When my roommate left for a new job on the other side of the country, I started looking for a replacement. What I found was way beyond my expectations.
I had a great apartment in Somerville, just outside of Boston. It was the second floor of a two family with two bedrooms, decent living room and kitchen, a full bath, off-street parking and a porch overlooking a small park. The rent was steep and I didn't want to move, so I put an ad on Craig's list. A lot of replies I discounted because they had pets, were smokers or just sounded way too weird. I was about to give up when I saw Megan's response. I never considered a female roomie, but wasn't opposed to it either.
I set up a time for her to come and see the place. She was prompt and I opened the door to see a tall, beautiful red-head. I'm six-four and she was only a couple inches shorter. She had shoulder length wavy hair, a trim figure and a great smile.
She said her roomie was getting married and would be taking over the whole apartment where they lived. She worked as a nurse in Boston and my location would be an easy commute.
I showed her around, collected a couple references and told her I'd call her. Her references were all positive, so I called her and told her I'd be looking forward to her as my new roomie.
I had some misgivings sharing with a girl. I always had guy roomies. I wondered if it would be awkward. What if I brought a girl home? I laughed and said slim chance of that with my recent dating history. What if she brought guys home? Well, I wasn't her father, so what the hell.
Megan moved in the first weekend in May. She didn't have much to bring. Her old roomie and her fiancé carted in a twin bed, beat up dresser, one bean bag chair, boxes of books and clothes. They got her settled and left. Megan spent the rest of the day settling in.
Around six I offered to get some pizza and beer and she readily accepted. Later as we sat in the living room we began to fill each other in on backgrounds. I'm a writer and she looked dubious. I assured her it's a regular job with a paycheck. I work for a high tech firm writing manuals, spec sheets, a newsletter and other stuff. She's an ER nurse and said she had strange hours. She might work three twelve hour shifts in a row and then be off for three or four days.