It wasn't until about ten days after Halloween that I managed to make it down to visit Sara. I knocked at the door of the office she used on the first floor, and waited patiently for her to answer. I knew from previous conversations that she actually lived in the apartment right next door to the office, since she had told me when I first moved in that I could check for her there if I couldn't find her in an emergency.
The door opened a few moments later, and I smiled as soon as I saw the large brown eyes of my landlady looking back on me. It was hard not to immediately draw a contrast between the clear olive skin tone of her face and the three much paler women I now found myself magically bonded to. She smiled, looking a little nervous for some reason as she asked, "Oh, hi Jack - what's up? Something wrong with your place?"
I shook my head, taking a step back to give her some space when I realized I was still right in front of the door. "No, not exactly. I was actually here to ask if there were any other apartments in the building that were available. Bigger ones, specifically. I... well, you know Cindy and Aubrette, obviously, and you've seen Rose. My one-bedroom isn't really big enough for four people comfortably. Any chance there's a three bedroom open? Or two two-bedrooms next to each other?"
A couple days after she moved in, Rose had informed me that her parents offered to help offset the cost of a larger apartment. I was a little conflicted about that, since I was bringing in more money and felt like the four of us should be able to pay our own way, but the little Puca reminded me that her parents were well off. They mostly lived off investments they had made at the turn of the last century, and could afford to spend some of it on spoiling their only daughter. She hadn't grown up feeling wealthy, but they owned their home outright, and apparently had enough passive income that neither of them ever needed to work.
Sara's face passed through a complicated series of expressions, fast enough that I couldn't really keep track of them, before she shook her head and sighed. "You'd better come in. I think the answer to your question is yes, but let me double-check the dates and make sure the central office hasn't already rented out the units I'm thinking of." I followed her into the small office, looking around the cramped space filled with old fashioned office cabinets, with just barely enough room for a desk.
As Sara slid herself into her chair, I idly commented, "I think your filing system is older than this whole apartment block." That drew a derisive snort of a laugh from the pretty hispanic woman, and she responded while pecking at the keyboard distractedly.
"You might not be wrong. I think they found this office and built the apartment complex around it. These cabinets are ancient. We need to keep copies of a bunch of documents on paper, but luckily that's just for retention. The actual filing is all online now. Ok..." She hit a few more keys on the keyboard, then nodded to me. "No three bedrooms open for another several months, but I have two two-bedroom units on the first floor. One of them is actually right around the corner from here. The other isn't next door to it, but it's just on the opposite side of this unit. Is that close enough?"
I thought for a while, eventually shrugging. I could sit around and wait for the perfect setup, but it was already feeling cramped. Not that any of us were bad roommates, really, but even with Aubrette adding a whole bedroom to the place, it was a tiny apartment that was only really meant for one or two people, and which was currently housing four. Add in Rose's need for space for her sewing projects, and we frequently had to shift around and move things just to give everyone somewhere to sit. "It'll do. Can I see the units?"
Sara clicked around on her computer for a moment before responding. "One of them. The other one isn't actually available yet - occupants won't move out until the first of the month, and then we'll need a few days for the cleaning crew to come through. I can let you in to the other one though, and the floor plan of both units is the same."
Five minutes later, she had tracked down the keys to the unit and we were walking around to the side of the building. She wasn't kidding when she mentioned it was right around the corner. It was literally the first door as soon as we walked to the next side of the building. I was a little leery of the fact that it was on the first floor, but we did actually have a plan for that. The main reason my current apartment was on the third floor was a previous bad experience with upstairs neighbors who were descended from an entire herd of nocturnal elephants, with a taste for thumping bass lines. I now had a way to prevent noise from bleeding into a space - as well as out of it - so if it turned out the neighbors were shit, I could actually do something about it other than complain.
Sara turned the key in the lock and stepped through. The new apartment was... honestly, it was just a scaled up version of the one I was in. It was clean, and while it wasn't actually spacious, it felt huge when I compared it to the tiny couple of rooms I had been living in. The kitchenette was probably twice as large, with an actual island counter. The bedrooms had
closets
, and the master bedroom had its own attached bathroom. It's possible I went a little misty eyed thinking about the fact that I might not have to wait in line to pee.
My landlady - property manager / building contact / whatever her actual title was - followed me around from room to room as I explored. I tried hurrying when I noticed her eyes tracking me, assuming she just wanted me to finish up so she could get on with whatever she had been working on. There was a tiny porch that I didn't really anticipate using, but the crown jewel was when I saw the compact washer/dryer combo built into the wall. Look, a washing machine might not be the most exciting thing, but after living with two women for several months, and now adding a third into the mix, the possibility of not having to spend several hours a week in a public laundromat sold me immediately.
"Done. Can we fill out paperwork immediately and mark me down as the tenant for both?" I stepped back into the living room, lightly bumping against Sara as she turned to follow at the same moment. One of her hands reached up to grab my shoulder, helping her keep her balance as my frame - both taller and wider than I was a year ago - nearly bowled her over. I gasped, quickly reaching out both hands to steady her as I rushed to apologize. "Oh my god I am so sorry - are you alright?"
She pulled back her hands as though burned, stepping quickly into the room and clearing her throat as she stepped past me to lead the charge back to her office. "Don't worry about it. Let's go fill out your paperwork so you and your... three women... have somewhere bigger to stay than the tiny place you've put them in." I couldn't see her face, but her tone was slightly strained, leaving me worried she was angry about my carelessness in bumping into her.
