Roomates, with a Twist

[The_gladiator]

Roomates, With a Twist

Curtis “Curt” Miller stared again at the want Ad he had placed in the paper. It had been a few months since Curt had moved out of his parents house. He had gone away to college. Things had gone well, until his roommates decided they were going to live at home. They were brothers and their parents thought it would be a better idea for them to stay home. This however left Curt in a real bind, what did he do. He had to find a new roommate by the end of the month before next month’s rent came due, or else he would have to move back home, ad go to the local college.

His parents were of the mindset that if he would not go to the local scollege he would pay his full way. If he had gone locally they would have paid for him to go. He had opted to pay his way through school, wanting the hell out of his home town.

Living alone had already been a Huge Culture shock to Curt and he still had much to learn about the real world. This bind with the roommates being the latest in those lessons. He had less than a week to find someone, and now was down to desperation. He had a woman coming to visit in a few moments. She hadn’t called, but had just emailed, but Curt was so desperate he had agreed to meet with her even though he didn’t know much about her. He was a bit nervous, this was all so new to him.


(Moderator's note: This story is closed to 0xserenityx0 and the Gladiator, please do not post without permission of the authors. We hope you enjoy our story!)

 

[0xSerenityx0]

http://i56.tinypic.com/2dgna11.jpg

Katherine turned the radio down and slowed the car to a crawl as she neared the apartment building. "Looks like we're here.." she said quietly as she double-checked against the piece of paper in her hand.

She just didn't know what else to resort to anymore. Ever since the divorce, Katherine found it more difficult than she thought it would be to maintain a place to live, a relationship with her children, and a good standing at her job. Everywhere she turned, rates for single apartments seemed to climb exponentially. The handfuls of ads for people searching roommates were either far too steep for her, or just didn't appeal in terms of location, size, etc.

This one was different. Really different. In fact, she really couldn't believe she was giving this one a try, but the portion of the rent she had to pay if she split it with this kid was a miracle compared to what she was used to, so she had no choice.

She inhaled nervously as the door opened, straightened her white blouse and looking down at her 4 year old daughter, holding her hand and smiling gently before returning her eyes to the boy behind the door.

"Hi...I'm here about the roommate ad? From the e-mail.."

 

[The_gladiator]

Curtis’s apartment was right on the first floor and thanks to the building design his door opened right onto the parking lot, which was often convenient. He heard a knock and opened the door after wiping his sweating palms on is pants.

What greeted their eyes was a young man, maybe 19 at the oldest, with short brown hair and blue eyes. He was thin and not too tall but a good height, perhaps a couple inches shy of 6 foot.

He didn’t know who he was expecting but the woman e saw wasn’t what he had expected. He wasn’t a good judge of age, but to his young eyes she had to be almost 40. In actuality she probably wasn’t that old but he wasn’t exactly used to trying to guess the ages of women. His eyes swept down and he saw the little girl and his eyes widened. To his credit he didn’t freak out. He did not run screaming and slam the door in her face, he did seem surprised though. “Uh Yeah Hi,” he said to her words, He offered her his hand, “I’m Curtis, most people call me Curt, you can come in.” he said, “Excuse the mess.” He mumbled as an afterthought as he backed up. Revealing a slightly cramped looking 2-bedroom apartment. There was a main room with a couch and a hallway to the left that lead to the small kitchen and then presumably back to the bedrooms. The place was not too messy but it was obvious that he wasn’t exactly a neat freak either. He was a single guy who was young, it was a miracle there weren’t pizza’s on the ceiling.

 

[0xSerenityx0]

Katherine shook his hand with a polite smile and said thank you as he let them in. She glanced at the immediate surroundings; it wasn't bad for a guy his age...whatever his age was, anyways.

"Go sit and be a good girl," she said as she squatted down to her daughter and gave her a small nudge. The youngster smiled and wandered away, sitting quietly on the couch with a coloring book.

"Forgive me, I know I only mentioned myself...it's tough knowing when I'll have the little ones around," she said with an air of awkward embarrassment, and rubbed her arm a bit before looking back to him.

"So...maybe you could show me the place and fill me in on your situation?"

Katherine brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, eyes glancing about the potential future place she could call home..

 

[The_gladiator]

He nodded, “Uh… yeah that would be fine.” He said his eyes on the little girl, who seemed very well behaved. “You said ones, do you have more than one child?” he asked as he led her through the little apartment. “This is the kitchenette.” He said pointing it out, “I don’t have a lot of dishes, just what my mother could spare.” He explained, “I don’t exactly cook… I kinda can burn water.” He said blushing his eyes moving over her as he talked examining her closer. Not that he was checking her out just watching her reactions, what she thought of the place, that sort of thing. His blue eyes met hers for a moment before he looked away.

“Our rooms are down here, I have the smaller room already, my friends were to take the other room, they were brothers and were going to share, but they backed out. The rooms are separated by the bathroom.” He explained, “You have to go through one of our bedrooms to get to the bathroom.” He explained, “Kind of irritating I know, but that’s just the way it goes I suppose.” He explained.

Since the girl had the couch he stood somewhat awkwardly in his bedroom so they could talk. He sat on the edge of his bed and waved her to the desk chair. He looked a bit nervous, “The situation is, I need to find a roommate in the next week or I won’t be able to pay rent, will be kicked out and have to move back home to my parents and go to the local college, I really don’t want that so yeah I put ads in the paper.” He said almost all in a rush.

 

[0xSerenityx0]

She nodded and wrung her hands uncomfortably as she followed him. She stood about up to his forehead, perhaps an inch shorter if anything. Her skin was relatively smooth and young in appearance, and her mild layer of mother weight accentuated her curved figure.

"Yes, just one more, a boy...he's with his father right now, a little tyke...only about a year old."

She scanned him cautiously, cringing slightly as they entered his bedroom, hoping and praying for nothing that could be described as a negative reaction. Katherine took a seat as he requested and studied him as he spoke, observing his reluctance and tone, nodding sympathetically.

"I understand. I'll be honest with you, I'm in the same boat, just not on the same terms. You see...my husband..I mean, ex husband...we divorced a while ago, and everything was fine for a while. But it turns out my rental rate is going to increase come this winter, and I can't afford that along with taking care of a few kids on the side here and there when their father isn't looking after them. I just can't.."

Katherine found herself getting caught up in her words, and took a deep breath, letting her well-rounded and mature chest rise and fall calmly.

"I've considered everything...and this might be the only option I have."

Their eyes met again, and she held his eyes with her own pair of soft, chocolate-colored ones briefly before gazing out the window.

 

[The_gladiator]

He seemed surprised at the prospect of a baby as well. But he fortunately was turned away when his eyes bugged out. "I understand. We are both kinda in a jam." he said softly.

"Do your kids live with you all the time?" he asked. Desperate as he was he didn't think he could live with a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old full time.

He seemed to think and then cleared his throat after their eyes met again, "We can split rent and utilities 50/50, or I suppose I could pay more of the rent if you don't mind helping me with a few things." he said blushing, suddenly aware of how bad that sounded. He almost gulped, "You know, simple things, like teach me to cook, maybe help out with laundry? I've actually got a pretty good job, I can afford to pay at least 60 to 65% of the Rent, I just can't pay it all, and still eat, you know?" he didn't know what made him offer to pay more, maybe he he was a sucker, but she looked even poorer than he was.

 

[0xSerenityx0]

She smiled and shook her head, understanding of his obvious concern for the potential future living situation.

"No, luckily the father and I split our time with the kids around 50/50...usually whatever happens to work out for the two of us as each week decides. Certainly some variation here and there, but for the most part that was our mutual agreement."

She rubbed her thighs anxiously and adjusted in her seat gently.

"I can imagine how weird this must be for you...I'm sure you'd rather be living with friends," Katherine said with a small smile in his direction.

"For now, let's just go with a 50/50 split. This is pretty close to my job in terms of location, and I'm..pretty sure I'd make enough to cover 50%. Besides, I'm sure I could help you out anyways with that stuff. I am a mom after all.."

She shook her head a bit and laughed as they rose and returned to the main area.

 

[The_gladiator]

He smiled at her offer, "That sounds good, thank you." he said. He thought her offer was kind. He kept it to himself that she was probably old enough to be his mom. Although she was still very pretty for her age, with her dark eyes against her pale skin. He stood and moved out into the other room.

He was unable he was going to do this share his space with an older woman, who had children no less. How was this better than living with his own mother and neaces and nephews? Well, a big difference was, she hopefully wouldn't nag him like his mother. And his neaces and nephews lived in the house all the time. So as he saw it this actually was a better deal. "This is a little weird to me." he said to her but he smiled. "We will get through it... can you introduce me to your daughter?" he said finally, trying to be friendly.

He examined their sparce livingroom with its stereo and TV, couch and coffee table. "We'll have to get some extra furnerature too." he commented absently as he finished scanning the room.

 

[0xSerenityx0]

She smiled and nodded, sitting down next to her on the couch and getting her attention.

"Grace, sweetie, this man's name is Curt. He's being really nice and offering us a better place to stay."

Grace continued coloring for a moment before looking up and smiling a bit, waving. "Hi.."

Katherine continued to smile and stood back up, approaching him. "She's a good kid, I promise you won't have to worry about her getting into your things...she's well past that phase," she muttered with a short laugh and nodded at the surroundings.

"I'm sure we'll be able to bring what we need without cramping the place, the rest can go with my husband...I'm sure he'll find something to do with it all. This really means a lot to me, you have no idea" she says rather softly as she catches his eye.

 

[The_gladiator]

Curt smiled at the little girl. She already seemed much better behaved than his brother’s kids. “Hey Grace.” He said returning her wave. She seemed to have her mother’s eyes but her hair was a slightly different shade, lighter in places. It was hard to tell because there wasn’t a ton of light where she was sitting.
He turned his attention back to Katherine as she spoke, “This place is already cramped, so a little more cramped will be ok.” He said with a shrug. “You bring in what you need.” He said. Curt seemed awkward, like he really didn’t know what to say or do in this situation. He was in completely uncharted territory for him. He ran his fingers back through his brown hair making it stand up for a moment before it settled in place. “So yeah, do we put your name on the paperwork? Or do you just want me to keep my name on it and you just pay half of it?” he asked, not really sure of how that stuff worked. So much of the things he was saying were told to him to say to her by one person or another.

As he spoke he walked into the kitchen again grabbing a coke from the fridge, opening it and taking a sip. “Would you like one?” he offered after a second remembering his manners.

 

[0xSerenityx0]

Katherine smiled and accepted his offer with a thank you.

"I'm pretty sure we should talk with your landlord and get everything arranged, they'll probably have to modify the lease and everything.." she said, taking a few sips of the soda in the meantime.

A week or so passed, the papers were signed, and Katherine once again found herself knocking on Curt's door, this time with a car-full of clothes and assorted items ranging from silverware to bedsheets to movies. Quite frankly, part of her still couldn't believe she was going to be living with a guy nearly half her age, but right now it just wasn't an important enough factor to turn it all down.

"Hey.." she said, wearing a loose-fitting t-shirt and jeans, prepared for the next handful of hours of move-in work.