"Fuck," said Colette, striding into the room, phone in hand. There was a slight lingering feeling of panic in her voice. Her hands were clammy and she found it hard to have a firm grip. She certainly didn't have the intention to drop her phone, the repair costs would be too high.

Eleanor looked up, a small frown on her face. She was lounged across the sofa in front of the TV, her laptop and several sheets in front of her, in order to give the impression that she was doing work, although she secretly had been watching The Good Place on Netflix. Watching The Good Place on your own was considered illegal in this apartment. They had the rule to only watch it together as a group.

There weren't many rules in the 160 square metre flat. The inhabitants could come and go as they pleased, although they mostly left together in the morning, because they had the same destination: Birmingham University.

"What is it?" Eleanor asked, a hint of concern lacing her voice. In all the years she had known Colette, she could count the number of times she had sworn on one hand. This must be something serious.

"I just had a phone call, from the restaurant," she began, sitting down on the sofa next to Eleanor. "There was something about an inspection, and the hygiene standards not being good enough or something. They're having to close down," she explained, looking over at her, her forehead slightly creased.

Eleanor immediately pictured the scene from Pixar's Ratatouille, where all the rats get busted for working in the restaurant. She suspected that maybe the Chef Hugh had a little rat living his hat.

Though it was more likely that nobody ever cleaned the surface, food was cut on. Eleanor could have sworn that her ravioli had tasted like lemon and her courgette like roast beef.

"Oh shit, no way," Eleanor replied, pursing her lips. She knew Col hated her job as a waitress, but a job was a job. "So, that's it? It's just gone?" she asked.

Colette nodded, "Closed immediately until further notice," she said, more quiet and subdued than normal, "This is bad, El. We're only just managing the rent as it is, and now if I'm not getting an income, then – " she trailed off, not finding the words to finish her thoughts.

The closing of the restaurant certainly wasn't a loss for humanity, but it was a setback for both girls. They had worked very hard to pay off their student loans and not rely on any money from their parents.

Eleanor let out a sigh, moving over so she could put her arm around Colette. "It's going to be alright, Col, we can manage this. It's an inconvenience, but we'll get around it. What options do we have?"

"I'm not entirely sure. We'll have to talk about this with the others when they get back, see what they think," she said, smoothing down her brown hair. She paused, raising an eyebrow to herself as if she was deep in thought.

"What is it?" Eleanor asked, noticing Colette's expression.

"What if we got a fifth roommate, a lodger, I guess?" she suggested, turning to face her friend.

"A fifth roommate? That could work," she replied, nodding her head, her curls bouncing.

"I mean, it didn't take us long to find Toral or Sutton when we needed roommates, I'm sure even though we're into the term now, there may be students, or not even students looking for a place to stay. We've got the spare room, anyway. " she told her. Colette's face wrinked slightly as she continued to consider this, squashing her freckles.

Eleanor grinned at her, "I think that's a great idea. We'll need to talk this over with the others, of course, but I think a fifth person would help us. It would share the cost and everything," she said, nodding encouragingly.

Colette's shoulders relaxed slightly, and she sent a grateful smile towards Eleanor.
"So you think this is going to be alright?" she asked. Eleanor nodded again,
"I think this is going to be alright, yes. I mean, when are your plans ever not alright?" she pointed out, letting a small laugh escape from her lips.

Seeing this made Colette laugh too, and she leaned to rest her head on Eleanor's shoulder,
"You're right, I am always right," she joked. "But thank you," she added.

"This doesn't mean anything's happening for certain," Eleanor pointed out, raising a finger, "We'll check with the others when they're back. Then we'll make a plan of action," she told her.

Colette nodded, "Do you remember when you used to have that lodger at your home? It was several years ago now," she said, looking up at Eleanor.

"Oh yeah, that was years ago now. God, I almost forgot about him. He was a right weirdo, wasn't he? He had a collection of all recordings of the Teletubbies and his most priced possession was a talking Dipsy plushy toy. I don't know why my parents thought he was a good idea"

"Who knows?" she replied, giving her a small shrug, "I remember having a lot of fun hiding his things whenever I came round though,"

"Did we do that? Oh my god, we did, didn't we? I'd completely forgotten. Must have been before you grew up and decided that fun was boring," she told her, a playful smile on her face.

"Shut up, I don't think fun is boring!" she replied, gently punching Eleanor, "I just have different ideas of fun nowadays," she explained.

She sighed to herself, standing up from the sofa, "Anyway, I've got a class in half an hour, I should probably head over in a few minutes."

Luckily their flat was a ten minute walk from the main university building, and it was a relatively good size, considering how much they were paying for it.

They had a small but cosy living room, with a TV and an old sofa the four of them could just about squeeze onto, a kitchen and table for them to eat, a bathroom, and five small bedrooms that had space for a bed and not much more.

Sutton desperately tried to buy as many houseplants as he could. He had a green thumb and occasionally joined marches for the environment.

Although he loved doing environmentalist work, the event he most thrived in was Pride. Sutton didn't just engage in Carnival Pride, no he made the whole Pride month into a happening.

The rather shy boy came out of his shell completely, he talked to strangers on the street and once literally shouted "Happy Pride" out of their window. He had managed to make their apartment look like a rainbow.

Colette and Eleanor had been the ones who had found the place. A quick advert on social media put them in contact with Sutton and Toral, both of them also students at the university. Thankfully, they all got on, and existence had been pleasant for these initial weeks.

Colette had worried that the others would feel left out, because Eleanor and her knew each other prior and spent most of the time together.

That luckily wasn't the case, because Toral and Sutton got on with each other quite well and didn't mind being the third wheel occasionally.

As Colette hurried down the staircase on her way out, she only found herself hoping that the addition of a fifth person wouldn't bring chaos to their current routine.

They considered the flat to be their retreat, their imagination of a good place. It was heaven to discuss topic they were passionate with each other and joke around.

Colette hoped that they wouldn't lose that.