Room Mated: Standalone Reverse Harem Romance

I watched my friends as they settled at the table. In a way, it was hard to say why we’d done this thing with the bar. It wasn’t like any of us had a ton of spare time. But it was kind of fun. After Kylie became our roommate, we kept to ourselves out of necessity since we didn’t want anyone to know our secret. But now that we had a cover story in place, that she lived in another part of the building and had a penchant for bartending, it was nice to branch out and meet our neighbors. Except for Jude and Mason, I rarely got to talk to people studying in different fields.

But mostly, it was for Kylie. I loved seeing her face light up as she chatted with someone at the bar. Or how precisely she made each drink. She was having fun, and when she had fun, I did too. I suspected it was the same for the other two, as well.

“We really need a name for it,” Jude said. Then he shot a mock-stern glare at Kylie. ”Nothing with the word mountain in it.”

She pouted but nodded.

“How about The Lounge?” Mason suggested.

“But it’s not really a lounge. It’s like a nightclub,” I said.

“Not an authorized one,” Jude added.

Mason snapped his fingers. “It’s like a speakeasy. Isn’t that what they called those illegal nightclubs during prohibition?”

I shrugged, unsure. So did Kylie and Jude.

Mason frowned. “We need to trade in one of you MBA nerds for a history major.”

“Speakeasy seems like it fits,” Jude said. “It’s almost like a nightclub, and it’s definitely not legal.”

“But we’re not doing anything wrong,” Kylie protested, and I detected a note of unease in her voice. “We’re allowed to drink in Henderson.”

“Yeah, but you know it’s more than that,” Mason said. “So we’ve got to be discreet.” He grinned. “I’d say we have some practice at that.”

I smiled too. Everything involved with our living situation and our dealings with Kylie required discretion.

Kylie dropped her fork and rapidly swallowed the food she’d just eaten. “I know what we can call it!” she exclaimed. “It’s a speakeasy, but we shouldn’t call it that anywhere people might hear us. So let’s be sneaky and refer to it as a conversation club.”

“Why?” Mason said.

Jude rolled his eyes at his buddy. “Because it’s a speakeasy. Get it? A speakeasy definitely sounds like someplace you can talk freely—like a conversation club.”

“Okay, that’s not bad.” He picked up his hamburger. “That’s settled then.”

“That’s the least of the issues we need to discuss,” I said.

“What else?” Jude asked.

“At the risk of sounding like an MBA nerd, we can’t keep serving drinks for free. We’ll all go broke keeping the bar stocked.”

“So you’re saying we should charge for drinks?” Kylie asked, looking uncertain about the prospect.

“Unless you have a better idea,” I said.

“But we’re just doing this for fun,” Jude said.

“It’s also fun to not go broke while having fun,” I pointed out. Jude and I weren’t on as tight a budget as Kylie seemed to be, but we weren’t flush with dough like Mason.

“Instead of charging for drinks, we could institute a cover charge,” Mason said.

“That might work.”

“Might?” Mason echoed, looking a little irritated I hadn’t immediately accepted his suggestion.

“Yes, might. There’s a lot to think about. Here, I bet a first-year business student could explain it to you. Kylie?”

She gulped. I knew I’d put her on the spot, but it was the kind of thing she was here to learn. “Well… we’d have to crunch the numbers to make sure the price people pay for the drinks or the cover charge is enough to pay for the alcohol and other supplies I use to make them. At the very least, we should make sure that we break even. And if we can figure out the right price point, maybe we’ll make a profit. Then we could increase the range of drinks we offer.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself.” I was in full teacher mode now. “We’d have to do a lot more number-crunching to see if it’d make sense to re-invest in the business.”

“The business?” she repeated.

“Yeah. And then there’s also labor costs.”

“Huh?” Kylie looked confused, but Jude followed my thoughts.

“He’s right,” he said. “If we can actually turn a profit, it’d be nice to pay the bartender for her time.”

“Really?” Kylie asked.

“That’s how businesses work,” I reminded her.

Mason had finished eating. “All right, I retract the part about calling you two nerds. This stuff is important. Can you guys work on the math?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Jude and I will work on the club rules.”

“What rules?” I asked.

“For starters, I think we should set certain days of the week people can come,” Jude said. “We’ve all got to study, too.”

Mason nodded. “Plus, if extra people are here every night, it means I actually have to wear a shirt.”