Perfect Match

Perfect Match (2)

The first day of apartment searching was futile. Cari had made up a list of a number of places that she wanted to look at. All were within her price range, all were within walking distance of the bookstore, and they were all two-bedroom apartments. While that raised the price of rent, she wanted to have a room devoted to her work, rather than trying to work in her bedroom.

The first three apartments that she looked at were all less appealing in person than they had been in the pictures she had seen. They were smaller than they looked, or the pictures hadn’t revealed the terrible paint job on one wall, and the stench of cigarette smoke in the third apartment was enough to put her off as soon as she walked through the door.

The same unfortunate cycle continued for over a week. Every apartment that she looked at had some major flaw that wasn’t apparent in its advertisement, and she had started to give up when she received an email from Delia on a Tuesday afternoon.

Cari,

My sister’s friend Devin is moving out of her apartment to live with her match in his house, and she’s looking for someone to rent it. It’ll be listed on the market, but she and her landlord want to see if they can find someone to take it before that, and they’d rather it was someone they knew, or that was recommended by someone they trust. It’s a two-bedroom, like you want, and if I’m remembering correctly, it’s in your price range.

If you want to schedule an appointment to look at it, just text me and I’ll get the number for you.

~ Delia

Cari sent Delia a message almost immediately. A few minutes later, her phone vibrated with a new message. She wrote down the number on a card and then dialed it, holding her breath as she listened to the phone ring on the other end.

“Hi, my name is Carina Felis. I was told that there is an apartment available?” She paused, listening to the woman on the other end of the line. “I’m friends with the younger sister of one of Devin’s friends.” She paused again. “I’m twenty-three.” A smile spread across her face as the woman spoke again. “Three o’clock tomorrow sounds wonderful, thank you.”

She wrote down the address and said goodbye before hanging up the phone and leaning back in her chair.

“Was that about an apartment?”

Cari looked up to see Ria leaning against the doorframe. “Yeah, it was. I’m going to look at it tomorrow.”

“I was kind of hoping that you wouldn’t leave,” Ria said.

“I know,” Cari said. “I’m sorry that I am, in a way, but I also need to move on with my life. Right now, my world is this apartment and the bookstore. I need to have the chance to live on my own and experience things that I can’t experience while I’m here.”

“Aren’t you scared though?” Ria asked. “You’ve lived with us since we were in college. None of us have ever been out on our own. We’ve known each other since we were seven, and it’s like you’re suddenly scrambling to get out of here.”

“Of course I’m scared,” Cari said. “It would stupid if I weren’t. The thing is though, if we were to stop ourselves from doing things every time we were scared, we wouldn’t do anything. Life is all about doing things even though you’re afraid of them.”

Ria stared at her for a moment. “You got older and wiser and I wasn’t even paying attention.”

“You’ve been living your own life, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of, Ree,” Cari said. “We’ve just been doing different things. I don’t expect you to follow every detail of my life, just like I don’t follow every detail of yours. We’re not the same people. Everyone has to change sometime, for better or worse.”