I decided to pay Raashid the rent, $900 cash for the 2-bedroom suite. He didn't say anything about it costing more and he seemed to have forgotten completely about the damage deposit and the key to the other apartment that I still had. Once again, he wrote me a receipt on the back of a postcard. I quickly took the receipt and left before his memory returned. I had just bought myself another month, but I definitely needed a new place. I didn't even bother hooking up the electricity because I didn't think I would be there too much longer.
I woke up at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. It was the beginning to my weekend. My manager deliberately scheduled my days off on the two slowest days of the week so that I could be there to maximize the sales for the rest of the week. Ashley was working so I needed to find something to occupy my time. I decided to take a long walk along the sea wall.
I walked for hours - just thinking. What do I want to do with my life? I asked myself. I drew a blank and tried another way. What's missing in my life? The answer to this question came a little easier. I needed one thing - happiness. Everything else was just a byproduct. I then asked myself, how can I acquire happiness? I continued to walk, pondering these grand questions.
At around 3:00 p.m., I texted Ashley. She texted me back right away. 'HEY, I'M OFF AT 3:30. COME MEET ME :) '.
I arrived at her work just as she was leaving. "Hey, gorgeous," I said, as I gave her a big hug and a kiss on top of her head. "Mmm, you smell like pancakes and syrup."
"Eww that's disgusting. I need to go home and shower."
When we arrived at Ashley's place, I fell into my usual routine: grab some snacks and juice and make myself comfortable in front of the TV. I flipped through five hundred and thirty channels and there was nothing on. I finally settled on Oprah.
I wasn't paying too much attention to what she was talking about, I was much more interested in studying her body language. I was curious as to why some people are successful and others are not. There had to be something in Oprah that I could point to, a particular talent she possessed that others did not. It wasn't obvious to me. Was it luck? I wondered. Luck probably had something to do with it. I bet when she was my age she never imagined how her life would turn out.
Oprah's story fascinated me. Here was a woman who miraculously came through the mix from the ground up, and somehow made it to the top when so many others had failed, and she was an ethnic minority. If she could do it with two noticeable disadvantages, then surely I could do it too. I had heard ambition beats talent ninety percent of the time, so maybe that was it.
On the commercial break, I went over to the fridge to refill my juice. On the kitchen counter was a pile of opened mail. On top was Ashley's most recent bank statement. I contemplated on whether or not I should have a look at it. I wasn't interested in how much money she had, but I was curious how a minimum wage server at a pancake house was able to afford such a nice downtown apartment on her own without having a roommate. I figured the rent was at least $1,600.00 a month.
The bank statement was practically opened already; all I needed to do was casually poke it open some more and have a quick peek. What's the harm? I thought. I listened for a moment and heard Ashley still splashing around in the shower so I set my glass down and picked up her bank statement. On the top of the page I saw her name 'Ashley Taylor'. My eyes scrolled down to her account balance '$8,162.15'. I went over the statement in more detail. 'June 1st - deposit... $5,000.00'. What the heck is going on here?
I heard the water shut off so I folded up the statement and went back to the couch.
"You still okay?" Ashley came out with a towel wrapped around her.
"Who, me? Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. Just watching Oprah," I said with a smile.
"I just have to dry my hair, then we can hang out."
"Take your time."
Fifteen minutes later she came out looking amazing as usual. Her bronze skin glimmered and smelled of fresh exotic fruits.
We went downstairs and hailed a cab. The cab took us over the bridge into my neighborhood and dropped us off right in front of Luigi's Italian Restaurant.
After we ate, we took a stroll down the main shopping street in my neighborhood. It was not like the main strip downtown, but it had character.
"So whereabouts do you live?" she asked.
"I live just a few blocks west of here."
"Oh really, I want to see!" she said excitedly.
This was the decisive moment for me. I was hesitant to show her my apartment because it was a big contrast to her lifestyle. She was aware of my situation, but maybe she thought I was exaggerating a bit.
I reluctantly led her to my apartment building. We both didn't say much. I held the front door open for her and we walked upstairs then down the hall. I unlocked the door to my apartment and prepared for the worst.
"So here it is," I said. "It's nothing fancy... and it's just temporary," I tried to conceal my insecurities.
"This isn't so bad, it has character," she said with a smile. I didn't say anything, I was just waiting for the bad news like she just remembered she needed to pick up her Aunt from the airport or she left her hairdryer on. Some reason she had to get the hell out of my apartment.
After a brief tour she turned to me with a sincere smile and said, "I like it."
"Keep in mind this is only temporary, okay? Remember, I needed to scramble last minute to find a place and this is what was available."
"Hey, nice view. You can see the park perfectly. Oh wow, look at all the trees... my view is so boring; I'm surrounded by cold buildings."
I guess it is true what they say, the grass is always greener on the other side.
"Well before you get too excited, I have to mention something," I took a long pause before I delivered the bad news, "there's no electricity."
"That's okay, we can tell ghost stories," she said trying to lighten the mood.
"Really, you don't mind?"
"No, not at all, do you have any candles at least?"
"Of course."
"Good," she said with a sexy smile.
As the sun went down, we lit all the candles I had and put them in my bedroom.
I laid down on my bed in the dimly lit room and gazed up at Ashley who was standing at the foot of my bed in the flickering candle light. She slowly unbuttoned her shirt and it fell to the floor. She did the same with her pants. We both didn't say a word. Talking would most likely ruin this moment. I was happy just staring at her beautiful toned body in silence. She crawled toward me and got a little more comfortable.
***
At around 3:00 a.m., I heard a commotion in the hallway outside my apartment. This was not the typical drunk guy coming home from the bar commotion - it was different. I slowly got up to check it out. Still feeling a little groggy, I stumbled down the hall toward my front door. As I approached closer to the door, I could hear arguing. I looked out the peephole in the door and saw a short well-dressed Asian man saying something about rent. Oh no, that must be the building owner, I thought. I was now completely awake with my eye fixated on the peephole, trying to get a better view of the action. I checked to make sure the door was locked. I was not really sure what to expect when he knocked on my door. After all, I paid my rent and I still had my receipt to prove it. But I didn't need this hassle in my life, especially when Ashley was here. I hoped he would just go away.
I couldn't see much through the peephole, but I continued to look. I could hear perfectly through the flimsy door.
"Where's my rent money?" the man shouted with a Chinese accent.
"Ray, we tried to contact you about the rent, but you were out of town". One of my neighbors said.
"Rent is due on the first of every month; you haven't paid in over three months."
"Yes, but there are a lot of issues with the building, Ray. The elevator doesn't work, the laundry doesn't work, and there are lots of other repairs in our unit that need to be done."
"Hey, rent is rent, where do you think the money to fix all those things comes from?"
"Ray, it's late, can we discuss this in the morning? We will pay you the rent tomorrow."
"Fine," he said, as he moved onto the next unit.
'KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK' - Ray banged on my door.
"What's going on?" Ashley said as she came out to see what all the commotion was.
"Shhh," I said quietly putting my finger up to my lips.
'KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK' "Landlord, open up!"
This can't be good, I thought. I really didn't want to have to deal with that at the moment.
"Ashley, come on, let's go back to bed," I took her back to the room. "Let's just ignore him, maybe he will go away." For all he knew, nobody was even renting this unit. Maybe he would just move on to the next one.
"What's going on?" she asked in a frightened tone.
"Ashley, when you live in a crumby apartment above a pub that has no electricity, this is the kind of stuff you can expect at 3:00 a.m."
As we laid in bed quietly, we heard a key go into the lock and then the lock snapped open.
Someone was now in my apartment and he was not alone. "There's stuff here, somebody lives here," I heard one of them say. "Check the bedroom."
Someone flicked the hallway light switch, but nothing happened.
"Just pretend you're sleeping," I whispered in Ashley's ear.
"Hey! Landlord, wake up!"
We opened our eyes and saw three men standing at the foot of our bed. I tried to act surprised. "Hey, get out of my house before I call the cops!" I demanded.
"I'm the landlord and I'm with the police. You are trespassing!"
"What are you talking about? I live here," I said trying to sound confused.
"Where are the lights in this place?" Ray said.
"They don't work. Just give me a minute, I'll be right out," I said in a calm voice.
Ray and the two police officers waited for me in the hall outside my apartment where they could see me better.
"Stay here, baby, I'll take care of this, it's all a misunderstanding."
I quickly put some clothes on and went out to the hallway. "You mind telling me what's going on here?" I asked.
"My name is Ray, I'm the owner of this building, who are you?"
"My name is Trevor. I live here. I paid rent a few weeks ago to Raashid, I was told he was the property manager. I have a receipt right here," I took out my makeshift receipt and gave it to Ray. He held it under the light, skimmed it briefly, and then handed it back to me.
"Come with me. Let's go talk to Raashid," Ray said as we all went downstairs.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK "Raashid, it's Ray, open up!"
Raashid came to the door and opened it as if he was expecting Ray at that very moment.
"Ray, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"
"Where is the rent for 2E?" It was apparent Ray was not in the mood for small talk.
"Stay here, I will go get it." Raashid scurried off. A moment later he returned holding a pile of cash. "Here," Raashid said, as he handed me a stack of bills. I quickly counted it and it was all there.
"See, I paid rent, here take it," I said, as I extended my arm to give the money to Ray.
"No, I don't want it like this. Give it to me tomorrow in a money order."
"Okay."
"Just drop it in the slot there by the mail boxes."
"Okay. I'll take care of that first thing tomorrow morning, Ray," I said.
I went back upstairs.
"What's going on?" Ashley said worriedly.
"Nothing, I took care of it. I paid the rent to the property manager and he never gave it to the owner. I just need to give the owner a money order tomorrow and everything will be fine."