Chapter Text
This was the second time in the two months I had been living in my apartment that I could barely scrounge together rent money. It was the cheapest apartment in the city and yet I basically had to starve myself to make ends meet. It wasn't fair that the living wage frankly wasn't and I could barely keep myself afloat. Sure, my job writing for a local paper paid decently, but not decent enough to live on my own.
I arrived at the office first thing that Monday morning. The despair and hunger were reeking off my body after that horrible weekend where I had been left with virtually nothing in my bank account. Thankfully, there was free coffee available in the lounge, which helped me to, along with pastries. I took two danishes, careful not to be greedy, and fixed my coffee hastily so I could have something in me immediately.
I looked out of the lounge to the opening door, revealing my friend, Ellie, who had wasted no time becoming my friend since I joined the paper. She smiled at me as she made her way over to the coffee pot.
"Good morning," she greeted softly while taking her personal mug and filling it up, "how was your weekend?"
I sighed, leaning against the nearest wall and already feeling the words spilling from my mouth. "Exhausting. I barely made rent," I confessed absentmindedly.
Her head perked up and her usually chipper expression has faltered to a concerned one. She already knew about last month, but I think I was officially worrying her. "Why don't you get a roommate?" She suggested.
"It's a one-bedroom," I reminded her.
"Well, have you tried looking for someone who would want to get a new place with you?"
I rolled my eyes at her idea. "Do you know anyone who would want to live with a twenty-two-year-old fresh out of college? With a hardly stable job?" I mocked while sipping my coffee.
"Well," she paused and smiled a little, "I do actually. He's not officially looking for anyone, but I can put a good word in."
I quirked an eyebrow up curiously. Did the cards finally align right for me? "How big is his place? And is he creepy?"
Ellie laughed a little, shaking her head. "It's an actual house, so it's bigger than what you're dealing with. And he's not, I swear. I've known him since high school."
"I may have to take you up on that, Ellie," I hummed whilst thinking over everything. It wouldn't hurt to meet the guy and walk around. The worst thing that can happen is he is weird and it doesn't work out, which is fine, I'll just have to ration a little while longer.
—
I went to meet him Wednesday during my lunch break. He lived in a nice neighborhood, which made me afraid that I wouldn't meet his standards with my income. The houses down the streets were all tidy with raked yards, and the occasional family sitting outside and enjoying the brisk November morning.
The leaves before his house, however, weren't raked, which wasn't that big of a deal, but it made him stand out. It was a single story, but large, at least from the outside. He must've just moved in before there wasn't even a welcome mat at the front door. Upon arriving, I had to set aside my jitters and bring my fist to knock on the door. Almost immediately, I could hear rustling and chaos behind the door as he frantically made his way to open it.
The door was pulled open to reveal a guy with brown, shaggy hair and crystalline blue eyes. Instantly, he threw a smile onto his already frantic and anxiety-ridden look, which brightened up his face.
"Hey! You must (Y/n). I'm Karl," he stuck out his hand to shake. At first, I found it weird that he would shake hands, but I realized I would've done the same thing from nerves.
I took his hand apprehensively as I continued to study his appearance to know what I was getting into. "Nice to meet you," I reflected his grin.
He wore a sweatshirt with painstaking embroidery on it, a pair of dark blue jeans, and Vans sneakers. On his hand, he wore rings that were cool beneath my fingers, and on his wrist was a loose bracelet that may have slid off if my hand wasn't there. I could make out the faint glisten of a necklace around his neck and hiding beneath his sweatshirt. His physical presence was promising, even if the yard wasn't raked and the exterior was lacking. I was cutting him some slack because he must've just moved in.
"Come in, I'll show you around," Karl offered as he moved from the doorway to let me slip in.
I walked in, still being careful and keeping an eye over my shoulder the entire time. I shouldn't have been so worried, Ellie had assured me he wasn't a bad guy. On the inside, the decor was pretty basic, a couch in the living room with a flat-screen TV mounted on a table just across from it. The floor beneath my feet was carpeted, unfortunately, but I didn't mind that much, I was just desperate to stay somewhere. I would've gladly moved in before even seeing the place if only I knew who Karl was.
The kitchen was somewhat open to the living area, letting me look in to see the tidy space and bare refrigerator. There was a dishwasher, promising, and I could make out a mudroom in the back with laundry machines, promising. With this basic display, though, I felt like my contribution to the rent wasn't going to be worth much. It seemed like he had been doing pretty well on his own, so why was he looking for a roommate?
"You work for the Daily Reflector, right? With Ellie?" He asked while he hung back and watched me observe the main area of the house. Karl seemed rather awkward, perhaps it was the nervousness, but that didn't stand in the way of my pending residence.
I turned back briefly and nodded with that same smile as before. "Yeah, I just started there a couple of months ago," I replied casually, "What do you do? Ellie didn't say."
A quiet flushed over the room as he paused, embarrassed. He chewed on his lip as if he forgot he would have to tell me. Is it really that bad? Oh god, who is this guy? As he hung his head, his thick hair shielded his face from me, likely on purpose.
"It's so stupid," he laughed as he adjusted his posture and faced me again, "I do, like, internet stuff."
Like that wasn't the vaguest thing ever. "Oh, so networking? Or website management?"
Finally, he realized he couldn't be so broad and, if I decided to move in with him, I would have to know eventually. "Like YouTube and video games, that kind of stuff. It's really dumb," he answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head while trying to look away from me in case I had a sour reaction.
Honestly, I didn't really mind that. I was just glad he wasn't a drug dealer or a pornstar. Not that I didn't mind if he was, I just didn't want to deal with the smell of pot or the sound of sex while I'm trying to live comfortably.
To offer some consolidation, I smiled a little at his response. "That's cool. So it's your job? You get paid and stuff from it?"
Karl nodded, his hair noticeably moving with the bobbing of his head. "Yeah, it's pretty great."
After he finally relaxed a little from my positive reaction, we continued the tour of the house. He took me down to the other side of the living room and showed me the room I would be staying in behind a door. Gladly, it already had several accommodations like a dresser and bed so I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of getting them. The room was spacious though, and had a bathroom just off of it, along with a decent-sized closet. Was this the master?
"This was where my buddy, Chris, used to stay before he moved out. He has a wife and everything so he got this room," Karl mentioned as he stood at the doorway, watching me again as I looked over everything.
I looked over and nodded, my fingers running across the sheets on the bed, and then my eyes set out the window parallel to it. "You didn't want to move in here?" I took my eyes back to him, arms folded over his chest comfortably.
Karl shrugged and shifted his hands to his pockets. "I don't mind having the smaller room. And my setup is pretty nice in mine," he explained.
With that, after he observed my reaction while I studied the room closely, he showed me to the other end of the house where his room was at the end of the hall. Next from his room was a bathroom, which I briefly looked into and noticed the open shower curtain with his array of soap on the wall. Across the hall was a room with a shut door, intriguing me more than the open bathroom door. But, being steered into his room, I examined it from afar, finding it wasn't my place to analyze it as deeply. His room was neat, well designed. His bed was made (I doubt it ever was though) and I could see his slightly ajar door to his closet. I could make out the slightest view of his wide collection of button-ups and sweaters, all colorful and one of a kind.
"That's basically it," Karl sighed as he looked out to his room, waiting to find something misplaced or out of order to catch and fix, "it's usually a little bit neater, I just got back home this morning."
I knitted my eyebrows in confusion. I found that the house was fairly neat, far more than the lousy apartment I had been staying in. I brushed it aside and took a moment to evaluate how I felt about moving in with him. In all honesty, I really wanted to walk around so I could know Karl better. He was nervous, a little fidgety, so he didn't really seem to be the weirdo-who-watches-over-you-while-you-sleep type. I was pleasantly surprised, actually, by his timid personality and closed-off disposition. I could probably get used to some tranquility in my life instead of the unsteady waves of uncertainty. He seemed sturdy.
"I think it's nice. I could get used to it," I confessed with a grin.
I watched his face light up at my words, now beaming innocently. "You think so?" He inquired with a tone of excitement lacing through his voice.
I nodded while letting my eyes dance around the room again. "Yeah," I hummed, "you've got yourself a new roommate, Karl."