RACE AROUND THE KITCHEN
 
PART 1
 
 
Twinkle pushed her hair back from her eyes and found a pen. "I was looking for that before." She thought, pulling it out of her ponytail.
She did stupid things like that when her writing got stuck. It was stuck now, and she was tempted to leave and finish it later. Unfortunately, this piece was actually due in, and it was due in tomorrow.
She slumped onto the desk and shut her eyes. Think dammit, think! It was only a short play about a game show, for gods sake!
Outside, she heard the phone ring somewhere in the depths of the house. She leapt up, quickly forgetting her deadline (happily so) and raced down stairs. Of course, it was two flights, and of course, there were other people who she could have called to answer it, but no matter.
"Hello, Twinkle speaking." A male voice answered. "Hey Twinkle, my name's Tim. I was just calling about the room you have for rent....is it still available?"
Alright! Another potential tenant. Only the third this week, Twinkle was beginning to suspect that skeeters' idea of writing 'We promise loud music, party weekends and the occasional Bacchanalian romp' had not been such a good one. But maybe skeeter knew more about attracting men that she did.
"Sure is! It's a biggish space, but whoever sleeps on the end bed will have to watch their head, it's an attic room. Did you want to have a look at it?"
"Sure do. We can stick Paul in the end bed, being the shortarse of the group. Ow!" Someone must have hit him, probably Paul, "There's three of us, and we need to move in ASAP, as in, today....so can we come and look at it today?"
He sounded worried, but like he was pretending to be calm. She was tempted to tease him, he sounded cute, but decided to submit to his request and told him to come around about four. People should be arriving home soon anyway, it was the night they had pizza. They wouldn't notice extended family, even though it was family night.
"Yeah, come over about four, that way you'll be more likely to meet the gang and see us in action." That was going to be what either sold them totally or scared them completely. He sounded sold already.
"Terrific! I'll bring the boys at four. See you soon, Twinkle, looking forward to it." Twinkle grinned and said goodbye. This was going to be fun.

She walked to the fridge and checked the list to see when everybody was going to be back. This list thing was GG's invention so that whoever was home would know when to order the pizza. A rare time when this household appreciated organisation. Most of the residents were pretty adverse to it, actually, but for many, this was their first shared accommodation, and it was important no one got lost in all the excitement.
Everyone was due back by four, except Siren, who was working, and wiseman, Tigger and Jules, who were all out visiting friends. Some people didn't have deadlines, obviously. So that left Avarice, Skeeter and GG at home, with Solo, Lisa (H) and Steve due in any minute. The other slackers hadn't bothered to leave a message, so they could worry about their own pizza when they got back, not to mention whether or not they liked the newies.
Twinkle grinned to herself. Served them right.

She went into the hall and called up the stairs " We're having visitors, people. Anyone want to help me here?"
No answer. Maybe if she mentioned food or sex...
" Oh yeah, by the way, it's three single men" (she could exaggerate if she wanted and by the sounds of them, they would be single) "And they might be moving in today." That brought them running.
"We have renters?" asked Skeeter jumping down the stairs, Avarice in tow. "What kind of renters? Di you get good ones? Did you?" Av looked excited. And quite rightly so.
"Three prospective male renters desperate for a house ASAP. I just spoke to one of them on the phone. His name's Tim, and the other two...one of them is called Paul. Don't know about the third." Twinkle replied "And they'll be here in..." she checked her watch "40 minutes."
"Sounds cool, Twink." GG popped out of her room. Twinkle saw her hat before she saw her face.
"You'll be pleased to know I vacuumed the attic, so we're pretty much all set." She winked. GG knew Twinkle hated it when she talked about cleaning.
"Thank you, you're too kind, dear." Twinkle mock glared at her. Avarice and Skeeter laughed.
"So, who's doing the tour? They'll be scared off if all of us do it." one of them piped up.
"Twinkle, she spoke to Tim on the phone. And someone else. Do you think we can call him Timmy?" Avarice spoke up from her position on the stairs.
"Depends how much champagne you buy him." Twinkle cracked. GG piped up "You do it Av. I'll serve drinks, or at the very least drink drinks, and skeeter, do you want to do the honours with the food?" Skeeter looked worried.
"Do we have any food?"
"Bloody hell! Solo was supposed to do the shopping!" Twinkle freaked. Avarice flicked her in the head.
"Oh, thanks, that's better." Twinkle glared at her. "I needed that."
It was then that the girl of the moment chose to walk in through the door.
She looked from Skeeter to Twinkle, to Avarice and the suddenly back to Twinkle. "Oh shit! I forgot the shopping didn't I?" She walked back out again, calling "I'll be back in ten!"
How she planned to do the shopping in ten minutes was anybody's guess, but Solo could fix time machines. She could handle it.

People started to trickle in then, and when told of the visitors, each took their place around the house, fussing and chatting. Someone turned the stereo on, and even managed to find a consensus as to which CD they chose. From what Twinkle could tell, Pseudo Echo was the go.
Jules even came home early, and mumbled something about an exam before disappearing into his room. That brought Twinkle back down to earth from her excitement-Pseudo Echo joy.
"Jesus! The play!" Avarice looked confused. "You're writing a play about Jesus?" "Awww, no! Remember, Drama assignment? You know the one. It's due in tomorrow and I forgot." Avarice poked Skeeter and Skeeter nonchalantly walked out of the kitchen. "Don't worry about it."
Twinkle didn't even notice her go, because she heard a knock at the door. Followed by the sound of someone pretending to be a doorbell.
Followed by a loud slap.
That would have to be them. She jumped up and punched Avarice nervously on the shoulder. "You ready, baby doll?" Avarice grinned mischievously.
"Let's go."
Side by side, they walked to the door, and with a quick smile at her sidekick, she pulled open the door.

Who's on the other side?
Is it Tim, Paul and whatshisname, or is it just Druggie the pizza boy?
If it is the pizza boy, who ordered what?
Did Solo really manage to do the shopping in ten minutes?
Where did Skeeter go?
Does Solo object to me using her method of putting teasers on the end to obtain interest?
And why can't I think of anymore crappy teasers to entice the bored back to our humble abode?

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