Emily looked around her small apartment one last time, making sure she hadn't missed anything. Under her current circumstances she had few clothes to wash, but that also meant she had few clothes to wear. So she usually washed everything in one large load, not just because she could fit most of her wardrobe into one load but also because her budget didn't allow for two loads a week. In fact, she had taken to wearing no bra or panties to work to save on laundry expenses. Of course, there were other benefits to that, too.
It was her ex-boyfriend's fault, the son of a bitch. She had been living with him for four months when she came home early from work one day and caught him in bed with his ex-girlfriend. It seemed that she wasn't as "ex" as he had told Emily. She threw a fit and he kicked her out of the apartment. She left for a friend's apartment, telling her boyfriend that she would be back for her clothes the next day. When she showed up the next morning, she found all her belongings burning in the dumpster. All her clothes, pictures, CDs, DVDs, everything was lost. And since she had been almost supporting them since she moved in with him, she had very little money to replace her clothes.
To make matters worse, she had unexpectedly come home early that day because the company she worked for had downsized, and her job was one of the casualties. She moved in with her girlfriend for a month until she could get another job, and then she moved out to her own apartment as quickly as she could get the first month's rent plus security deposit. She loved her friend very much, but the girl only had a single bedroom apartment, and it just wasn't large enough for two women in their early thirties. So now she was trying to rebuild her wardrobe out of the spare money left over at the end of each month. And since she had been working there for only four months, she hadn't replaced much.
"Well, it saves on laundry expenses," she told her reflection in the mirror attached to the closet door in her bedroom after looking in the dirty clothes hamper one last time. And when she made that sarcastic comment to the reflection in the mirror, she took a moment to look at that reflection.
One thing she had kept paying for when she left her boyfriend's apartment was her membership at the gym. She still worked out three times a week, and it showed. Her body was trim and shapely. Her boobs were a C-Cup, which was just fine by her standards. They didn't droop and looked great on her five foot six inch body. Her stomach was flat, even if it was without the six-pack that so many people seemed to praise. Her waist flared to full hips, and her ass was well-rounded without the excess flab that Kardashian claimed was the modern version of beautiful. Her beautiful mother had passed down a beautiful face, and Emily was thankful for that. And her dark, almost black, hair was long, stretching below her shoulder blades. It had a natural but gentle curl to it, making it seem to others that Emily had just used a curling iron. In all, Emily knew the package was great. The problem was not in the package; the problem was in who was doing the unwrapping.
"I am going to have to be more careful in choosing boyfriends. Jimmy was the third in a row who I caught cheating on me. The first two I found out through friends, but with Jimmy I actually saw him in bed with her." She was quietly mumbling, exhorting herself as she walked to the small laundry room shared by the apartment complex. It had been four months since she caught him cheating, and the scene of his ex on top, sitting up so he could maul her tits while she bounced up and down on his cock was permanently burned into her memory.
"But at least I save a shitload of money each month on beer!" One of Emily's complaints was that Jimmy was between jobs, if you call not working for five months "between jobs." In fact, she was convinced that this was the primary reason he asked her to move in with him: he had run out of money and needed her to pay his bills. She should have questioned him more before she moved in with him. It seemed like he was always asking her to bring pizza or Chinese or something with her when he asked her to come over. He always promised to pay her back, but seldom did. But she always did it, like some obedient puppy trying hard to please its master.
"BULLSHIT! I will never have a master again!" She was shouting at herself, but it was a mental chastising so no one around her could hear. She was beginning to see clearly how today's social programming really worked. Women are doubted and looked down on if they had no boyfriend, and men are congratulated when they find a girlfriend. Between the two common behaviors, too many women are pressured into settling for less just so they weren't alone on Friday nights.
But now things have changed for Emily. She would hold out until she didn't have to settle for anything less than exactly what she wanted. She would be patient. She would be discriminating. And then she would make her choice. It was possible that this decision would only give her plenty of time to build up her wardrobe, but she didn't think so. She knew plenty of women who had quality men in their lives, so she was convinced that there was one more quality man out there for her. She just had to find him.
But until then, she would be buying a lot of batteries..
I mean, girls just want to have fun, right? If there was no man around on Friday night, then the excitement she got ran on batteries. That is just the way things are.
And it wasn't too bad...
But she knew there were good options available. Hell, one of the assistant managers at the real estate office where she worked was quite handsome. The agency was making money so he must be making money, at least enough that she wouldn't have to support him on her salary. He flirted with most of the secretaries there, but none of the female agents. He seemed to be a little soft and gentle for her tastes, but that was something that she could live with.
"Shit! There I go again. The programming kicks in and I become willing to settle for less than I want just so I can have a boyfriend. Fuck that!" And she plopped her laundry basket on one of the utility tables in the laundry room. Emily heard an "Amen on that, sister!" from behind the row of dryers, and was embarrassed that she had spoken out loud. She walked over and saw a woman her age folding some clothes.
"I am sorry, I didn't know there was anyone here. My name is Emily and I live in 214. I was just griping about how American society has programmed women to believe they are somehow incomplete or inadequate if they don't have a boyfriend." The woman smiled and reached out her hand to shake.
"I totally agree with you. I was just reading this month's Cosmo and said the same thing to a friend of mine. There is an article in it on how women today are strong and independent and empowered. Then I saw an article on how to keep your man by sexually pleasing him. It seemed to be an instruction manual on yoga. So, we are empowered individuals who must contort and twist our bodies to make our men sexually happy in the hopes of keeping him around. What a crock!" The two women looked at each other with smiles that showed they shared insight into the secrets of the universe.
"My name is Sharon and I live in 943. And I am telling women everywhere, at least the ones who will listen to me, that if he cannot make the commitment to stay around, then he is not worth keeping around!" And she nodded to place emphasis on her great wisdom. Emily found herself quickly liking the woman. She paused for just a moment, and then voiced a complaint.
"But sometimes it seems like all the good ones are taken." She almost looked sad for a moment, and then she brightened up. "But there is a guy here that seems worth checking out." Emily started to say more but was interrupted by an outburst from Sharon.
"Brad. He lives in 611. He is single, works out, and eats healthy. I have bumped into him at the grocery store twice, and both times he had fresh fruits and vegetables in his cart." She paused to giggle like a school girl. "I am not vegan or anything, but you just can't have a healthy diet without fresh fruits and vegetables." Emily grinned her agreement, intrigued by the man.
