Forever Roses

MetroView is a set of crappy apartments, and MetroView only have the minimum items you would expect to have in a house, or in other apartments. These would include basic appliances or really worn out furniture for a majority of the rooms in the apartment.

Justin was sleeping peacefully in his bed, when his alarm goes off at exactly 8:00 A.M. “Aw man...” After hitting his alarm, and as he was stretching, he notices a pile of mail on the floor, located underneath the mail slot on the door. He gets up from the bed, and as he was tossing some mail behind his back, said in an annoyed tone- “Junk mail... junk mail... advertisements...”

As Justin flips to the last letter, his eyes widened. “The landlord? Hopefully, he doesn’t raise the rent again...” he says to himself. Justin opens the letter and as he reads it, he groans in frustration. “Of course he raises it again... I’m gonna be homeless!” Justin falls onto the wall in defeat, with his hand placed on his forehead, while eventually sliding down onto the floor.

(Rachel’s P.O.V.)

Rachel’s home is located in a slightly nicer part of town, and furbished with a lot of expensive items and furniture. White wallpaper also line the walls, with the occasional blue stripe showing up.

Currently, Rachel Till is sitting at the dinner table with her family, who consisted of Destiny, her mom, Jeff, her dad, and Kayla, her sister. While turning to face Rachel, Destiny asks- “So... When are you thinking of getting married?” Rachel rolls her eyes. “Mom. For the last time, marriage is the last thing on my mind.” She says in an annoyed tone says

“Rachel please. You have to get married.” Destiny says with a begging tone in her voice. “Maybe in the future. I got to focus on other things I’m interested in.” Rachel says with a grunt.

“Like what?” Destiny says as she prepares herself to continue eating. “You know what! Like my hobbies and my career! I just want to get my life in order.” Rachel says as she hovers a fork near her mouth.

“Don’t worry about that Rachel! You’re part of one of the wealthiest families here!” Destiny says as she gets up to get an extra napkin. Rachel then gets up. “Look Mom. I appreciate it. It’s just I want something more in life. Not just sit around all day.”

“We’ll discuss this later. Do you mind getting some groceries?” Destiny asks as she searches for money in her purse. Rachel sighs. “Ugh... Fine. We’ll talk about this later.”

“Thank you. Here, take this.” Destiny passes some money to Rachel, who then walks out the door after taking it. At the grocery store, Justin was working his usual cashier job. Rachel then comes over and after putting the groceries on the conveyor belt. Justin then starts to scan her items. “So... How’s your day?”

“Ehh.. It’s... I don’t know what to say. My mother doesn’t seem to care.” Rachel says as she fishes for her wallet. One of Justin's eyebrows shoots up. “About what? Sorry for asking.” Rachel lets out a laughs and says- “That’s fine. She doesn’t seem to care much about what I want in life.”

“Wow. That sucks.” Justin finishes scanning the items, and starts to put the items into a bag. Rachel then pays for the items. “I know. You don’t seem like you’re in a good mood either.”

“Yeah, my landlord raised rent again and I’m worried I’ll be homeless.” A worried look appeared on Rachel’s face. “Oh no.... Is there anyway I can help you?”

Justin then finishes bagging the items. “Oh no. I don’t know about that. But thanks for offering.” Rachel looks down for a few moments and an idea popped into her head. A smirk appears on her face. “What’s that look for?”

“Listen to this.” Both Rachel and Justin lean down. “How about you pretend to be my boyfriend?”

“Excuse me what? Sorry, but what would that accomplish, exactly?” Justin says with a confused tone.

“Let me explain. If you pretend to be my boyfriend, my mom will get off my back, and in the meanwhile, I can help with your bills.” A look of realization appears on Justin’s face. “I see. But like I said, I don’t want to take advantage of your generosity.”

“Oh no. I don’t mind. It benefits both of us.” Rachel says with a smile on her face. “I see... But what about marriage? Wouldn’t we have to break up or get married or something?” Justin says with curiosity poking out form his voice. “Oh, we can figure it out. Depending on the future situation, we can do either.” Rachel says with a shrug.

“Okay... So when should we introduce our quote on quote relationship to your mom?” She thinks for a few seconds. “Maybe in a month or two? Maybe more? It has to be a believable amount of time.” Justin nods. “True. Thanks for helping me.”

“It’s no problem.” They both shake hands, and as Rachel was about to leave, she stops herself and turns to Justin. “Oh right. You gotta give me your number.” Realization dawns on Justin. “Oh right.” Justin and Rachel each write their phone numbers down on a piece of paper. They then exchange their numbers to one another. They both nod. “Maybe we can hang out later. If you can..” Rachel did the call me sign with her hand. Justin nods and both continue on their day.

Later, Justin was closing up the shop with Albert and as they were heading to the front, Albert says- “So... Who was that woman you were talking to?”

“Oh. Just someone I met recently. Just a friendly conversation, that’s all.” Justin says as he was grabbing the store keys. “Ahh... So just a new friend, huh?” Albert says with a smile forming on his face. “Yup. Nothing much.” As Justin went to his car, he took out his phone, and dialed Rachel’s number. As he opened the car door and started his car, his cellphone rung a few times. Rachel then picked up as he was driving out of the parking lot. “Justin! Done with work?

“Yup. Do you want to come over to my place or do you want to go to Lakeshore Mall?”

“Sure. What time?” Rachel asks as she looks at a few outfits in her closet. “In an hour or two?” Justin asks as he drives down the road. “Would in two be okay?” Rachel asks as she continues to poke around in her closet.

“All right. See you then!” Two hours later, Justin was at the entrance of the mall. He then sees Rachel walking up to the entrance and proceeds to go up to her. “Rachel! What’s up?” Justin then holds out his hand and Rachel immediately shakes it. “I’m good! How about we head in?”

“Sure. Where would you like to go first?” Rachel says with a huge smile. “How about we go to a random store first? And then to one of the stores we both want to go to?” Justin immediately asks.

“Sure, if that’s what you want.” Rachel smiles and Justin leads her to a video game store. “This is one of my favorite places here.”

“One, eh?” Rachel says with a smile. “Yeah. I can take you there after your shop.” Rachel nods. “Video games seem so fun. But Mom never would let me...”

“Wow. So she didn’t like video games?”

“Not really. But when I was at my friend’s house, and when we could, we were able to play video games.”

“Then I should show you my game collection then.”

“Oh? That... actually sounds like a good time. I’ll be down for that.” Justin smiles and Rachel takes Justin to her favorite shop, which happens to be the book store Justin was planning to take her to. “Oh! This was the other place I was talking about!”

“Oh? Your other favorite place?” Rachel asks with a curious tone. “Yeah! I love this place! Especially with it’s comics.” Rachel looks down and blushes. “Oh. I have the same feeling too. Also with history and a few other topics.”

“Oh okay! Sounds interesting.” Justin says with a smile forming on his face. Rachel felt a fluttering feeling in her heart, but pushed it away as nothing. They continued to go to other stores, and in the meantime, they talked about many different topics. A few hours passed by, and they walked back outside. “Thank you. I had a great time.” Rachel says with a big smile.

“It’s no problem. I had a great time as well.” Justin says as a smile forms across his face. The two then walk to their cars, and both drive in the general direction of their homes.