this morning on the airplane,” Evelyn answered.
Patrick, still glued to his computer, gestured toward the kitchen. “Help yourself to anything you want, kitten.”
Evelyn glared at the back of his head, and moved into the kitchen. She opened up the refrigerator and narrowed her eyes. The only thing inside were beer, energy drinks and half eaten take away containers. She closed the fridge and began opening cupboards. Empty. Empty. Empty.
“Um, Patrick?” Evelyn called, trying to control her temper.
“Yes, love?”
“You are aware that you have absolutely nothing edible in your kitchen, right?”
“Not true,” Patrick answered. “I’m fairly certain we have some take away in there. You’re more than welcome to it.”
“How long ago did you order it?”
Patrick stopped what he was doing on the computer to think. “Honestly, I have no idea. I can’t actually remember the last time we’ve eaten a meal here.”
Evelyn couldn’t control herself any longer. She picked up an empty beer can from the counter and chucked it at Patrick nailing him in the head.”
“Oy! What was that for?” he exclaimed, rubbing his head where the can ricocheted off.
“I’m hungry. I’m supposed to stay here with you for who knows how long, and you and your room mate live like pigs. How am I supposed to live like this? Oh, and did I mention that I’m hungry?”
“Order take away then. Bloody hell are you useless.”
“How? From where? Patrick, I’m not from here. You need to help me with these things.”
“There’s a curry place three doors down. Just walk down there and get something.”
“Fine,” Evelyn started for the door, patting her pockets to make sure she still had her money on her. It was a good thing she had the mind get money in the right currency before leaving on her trip. She had just placed her hand on the doorknob to leave, when she felt a hand on her arm, stopping her.
“Never mind,” Patrick said. “You can’t go out there. What was I thinking. The Fitzgeralds might be out there, and then your head will be delivered to my flat. And I’ll never hear the end of it from Peter. You can’t go alone.”
“So come with me,” Evelyn said.
“Can’t. Too busy. You’ll have to wait until James gets home.”
“When will that be?”
“Don’t know.”
“Argh!” Evelyn screamed in frustration. “What happened to being more civilized?”
“I’m being plenty civilized. I haven’t called you a name yet, have I?”
“You’re impossible. I’m going to go lie down and see if sleeping will make me forget how hungry I am.” She wrenched her arm out of Patrick’s grip and stomped to Patrick’s room, slamming the door shut behind her.
