I want to thank cadmandu for helping to edit this piece.
Third Wheel Renter
It was a warm late summer day in San Jose, California. In the kitchen of a cozy blue Victorian-style house, two women were looking over a pile of bills and past due invoices on their round kitchen counter. A petite blonde woman with sun-kissed skin was on her laptop crunching numbers. Her hair tied back, with two pencils as she typed away. Her partner with braided raven black hair, was reading off the charges and their level of urgency. A general sense of distress and uncertainty clouded both their minds.
The economy had shit the bed after the pandemic hit. Overnight tens of millions of people were out of work. Which in turn, caused a ripple effect in every aspect of life. People that once thought they had secure stable jobs were now scrambling to stay afloat. Many were draining their savings to get by. Though not entirely screwed, the young lesbian couple was definitely on a sinking ship.
The blonde woman, Stacy Miller was an accountant for one of the big tech firms in Silicon Valley. When their industry had to work from home things transitioned relatively smoothly. Her spouse, Monica Garcia was not as fortunate. She was a chef and baker at a high-end restaurant. When the state shutdown, Monica was among the first wave of workers to be furloughed indefinitely. Although she was eventually able to get unemployment, the bills that were coming in far outweighed the revenue the two were making.
Putting down the last piece of paper Monica asked, "So how bad is the damage?"
Stacy shakes her head, "It's not good. At this rate, we are hemorrhaging money like crazy. We've cut every unnecessary expense but it has barely made a dent. If it was not for the Governor declaring a state of emergency, we would not have any power or water right now." Stacy took her small hand and wiped her sweaty forehead.
Monica replies, "So what are our options moving forward?" While biting her index fingernail.
Stacy stands up using the wooden chair to stretch her back. With her head resting on the brown lacquer headrest, she says, "Our options are not great. One, we can do nothing and lose the house and all are equity. Our credit will get nuked. Two, we could sell the house now and rent. Considering the current market, I doubt we would break even after expenses and we would still be homeless. Which only leaves one real viable option and you are not going to like it."
Monica tilting her head says, "What could be worse than homeless and poverty?"
Stacy continued, "We could rent out the guest room. It has a full bath attached that neither of us uses. Considering how desirable this area is because of Silicon Valley, it would not be hard to rent. It is the best option considering the situation. At the least, we could break even until this mess normalizes."
Monica had always been an independent person. At 5' 8'', she had a very athletic body with small C-cups and slightly toned abs. It was a miracle considering her job involved being surrounded by great smelling, high-calorie food 40 hours a week. Monica tried to stay active by going to the gym, which had been closed down for months. Monica and Stacy enjoyed biking, yoga, and calisthenics and many other hobbies only single adults could enjoy. It helped that neither of them had kids. Although weeks before the pandemic broke out, they had a conversation about adoption, somewhere down the line. The thought still freaked Monica out.
Her years of sharing a single room with her three siblings had traumatized her. Growing up in her parents' small suburban home did not help. It got weird, sleeping 10 feet away from your teenaged brothers as a teenager yourself. Even when she was in culinary school, she had to share a shitty apartment with three other college kids. They had not had any sense of common decency or respect for privacy. After graduating and finding a job, Monica met Stacy and had finally felt like she could breathe. After a few years of cohabitating in an apartment, they got married and bought this house a little over a year ago.
Monica, now in her late twenties, realized they had no other reasonable options. Reluctantly she swallowed her pride and agreed. That afternoon they signed up for one of those sub-rental sites and posted their advertisement for a room to rent. They had taken many pictures of the room, bathroom, the shared kitchen, and the exterior of the home. They had a small list of reasonable demands like no pets, a month down payment, references, etc. Within a week, Monica and Stacy had a dozen applications.
After filtering through several sketchy and equally broke and desperate people, they narrowed it down to one candidate, Rick Hammond. He worked in Silicon Valley at an up and coming startup company. He was lean with brown eyes and dark-rimmed glasses. Rick had coarse brown hair that looked like an early-career Beatle. It was unclear if that was his normal style or the lack of getting a proper haircut for months. He dressed in a comfortable zip-up sweater with his company logo embroidered on the breast. A normal pair of blue jeans and white Nike sneakers completed the ensemble. As a sign of goodwill, Rick had gotten a recent antibody test, and brought a cashier's check as payment for the first two months rent upfront. He showed them his last pay stub and bank statement as to proof he was not broke.
Stacy and Monica were more than satisfied and accepted him. Rick did have a small request. He wanted hang out, watch movies and play games when they were free on the weekends. A lack of real human contact was starting to get to everyone by now, so it seemed reasonable. With everyone agreed, they signed a one-year lease.
Two days later, a small moving truck arrived and offloaded his stuff. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A queen-sized mattress and metal bed frame ,wood dresser, clothes, personal effects, fancy desk, and a leather office chair along with tons of computer stuff. His bicycle went into the garage. After a long day of moving and setup, Rick ordered some pizza and beer for everyone. For being a Silicon Valley worker, they were surprised he didn't have the usual arrogant and aggressive tech bro personality. Instead, he was a pretty mellow guy with a few quirks. Stacy and Monica felt they had lucked out on this renter.
As it started to get late they all retired to their rooms. Monica and Stacy showered and changed into their pajamas and drifted off to sleep. Rick was still up, quietly clicking away at his computer. Looking at his Casio watch. He swivels around to look at a box of wired and wireless mini speakers sitting on his bed.
They were linked to his computer and gave off sounds that were barely audible. Although each had a short range, when combined they worked in tandem forming a network covering the house. The plugins were the size of a wall air freshener. The wireless ones were the size of a wireless headphone case and required recharging every two days.
Rick snuck out of his room and strategically placed them around the house. Hiding them in inconspicuous outlets or out of reach places. Holding his breath, he opened Stacy and Monica's bedroom door. After placing a wireless microphone on the wall behind their dresser, he gently closed the door and went back to his room. After hitting a few keystrokes on his computer the speakers let out a low pitched hissing sound. As Rick got on his bed and drifted off, Stacy and Monica were tossing and turning in bed until morning.
The next morning things were normal for Stacy and Monica. Monica was making her famous frittatas on the gas stovetop. Rick came out of his room and cracked open a SOYLENT Bar and had a glass of grapefruit juice. Monica a seasoned chef shook her head. For a guy that had some money, she was surprised he ate that yoga babble, food 2.0 garbage. It was his body. After a calm breakfast, he went back to his bedroom/office to work.
The next few days went by relatively fast. Rick would come out and eat something pre-packaged and go back to his room. Sometimes making small talk if Stacy or Monica were around before returning to his bedroom/office to keep plugging away at his job. In the afternoon he would watch TV in the living room until they all retired for the evening
