I'd like to thank everyone for their great feedback on my first piece, U-Turn. This is still new terrain for me, so any comments are welcome Erik
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Finding an apartment isn't easy. It had been two years since my roommate had gotten married and I was still stuck back at my parents' house. It can be pretty easy to get at home: free food and no rent can be pretty convincing. After a while I began to realize that no grown man should have to be told to clean his room because his grandmother was coming over. The apartment search was on.
So this is where I am: tired as hell with the real estate listings in the paper peeled back to the "shares offered" section. Walking and riding the subway for hours can take its toll on you. I had one ad left to investigate and I wasn't hopeful. Wash. Hgts., Own room in 2 bdrm, 2 blks from A train, great view, $400. A nice neighborhood, cheap rent and apparently the current tenant didn't care if you smoked. In New York this is too good to be true. I was pretty sure that I would arrive to either find the apartment taken or it would be condemned.
After a short train ride and a very short walk I found myself in front of the building. Thankfully it looked in very good repair and very well maintained. I hit the buzzer for apartment 3C, crossed my fingers and waited.
"Hello" buzzed the usual androgynous intercom voice.
"I'm here about the apartment." Open sesame, the door clicked.
Two flights of stairs and three doorways later I knocked. A rather attractive woman of about 28 opened the door. She had dark red hair that flowed in gentle waves from the top of her head, which was approximately 5 feet away from the soles of her bare feet. She wore a denim work shirt that was not tucked into her comfortable looking jeans. She extended to me a hand that had a delicate thin silver band between the top two knuckles of her ring finger. "Hi, I'm Jesse. You're here about the room?"
"Yes. I'm Erik, nice to meet you." I shook her hand. It was soft, warm and not the least bit sweaty, none of which I could say for mine. "I hope it's still available."
"You betcha. The ad just came out today. I've had a few inquiries, but they were some pretty strange folk. Come in."
I stepped over the threshold and she showed me around. The room for rent was right next to the front door and it was an absolute cavern with a view of the river. I was ready to take it right there, but the tour continued. Adjacent to that door was a hallway with a closet that led to the bathroom and a bit further down the entry hall was the kitchen. At the end of the hall was a heavy purple velvet curtain that served as a door to the living room, which was another cavern with a river view. "And through that last door is my room" concluded the tour.
"Wow, I'm sold, but I'm sure you would rather find out if I'm 'strange folk' before I move in."
"That would probably be a good idea" came out with a pretty, lilting laugh. "Coffee?"
We sat in the kitchen and had coffee getting to know each other a little. Could we share an apartment? That was the thrust of the conversation. "Are you from New York" she asked.
"Yep, born and raised. You?"
"No, I came here about a year ago from Tennessee. Not too many graphic design jobs there."
"Oh, you're a graphic designer, then?"
"Yessir, born and raised" she joked. "What about you?"
"I'm a carpenter."
"Really? So you could, like, fix stuff? Around the apartment?" She had a light and sweet drawl in her voice. This was when I started noticing how very attractive she was in earnest. She had a great complexion with a light tan and, from what I could tell from her handshake, soft, smooth skin. Her lips were full and verging on crimson. She wore no make up and didn't need to from what I saw. I had to snap myself out of this. This was an apartment that I really wanted to live in and I didn't want to freak her out. Instead I just relaxed, tried to forget about how adorable she was and just have a nice conversation with her.
Eventually she grabbed for a cigarette out of her pack and found it empty. "Shit, how did that happen? Could I bum one from you?" I grabbed my pack and found the last two. We both had fresh packs when we sat down. That's when we realized how long we'd been talking. "Well, I guess you can have the room then" she said through her soft laugh and bright smile. "There's no one in it right now if you don't want to wait for the first of the month."
Good Goddamn. I had an apartment. I had an address. This was great. I thanked her, gave her first and last months rent, took my keys and went home to pack. By the next weekend I had moved in.
My first night in my new apartment was a Saturday. I spent the whole day with my buddies hauling my crap up three flights of stairs. We had a couple of beers and watched a ball game, and when they left I set about fixing up my room. When my new roommate got home we went over the stuff that I should put in the common room. Stereo? Hers was great: no. TV? Mine was bigger: yes. Playstation? Double yes. When all was arranged she asked me what my plans were for the night.
"Are you kidding? After moving all day? Nothing. I'm gonna flop my ass down on the sofa and reeeeelax."
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Want some company?" she asked.
"Sure. It's downright depressing to vegetate by yourself."
"Cool. Lemme get changed. I could use a shower too."
That sounded like a great idea. After the day I had I could use a cleaning and a change of clothes. I dug out a towel, some shorts and a tee shirt and headed to the kitchen for a beer while I waited for her to finish in the shower.
Freshly scrubbed and dressed I sauntered into the living room feeling like a million bucks. Jesse was sprawled out on the couch in a pair of soccer shorts and an old white undershirt that had seen better days, probably during the Ford administration. The undershirt had probably gone on right out of the shower as it was pretty damp and left very little to the imagination, but I blocked that out of my mind for the sake of my sanity: rules of thumb, never conduct business with friends and never sleep with your roommate. She motioned to the other side of the couch and smiled warmly. "Make yourself at home, because you kinda are."
I plopped down into the plush old couch and felt like I was sinking into a cloud. I could've fallen asleep right then and there but I was so comfortable I wanted to stay awake for a while and just dig it. Just then Jesse leapt up. "Jesus, I almost forgot, I've got a surprise for you."
"What? For me? Why?"
She smiled. "If I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise. Just think of it as a housewarming present." Off she went into her room. When she reemerged she had a very well used bong and a huge bag of some very sticky looking weed. "You smoke?"
"Is the Pope catholic?"