Renting a way out (Celebstars ft. Assume)

Ever since she was a little girl Brittney wanted to be like her mother. She was a nurse at a Hospital in Ohio and that in its self filled the daughter with admiration. So it was no surprise at the age of twenty-five that the long black haired girl was taking up her studies at Medical school.

Doing such a course meant she had to get a student loan which she worked off at a restaurant. The money wasn't great but slowly she managed to get the debt down over the course of the year.

While attending University, she shared an apartment with a friend, together, they shared the rent down the middle and took turns getting groceries in. At this point in her life, things were stable, she wouldn't of said great, but she managed. That was until her friend and roommate moved out after completing her exams. There was no need for her to stay any longer and the pair parted on great terms, but not without any worry from Brittney. Having to find another few hundred dollars to cover rent she turned to her parents.

They were born and raised in Ohio, had a family business, which wasn't doing to well, so they couldn't help her out financially with regret. The last thing they wanted was for their youngest daughter to be struggling.

Brittney tried her best to find someone else to move in with her, anyone willing to pay her roommate's half would be welcome with open arms but no one took an interest. Her worry affected her at Uni and work, where she worked as a waitress. Today was the end of the month, the last working day and Brittney got paid her usual amount. But with herself only working part time her wage didn't cover the costs of keeping a roof over her head.

She planned a visit to her landlord, he was a decent enough middle aged man, he always seemed friendly. Surely he would understand.

Kevin Adams made his way to his small office area, taking his key out of his grey slacks, he placed it into the keyhole as he opened up the door. Turning on the lights, he placed a pile of papers that he was holding onto the desk. Being the landlord of the building was a great job. He enjoyed seeing and interacting with all of his tenants. Going through some paper work, he jotted down all of the tenants who had paid their rent a bit early. Some preferred to pay rent at the beginning of the month while others decided to pay at the end.

Running his hand through his salt and pepper hair, he wore a white collar shirt that was tugged into his pants. Mr. Adams was in his mid fifties and was a rather sweet man. He cared about all of his tenants. Though some he knew better than others. He had seen Britney around a few times, he didn't know her well personally, though he always said hello to her whenever he saw her in the halls. She was one the better tenants though, she never caused any problems, and would pay on time.

Mr. Adams though friendly and caring, he had a firm policy on payment. Unlike baseball, for him it was two strikes and you're out. If someone were to miss two payments he would immediately have them evicted. It wasn't anything personal, after all this was a business and with the rising prices he could use every penny.

He stretched a bit before leaning back, into the old wooden chair. The end of the month was coming up, and he knew that he would have to make his usual rounds to collect it. So far no one seemed to have any problems paying. The only complaints he got were small things such as broken sinks or cogged toilettes.

After her shift finished in the late afternoon, the woman left work with a glum expression on her face as she went to face her landlord. On her way back to her apartment building, Brittney stopped by a cash machine to check her balance. The rent cost $770 in total, her wage, for part time, which was only two days, $540. Tilting her head back, she took all of the money out, putting away a hundred in her denim pants pocket whilst the rest went in to her black leather bag which she carried on her arm.

That $100 will help her with food for the up and coming month whilst she would offer the rest in payment to her landlord, hoping he would accept it from her.

With her jet black hair resting on her shoulders and mid way down her back, she made her way up the steps of the apartment building, using her key to open the large wooden door. There was a man at the desk in front, Harry was his name, someone who had worked in the building for years and was a lovely gentleman. His age was a giveaway with his grey hair and the wrinkles on his black face. "Hey" she waved to him in a girly way, her fingers moving individually, and showing off their black nail polish colour.

Her gorgeous mouth with those pink lips smiled as she walked past, moving up and down because she was chewing a piece of gum. "Have you seen Mr Adams?" She asked, now stopping at the tall desk, allowing her to rest her arms on it as she looked down at the man. Brittney, above the waist, was wearing a blue tank top and a white cardigan which was buttoned up to her chest to help keep her warm.

"He is in his office" he winked at her. "Thanks"

Heading to the side of the reception area, there was a door which everyone knew to be the office of the landlord. Knocking on it politely, Brittney pulled her hair to lean on one side, her left side, which was the way she liked to have it sometimes. Looking around the corridor, it was freshly painted, the maintenance of the place was well looked after.

What is it now? Kevin thought to himself as he heard the knock on the door. Busy with his work, he reluctantly got up. Making his way to the door he opened it up to see a pretty face looking at him. "Hey there how are you...?" he said pausing for a second to remember her name. "Britney right?" he said, hoping that he had gotten her name right. He was getting a bit old, and he had quite the handful of tenants coming in and out, so he hoped she would forgive him if he had gotten her name wrong. "Come in come in.." stepping to the side he allowed her to come inside, before he closed the door.

"I thought it was Harry at the door wanting something like he usual does when he gets bored.." Mr. Adams said shaking his head. "Here take a seat.." he said raising his hand to the seat that was stationed right in front of his desk. There were three chairs lined up right in front of Mr. Adams large desk which seemed to take up most of the room in his office. Getting behind the desk he sat down as he reclined a bit into his chair. "If I recall...correctly...I don't think I've seen you in my office before.." he said thinking back. "Well, expect when you decided to rent a apartment. You're a really good tenant.." he said as he began to shower her with praises.

"Y'know it's really hard to find good people to rent apartments too...there's a lot of people that just take the rooms and don't pay! And to kick them out? Boy that's a headache.." Mr. Adams said as he began to ramble on and on. "Heh, I'm sorry..that's just my problems that I'm burdening you with. So...what is this visit for? Is something wrong with your apartment? Y'know you can just fill out a form and send it to me like the rest of the others.." Kevin said chuckling.

It would be quite obvious to Britney that Kevin had no clue that she was having problems paying the months rent. To Kevin Britney was a innocent soul, after all she had that look to her. It seemed as if she didn't have a single bad bone in her body.

Seeing him open the door to her, she smiled as she chewed her gum. "Yes it is Brittney" she replied, the girl wasn't at all bothered by the fact he may have forgotten her name. It meant he had no problems with her, she just kept herself to herself and got on with it.

Taking a seat, the middle one of the three in front of his desk, the girl brushed her black hair with her fingers before setting her bag down on the blue carpeted floor. The desk was a light wooden colour and was pretty grand compared to any other she had seen. Hearing and listening to him going on about how good a tenant she was started to make her feel bad. But maybe it would count in her favour?

"Well you see, it isn't easy for me to say, I was hoping we could come to some kind of arrangement. As you know, my roommate left, so it is just me paying for the rent now. But my wage does cover it." Leaning in to her bag, she pulled out $440 in cash and put it on the desk. "This is all I can afford each month now."

Looking nervous, she was over $300 short. "As you said, I an not a bad person to have, I just need time to find someone else to share the place with. Then I will be able to get back on track. I just ask for some help, you have more than enough people here, it wont be as if you arent making money still. What do you say?"

Brittney wasn't feeling confident.

The smile on his face soon faded as she spoke. "Well, this is the last thing that I thought we would be speaking about.." he said disappointed. She seemed like an honest good girl. Gathering the money that she had placed before him, he began to count it up. After a second or two, he realized that she was quite short. "$300 dollars..." he sighed, as he placed the money back onto the desk. "I'm positive you're not a bad person, you seem like a good sweet girl. But just because I view you like that doesn't mean I can give you special treatment. I mean didn't you have all month to look for someone?" he said recalling that her roommate had left earlier in the month.

"And just because I have other tenants doesn't mean I can have one person pay a lower amount. All it takes it one person, then someone else comes and tells me a story and soon everyone is getting reduced rent..because their roommates left.." Mr. Adams was getting a bit frustrated with things. After a minute or two of silences he shook his head and gazed up at her.

"I'll give you one month.." he said finally coming up with something. "You have one month to find another roommate or get another job or something...so can you pay the full price..I also expect the 300 dollars that you are missing from here.." he said poking his finger onto the money that was on the table. Collecting it, he took it and placed it into his drawer before going through his papers and signing off that she had paid.

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you" Brittney said, pleased and happy with his decision, she offered her hand to the man so she could shake his in respect. "I will have the money, I promise."

Leaving his office quickly before he could change his mind, the girl went through the lobby area, past Harry and in to the elevator. Hitting the button which had the number 4 on it, the doors closed and Brittney stood with a beaming smile on her face. By the time the doors open and she walked out in to the corridor, she realized that she wouldn't of had the money.

Upon entering her home, she put her bag down on the kitchen counter and took out her iPhone. Her first call was to her father.

"Hey Daddy, how are you?"

"Oh great, glad your doing OK. I was wondering, will you be able to help me out with my rent until I can get another roommate? I'm struggling to keep up with it, my Landlord has let me off this month but I need to repay it back with next months."

By the time she had finished her conversation and the call was ended, Brittney didn't look to happy. Her father couldn't afford to help her out.

Seeing how excited she was warmed his heart a little bit, but there was still a lingering thought in his head that this might be a bad idea. He had clients like her before, where they promised they would be able to pay once they find someone to split the money with...usually it was just all a lie. Who knows? He thought to himself, maybe this might be different. With a solid look on his face, he nodded and took her hand as he lightly shook it. "Remember..one month.." he reminded her, as she left.

About a few minutes after she had left, Kevin was about finish in his office for today. He decided he would come back to the work later. Closing up the door, he made his way back to his apartment. Mr. Adams had lived in one of the more upscale apartments. Since he had owned the placed he had done a few renovations on it a couple times before. Unlike the other apartments, his own was a bit bigger and even had a master bed room in it which contained a bathroom.

"Hello honey! How are you? I'm doing great!" Jeff, Britney's father said as he had answered the phone. He was always happy to hear his little girls voice. Though his feelings were a bit mixed when she started to ask for money. Sighing, he knew that he couldn't help her out. It hurt him that he wasn't able to provide for her. "I'm not sure hun..the business isn't doing to well..and your mother and are I just making the minimum payments for our bills..maybe in a couple of months things may get better.." he told her with some hope in his voice.

The month wasn't long as she thought it was, it went very fast, all of her efforts to try and raise some money fell short. Brittney did sell some of her items, raising another $100 in the process but it still wasn't enough.

The girl's mood over the weeks wasn't the best and evident to some who repeatedly asked her if she was OK. Her fellow students at college and work colleagues at the restaurant. "I'm fine" she would tell them, always feeling like she was an embarrassment or had no dignity that she couldn't pay her rent.

A advertisement in the local paper, and word spread around the college of a room available did nothing, no one bothered to ask her for it which only deepened her woes and fears.

So when the day came that her rent was due, Brittney stayed in her apartment, she didn't leave the house, hoping, just hoping he would forget, although it was a stupid plan. Why would he? Laying on the couch in her pyjamas, watching TV, the girl had a nervous feeling inside her stomach.

Like usual Kevin was in his office going over the tenants who had paid and who hadn't paid this month. Like usual most of the tenants managed to pay, it seemed his strict polices made sure of that. Though this time around there was one person still on the list who hadn't paid. Britney. A name that he quickly remembered. Sighing, he knew she was a good girl. Her last visit remained him of the troubles that she was facing trying to pay rent.

Sighing, he got up from his desk as he quickly made his way up to her apartment. He made sure to grab her key, just in case no one answered. In the past he had some tenants who thought they would be smartasses and just not answer the door. Though that didn't work seeing that he had spare keys to all of the rooms.

Heading up the stairs, he quickly made it to her apartment. Like usual Kevin wore dark grey slacks with a white collar shirt and over that a dark black cardigan. Raising his hand, it dropped heavily onto her door as he knocked on it. "Britney..it's Mr. Adams.." he said, waiting for the girl to open up.