*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.
Disclaimers: This story has been edited by myself, utilizing Microsoft Spell-check. You have been forewarned; expect to find mistakes.
*.*
Venice Apartments had a sign out front, with the name 'Venice Apartments' in black against a background of the Italian flag of green, white, and red. Encircling the name was the silhouette of a gondola and gondolier.
The complex was comprised of four separate buildings arranged in a square. Each building faced inward, faced the pool and small courtyard. The first building, the northeast building was three floors, with five apartments on each floor. Apartments 101, 105, 201, 205, 301 and 305 were two bedroom units. The three units in between each two bedroom unit were one bedroom units. The southeastern building had apartments 106 and 107 on the ground floor, each a two bedroom unit. The second and third floors had four single room efficiencies on each. The southwestern building was a duplicate of the northeastern building, each floor with a two bedroom unit on the corners, separated by three one bedroom units. And the northwestern building was a duplicate of the southeastern building, a ground floor of two units, each with two bedrooms, then eight one room efficiencies atop. Behind the northwestern building was a large laundry room and an exercise room.
Across the parking lot in front of the northeastern building was the rental office. And on top of the rental office was the apartment building's clubhouse. Each tenant had the right to reserve the clubhouse for parties, but they must notify the apartment manager of the desired time that they planned to use the clubhouse.
#105
Chelsea Richards looked around at the living room of her home and felt the sting of tears. How could she have been so blind, so stupid? She'd never given any thought to how they could afford the extravagant honeymoon in Mexico, the exorbitant rent on this Baylor Lake home, the expensive clothes, the fancy dinners, the luxury automobiles.
Drugs. Clayton Richards sold drugs. The Federal agents had burst in, guns drawn, screaming orders.
Her Mercedes-Benz had been seized, Clayton's F250 had been seized. Chelsea's father had pursed his lips in disapproval but paid for Nicole Banks to represent his daughter in the trial.
A & A Soaps hired Chelsea; she was a high school dropout and had her face all over the local news; the first three places she'd applied had not minced words. They would not be hiring a suspected drug dealer, even if the charges had been dropped. Toni Delacroix shrugged and said everyone deserves a second chance.
"Thank you, Ms. Toni," Chelsea said, blinking back her tears. "I promise, you won't be sorry you hired me."
Chelsea's father had only grunted when Chelsea promised she would pay him back for the attorney's fees, and the second hand 2004 Toyota he bought for her. But, now, there was the problem of where to live.
"Only paid up through to the end of the month," Robert Mouton needlessly reminded his daughter as they stood in the squalor of her former home.
Chelsea applied herself at her job. She had every intention to repay her father the money, so worked hard at learning her job. At her lunch break, Chelsea mentioned that she was looking for a place to live. Babette looked up from her pulled pork sandwich, then looked over at Theresa Prejean, a beautiful blonde girl with pneumatic breasts and perpetual smile.
"Hey, Theresa, didn't you say you was looking for someone share an apartment with?" Babette called out.
"Yeah," Theresa agreed. "Why? You looking?"
"No, Chelsea here is," Babette said, nodding toward Chelsea.
"Hey! I'm looking too!" Harris Philips protested. "Theresa, huh? Told you that last week."
"Hey, I know you!" Theresa enthused when she got close to Chelsea. "God, used to date that, that, oh shoot, lived right up the street."
"Clay Richards," Chelsea agreed. "Yeah, you lived in that house right there on the corner."
"With the blue door," Theresa nodded, smiling wide.
"Heard me?" Harris demanded. "I'm looking too."
"Okay, Harris, God, heard you, think whole place heard you," Theresa snapped.
Theresa pulled up the Venice Apartments web site on her phone. At first, they thought a one bedroom would be fine; the kitchen was small, but the living room was spacious, and the bedroom had two closets.
"Or, hey, a two bedroom's not that much more," Theresa mused. "God, kitchen sucks big time, but..."
"I'm serious," Harris demanded, plopping down across from the two women.
"Closet's good," Chelsea agreed. "And, Harris takes the other bedroom, that would be only two hundred and, um, two hundred and..."
"Two sixteen point sixty seven each," Theresa deduced. "Plus utilities three ways. Want to go look?"
"Yeah!" Chelsea let the first smile in months cross her face.
Theresa and Chelsea quickly compiled a list of furniture they would bring into the apartment. Theresa perked up when Chelsea mentioned her tweed couch and matching chair and ottoman.
Looking at the two bedroom apartment, the trio agreed to rent the apartment. The living room and dining room combo was 'L' shaped; the dining room abutted the miniscule kitchen, separated by a low counter. The first bedroom was an eight by ten room and had an attached shower and sink and commode. The second bedroom was eight by ten, but had an attached bathroom with tub, sink and commode. The attached closet was long and narrow.
The three of them walked across the parking lot to the manager's office and filled out the paperwork. Keisha, the manager handed them each a blue ink pen and had them sign two leases; one for her and one for themselves.
"Why blue?" Chelsea asked.
"So you can tell the difference between the original and a photocopy," Theresa guessed.
"Exactly," Keisha smiled. "Not a whole lot of people would have guessed that."
Theresa then used her phone to contact St. Elizabeth Parish Public Utilities and scheduled to have the electricity turned on for Apartment 105. Harris complained when Theresa asked for his third of the one hundred dollar security deposit. Chelsea pulled two worn twenties from her wallet,
"I'll catch you on pay day," Harris promised.
"You better," Theresa said tersely as Chelsea sighed and pulled to five dollar bills out of her wallet. "Now, we going want cable?"
"That don't come with it?" Harris asked as the trio left the manager's office.
"Seriously, Harris? This your first visit to this planet?" Theresa asked, hanging the 'Resident' Tag on her rear view mirror.
"I vote for cable," Chelsea agreed.
PC Nation had a Basic plan that didn't offer much more than local stations and a few extras, such as Discovery and TLC. Advanced, the next plan up wasn't much better than Basic, but did have Lifetime, Lifetime Movie, and Hallmark Movie stations. There was also ESPN with the Advanced package.
"Damn, one nineteen a month? Stuff isn't cheap, huh?" Chelsea said.
"That's what? Twenty five each?" Harris asked.
"One nineteen divided by three and somehow you come up with twenty five?" Theresa asked. "And they say blondes are dumb?"
"Closer to forty a month, Harris," Chelsea threw in, now understanding why Jennica Richards, her sister in law did not want to date the somewhat cute young man.