Living Together (closed for ilikeitlikethat18)

Finally, the paperwork was complete. He was enrolled in the Electrical Engineering degree. Now Steve had to find somewhere to live. He was kicking himself for waiting until the paperwork was done before he looked for somewhere to live. The only places that were left too pricey, too crowded, or too squalid.

He was at his wits end. But in one search of the paper, he found a place that met is needs. It was big enough - one bedroom, bathroom, kitchen/dining/living room; furnished. The asking price was a bit high, but he thought with some creative financial juggling, he'd be able to do it.

When he got there, the landlord showed him around. Which took all of 90 seconds. The place was perfect. But the price had been jacked up putting it almost out of reach.

"I'll need a little time to think about it," Steve told the landlord.

"Well, don't take too long, cause I'll give it to the first one who accepts."

Steve nodded, trying to hide his desperation over getting the place. He wandered out the front, and sat down across the street while he thought of what to do.

Then he saw what looked like another student, a female one, entering the apartment block. His heart leapt into his throat at the thought that she was going to get the place. He dashed across the street, and loitered until she walked out again.

Sarah was excited to finally move out of her house. She'd been accepted into her second choice college. She was looking forward to being on her own, and the first thing she knew she needed to do was look for an apartment. She looked through some ads online, and in the newspapers, and she couldn't find anything.

Finally, she found a listing which looked perfect. When she got to the apartment, the landlord showed her all around, and she found it perfect. The price had gone up from advertised, though. She was frustrated. She felt like she was at the end of her road, but she knew she needed an apartment. She told the landlord she would get back with him as soon as possible, and walked outside.

She sat down on the steps outside the apartment, and put her head in her hands, her long brown hair falling over her face. She practically groaned in frustration.

Steve breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the girl sit on the stairs looking down hearted. His options were still open. He realised he was sort of stuck. He was close enough to her that if he started to move, he'd be seen.

Steve coughed lightly to get the woman's attention. "Hi. You got the price shock too huh? I went in there about 20 minutes before you did. I felt pretty much the same way you look when I got out."

Steve was just a touch over 6' tall, light brown hair cut short, with blue eyes, and a light tan. He was in a polo shirt, jeans and runners. All neat, but all average quality gear.

"Mind if I sit down?"

Sarah looked up, surprised when she heard a man cough. She smiled when she saw who stood in front of her. He was a tall man, over six feet, with friendly blue eyes, and short brown hair.

"Oh, yeah. In the add it was much less." she frowned, "I was ready to put the money down today."

"Mind if I sit down?" She smiled warmly,

"Not at all." she scooted over to give him room, her bare legs stretched out down the steps, and she tugged self-conciously on her skirt. "What are you going to do?" she eyed him cautiously.

"Thanks. Oh, I'm Steve." He sat down beside her, and almost took on the same expression as the young woman.

"I... I don't know. It's too much for me, even though it's perfect for my needs. All my buddies have places to stay, so I can't share. Looks like I'm going to have to look at one of the share places I saw recently." He shuddered at the thought of living with 5 other students who lived worse than animals in the wild. "What about you?"

Steve knew time was running out. There were only two more weeks before the first lecture started, and he needed to get settled, and settled quick.

"I'm Sarah." she faked a smile to be polite, but inside she was worried. She had thought she'd found the right place, and now it seemed she would have to move into some tiny little house or apartment with a bunch of slutty college girls.

"Yeah, I'm in the same situation. My friends found places a long time ago. I wasn't concerned. Didn't realize it would be so hard to find a place." Her expression changed, thinking about one of the places she'd checked out, where almost every girl was sitting around practically naked, some even... "Yeah, I'm not looking forward to having to move into a place with a bunch of college girls."

She got an idea, but barely knew this person. She was desperate, but was she that desperate? She adjusted her skirt again. She was slender, and only 5' 3" or so, with long, wavy brown hair and big brown eyes. She smiled, almost flirtatiously at him, hoping he wouldn't think that her idea was a sexual one, when she told him.

Sarah looked over at Steve with a nice smile. She was a good looking woman, brown eyes and long, wavy brown hair that framed her face. She was short, but had a nice figure.

"Well, we could share the place," she said plainly and evenly.

Steve did a double take. Did he hear that right?

"Ahhh... you do know that there is one bedroom, right? How do you see the sleeping arrangements?" Even in a fantasy situation, this would be perfect, but in reality, he couldn't really just jump into the sack with her. Not on the long term anyway. And if they didn't share the bedroom, who'd get it, and where would the other one sleep?

"Not only that, there'd be a ton of other things we'd need to sort out." But he was desperate for somewhere, even if it was just a temporary arrangement. It was better than most of his other options, but he needed to find out more.

"Im aware of that, and the place will do background checks and the sort. So I'm not too afraid about the matter of safety. By the time we get to moving in, I think everything will be known...if that makes sense. Even living with a random man would be better than some of the places I checked out. Of course we will have to talk logistics. Why dont we go get some coffee or something and sit down and talk?" she smiled; friendly.

He seemed like a nice man and she was getting to be desperate. She sincerely hoped he wasnt looking for sex.

He relaxed at little when she replied sensibly. It would really be no different than any other sharing arrangement. Steve settled on that thought. They would be sharing the apartment, that's all.

"Sounds good, but I think we'd better tell the Landlord, because I'd hate to think of someone else taking the place while we hashed out the details." Steve stood quickly, and offered his hand to Sarah to help her stand.

He smiled, and extended his arm. "Ladies first." He walked in after her, feeling a huge weight lifting off his shoulders.

Sarah felt enormously better after getting his agreement. Even though it was a slightly dangerous thing to do, she really felt it would be better all around than the other options floating in her mind.

"Sounds good. Let's go let him know what our plans are, and then we can go grab something to eat." She was starving, she realized. He put out his hand, which she took, pulling herself up.

She walked back inside the building, with Steve right behind her.

Steve and Sarah approached the Landlord. One of his eyebrows went up, but that was the only hint that he thought something was a little odd.

"We've decided we'll take it," Steve said, his voice full of confidence that he didn't really feel.

"The two of you?" The Landlord asked in a neutral tone.

"Yes," Steve answered, and Sarah nodded.

The Landlord grabbed the paperwork, and between the two of them they had everything filled in and signed in a matter of thirty minutes. Between them they paid the bond, and the first week's rent.

"After that, it's fortnightly, every Monday. Put it into an envelope with your room number on it and drop it through the slot on my door as you head out Monday morning." He handed each of them a set of keys.

Steve looked over at Sarah as the went down the stairs out the front. "Did you drive to get here? If you didn't, my car's just down the block. And, we're we going to go to hash out the details, roomie?"

Sarah was happy that Steve was there to help her with the papers and the formailties. The landlord gave them all the little instructions, and they got their keys.

They walked outside, and down the stairs.

"Yeah, I took a cab. My car's in the shop. That would be great, if we could take yours." She was definitely looking forward to getting down to business, sorting out everything right away, so there were no questions later.

They got in his car and he drove away from the apartment complex,

"So, where are you going to school?"

They walked down to his sky blue Volkswagon Beetle, and got in and drove off.

"Well, I just got into the Uni, Electrical Engineering. And what about you?" He followed Sarah's directions to the coffee shop easily. He was lucky, and found a parking spot close by.

They found a table, and sat down. Steve ordered a nachos & an iced chocolate.

"Ok, let's get some of the really important details out of the way. The rent & utilities should be split evenly. Apparently we have a Net connection included in that too. Now, food, we can have our own stuff, or we can share. If we have our own, we pay for it ourselves. Otherwise, equal split again."

He gave her a hard look, trying to figure out how to deal with the next subject. "What thoughts do you have about the bedroom?"

.....