‘I don’t get it,’ I frowned.
‘What’s not to get?’ my roommate asked, frowning down at me. ‘It’s a heating service.’
‘Why do we need a heating service?’
‘General good upkeep of our home?’
‘But, isn’t that the landlord’s responsibility?’ I asked, craning my neck so I could see the TV around him.
‘That doesn’t mean we can’t be proactive!’
‘Actually,’ I yawned. ‘I think it does.’
‘Oh!’ he grumbled. ‘You’re impossible!’
I rolled my eyes and looked back at him, standing there with his hands on his hips like a sitcom villain.
‘What do you want to do exactly?’ I asked.
‘I just want to contact the best ducted heater servicing company around Canberra,’ he replied stiffly. ‘Is that too much to expect from you? A simple phone call?’
‘I guess not,’ I sighed. ‘Wait – why am I the one making the call?’
‘Because I have a very busy day, and as far as I can tell you’re not doing anything with your life.’
‘Excuse you?’
‘What is it today? Eating chips and playing video games?’
‘Actually I was going to take a nap before I get the chips.’
‘There you go,’ he grinned smugly. ‘I’ll get you the number.’
‘I’m not paying for this, you know,’ I called after his back as he swept out of the kitchen. ‘Especially if we need any sort of heating repairs. Canberra is an expensive city, you know.’
‘I think you’ll find that it’s more affordable when you have a job,’ he condescended, waltzing back into the room and shoving a neatly-torn scrap of paper in my face.
‘For me?’ I asked sarcastically.
‘Call them before one o’clock, would you?’
‘But that’s when I was going to have my nap,’ I frowned.
‘They’ll be busy in the morning with all the go-getters’ – he obnoxiously dusted off his lapels – ‘and all the layabouts will call in the late afternoon. No, one o’clock is where you will find results.’
I looked up at him, in his suit and bowtie, ready for his meaningless desk job, and shook my head.