Chapter Thirteen
Troy
The problem with renting a new place is landlords want deposits, proof of income, or decent credit—sometimes all three.
I had none of the above in great supply.
I toyed with my phone, trying to decide if I wanted to try renting somewhere else anyway.
My lease was ending soon, and it's not like I could find a worse place to live.
I kept running through my options, building mental lists of pros and cons inside my head as I waited for Seth.
I’d long stopped hoping that he wouldn’t show up.
Seth always showed up, and somewhere along the way I'd started anticipating it.
He sauntered up in average-looking jeans that probably cost my month's rent, and a pale purple shirt under a black leather jacket. My breath caught in a really embarrassing way when he grinned at me. He knew exactly the effect he had on me—and it shouldn’t have been alluring, but it was.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Seth said.
I glanced at my phone. “Oh, yes. You’re two minutes late. I’m going to hold that over you forever, Seth. Don’t think I won’t.”
“How will I go on after such a terrible crime?” Seth moaned, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead. “Woe is me.”
“Chew the scenery a little more for me,” I said dryly.
There was something surreal in seeing that he was just as dramatic “off-screen” as he was “on”. He seemed tireless—probably thanks to coffee with a day's worth of sugar and calories, never mind the caffeine.
“So,” Seth drawled, putting his hands in his back pockets. “How was your day?”
We meandered down the sidewalk. We were headed to a restaurant Seth liked, but downtown parking was so bad we’d met a couple of blocks away.
“I was off,” I replied. “I spent most of it looking for apartments. I’m trying to find a new place. My lease ends soon, and the apartment I live in now is…well…pretty much Third World.”
“Is that why you’ve never let me come over?” Seth asked. “You’re ashamed of it?”
I frowned and rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, I…I guess, kind of. It’s so bad that you can’t even clean it up for company, and maintenance sucks.”
I stowed my phone in my pocket. It had been a few hours since Discord rang, and I’d vented out my worries over finding a new place.
I knew what Godofdiscord would say—get a new place, even if he had to send me the down payment online.
And I didn’t want that. But still, sometimes, it was nice just to vent everything and share it with someone who cared and wouldn’t be in my face about it, mother-hen me like my sister.
“That’s a tough situation,” Seth said. “I’m sorry.”
I nodded. “I’ll bet you’ve never had a maintenance problem in your life,” I said dryly. “Huh?”
Seth chuckled. “No,” he replied. “I’ve just paid people to take care of those sorts of things for me…or delegated. I mean, it’s just money for me. It’s not going to make that much of a difference. Not like it does for you.”
I wondered if most rich guys even noticed the difference.
Two-hundred dollars for Seth was nothing.
For me, it was three-quarters of a week’s pay.
I made just enough to make ends, which really seemed unfair, considering all the work I’d put into learning about cars and mechanical stuff.
If effort translated directly to money, I’d be a billionaire by now.
“Did you see any apartments you liked?” Seth asked. “I’ll admit that I’ve not really followed real estate in Bluehaven in a long time.”
“No desire to own half the town, then?”
Seth laughed. “Not really. It doesn’t fit the eccentric, wealthy uncle aesthetic I have going on.”
We came to a crosswalk and stopped, waiting for traffic. This was really nice, actually. Just casually walking around town with Seth. Even if I hadn’t dared tell anyone what we were yet, it was nice.
He deserved better. Logically, I figured it was hard coming out.
If it were easy, I'd have done it already. But every time I thought that, guilt hit—maybe I wasn’t being fair to Seth, who’d already taken the plunge.
He couldn’t be more obvious about his sexuality if he dyed his hair to match the LGBTQ flag.
“I didn’t know you were an uncle,” I said.
The light changed, and we crossed the street.
“Well, I’m not, but it’s the principle.” Seth paused. “I’m like a sexier Scrooge McDuck.”
The answer was so unexpected that I snorted. “Why is Scrooge McDuck your go-to point of comparison?”
Seth’s face brightened. “So, you know I’m into acting, right?”
I feigned a stunned gasp. “You are?”
Seth bumped his shoulder against mine, and I shot him a grin.
That had been a good comeback, whether Seth wanted to admit it or not.
“I may have also done a stint with animation,” Seth added, looking quite proud, “And I learned that during World War II, the character Donald Duck was given a naval rank. War propaganda, you know. So, Donald went to war, which is why Scrooge ends up raising his nephews.”
“You’re serious!”
He grinned broadly. “As a heart attack.”
“I don’t even think I’ve actually seen…” I trailed off, trying to dredge up memories from my childhood. There were some Disney films in there, sure, but I didn’t think I’d ever actually seen something “starring” Donald Duck.
When we reached the restaurant, Seth opened the door and bowed enthusiastically. “After you.”
I shook my head and entered. The restaurant, which was French and not anything I was even going to try to pronounce, was fancier than anything I ever would’ve gone to myself. The high, vaulted ceiling held enamel floral paintings between the gilded supports. I whistled between my teeth.
“Nice, huh?” Seth asked cheerily.
“It is,” I admitted.
I had no idea what I would possibly eat in a place like this, but if Seth liked it, I wouldn’t protest. He walked up to the waiter, who quickly took us to a table covered in red linen.
I glanced around, relieved that not everyone here was wearing a suit and tie.
I’d worried that I’d be seriously underdressed.
And sure, Seth was wearing jeans, which was pretty casual. But I was fairly sure that casual clothes ceased being casual once they achieved a certain number of zeroes to the left of the decimal on the price tags.
“This place has the best pistachio cake you’ll ever eat in your life,” Seth said, taking his seat.
What the hell was pistachio cake—nutty and green?
I sat across from him, eyeing the menu. “I’ve never really been one for sweets.”
“How do you live, man?”
“Impoverished, stupid.”
I smiled and skimmed over the listed foods with my eyes. I tried to smother the urge to just get a burger, if one was on the menu, in French.
It wasn’t like I went to fancy restaurants every day. After all, Seth had insisted on paying. I avoided borrowing money like the plague, but it was hard to refuse Seth. He’d assured me that he would enjoy going out with me, and so I shouldn’t feel bad about borrowing a few bucks.
“I do my best,” I replied. “At least, I’ve got my teeth. Sugar isn’t rotting them out of my head.”
Admittedly, Seth had gorgeous teeth, despite his apparent love for sugary substances.
But Seth also had the money for dental care.
Maybe the two evened one another out. When the waiter arrived, Seth ordered a glass of red wine; I asked for Coke, vaguely embarrassed.
But the waiter didn’t seem to care. She was cheerful and cute, nearly sprite-like.
“So, apartments,” Seth said. “Where all have you looked? Anywhere I’ve heard of?”
I sort of doubted it. “A few places. Mostly Craig’s List and things. They have some apartments on Windbrooke.”
“Isn’t that near Saint Andrew’s?” Seth asked. “The—the church with the huge graveyard.”
I nodded, and Seth hummed. “The neighborhood looks decent,” I replied. “It’s two blocks from the police station, which would be handy if I ended up getting robbed by another apartment dweller…or something.”
Seth wrinkled his nose. I wasn’t sure if it was the mention of the neighborhood, the police, or getting robbed. Seth did seem like he might’ve had a few run-ins with the police. I could easily imagine him getting in trouble for something as a teenager. Graffiti, probably.
“How are prices?” Seth asked.
I bit the inside of my cheek. When the waitress returned, I smiled at her and quickly ordered the rosemary salmon.
She went to Seth next, taking his order.
Her arrival was a welcome intrusion, for I suspected where Seth was going with this.
He was about to offer to fix my problems for me.
Seth would want to either help me find a place, or pay for a place for me, and while both were nice gestures, I really did need to get my act together.
I needed to make ends meet on my own. I was an adult, for God’s sake, and far too old to be mooching off friends.
“Prices are fine,” I said, once the waitress left. “You know. The usual.”
Seth’s hazel eyes softened in sympathy.
“I’ll manage. It’s just that it’s going to take a little while for me to find a place that accepts my income and credit score. You know how it is.”
He probably didn’t know, actually. I had a feeling income verification and credit scores were not in his vocabulary. But I didn’t begrudge him that; I realized now.
“Maybe you should…” Seth trailed off. “I mean…”
“I don’t want you to buy me an apartment. I’d feel I was mooching off you, and I’d feel guilty about it forever.”
Seth sighed and averted his gaze. “I know that. I think.”
I smiled. “I appreciate the sentiment, but this is really something I need to work out on my own. I’ll find a place, or if I can’t, I’ll stay where I am. I’m not leaving without somewhere to go. I’m not as dumb as I look.”
“Ha ha. I know you’re smart. I was just thinking it’s hard to find another place to live with a time crunch and without a lot of savings.”
That was true, but if I won the art competition, I'd have a couple thousand dollars. And that would be good for a couple of months’ rent.
But I knew, too, that I couldn’t just depend on that. I had to be practical about this, and that meant I couldn’t hope for money that I might not win.
“I’ll figure it out, Seth. I always do, even if it’s really hard sometimes.”
“Yes,” Seth said slowly, “But maybe you could…have you considered that you could maybe live with me for a bit? Just move into my apartment. I have plenty of room, and you could stay with me while you were trying to figure it all out.”
I stared at him. He looked so sincere, so heartfelt.
Logically, Seth was right. He did have plenty of room in his apartment.
I knew that. I’d seen it. And if I agreed to move in with him, I doubted Seth would expect anything in return.
He would do this for me out of the goodness of his heart. Could I live with that?
“I appreciate it,” I replied, “But I feel like I’d be mooching off you.”
“Mooch? You’re letting a friend help you out. You wouldn’t be.”
I shook my head. “I know you say that,” I replied, “But I would feel like it’s true. That’s all. And I really want to try and do this on my own. I got my first apartment on my own, after all.”
Admittedly, it was a crappy apartment where the landlord couldn’t be bothered to fix anything, and it leaked every time it rained. But it was still an apartment, which was infinitely better than having to live with either my parents or my sister.
“But will you at least promise you’ll think about it?” Seth asked. “Just in case? You never know what might happen, and I’ll sleep better at night if I know—if you don’t find a decent place—you know you can stay with me.”
I had no intention of taking the offer, but I nodded. “If I don’t find the perfect place, I promise I’ll come live with you.”
Seth’s grin made his entire face light up. “I’m glad to hear it.”
I nodded and returned his smile. And when I let myself imagine living with Seth, a delighted shiver ran up my spine.