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 Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 11:52 pm
Harvey typed the URL very slowly into the address bar of his chosen browser, sighing all the while. He had been dreading this for a while now, but as his rent steadily climbed over the past year he knew he couldn’t hang on to his apartment for much longer. He just didn’t think it would be within the current year. Rent within Destiny City had, over the years, become absolutely obscene (at least for him) and he just couldn’t afford his studio apartment anymore. Which was all kinds of depressing for him because he had been there since his last major breakup and had grown rather fond of it. Not to mention it was in a great neighborhood and within walking distance to a handful of amazing food spots, a gym and a decently stocked Korean market. But more than all of that, Harvey had always struggled with change. Especially the unexpected kind.
Maybe that was why they hadn’t worked out.
The man scoffed at the thought and pressed his open palms to his eyes, taking a deep breath to level himself a little bit. It’d been years and he’d come to peace with all that happened, but he still sometimes found himself searching for a more...acceptable answer. At least one he could give his daughter that she would understand.
It was a long moment before he took his hands off of his eyes, setting one on his mouse and the other around his coffee mug. He took a sip and began perusing the various members who were listed as having a room available. He had yet to click on any of them after eight pages and was about ready to give in, at least for now, but then he saw a name that made him nearly drop his coffee. Melody Weber.
He narrowed his baby pink eyes and leaned forward, as though getting closer to the screen would answer all the questions he had currently running through his mind. When that didn’t work, he clicked on the little icon that was her face and read the additional information that popped up in a little window. And then he stared at her icon for another minute before deciding that yes, it was definitely her.
So he pulled his phone out, tapped on her name, then on “messages” to see their message history. Based on that alone it had been over six months since their last exchange. It was her birthday, so he greeted her and let her know about the digital gift card he’d gotten her and to look out for an email. She replied with a quick thanks and that was it.
Harvey sighed again, brows furrowed and eyes in their ever squinting position. He considered for another long moment before finally tapping the letters on his screen to compose a hopefully concise message.
Hey. Is that room still available?
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Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 11:53 pm
The phone had been next to her when the unexpected message flashed across her lock screen. It was short enough to read the full thing without having to go in and open the text so it was marked read or seen. Her listing had been posted for several weeks and although a few people had applied, most didn’t pass the vetting process. Many she declined due to not having a job or one that wasn’t reliable enough on hours. It wasn’t discrimination or anything, she just wasn’t in the market to support anyone if they’re short on rent. There were simply too many horror stories floating around out there of leeches that would take food because it was there and not because they contributed to the grocery bill. Bandwidth on the internet at its limit, used up for the pleasure of downloading episodes of some show or games; who the hell knew. No, she wasn’t about to invite just anyone and did look up social media to see if they had histories of partying or other promiscuous activity. While having friends over from time to time is fine, Mel was more of a private person and wasn’t inclined to having groups of strangers having access to her home. She had been about to give up the search and dip some more into her savings when the incoming text lit up her screen. The name it belonged to, however, surprised her. Made her pause more so out of confusion rather than curiosity and wondered if he was asking for himself or someone else. “What are you up to, Harvey?” Tapped her nail on the black screen but didn’t open it just yet if only to keep from seeming desperate by her current situation. Since college, Mel had been living alone since the two of them parted ways; he took up residence with his girlfriend at the time while she took a risk and bought her first home. There would always be a part of her that wished he’d moved with her; partly a selfish desire to have some initial help with mortgage and bills while she furnished the new rooms and made it presentable to friends and family. But she understood Harvey’s reluctance. Still, they found time every few months since then to still meet up so they weren’t completely out of touch, just not as close as they’d once been. Mel tsked at herself for just sitting there and finally, after a long moment she unlocked her phone, opened the message and sent back an equally short reply. Quote: Yeah… got any recommendations for me???
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Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 11:57 pm
After sending the text he closed the browser window and got back to work on his latest project, though it’d be a lie if he said he was able to focus at all. After a minute of staring at a blank canvas, he abandoned the idea and instead got up to go make himself some coffee. Not that he needed it right then, but coffee was comforting to him. Yes, it ramped up his heart rate and messed with his sleeping schedule, but he loved the aroma and the flavor that came alongside all of that, and that did more good for him despite what his doctors said.
Coffee helped to calm his nerves, so he wanted to make a pot.
He set his phone on the counter and watched it for a bit while he grabbed what he needed. Having made so many pots of coffee in this place that he could do it blindfolded, but the last thing he wanted to do was waste perfectly good coffee beans so, when he got to the part where he had to scoop beans into the grinder, he tore his eyes away from the mobile device and actually paid attention.
“Four scoops,” he said under his breath, remembering the exact amount that made the perfect cup, at least by his tastes. He closed up the container of coffee beans, put the lid on the grinder, and pressed the button to start the grinding. The noise of it masked the tone and vibration that came from his phone, so he didn’t actually see that she had replied to him until after he pressed the “Brew” button on his coffeemaker.
Harvey scowled at his luck. Granted it was only a few minutes, but this kind of thing was sort of a time-sensitive matter.
He hit send on the very short message, tapped his fingers on the side of his phone as he considered possibly expanding on it, and then went back to typing.
I just made some coffee. If you’re even considering it you can come over and we can talk.
After sending this message, however, he blinked at the potential implications of it and started typing again.
Or we can meet somewhere else and talk.
Three messages in a row made him look desperate, which only aggravated the scowl, but given the month was coming to a close and he already told his landlord that he’d be out by the end of his lease at the end of the following month...he kind of was. So he left it at that and turned his attention back to his coffeemaker.
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Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 11:59 pm
Unlike most potential tenants, Mel didn’t have to worry about meeting Harvey in a public place. He was no stranger to her, well… not really. Many facets of their lives since graduating college were kept vague mostly due to time constraints; get-togethers held in the timespan of a meal, two hours at most if they were lucky. Knew he had a girlfriend and had met her only a couple of times but that was all it took for her to decide not to complicate Havey’s life by messaging him often. Women were emotional creatures and got jealous easily or became dangerously possessive if they felt their relationship was being threatened by others present. The last thing he needed was to be accused of cheating or some other nonsense that her mind could very well come up with. These, however, were all assumptions Mel had made on her own and not because Harvey had spoken ill of his girlfriend to her. At least nothing beyond the typical grumble when he was annoyed by something. Nonetheless, if he was openly inviting her over then it seemed to reason that things between them had hit rough waters. Something that might blow over in a couple of weeks or months perhaps. Which would make this request temporary, likely a month-to-month situation rather than a full year term. “Harvey, Harvey, Harvey… What did you do to pis her off?” Mel shook her head of the thought and picked her phone up and replied. Quote: I can be there in about 40 minutes. Will that work for you?
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:00 am
The coffee was nearly done when she replied, so he picked his phone up first.
Sounds good. Here’s the address.
He sent that message first and followed up with his new address, not quite able to recall if he’d ever given it to her before. Their brief get togethers were few and far between, and while he could always remember that it was a good time, he was horrible about remembering everything that was talked about. The coffee was done just as he put his phone back down, so he poured himself a cup and took a deep breath.
Then saw the state of his ********. Me.”
The man scrambled. Luckily it was the type of scramble that was well practiced; he’d done it all the time growing up, being told to do chores and procrastinating in the name of art or coding. When his mom would call to let him know that she was nearly home, well… That was kind of like now. Only it was Melz, and he wanted to at least show her that he was perfectly capable of carrying his weight when it came to the chores.
She already knew that, though, given they’d been roommates once before, but he thought it’d be most ideal to show her that his habits hadn’t ebbed away into nonexistence.
It was a quick but thorough surface clean of his living room, kitchen, and bathroom. He had only forty minutes to work with, after all, and he thought it was too late now to push back their meeting so he trucked right along. With only ten minutes to spare he moved on to his bedroom which… it looked like several hampers had exploded in there, leaving piles of clothes and beddings everywhere. He set his baby pink eyes into their squinted state, did some quick thinking, and closed the door right behind him.
He was sure Melz would remember what his room was like in college. Not much had changed. That’s all he needed to say.
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:03 am
Melody had been generous with the time frame she’d given. Assumed that there would either be accidents along the way or that the street lights would be 90% red and eat up the remaining gas in her tank with all the stop and go.
Fortunately, she was wrong; and Mel wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
She found his car; old, beat up, and out of style. But he owned it, and it got him to the places he needed to be. Although she’d arrived a few minutes early, Mel had decided to wait in her until the time got a bit closer to her estimated time of arrival before grabbing her side bag and hiking up the stairs.
“Knock knock,” rapt her knuckles on the door and waited for him to answer.
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:03 am
By the time he heard the knock on his front door, Harvey had his apartment...decently cleaned. At the very least it was clean enough to be considered presentable by his standards. He even had enough time to clean himself up a little bit so he didn’t look like he hadn’t slept in days and was running completely on caffeine, though he could never truly hide that; his eyes were a dead giveaway.
Harvey opened the door and set his baby pink eyes on his old friend, smiling. It was the nostalgic kind that would tell anyone who saw it that he and Melz had known each other a long time. He forgot about the pretense of being “presentable” as soon as he saw her, recalling their time sharing a space back in college. He wondered for a moment if, had he left the space in the more natural state it had been earlier, they’d fall back into a similar groove that they had back then, and if maybe that would have made her more comfortable.
“Hey,” he greeted her before stepping aside to make room for her to come through. “Thanks for coming.”
He let her walk past him and closed the door behind her, then vaguely gestured at his space. It was a modest studio apartment with the finishes smack in the middle between basic and fancy. The furniture was clearly all Ikea, now freshly cleaned but all slightly beat up and with various surface imperfections. Two large bookshelves separated the bedroom space, the typical one seen on every Ikea catalogue. His were so stuffed with books, though, that they really did look a bit like walls. Hazardous ones, anyway. Not that they were teetering or anything, but they were definitely overstuffed. And there were still books sort of spread out across the space as well, along with stacks of paper or proper sketchbooks, and a variety of pens, pencils, highlighters, and permanent markers sort of contributing to the clutter.
“Not much but, uh, make yourself comfortable. We can talk in the living room or at the table, wherever you want. I’ll get the coffee.”
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:04 am
The apartment was a lot smaller than she expected. Then again, given the location and the cost of rent in the area, perhaps she shouldn’t have been surprised. The housing and rental market these days washes out of hand, in her opinion at least. Makes it difficult for a single person to live comfortably on their own unless they’re making above minimum wage or working multiple jobs. Ultimately it feeds into the mantra of; you live to work and work to live.
Seemed that all things considered, Harvey was doing well. His collection of books tugged her lips into a wide smile. A light airy laugh escaped her. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Mel walked over to the bookshelf, her finger tapping the spine of a few familiar titles from back when they were roommates previously. “Looks like you’ve expanded your collection.” Lavender eyes glanced over at him in the kitchen with an amused glint.
“So, what’s this talk about you looking for roommates? Tired of sharing walls with strangers or…” As if on queue there was a thump against the wall from across the hall which made her raise an eyebrow at the sudden sound. Given the time it was likely just kids playing around. “Or is something else going on?” Mel finished her sentence with a bit more of a curious tone.
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:07 am
Harvey was pouring her a cup of coffee when she laughed, though the sound was coming from the direction of the bookshelves so he turned his head accordingly. “Yeah,” he said through a smile of his own. He put his focus back on the coffee and poured himself a second cup, put the pot back in its place, then grabbed their mugs and headed over to her. “I’ve been putting off getting a third one of these things ‘cause I’m expecting to have to downsize when I move.” He looked at the spines of his extensive collection, which was a good smattering of a wide variety of genres. It wouldn’t be too surprising to find some kind of religious type of book right next to a racy romance, and in fact he spotted one such pair and smirked.
“I’ve actually already shrunk this a little bit. Donated some for a good cause.” He picked out the romance novel and replaced it elsewhere on the shelf, then sipped his coffee again. At her question he gestured toward the table, choosing not to comment on the thumping sound from outside his apartment.
He set his mug on the table and took a seat, sighing slightly as the thumping from across the hall went on. If he had to guess? Handball. A faint scream soon followed. Someone probably just lost the game. While this normally would have irritated him enough to step out and throw something right at that neighbor’s door, at the moment he just looked...tired. So he took another sip of coffee, finding his calm before answering her question.
“It’s money, actually,” he said finally, looking over at Melz. “As in I make the same but the rent here just keeps going up. Not to mention all my other bills and necessary expenses, I just can’t afford it here anymore.”
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:08 am
Her expression softened as she took a seat beside him and held the hot mug between her hands. “Similar reasons as to why I’ve been looking for a roommate. Property taxes keep increasing and utilities are higher than last year even though I’m not using any more electricity or water. Not to mention the internet…” She rolled her eyes dramatically then took a tentative sip of the life and energy giving drink.
Melody had picked her poison and settled on coffee over energy drinks long before she ever graduated college. Partially because she grew up in a home with three older brothers and a father who worked himself to the bones to provide for the four of them. At a young age she had learned how to brew coffee before she could make herself a grilled cheese sandwich; mostly because they didn’t want her around a burner and none of them let her actually pour the drink, just scoop the coffee grounds, pour the water and push the button.
“I’m still living in the same house. Are you sure it’s not going to be too long of a commute for you?” She assumed he Googled the address before reaching out. “I know we have two busses that are only a few blocks from my home; straight shot downtown.”
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:09 am
No one would start the search for a roommate if ever given the choice, and often the reason was financial in nature, so it made a little sense that their reasons were similar. He nodded along as she spoke, understanding all too well the struggles with the utilities and the internet.
“Right?” he chimed as she rolled her eyes. “I had to go up on my plan because of work, but holy s**t. Every month I feel like I’m getting robbed.” The man heaved a sigh before sipping his coffee again, reveling in the soothing warmth it provided. He managed to calm down a bit after another sip, eyes back on Melz when she spoke again.
He nodded first, then said, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. And that’s good to know, the bus stops. My old piece of s**t may as well be dead.” There was a pause as he considered that statement. He had a lot of old pieces of s**t. His car, his TV, two of his three monitors, his bed frame, his mattress…
“I mean my car. It’s not dead-dead but it sounds like a dying moose whenever I try to start it. I eventually just started feeling bad about trying to force it back to life, so I just stopped trying.”
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:09 am
“Aww, poor thing.” Melody laughed despite actually feeling sorry for the poor car. “Fortunately there are plenty of used cars out there that you could probably find a decent price for without having to go to the dealership.” Wasn’t without certain risks but it beat the money sink of having to buy a new vehicle.
“So…” Her gaze wandered along the grains of the fake Ikea wood. “Heh… Here I rehearsed what I’d say when I got here and now that I’m here I find that I’m not all that interested in talking business. Serious conversations never really suited us.” Mel set her bag on the ground beside her then rested both elbows on the table, laced her fingers together and propped her chin up on both hands.
She watched him with a soft expression, reminiscing in the mirrored moments from nearly a decade ago. Remembered how much she’d wished Harvey had moved with her but understood his reasoning. Still, it took an obscenely long while for her to finally get used to coming home to an empty house; cold and dark during the winter months with a fridge full of take out and left overs.
“I have two bedrooms and a bathroom available, however, the bathroom is the main restroom for guests and whatnot.” Hers was the master bath but she used both out of convenience; after all it was her house and there was no rule saying she couldn’t use certain rooms. There was a half-bath in the laundry area but she’d been considering remodeling that next summer. “The guest room wasn’t big enough for my crafting needs so my home studio is set up in the bonus room downstairs.”
“Are you looking for a temporary roommate situation or something more permanent?” Without bulldozing her way through his personal affairs, Mel kind of needed to know how long to expect any sort of arrangement to last.
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:10 am
As though out of habit, Harvey raised a brow skeptically at the amused sympathy that his old roommate suddenly displayed. Somehow he strongly doubted that she was sorry about his experience versus his car. For a moment he debated if he wanted to ask and confirm his suspicion, but he decided to leave it alone to instead let the conversation move right on forward.
Her next words pulled a soft sigh out of him.
“No, they didn’t,” he had to agree, though the words sounded more wistful the way he said them, his thoughts currently as far back as hers. Sure they’d gone their separate ways nearly a decade ago but they’d been roommates, and good friends, for most of their college years. He was glad their friendship was still intact, but it was far from what it used to be. Sure they used to grate at each other all the time, but those were some of his fondest memories—the stupid arguments, her forcing cosplay outfits on him, him complaining the whole time but going along with it anyway in the name of peace in their apartment. Right now it was more...a comfortably distant friendship, like there was a line there that had somehow been drawn between them over the years that they’d grown apart.
Harvey sipped his coffee again, its warmth soothing him back to the present, and he nodded along as she spoke about the current room availability. By the time she was done he had finished his coffee, so he set his mug down and considered her question for a moment before saying, “Permanent.”
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:11 am
A long moment of somber silence fell between them while Melody processed the implications of his answer and how it played into her conflicting emotions. Glad that his tenancy would lift a financial burden that has been burdening her for nearly a decade. Living paycheck to paycheck for the first few years because she stubbornly held out in case Harvey changed his mind.
He didn’t, and when she finally accepted that their paths diverged in such a way that they ran perpendicular to each other, Melody found that she honestly didn’t care much for the idea of opening her home to a stranger. So she cut back where she could; took the bus more often to save on gas, ate out less and bought cheap food. She made it work for a time but she was feeling the financial noose tighten around her neck again with the cost of living increasing.
Desperate times…
However, his answer also brought out a wave of concern and filled her mind with questions she’d best save for another day. Curiosities that pertained to his girlfriend, wondering why things didn’t work out. Those are things you ask when a person is drunk so they hopefully don’t remember answering come morning rather than over a pleasant cup of coffee.
“How much in rent are you looking to pay?” Not that it mattered, so long as it covered the increase in utilities and helped alleviate the mortgage burden until she was able to refinance for a lower monthly payment, she’d still offer him both rooms and a bath to himself, except for if guests came over they’d end up using his. Books were to him as her wall of fabrics was to her; she’d hate to make him downsize any more than he’d already had just to fit what he had in a space smaller than his studio apartment.
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Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 12:11 am
Even if he did agree, it deflated him ever so slightly when he realized that he was more comfortable talking business with his old friend. In the old days she might have pressed a little more and asked him, “Why the sudden change?" "What happened to his girlfriend?" "Why didn’t things work out?" And he might have done so with a right scowl on his face, but he would have answered. Eventually.
Maybe after a little bit of alcohol.
But now no such questions came up. He couldn’t even sense any level of curiosity from her side of the table, and perhaps what made it worse was that he found he was okay with this. It wasn’t exactly something he enjoyed recounting, after all, the crumbling of what he believed would be his family for the longest time. It wrenched his insides whenever he thought about it, actually. So her not pressing was, in a way, rather bittersweet.
Harvey looked briefly thoughtful at her next question, then said, “Nothing over $1,000 would be ideal, but I’d maybe be able to make $1,100 or $1,200 work if that’s what it took to make this happen.” He stood then, and headed for the kitchen, returning moments later with the coffee pot. It was still three-quarters of the way full, so after refilling his cup he offered to refill hers as well.
“Coffee still your stimulant of choice?”
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