Prologue:
$650/month, plus 1/4 utilities. Room for rent in four bedroom, two bath home shared by three female students. Applicants must be clean, chill, and responsible. First and last month in advance, plus security deposit. Call to see the house and interview. Female preferred but all applicants considered.
***
"Uh, hi. I'm here about the ad for subletting the room?" I said, adjusting my glasses.
"Oh... yeah... um..." the pretty blonde girl standing in front of me said in a doubtful tone.
She was maybe five-seven, wearing an over-sized hockey jersey (The Montreal Canadiens), and not much else from the look of it. The bottom over the jersey covered her own round bottom, and a pair of shapely legs stuck out the bottom. Shyly, I tried not to make my admiration too obvious.
She, on the other hand, had no qualms about conspicuously looking me up and down. I was tall and lanky, wearing an old pair of jeans, cheap running shoes, and a Japanese Super Mario t-shirt that didn't fit perfectly. My hair was shaggy, and never looked quite right, no matter how I combed it. I'm pretty sure the first word that came to her head was 'nerd.' And let's be honest, that's who I was. I'd gotten past the point of trying to deny it. I was unashamedly nerdy.
This girl didn't look like she really associated with people like me. She was pretty and confident. She probably belonged to a sorority and went to dance clubs where guys who were cooler and better looking than me bought her drinks and stuff.
"Um... can I see it?" I asked after an awkward moment had passed.
"Hang on," the girl said. Then she called back into the house, "Hey Mel? There's a guy here about the room."
"What's his name?" another girl's voice shouted back.
"What's your name?" the blonde girl repeated.
"Uh, Bill."
"He says his name is Bill," she relayed.
"I don't know any Bill," the second voice answered. "Did he call?"
"Yeah, I, uh- I called earlier," I explained before the blonde could repeat what the other girl had clearly said. "I talked to someone named Kristin?"
"Kris!" the girl called into the house. There was no answer, so she tried again, louder. "Kris!"
A second girl, this one skinnier than the blonde with wavy chestnut brown hair, suddenly appeared from around a corner. She was wearing a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a Guns and Roses t-shirt.
"I think Kris is at work," she informed the girl at the door.
"Shit! She's always doing that," the first girl complained. "She makes all these arrangements and then she just takes off without telling anyone."
"So, what does this mean?" I asked. "Should I come back later, or something?"
"I mean, it would be better if Kris was here," said the first girl, looking insincerely apologetic.
"But don't worry about it. It's fine," the second girl said. "We can at least show you the place."
The blonde shot the other a look.
"What?" the brown-haired girl asked defensively. "It's almost June. Barely anyone responded to the ad. Do you want to get stuck another month paying extra rent?"
"But he's a guy," the blonde said in a whisper that was more than loud enough for me to overhear.
"I can see that," her friend said. "But I'm sure he's fine. Anyway, all we're doing is showing him around. If he's interested, we can talk about it."
"Listen," I said, feeling really awkward. "If it's a problem - I mean, I don't want to cause trouble or anything. I can go. I'll just go, okay? Thanks, sorry."
I started to turn around to leave. The girl with the brown hair grabbed the sleeve of my t-shirt.
"No, don't go," she said. "Bri is just being..." The girls exchanged irritable looks with each other. "It's just that we're all girls, and we were kind of hoping for another girl to move in. We weren't expecting a guy."
"But the ad said, you preferred females but you would consider anyone," I reminded them. "I mean, if it's a problem, I'll go. But that's what the ad said."
"I don't think it'll be a problem," the brown haired girl rushed to say before the blonde could open her mouth. "We just kinda need to get to know you a bit first. Make sure you're okay. But in the meantime, we can show you around. I mean if you don't like the place, then it won't really matter anyway, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so," I agreed.
"I'm Melissa, by the way," the girl introduced herself, offering her hand to shake. "Mel, actually. And this is Brianna," she added, referring to the blonde girl.
"Just Bri," the blonde corrected.
"Bill," I repeated, shaking the hand of the blonde, who was still looking at me with suspicion.
"Why don't you come in?" Mel invited.
She took me on a tour of the house, while Bri trailed quietly behind us. It was an old two-story place, not too far from Clinton State campus. I could walk to school, where I was a graduate student and research assistant in the Communications department. There were four bedrooms (one on the ground floor and three upstairs) and two bathrooms, including one in the master bedroom. Apparently there had been a fourth roommate who wasn't dependable, and created a lot of drama with the other three girls. They had to kick her out, which was why the room had opened up.
Mel speculated that if I was willing to pay a little more in rent, they could potentially rearrange rooms so I could have the master, and not have to share a bathroom with all the girls. Bri, the current occupant of the room scowled at Mel. But Mel said that they could at least talk about it with Kris later when she got home. They didn't have to decide anything right now. She was just looking at different options.
The girls weren't super-clean. There were clothes strewn around the house, a few dirty dishes in the living room, and it looked like it had been a while since the floors were mopped. But I'd lived in worse conditions. Besides, I figured, I'd spend most of my time in my room, anyway.
I didn't socialize much with people in real life, which is why I was subletting a single room, instead of sharing rent with my own friends. I didn't really have any... at least not in Clinton City. I was part of a pretty tight guild online, though.
Bri seemed like kind of a bitch, but I was used to pretty girls looking down on me. I don't want to sound like an asshole, but in my experience, women looked for certain things in a guy: Good-looking, strong, well-dressed, confident, kind of a bad-ass, etc. I had none of those qualities. I was nerdy, and had no muscles or fashion sense. I was shy and awkward, especially around women. And even though I could be kind of a bad-ass in online role playing games, in real life I was always scared of getting caught and having to suffer the consequences.
I liked Mel, though. She seemed nice. She explained the rules of the house: Pick up after myself, split all bills including groceries, and so on. They tried to eat together three to four nights a week. Kris could cook, and Bri knew how to make a few things as well. Mel confessed to being pretty hopeless in the kitchen, (and therefore not very good wife-material, she added jokingly). I told them I could cook, too, and didn't mind pitching in.
I also told them that I was pretty good with computers and networking, so I could probably fix any of their laptops if they had problems. I think the thing that really worked in my favor, though, was my car. It wasn't much of a car; an old White Mercedes that I bought at a police auction. However I noticed when I pulled in, that the driveway was empty. It would be nice to have someone in the house who could drive, Mel said, so they didn't have to beg rides from boyfriends or whoever.
As we toured, I told them a little more about myself, and Mel told me about the girls. All three were undergrads in their junior year. Mel was majoring in education, Bri in psychology, and Kris was getting her degree in business. Mel and Bri currently had boyfriends, but apparently Kris did not. The fourth girl - the one they kicked out - had apparently been the cause of this recent status change, stealing Kris' boyfriend. I joked that at least that wouldn't be a danger with me. Mel laughed politely. Bri just looked at me blankly. We carried on.
All in all, I thought the house was acceptable. It wasn't a palace by any means, but for student housing it seemed to be in pretty good shape. At the end of the tour, Mel told me again that all three girls would have to talk it over, but she didn't think there would be a problem. I seemed alright. Bri was stonily silent on the subject. They'd let me know in a day or two.
***
Three days later, I got a call from Kris.
"Hey are you still interested in the room?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said.
"Well, we talked, and we decided that you don't really give off a 'rape-y' vibe, so you're probably alright."
"That's good to know," I said sarcastically. "I usually try not to rape people I'm meeting for the first time."
"Huh?"
"Sorry, it was a joke."
"Oh..." Her voice sounded uncertain. "Anyway, as we said earlier, rent for the room is six-fifty per month, plus utilities. We just split the bills evenly four-ways between us."
"Am I going to get the master bedroom?" I asked.
"No. Sorry," Kris said. "Bri refused to give it up. She really loves that room."
"Yeah, okay," I said. I was kind of disappointed since it was really the most logical arrangement with me being the only male, but I didn't want to start a big argument before I even moved in.
"You can have one of the other rooms. You know, the one on the ground floor by the kitchen? Is that alright?"
"Yeah, I guess," I said. The room was fine, but I wasn't looking forward to sharing one washroom with two girls. They'd probably take forever getting ready in the mornings, and leave their make-up and stuff all over the counter.
"Alright," Kristin said, "You can come by tonight and sign the lease. Bring first and last month's rent, and the deposit. After that you can move in any time."
"Thanks," I said. "I'll see you tonight."
I moved in that weekend. Bri spent the weekend with her boyfriend, but Mel and Kris were still around, and helped me with the boxes. Kris, as it turned out was Indian - or her parents were from India, to be more precise. Kris herself was raised in the US. But she still had that exotic brown skin. She was the smallest and skinniest of the three girls, but she was still quite beautiful, with long shiny black hair and green eyes.
The two girls hung around and chatted (mostly with each other), while I unpacked and set things up. They were very impressed by the size of the TV I mounted on the wall (and the fact that I possessed both the tools and skill to actually hang things on a wall). They jokingly threatened to break into my room in the middle of the night, and climb into my bed to watch chick-flicks. I'm not great at flirting. I didn't know how to respond, so I just smiled awkwardly at them. Eventually, I think they got bored. They left me alone in my new room.
***
Over the next couple of weeks I had minimal contact with the girls. That suited me fine. I spent a lot of time at school, and when I was home, I mostly secluded myself in my room. Online, a new member had joined the guild - a female member. MagdaOrcbane3232: Paladin, chaotic-good. We hit it off instantly. Soon, I was spending a lot of my nights just chatting to her about stuff; mostly quests and other in-game things. After awhile our conversations started to extend to our real lives.
She was a nurse in Wisconsin. She said she was just getting back into gaming after a long time away, as stress release. When we were online, she'd tell me about her day, maybe the way some doctor had said something funny to her, or how much of an asshole one of her patients was (or vice versa - a doctor who was being an asshole, and a patient she adored). We didn't exchange real names, though. There were boundaries to the online relationship that we respected.
It was the middle-of-the-afternoon Saturday of the second week, when there was a knock on my door. I was in the middle of playing through a Japanese-language role-playing game on my Playstation, that I was working to translate into English. It was kind of a hobby of mine. I paused the game, and went to the door. On the other side was Mel. She was wearing a tight pair of jeans and a light blue top.
"Hey, Bill," Mel started.
"Hi," I answered back.
"I just thought I'd check on you, and see how you're doing, you know?"
"I'm doing good," I said, wondering where this conversation was going.
"Cool, cool. So... whatcha up to?"
"Not much."
"Ah," Mel said. She walked past me, and sat on the edge of my bed without being invited. She looked at the TV, where the game had paused in the middle of a cut-scene showing an anime girl in a school-girl outfit tied to a wooden cross. Her outfit was torn and tattered, revealing an ample amount of side-boob, and a tiny glimpse of white frilly panties beneath her skirt. Mel looked back at me with eyebrows raised.
"It's a game," I explained, feeling my face flush with embarrassment. "It's called Ningyo No Rakuin. That means 'Mark of the Mermaid.' You see, you're supposed to rescue this girl - her name is Mizuki - before this cult turns her into a mermaid."
"It looks weird," Mel observed.
"Well, it's Japanese. I'm trying to translate it to English."
"You know Japanese?"
"Well... yeah... I mean I'm not totally fluent or anything, but I'm learning it." With each word I spoke, I could see my nerdiness quotient rising in her blue eyes. It was clear we inhabited two completely different worlds.
"Wow, that's, um... cool," Mel said. I doubted her sincerity, but appreciated the effort. "Can I watch for a bit?"
"Uh... sure. I mean, it's not really that interesting."
"Let's see."
I unpaused the game. The cut scene lingered on the girl a few seconds longer, and then resolved to the field screen. I ran around talking to various figures, who responded in Japanese Kanji. Then I'd pause again to make a note of what they were saying. If there was a word that I didn't know, I'd write it in Kanji so I could translate it later. All this work would go into recreating an English version of the game, which could be distributed for free online by a network of pirate gamers.
"I feel kinda like we don't really know you well," Mel said after a few minutes. "You're not really around much."
"Yeah," I answered. "I've been really busy."
"I know. It's just that, you know, the girls were kind of like 'we never see this guy.' We didn't know if you were upset with us, or hated us for some reason."
"What?" I asked, pausing the game again so I could look at Mel. The conversation felt like I was being put on the spot, and it was awkward. "No, I don't hate you. Why would I hate you?"
"Are you avoiding us?" Mel persisted.
"Not really. It's just... I mean..." I was trying to find some kind of excuse. Finally I settled on the truth. "I'm sorry. I guess you could say I'm not very social. I'm kind of shy, you know. So it takes me awhile to warm up to people."
"But is it something we did. Or is there something we can do?"
"No, it's nothing like that. I mean, look:" I gestured towards the TV. "This is what I like doing, you know? I like RPGs, and Manga, and Monty Python, and Terry Pratchett. Do you even know what any of those are?"
Mel shook her head, frowning.