"Nothing to Smile About"

Main character Susan is a college struggling to support herself and deal with a roommate who can not keep a job. Susan's roommate Wanda has pretty much given up on life since her brother died. The conflict is resolved after Susan saves Wanda and she agrees to take the job at the gas station. The majority of the conflict resolution takes place with Wanda more than it does with Susan. Because of this, in my opinion, I feel the story would be more interesting if it were told from Wanda's perspective. Since Wanda's change and her need of fulfillment from men stems from the death of her brother, i was more interested to know what was going through Wanda's head.
I thought the imagery was well done when describing the messiness of Roy's apartment. I would have liked to see more description of the main character(s) apartment. Since she describes everything in her life is crummy and her apartment complex is run down, I wanted to see more. And empty fridge, brown throw pillows and box tv are described. What about the rest of the living room. Is the furniture old and dated? Couch springs sticking out of it? Wobbly leg on the coffee table? Discolored carpet? Does the roof leak when it rains? Just things that will highlight the crumminess.
Consider not having Wanda say "like" so much. I found it to be very distracting. Also be careful of "Um". Try using gestures (ex. eye rolling) to help support sarcasm.
In one part of the story it says Susan feels like she and Wanda have nothing in common but later she says she loves her like a sister and they have been friends since grade school. Would their friendship really be this strong if they had nothing in common? Consider going back and looking at that.
I felt James's character was cardboard.Though James's place in the main character's life is shown, the story is just as strong without him. Perhaps if you feel strongly about keeping him, make the story more about her relationship with James and less about Wanda.
I really liked this story though. i felt like it offered a different perspective on the strength of friendship.