the beginnings of a story, this time from 2017. Again, use it in any way you please!
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I bought a small house a couple of years ago, nothing fancy. The original advert claimed it had "3 bedrooms". Yeah, right. More like 2 bedrooms and a small guest room / box room call it what you like: it had space for a single bed, and one item of furniture (such as a small chest of drawers / small wardrobe), so maybe ok for a baby, but not really another room to rent out. But it's a house, and it's mine (ok, about 15% of it is mine, the rest still belongs to the bank!)
The only way I was able to afford the house was to have a lodger. So, a few weeks after buying the place, and getting myself settled in (it's amazing how friends have so many "useful bits" they are willing to pass on to someone when they buy a house!), I advertised for a lodger. I had several responses, and ended up inviting Dave to share my house. Dave was a great guy, about my age, and we got on really well: just what you want from a lodger.
A couple of weeks ago, he told me that he is, finally, going to buy his own house, and will be moving out in a couple of weeks time, meaning that I'm going to have to find myself a new lodger. So today I was online, placing 'adverts' for the room. I had several responses, but several were looking for something now, not in 2 weeks time. However there were 4 people for whom waiting 2 weeks wasn't that big an issue: two guys, two girls.
Hmm, interesting, could I share a house with a girl? I was so used to sharing with a guy, that thinking about sharing with a girl was, to be honest, a bit daunting and scary. I guess a lot would depend on their personalities. So, over the next week, in the evenings (and organised for when Dave was out, for convenience), I invited them around to look at the place, and so I could find out about them: I would be sharing my life and my home with whoever I chose for the next year or two or three, so I needed someone I could feel relaxed and happy with.
The first guy I decided pretty quickly was "not my sort". Next was the first of the two girls, Andrea, or 'Andi' as she preferred to be called. She was taller than me, so about 5ft 6in to 5ft 8ins, slim, good looking, long hair etc She was currently living at home, but recently got a new job, and was looking to take the first steps in the rest of her life. Whilst she was a nice girl, there was something about her that I wasn't too sure about.
Next was Steven. He worked in an office as a "sales support specialist", had moved back home after splitting with his (ex-) girlfriend a few months ago, and was now looking to find somewhere else to live. We chatted for quite a while, and we got on very well, and so far, would definitely be the person I would offer the spare room to. I guess it depended on the last person.
The last person was a girl called Charlotte. She came around on the Thursday, straight from work. I had been in for about 15 minutes when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to a quite petite girl, probably no more than 5 ft tall.
"Charlotte?" I asked
"Yes, you must be Will?"
"That's me, come on in".
"Oh, it's nice and warm in here.... let me just take my coat off, before I overheat!"
"Would you like a hot drink? The kettle should be about to boil"
"Oh, yes, please, that would be nice"
"Tell you what, let's start the tour with the kitchen!" I suggested. I walked out from the sitting room, to the small hallway, and into the kitchen. "It's nothing special, but it has enough to cook". As we entered, the kettle clicked off.
"So, tea or coffee?"
"Tea please" she replied. As I picked up a couple of mugs from the mug rack, and put a tea bag in each, Charlotte, who was stood by the fridge asked "I guess the milk is in the fridge?" I nodded, and she opened the fridge, took out the open bottle of milk, and brought it over. Hmm, either trying hard to impress, or maybe she's just naturally nice and helpful.
I suppose I ought to describe Charlotte: so, about 5 ft tall, not skinny, but not overweight, just a "normal" sort of shape. Her hair was mousey brown, nothing special, with a fringe at the front, and lovely petite nose. As she stood next to me, my nose told me that she smelt... well, "nice". Not at all overpowering, but a pleasant discrete smell of some sort of perfume or deodourant or whatever.
Having poured the hot water into the two cups, it was now time to wait for it to brew.
"So how come you're looking for somewhere to live?"
"Well", she explained, "I'm currently sharing with a friend, but our lease is up in a few weeks, and she is going to move in with her boyfriend."
"Ok, makes sense. How would you feel about sharing with a guy then?"
"Oh, that's not a problem, I grew up with 3 brothers, and besides the flat I shared at uni had guys in it too"
Charlotte had a rather nice voice, with a slightly strange... well, I was going to say "accent" but it wasn't that, it was the way she spoke. Like she had some sort of slight speech problem. It didn't make her at all difficult to understand, it's just that some of her words sounded a little odd.
