"Last round!" I shout, ringing the little golden bell behind the bar. The last few customers quickly make their way to the bar and order two drinks each. Once the last person leaves, Megan and I begin our routine of cleaning the sticky bottles and wiping down the tables.
My feet are aching, I haven't had a chance to sit down since I came in aroud seven this morning. I guess I can't complain, more hours means more tips, which adds to our savings. After I clean the last bottle and put it on the shelf, I drop down onto one of the chairs and watch as my petite little friend takes her apron off and takes a seat next to me with an excited grin on her face. "Hey Kayla, have you and Mark found a place yet?"
"No not yet, we've looked everywhere. Everything is just crazy expensive these days. We've saved as much as possible from Mark's exhibitions and my salary but it's still not enough for what we need. To be honest, it seems as if we'll be saving for the next few years before we can find something perfect."
"Well I might have found something for you." She pulls out a few pieces of paper and lays them out on table, I lean forward and pick up the first page. On it is a picture of a cute double storey house with clean, white walls and a small white picket fence.
There's one large window above the small door and three on either side of it on the first floor. The house is surrounded by beautiful mountains and gorgeous green grass, perfect for family days and who knows, maybe we'll even a dog! In short, it looks perfect, but my heart sinks as I realize a house like this must cost a fortune.
I set the picture down and turn to Megan who's watching me, biting her lower lip in anticipation, her emerald green eyes shining with excitement as she waits for my reaction to gorgeous picture.
"It's perfect, but you know we could never afford a place like this." She shakes her head and slides the next piece of paper in front of me, tapping the bottom of the page. "Look at the price, Kayla!" I look down and read the words she's pointing at.
"No way, it says here that it's selling for fifteen thousand? That doesnt seem right, maybe they're renting it out for fifteen but nobody in their right mind would sell something this beautiful for such a little bit of money, when they could make at least a million out of it." As I started speaking she started shaking her head again.
"I thought so too! So I called the agent and she said there's no mistake, its definitely for sale. Apparently the last owner passed away four years ago and left it to her niece who wasn't interested in taking it so she put it on the market.
Since then it's been vacant, nobody wants it. It's your day off tomorrow, right? Just call the agent and have a look, what's the worst that could happen? If you hate it dont buy it, but it could be the perfect place for you guys."
Bless her heart, she just wants to help. "Okay fine, I'll call her and see if Mark and I can go check it out. I'll text you afterwards and let you know okay?" With that I take the papers and put them in my bag. Once all the cleaning is done and the chairs are all stacked up, I grab my stuff from the staff locker, give Megan a big hug and head home.
As I climb the stairs to get to our small apartment I hear the usual sounds of people screaming at each other, music blaring from one of the doors, a baby crying from another, police sirens blaring outside along with cars hooting and cats screeching.
I can't wait to get out of here, just escape to a nice home of our own where we can finally settle down and maybe even think of starting a family. The image of cute little toes and toothless grins on the faces of our one-day children brings a smile to my face.
I reach the sixth floor, looking at my watch I see its already 1am. Mark will probably be up painting, but just in case he's asleep I unlock the door and sneak in. Quietly putting my keys and handbag on the kitchen counter I put the kettle on and walk to the living room that doubles as Mark's art studio. Peering around the corner I see that all the lights are off except the little green lamp next to my chair.
His art supplies are scattered everywhere, paint brushes are laying on pieces of news paper on the floor and tubes of paint occupy the wooden table in the middle of the room.
A part of me really wants to go in and tidy up, but I know better than to clean up his 'organized mess' so instead I just turn the light off and go to the bedroom. As my fatigue sets in, suddenly having a cup of coffee doesn't seem as appealing as climbing into our warm bed and drifting off to sleep. Seeing Mark's sleeping form, cuddled up beneath the duvet just makes me feel even more tired.
I take off my ugly orange uniform and put an oversized shirt on before climbing into bed and laying down. I let out a sigh of relief as my body and mind start to relax, bringing on the sweet peacefulness only sleep can offer.
I wake up and groan, bringing up my hand to shield my eyes from the harsh sunlight streaming in from the window. I use my other hand to stretch out and feel for Mark but his side of he bed is empty. I sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes. Ugh, I feel so gross, I'll speak to Mark about the house after a shower.
I walk to the other side of the room, gather up a pair of blue jeans and a white tank top. After a long hot shower I grab my toothbrush and look in the mirror. Oh my God, is that what I look like? Damn waterproof mascara, no matter how many times I wash my face in the shower, I still manage to have black stains surrounding my light brown eyes, making me resemble a raccoon.
I quickly brush my teeth, grab a cotton pad and make up remover and begin wiping the remnants of last nights make up off. I take one look at my wet, curly blonde hair and decide to just tie it up and deal with the knots at a later stage. The messy bun compliments my heart shaped face more than any other hairstyle anyway.
I walk out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where my oh so amazing boyfriend is busy frying bacon and eggs for breakfast. I walk around the counter and give him a kiss on the cheek before standing on my toes to reach the cupboard and take our only two coffee mugs out.
I quickly add sugar and coffee into the empty cups, add boiling water and some milk before stirring and placing his cup next to the stove. Oh yes! The house! I walk over to my purse, take the papers out and hold them in front of Mark who is happily chewing on a piece of hot bacon. He takes the paper and gives me my plate. I use my knife to cut a perfect circle around the yolk, I add salt, pepper and pop it into my mouth while I watch Mark's face closely.
"Kayla, you know we can't afford a place like this.." I cut him off quickly." I know! I said the same thing, but Megan already called the agent, it's still available. And if you look st the second page.." he puts the picture of the house aside and looks at the next piece of paper."fifteen grand? That's impossible, it's probably a scam."
"Come on Mark, let's just arrange a viewing. If it sucks we'll keep looking, but what if it doesn't? This could be perfect for us." His gorgeous grey eyes study me for a moment, I can see he's thinking of reasons we should avoid going. Just when I think he's about to tell me to look for something more realistic he says.
"Fine, I'll call the agent and see when we can view it. But don't get your hopes up, nothing that looks like that comes cheap."
"Yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm sure we're going to love it. Mayne there is someone looking out for us after all." I say with a wink, mark just rolls his eyes.
He's always been the type of man that only believes in what he can see. He says anything to do with religion or the supernatural is meant for people without brains, people who want to blame the noises old houses make on ghosts, or feel they have an excuse to do whatever they want because they'll just pray and afterwards feel better because some invisible being has forgiven them.
I quickly grab the phone, punch in the number and shove the phone in his hands. "What, right now?" He says with a mouth full of food. "No better time than right now!" I say feeling giddy all over. He laughs and swallows his food before pressing the call button. After chatting to the agent for a minute he puts the phone down and stands up. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"We're going right now?" He leans over and kisses me. "No better time than right now." I quickly rush to the room and slip my feet into a pair of golden sandles before meeting Mark at the front door. We get to the jeep and climb in. I wait for him to start the car and pull out into the street before asking. "So, where is it?" "It's in a small town just an hour outside the city, she called it Graaff-Reinet."
"An hour?! How am I supposed to get to work and back if we live an hour away?" I say suddenly feeling deflated, I've had this job for two years. "We're just looking, Kayla. I told you, don't get your hopes up. If it's perfect for us and going for that price, then we'll work something out." He's right, I know. I just have such a good feeling about this, if we take it I'm sure I'll find a job close by.
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