It was sheer luck that I ran into Susan at a sidewalk café when I was in Dallas for a job interview. We had been roommates for one semester in college at The University of Texas in Austin. Neither of us knew at the time how that chance meeting would impact our lives.
Susan had graduated a semester before me, and she'd almost immediately landed a job as a legal assistant in a fairly prestigious law firm based in downtown Dallas.
My degree was in Business Administration with a minor in Advertising. My job interview was with an advertising company only a few buildings down from where Susan was working.
"Do you have a place to live yet?" She asked me over lunch.
I chuckled, "No, I don't even have the job yet. I don't want to put the cart before the horse."
She acknowledged my response with a nod, and then she told me, "If they have a brain in their heads, you'll get the job. And if you do, I have a very nice two bedroom apartment just a few blocks from here, and I sure wouldn't mind splitting the rent. You won't even have to fight for a place to park. The apartment comes with two designated parking spaces in the underground garage, and you can walk to work like I do."
Wow! Her offer blew me away. Susan had been the perfect roommate in college. She was very neat and clean, and she was all business. Like me, she wasn't a party girl. We had both taken our education and grades very seriously. Also like me, she wasn't from a well-to-do family. Our parents helped us, but we both still had to work for spending money—her as a temp in the university admin department, and me as a waitress.
I got down to business without beating around the bush, "I would love that, but how much are we talking?"
She scrunched her lips, "I pay thirty-three hundred plus utilities." And then she defended, "I know that sounds like a lot, but it's a very nice place, and it's really handy to everything. My parents gave me the furnishings for a graduation present, and it's all very nice stuff. Are you staying in town tonight?"
"Yes . . . but-" She cut me off before I could protest about the price. Even if I got the job, I would be hard pressed to afford that much right out of the gate.
"No buts. Do you already have a hotel room?"
"No."
"Then it's settled. You'll stay at my apartment tonight and check the place out. I know it's not cheap, but you'll fall in love with it. I promise."
"Okay, but I haven't even had a first interview yet."
"You'll be fine. I just know it. Jan, I have a really good feeling about this. Fate brought us both here today."
Susan and I exchanged cell phone numbers and agreed to meet again when she got off work. "I'll try to sneak out a little early so you don't have to wait around too long." She told me.
* * *
My interview went very well, and when they found out I was in town just to meet with them, they scheduled my second interview for the following day.
Susan had been right about her apartment. I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was. All of a sudden, the rent she was paying seemed way too cheap for the quality of the apartment. "Wow!" I exclaimed. "This place is only thirty-three hundred?"
She giggled, "My boss—well no, my boss's boss, is a part owner of the building, and their employees get a break on the rent."
The apartment was on the fourteenth floor, with a doorman and all. It was over fifteen hundred square feet with two spacious bedrooms, each with a walk-in closet. And the bathroom was to die for, with a walk-in shower and a large garden tub. The open floor plan made the living room; kitchen and dinning room seem even larger than they actually were. There was also a spacious balcony, even though the view was just of the similar building across the alley.
Susan hadn't exaggerated about the quality of the furnishings either. The furniture and decorations all looked like they had been hand picked by an interior decorator.
I had to laugh at Susan's method of cooking. She had her iPad connected wirelessly to a small TV on the kitchen counter. She had purchased all the ingredients and had them laid out and handy. Remote in hand, she started the video, pausing it every few seconds to do what it had just instructed.
Almost an hour later, we had a full Chinese meal ready to eat. We had prepared Hot and Sour Soup, General Tso's Chicken, and Hunan Shrimp with vegetables.
"Well, what do you think?" She asked me.
"It's delicious." I answered honestly.
She shrugged, "Not bad for a first try. We'll do something Indian tomorrow evening."
I'd never eaten Indian food, but if this meal was any indication of what was possible, I was all in.
Lying in bed that night, I almost had to pinch myself. Twenty-four hours earlier, I never would have dreamed I might land a great job, a gorgeous place to live, and a wonderful roommate—all within hours of getting to Dallas. It was a dream come true.
The next morning, after my second interview, I was offered the job, with a starting salary substantially above what I expected. I didn't find out until months later that Susan's boss was a golf buddy of the owner of the company I'd applied to. I was beginning to understand the old saying "It's not what you know. It's who you know." and I had accidentally fallen into the downtown Dallas cliché.
To celebrate my new job, Susan and I walked a few blocks to the famous Dallas West End, a group of very nice clubs, restaurants and stores. It was Friday night, so they were all too crowded and too loud, so we ended up taking our drinks outside on the patio and watching a blues band playing in the closed off street. All in all, it was a wonderful night, and within walking distance from the apartment building.
In bed that night, I had to force myself to resist the urge to get up and walk out onto the balcony, where I would surely have screamed out to the city "Look out, Dallas! I have arrived!"
* * *
For the next several months, Susan and I worked, cooked exotic meals with the help of the internet, and shared a glass of wine on the balcony. We walked over to the West End every Friday or Saturday night. On Sunday, we cleaned, did our laundry in the basement laundry room, and caught up on our favorite TV series. We spent two hours every Tuesday and Thursday evening in the building's gym working out. Some might consider that all very boring for two fairly attractive young ladies in their early twenties, but it suited us both very well.
We were sharing a glass of wine on the balcony after supper one warm May Friday evening when Susan exclaimed too loudly, "Oh my God!"
When I looked at her, she pointed to the building across the alley. When I saw what had caused her reaction, my eyes shot open. Straight across from us, and one floor down, there was a naked man standing on his balcony. The apartments in that building were almost all tall windows on that side. They had heavy drapes, but his were all open. The lights were all on, so his apartment and balcony were really lit up.
His balcony, unlike ours, which was enclosed by a four foot wall of wooden planks, was only protected by a rod iron railing. The spaces between the iron pickets left his anatomy totally exposed to us and anyone else in our building that just happened to be looking his way. And I should add that the view was very impressive.
I was afraid he might look up and see us staring at him, but he seemed oblivious. He was just standing there, leaning on the railing, and sipping on some kind of drink. Of course, we kept watching him, although we did move back a little so as not to be so noticeable.
