I woke up a bit later than I planned but it was still early. I crawled out the bed and stretched before heading into the shower. Feeling the hot shells bombarding my soapy skin, it felt good to be alive.

After dressing in a nice black suit like a tv show FBI agent, I headed to the lobby of the hotel. I couldn’t help but stare at a lady in a red sports bra and tights. Wireless earphones in her ear as she bobbed her head and stretched while waiting on the elevator.

Sometimes she would pull up a leg as she leaned against the wall or squatted randomly. Showing all that ass with no conscience shyness that a woman should have had, but I guess the hotel must be empty around this time.

I walked past her and hit the down button, the ding sounded a second after.

She looked at me with an astonish face, she hovered there as I walked on and pulled out my phone.

I wasn’t a creep, I already saw it all from a distance. It would be so hard to get that image out of my head already. I sent my wife a text that I would stop by later and stood awkwardly in the elevator with a lady who looked so good from behind and to the side.

Cough, her face was marginal.

When the elevator clicked the ground floor, we both tried to leave at once. I stepped aside quicker than her and waved for her to go.

This seemed to have given her a kind of boost, for she swayed a little more upon leaving. I had to admit that she had a nice ass.

Chuckling to myself, I headed out to the parking lot. Getting into the car and peeling out, my first stop was a donut shop for a quick breakfast. Then I swung by the apartments since it was around ten,

The apartment looks like dorms on a military base, built for accommodation not luxury. I rolled my car into the parking lot in front of the Apartment headquarters. I got out and walked towards the door just as this old lady with a cig in her hand, lighting it up as she walked out.

I moved to the side before she could bump into me with her head down. The inside is neat and orderly, you couldn’t almost tell that it was a house turned into an office. There’s this decent dress lad sitting behind the desk, his eyes totally didn’t look as if he was staring at the screen.

Not with the way his arms were hunched up as if he was playing on his phone. I made extra loud footsteps and the guy's head snapped up.

I am pretty sure I caught a trace of eyeliner on his face.

“How can I help you?”

“I’m supposed to meet someone to show me an apartment on the ground floor, two rooms. Should be scheduled for a ten o’clock appointment.”

The man didn’t even look at the planner on the desk or the screen in front of him. He just reached into a desk and grabbed a set of keys.

“Of course, I was told someone would stop by. If you want I can show you the apartments now or you can wait in the waiting area for the Manager to return from his walkthrough in..” the lad gestured at the couch and tv area, before looking at the clock. “Thirty-ish minutes.”

“You can show me first.”

The guy moved around the desk and headed out a back exit, I followed along. They had a pool and it’s actually kept clean. There were even people sunbathing around it. The guy led me across the area to the building label as three, then to the end of the apartment building.

I think I caught one window on the side, decent exit and entry point, but it led to an open space that had a garden and gazebo hanging around. The inside isn’t all that impressive, the living room was fairly big but the kitchen is disappointing. One of those island bars separated it from the dining room.

There is at least a house washer and dryer, the rooms weren’t all that big but I slept in tinier spaces so it wasn’t a big deal.

“What do you think?”

“It’s decent. Any insect problem?”

I didn’t expect him to fess up but some people were decent.

“Not that I have seen, but I think one tenant complained about cats or dogs scratching at her door.”

I nodded and we went back, just in time to meet a well rounded individual and I’m not talking about his skills but his gut.

The fat joker gave me a smile and held out his hands.

“I’m the manager, Joseph. Did he already show you the unit?”

The lad nodded while I shook the tubby tubby hands.

“Yeah, it's decent. Let’s talk about signing a contract and how much the deposit is.”

The manager's eyes lit up and he wasted no time printing out a contract for me to look over while filling out the details on his pc as I wrote. I guess he is as talented as he rounded. By the time we were finished, a whole hour was taken from my day.

“Give me two days to finish processing the government stuff and then you can move on. You can pick up the key from the front desk. If you need anything, just give us a call. We are very happy to help with any situation that might arouse with our property.”

Josep waddled back in after making such a declaration. I huffed and drove to a nearby furniture store and as I walked through the aisles looking at the display stuff. I realized that my daughter might not like me picking out her stuff for her.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I glanced at my phone and it was almost time for school to let out. I’ll go pick up lunch first then head over to the ex’s.

***

I just sat down at a bench outside when I beep on my phone. Leaning back, I pulled it out of my pocket and swiped it open.

News: A Rig off-shore suffered mal-functioned that resulted in an explosion. Blue Sun Energy group released a statement ensuring that they have rescue teams enroute and that they will investigate the cause of the explosions. Click to read further…

I put the phone down and open the burger wrapper. Staring at the thick burger with bacon peeking out of the bun. The green arm of the lettuce sliding as I lifted.

For all my comrades that can’t enjoy this. I shall for you.

Just as I leaned forward to take a bite of the burger, my phone rang. I glance at it while biting down, my ex.

I sat the burger down while I chewed, tapping the accept call button.

“Mm.”

“Hey, I got your text and Jamie went to some friends’ house. She won’t be able to go furniture shopping as they are group studying for some project.”

I dipped french fry into the ketchup container.

“Okay,”

I put the phone down and hung up. Getting back into my meal, this wasn’t a huge problem.

DAY 3

I woke up to the alarm clock on my phone. I took a quick shower and changed into gym clothes before grabbing my wireless earbuds. I grabbed the hotel’s card key and headed towards the elevator.

I sort of hoped to catch that lady from the other day but seemed like I got up a bit too early for that. No biggie.

I slid onto the elevator and jab the down button while getting ready to work on my playlist. Maybe a little light metal and to cool down, some jazz.

The elevator opened as I searched for a good metal banned to run to and as I stepped out. I caught that yoga ass from the other day. I slipped my phone into my pocket as she caught my full attention in a span of a second. She had a towel around her shoulder and shaker in hand.

What a glorious girl.

I followed her into the gym and I knew she heard my footsteps. I made them especially loud to catch her attention but she acted like she didn’t even know I was there. Or maybe, she is playing hard to get?

I read an article that some women like to play mind games to see if you have patiences to wait on them.

Tsk, let’s see who has the stronger will then.

I pulled out my phone and clicked a random band. They sounded decent enough, I walked to the treadmill and did a light stretch before stepping on. Cranking it up into a light five minute walk that turned into a five minute jog.

I couldn’t help but notice that she had begun a long series of yoga poses that you commonly see on magazine covers. And what mighty great form she had. They say god bless women more than men and I believed it, right then.

I got down and took a sip from the fountain before grabbing thirty-five pound bells. I dropped into a squat arm curl that someone had lectured me for hours on. Saying that doing movement with it would engage more muscle groups than just sitting and curling or standing and curling.

I didn’t really feel any differences between this and that. It just became a habit of doing it since I did it so much then.

I caught her looking over when she climbed on the treadmill. Oh how sleek she thought she was. Haha, I see you.

I switched into doing over the head, lifting my arms straight up while twisting my wrist to make the dumbbell go from facing north and south to east and west. Another trick to engage more muscle groups.

Licking my lips, I let out a deep breath and dropped the bells beside me. Just as I decided to hit the inclined bench, I received a call.

I hit the accept button with a frown.

“Hello?”

“Oh, Mr. Chase. I am the Manager from the Waterfront Apartment. Your application is approved and if you dropped by with the deposit. You can move in anytime.”

“Okay, I’ll swing by at ten.”

“See you then.”

The music came back up as he hung up. I stared at my phone for a minute before shrugging. I’ll look for a job later today. I turned and knocked out the rest of my routine before rushing up to my hotel room.

It’s going to be a long day getting everything prepared before friday. Marching towards the elevator, I caught sight of the lady in a blouse and black skirt. She looks pretty good with makeup on. Went up from a seven to eight and three quarters.

I slid my hand into the door before it closed and stepped on it.

“Hey, how are you?”

She gave me a smile, “Pretty good.”

I held out my hand as the door closed behind me.

“Name’s Chase. Do you have time for breakfast, me?”

She took my hand like she was a gentle damsel but I saw her sling those weights around.

“Amanda and I have thirty minutes.”

I released her hands and we walked out while bullshitting. She was a nice girl on a work related trip. Would end up leaving but she is not going that far away, apparently just to the town a few miles away. Which meant I could totally visit her often during the week. Keep me sane before the weekends hit.

We drove out to Denny’s and she ordered a whooping plate of pancakes. Like three dishes then stacked them, slathered them with butter, flipped them then drenched them in syrup. I looked at my three pancakes, six bacons, eggs and grits, then back at her plate and realized. I look more like the woman in the relationship.

Who knew roles change so much since I have been gone. I kind of expected her to drip a little syrup on her clothes with how fast she was devouring everything. Giving the fact she had more than just pancakes, she still finished before me.

I could only lament to god that my stomach wasn’t faster at digesting food. Her phone beeped while she polish off a glass of lemonade and then she smiled at me.

“Sorry, I gotta run but thanks for the food.” She grabbed her purse and fled faster than I did when people had tasks they wanted to hand out.

I clicked my tongue and took the receipt up the register. There was no surprise on my face at the bill but damn that girl could eat. A vision of her in those black yoga pants crept up on me and I couldn’t help smiling as I swiped the card.

The rest of the day was in no way as amusing as the beginning. Going around getting lights, water, and the internet turned on. Buying furniture and settling the apartment. Then buying groceries, stocking up on packs of water and perishables. Picking out the best tv sets for game nights. You had to be able to hear bullshit referee calls, so a surround sound that was clear enough when turned all the way up was a necessity.

Thick drapes that prevent any type of sunlight snooping in during the mornings when you didn’t want to wake up was utterly life or death matter. Finally, I had to take out the fridge because it looked like it would suck up my electricity and didn’t look as if it could hold the meat I wanted.

Let’s not even go into detail about the old iron rings stove tops. The one you can disconnect the little thing to clean underneath. Yeah, that had to go. I was an avid cooker and thus I needed a real stove that had adjustable temperatures with actually low-warm settings.

When my day was finally done, I almost felt like the world had just made sense to me. I looked around and realized, it finally looked like someone lived here. Thus I can now begin a journey towards something new.

I almost felt like I just thought of a line for a disney show.