I swirled the straw around in my iced water and surveyed the cafe, growing increasingly impatient with each swirl. I checked the time on my phone—3:45. If this guy doesn’t show up in the next two minutes, I’ll—

I look down at my phone buzzing in my hand, It’s Jen. She’s calling me. I put my earbuds in, prepared to lecture her about wasting my time.

“Heeey Daya!” She said, almost apologetically, “So, Joe just texted me and said he’ll be there in five minutes.”

I sighed. “I’m leaving in two minutes.”

“No no no! Come on, give him a chance. What’s three more minutes? You can wait that long. I know you don’t have anything going on.”

I took a sip from my well-swirled drink. “That doesn’t mean some random guy can be fifteen minutes late and I just have to be okay with it.”

“You said you would help him. You haven’t even met him and you’re already giving up on him?”

“Listen, this dude is probably great like you said, but if he’s late to a simple sit-down meeting then how do I know he’s not gonna be late on rent?”

There was silence on the other end. I knew I had her there. “What if he got lost?”

“Did he say he got lost?”

“No…”

The bells attached to the entrance of the café jingled.

“I think someone’s here. Let’s hope it’s your boy.” I turn to the front door of the cafe and see a very lost looking guy with curly brown hair.

“Is it Joe?” Jen asked.

“Yeah, finally. I’ll call you back.” As I hung up, the man approached.

Up close, he wasn’t so bad looking. Dark freckles dusted his nose and cheeks, which were red from being in the cold January air, and his brown ringlets fell in a way that flattered his face. Still, though. He was fifteen minutes late.

“Daya, right?” He said as he sat down.

“That’s me.” I looked at my phone again. Jen sent a text that said “be nice!!!” I had to stifle a laugh.

“Sorry about being late, by the way,” He says, making no attempt to explain why he was late.

“Oh no, it’s fine,” I lie, taking a sip of my water.

“So, I’m pretty sure Jen told you I’d just need a place to live for a year.” He must have not noticed my annoyance since he was all smiles.

“She did.”

“Okay, cool. How much is rent at your place? I know Jen also mentioned you live in the nice part of town—”

I chuckled “The nice part? Nah, I live a few blocks away from the Times building Oh, and I wouldn’t worry about rent. It’s rent-controlled. $1,200 a month.”

“Well, that’s actually a relief.”

“Do you have a job?”

“I’m...actually between jobs. But I start a new one soon at Helio. It’s an ad agency.”

“Nice. So, where are you from?”

Joe twirled a curl around his finger. “Do you remember me?”

“Huh?”

He laughed. “I guess not. We went to State together.”

“State’s a big school, you know.” I looked him over again, but his face didn’t ring any bells from my college days.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I was good friends with Jen, though. I thought you would’ve remembered me.”

“No, sorry.” There was a brief silence between us. “You still haven’t told me where you’re from.”

“Westport. Same as Jen.”

“How long have you two known each other?”

“We went to high school together.” These two were practically childhood friends. It’s weird that Jen never mentioned him.

“You know, I have to admit I’ve never had a male roommate before. I don’t really think it’ll be a problem, but… I thought I would mention it.” In college, there were no coed dorms and the girls’ dorms were strict No Boys Allowed zones. It was kinda lame, but I dealt with it because transferring to another school just to cohabitate with a dude seemed like a bit much, especially considering there weren’t that many good journalism schools in the state.

“Oh yeah, me neither. I mean—I’ve never had a female roommate before. Except for my sisters, I guess. But that’s different.”

I checked my phone again. It was almost 4, and the sun would start to set soon. Time to get to business.“So, as you probably know, me and Jen used to be roommates before she moved to Toronto. I would say we’re good friends. And I trust her, a lot. I won’t lie, you’ve made a...less than stellar impression today being so late.”

Joe looked uncomfortable.

“But, because I trust Jen so much and because she sang such high praises for you, I’ll let it slide. You can move in as soon as you’d like.”

Joe smiled big. His teeth were surprisingly straight, probably the product of braces. “Thank you so much, you have no idea how much this helps me.”

I stood from my seat, and so did Joe. “No problem.”

Without any goodbye, I left the cafe and began walking home.

–-

On my walk home, I thought about my meeting with Joe and mentally kicked myself for being so rude. Okay, sure, he was fifteen minutes late, but… From how Jen described it, this guy really needed a place to stay. I basically bitched a reasonably nice man in need out for being late! I groaned and pulled my phone out of my pocket. Jen sent me Joe’s number, but I never saved it. I copy-and-pasted it into the messages app and sent a text:

>hey, this is Daya. sorry if I seemed a little standoffish back there. It’s been a rough day haha

Okay, so I lied. My day, up until that point, had been perfectly normal, but I felt like I couldn’t just apologize for needlessly being a dick without some kind of reason...right?

Minutes later, I got two messages back:

>no problems haha

>is tomorrow morning too early to move in?

I though about it for a moment. Tomorrow was Saturday. On the one hand I like my Saturdays to be do-nothing days, but on the other hand… Don’t be a dick, Daya, I told myself.

>nah it’s fine. I’ll be at home.

As I approached my apartment building, I got another message:

>cool! I’ll see ya tomorrow morning then :)

Smiley face huh? What a charmer. I rolled my eyes and went into my apartment.