On the hunt

When Grace finally opens her eyes, you lean forward a bit so you can gaze into them. “Guess we’re looking for a place to live.”

“OH, MISTRESS!” Grace yeeps happily as she bounds over the table and into your arms. Just as the campus ministry group from the night before come into the cafeteria. One of the girls from the ministries group comes over and sits down across from you. She writes down her name and number for you as she shares her testimony about how God delivered her from the bonds and sin and shame of homosexuality. Grace sits innocently in your lap. The two of you smile and nod and ask questions when appropriate. All the while the two of you happily hold hands under the table. You take the offered paper as move as if to slide it into your pocket. Once your free hand is under the table and away from the Christian girl’s sight, you slip it into Grace’s pocket instead, allowing your hand to linger there as the girl goes back to her church group.

“Let’s go,” you tell Grace. She stands up quickly, then helps you up. You discard the remains of your brunch then walk back to your room.

The next few days pass in a hectic blaze. Between classes you examine some of the rental properties near the campus and take a part-time job as a waitress at a small diner. In the meantime Grace keeps taking her lessons and applying for job after job, just in case she doesn’t get the position with her dance instructor.

Finally the hard work pays off. After three weeks of hunting and working, you are approved for a small two bedroom apartment only three blocks away from the campus. Grace meets you at the apartment complex’s office after her dance glass so the two of you can sign the final papers and get the key. She can hardly contain her excitement. “I got the job, Mistress!” She bounces up and down several times before hugging you. At that moment the leasing agent comes back into the room with the necessary papers. You simply smile kindly at him and shrug.

Once Grace’s excitement level drops to a quiet pandemonium, the two of you sign the papers and walk up to your third floor apartment. The apartment itself has a small set of sliding glass doors that open to a small concrete balcony. The balcony has a white wood privacy fence that comes just up to above your waist when you stand.

The interior of the apartment isn’t much either. The front door of the apartment opens up into a living room / kitchenette area. Straight across from the front door on the south wall stand the sliding glass doors with blinds that slide across them to cut down the light. The west wall had a small window overlooking the parking lot, while the east wall had two doorways. Each of these doorways led to a bedroom. The bedrooms each had one window and a door that connected to the small bathroom that rested between the bedrooms.

That night you and Grace sit in the floor of your new apartment eating takeout Chinese and setting up budgets. With the money you have saved thus far from your job, plus your savings and the money left from you and Grace’s financial aid, you have enough to get some basic cookware, groceries, and a couple of full sized futons. Your television set and Pilates balls stay on the floor, while the futons serve in the coming days as bed, couch, and homework desk. But Grace doesn’t seem to care. Her enthusiasm and presence keep you happy and grounded, while her careful planning and frugal saving help keep the bills paid and the refrigerator stocked. You get a large pickle jar from work, clean it out, then set it on the small kitchen counter. All of your tips and any change that you and Grace have go into the jar to get you more furniture.

Your first night there, Grace waits until her parents had gone to bed to call Katie. With your permission, Grace gives Katie her cell number and yours in case of emergency. The first two weeks in the new place, all is well.

Late one Thursday night, the silence is shattered by the sound of Grace’s cell phone. The two of you awaken groggily as Grace fumbles her way out of your arms. She picks up the phone lying on the floor beside the futon. “’ello?” she asks in her cute, grumpy, not-awake voice.

Suddenly her eyes flare open, adrenaline coursing through her body. Placing a hand over the mouthpiece, she looks at you. “It’s Katie…”