artists-and-performers deal. Priced out of anywhere decent, they took over the places no one else wanted to live in and landlords couldn’t rent out to industry: the
cold-water flats, the rat-infested warehouses with barely basic plumbing. The landlords turned a blind eye to the fact that their tenants were actually living in their alleged work studios, which
of course meant that they could be evicted at any time.
‘Lawrence and I want to do this place up and make a yoga studio here, ’ Autumn informed Evie. ‘It’s our dream.’
‘Oh really?’ Evie countered. ‘That’s news to me. Lawrence never mentioned you at all.’
Evie knew this girl wasn’t Lawrence’s girlfriend. No way was Lawrence the type of guy to cheat on a steady, someone he was committed to. Even if Lawrence and Autumn hooked up
occasionally – and Evie figured that Lawrence was too sensible to do it with a roommate – Evie was sure he hadn’t ever agreed to be exclusive with her. Lawrence, bless him, was
honest to the core.
Autumn glared at her.
‘You can throw your bags in his room, ’ she said, nodding down the corridor.‘It’s the last one on the right. And the bathroom’s next to it.’
She smiled maliciously.
‘It won’t be much by your standards, ’ she added, picking up a copy of a yoga magazine and starting to flick through it. ‘Oh, and you might see the occasional rat.
Lawrence and I don’t believe in putting down poison for them. We’re very strict vegans.’
Dragging her bags down the corridor, such as it was – the residents had put up cheap partition walls, open at the top, to divide the vast space into separate rooms – Evie reached
Lawrence’s room. It was at least exquisitely neat, and someone, probably Lawrence, had built a big platform for a loft bed at the rear, plus long wooden shelves and a hanging rail for
clothes. Books were arranged on the shelves, and Lawrence’s clothes, mostly in shades of khaki, taupe and beige (i.e. colours that could be achieved without bleaching, using natural dyes)
were ranged in tidy piles further down. There was a desk and a chair, a sisal rug on the floor, and some Japanese scroll paintings hung on the walls.
That was it.
Not a single real creature comfort.
Slowly, she took off her coats, one after the other, and hung them over the chair. Then she sat down on one of the rungs of the wide ladder leading up to the sleeping platform, and stared ahead
of her blindly, barely even seeing the particle-board wall. Everything had happened so fast. She was still barely able to process the wreck of her life – how far and fast she had fallen since
she had woken up this morning in her beautiful penthouse, cosseted, beloved, wrapped in 400-count sheets, cashmere blankets and silk bedspreads, scented with expensive moisturiser.
She was busting for a pee, but she couldn’t face investigating the bathroom. From the way Autumn had smirked at her, she could tell it would be very bad.
Footsteps came down the hall. Could it be Lawrence? Had he picked up her message and rushed back to see her? Evie’s heart raced with anticipation. Lawrence was all she had left: she
hadn’t realised till this moment how eager she was to see him.
But it was Autumn who put her head round the door, Autumn who said, with the triumphant air of a woman who is just about to score a major point over her rival:
‘Oh, by the way, I noticed that’s a leather bag you were carrying. And those suitcases are leather too, aren’t they?’
Her gaze went to the chair over which Evie had carefully draped her coats, and her eyes widened in horror.
‘Oh my God, is that real fur? ’ she breathed.
She walked into the room and bent over the chair for a closer look at Evie’s shaved mink, letting out a scream when she confirmed her suspicions. Turning to Evie, she put her hands on her
hips.
‘We’re a cruelty-free household, ’ she declared. ‘Every animal product you own will have to go by
cold-water flats, the rat-infested warehouses with barely basic plumbing. The landlords turned a blind eye to the fact that their tenants were actually living in their alleged work studios, which
of course meant that they could be evicted at any time.
‘Lawrence and I want to do this place up and make a yoga studio here, ’ Autumn informed Evie. ‘It’s our dream.’
‘Oh really?’ Evie countered. ‘That’s news to me. Lawrence never mentioned you at all.’
Evie knew this girl wasn’t Lawrence’s girlfriend. No way was Lawrence the type of guy to cheat on a steady, someone he was committed to. Even if Lawrence and Autumn hooked up
occasionally – and Evie figured that Lawrence was too sensible to do it with a roommate – Evie was sure he hadn’t ever agreed to be exclusive with her. Lawrence, bless him, was
honest to the core.
Autumn glared at her.
‘You can throw your bags in his room, ’ she said, nodding down the corridor.‘It’s the last one on the right. And the bathroom’s next to it.’
She smiled maliciously.
‘It won’t be much by your standards, ’ she added, picking up a copy of a yoga magazine and starting to flick through it. ‘Oh, and you might see the occasional rat.
Lawrence and I don’t believe in putting down poison for them. We’re very strict vegans.’
Dragging her bags down the corridor, such as it was – the residents had put up cheap partition walls, open at the top, to divide the vast space into separate rooms – Evie reached
Lawrence’s room. It was at least exquisitely neat, and someone, probably Lawrence, had built a big platform for a loft bed at the rear, plus long wooden shelves and a hanging rail for
clothes. Books were arranged on the shelves, and Lawrence’s clothes, mostly in shades of khaki, taupe and beige (i.e. colours that could be achieved without bleaching, using natural dyes)
were ranged in tidy piles further down. There was a desk and a chair, a sisal rug on the floor, and some Japanese scroll paintings hung on the walls.
That was it.
Not a single real creature comfort.
Slowly, she took off her coats, one after the other, and hung them over the chair. Then she sat down on one of the rungs of the wide ladder leading up to the sleeping platform, and stared ahead
of her blindly, barely even seeing the particle-board wall. Everything had happened so fast. She was still barely able to process the wreck of her life – how far and fast she had fallen since
she had woken up this morning in her beautiful penthouse, cosseted, beloved, wrapped in 400-count sheets, cashmere blankets and silk bedspreads, scented with expensive moisturiser.
She was busting for a pee, but she couldn’t face investigating the bathroom. From the way Autumn had smirked at her, she could tell it would be very bad.
Footsteps came down the hall. Could it be Lawrence? Had he picked up her message and rushed back to see her? Evie’s heart raced with anticipation. Lawrence was all she had left: she
hadn’t realised till this moment how eager she was to see him.
But it was Autumn who put her head round the door, Autumn who said, with the triumphant air of a woman who is just about to score a major point over her rival:
‘Oh, by the way, I noticed that’s a leather bag you were carrying. And those suitcases are leather too, aren’t they?’
Her gaze went to the chair over which Evie had carefully draped her coats, and her eyes widened in horror.
‘Oh my God, is that real fur? ’ she breathed.
She walked into the room and bent over the chair for a closer look at Evie’s shaved mink, letting out a scream when she confirmed her suspicions. Turning to Evie, she put her hands on her
hips.
‘We’re a cruelty-free household, ’ she declared. ‘Every animal product you own will have to go by
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