How the Coronavirus Jump-Started my Sex Life - 18. Chapter 18

Apartment-Hunting during Lockdown

As soon as we got back to the dorm, we hurried up to my room and logged into my email account. Sure enough, there was a message from Lily.HousingOffice@UMN.edu with an attachment called Off-Campus Housing Registry.

The document was 2 pages long and listed 42 properties with address, brief description, monthly rental price, and a phone number. In a few cases there was also an email address listed. I printed two copies of the listing and passed one to Alan.

I immediately noticed the cheapest rentals were either studio apartments or rooms in a home. I asked Alan if he didn’t agree we needed more space than that. He nodded and said, “Absolutely. At least a one bedroom and one bath flat.”

After half an hour, we had picked out our top 6 possibilities, all furnished, eliminating the ones that were more than ¾ of a mile from campus. Our list of possibilities were (cheapest first):
1. 2601 Silver Ave SE – Varsity House Apts. – 1-br $750, 2-br $900
2. 412 Stanford Dr SE Rear – Garage Apartment – 1-br $900
3. 2310 Garfield Ave SE – Upstairs Apartment – 1-br $950
4. 3202 Central Ave SE – Large loft above commercial space -- $1100
5. 2920 Silver Ave SE – Garage Apartment – 2-br $1175
6. 719 Vasser Dr NE – Quadruplex – 1-br $1200 and 2-br/2-bath $1385

Alan and I took out our cell phones and began calling the listing numbers to see if we could set up an appointment to see them all today. Within another half hour we had appointments for all of them except number 3 on our list. We couldn’t get an answer to our call.

Our first appointment was the quadruplex on Vasser, which turned out to be an old but decent building that was okay but not great. It seemed to be at the limit of easily walkable. When we left the building, we decided the 2-br unit would be okay but was a bit pricy. We hoped we could find a place that would be more enjoyable.

The Varsity House Apartments looked a little marginal and the toilet in one unit was cracked with a constant dribble of water while the other unit had badly stained floor in the den and rather old and dingy furniture.

The garage apartment on Stanford was okay. I was considering it as a good possibility until I saw the shower. It was the tiniest shower I think I’ve ever seen. I realized instantly that I want to be able to continue our showering together. We looked at each other and both grimaced.

Finally, we saw the loft apartment on Central Avenue. This place was the entire second floor above a small dress shop along the fashionable section of Nob Hill and just across the street from the Stone Cold Creamery. You had to enter from the rear of the building.

The manager was a bosomy middle-aged sexy-looking bleached-blond woman of about 40 called Brandi. She greeted us in the dress shop below, which she seemed to own. I almost laughed out loud at her short red leather skirt, red spike heels, and white silk blouse cut down to there and so sheer you could see the bra underneath. Oh, my. She did have a great body – I’d give her that. To top it all off, she wore a face mask that was also red and had fake rhinestones on it. I shot a look at Alan to see if he was attracted. He was staring at the merchandise but I wasn’t sure if he was a potential customer or not.

The loft itself was 25-feet wide and 80-feet deep. At the rear was a large bathroom in a separate room. She told us it had been remodeled about 6 years earlier and the tub had been replaced by a walk-in shower. It wasn’t overly large or fancy, but I think we both could tell it was adequate for us to shower together. It even featured a grab bar that looked like a good stabilization feature for times we might want to fuck in there. There were several room dividers so that the area next to the bathroom had been set aside as a bedroom with a queen-size bed, dresser, and 2 long clothing rods on wheels provided in a comfortable space. In addition, a large storage closet had been walled off beside the bathroom. Brandi showed us the frame and mattress and springs for a single bed, all of which was standing in the corner of the closet. She indicated that they had previously had that bed set up in a divided-off area next to the closet and near the bathroom door. In one corner of the rear was a little foyer that opened onto an enclosed staircase that dropped to ground level and three parking spots at the rear. Only one spot was assigned to the loft with the others allocated to the dress shop staff. Towards the front of the loft, overlooking the street was the large open area where the kitchen, a dining table, and the spacious living room areas were located.

I will admit that I got a little excited when I saw the loft. It was the roomiest place we’d seen and it was only about a 10-minute walk to the main part of the campus. It also had a queen-size bed for our training sessions and times we wanted to sleep together as well as a separate sleeping area we could use any other time.

Our last stop was the garage apartment on Silver Avenue. It was a good neighborhood, about half a mile from the central part of campus, behind a well-kept house and above a 3-car garage. It was one bedroom with twin beds and was obviously set up for a couple of students. A small balcony (about the size of a small bathroom) opened off the bedroom to a view of a street and alley below.

Our choice really came down to the last two properties we’d seen. We both favored the loft and thought we could be pretty comfortable there. If fact, it actually seemed like it would be fun rather than just a minimal place to sleep. We discussed the total cost of living there with utilities and food. We decided utilities might be a little high, especially to heat in the winter, if we are still there in the winter. So, we figured between the $1100 rent and $250 for utilities and about $600 a month for food for both of us, our monthly cost would be $1000 each. To be completely self-sufficient we’d each need to earn about $1500 per month during the summer. The garage apartment would be close to the same amount. It might have lower utilities some months but was $75 more in rent.
Over sandwiches at the dining hall, we talked it all out and decided we would prefer the loft on Central Avenue. Brandy had said we could move in whenever we wanted but no later than April 1.

I teased Alan about wanting to rent the loft because Brandi might throw in some personal considerations for him.

He grimaced and said, “Ha! She could be my mother and seems like a retired hooker. I’ll just take my personal considerations from you. Thank you very much!”

A little surprised at his comment, I grinned happily and said, “That can be arranged.”

After a moment, I said, “I’ll need to run it by my dad before we commit to it.”

Alan smiled and nodded. “Yep. Me, too.”

Arrangements

One good thing about the lockdown was that Dad was at home whenever I might call. When I got back to my room after lunch I clicked Dad’s cell number.

“Cal?”

“Dad. How are you?”

“Okay.”

“Mom, Carrie, and Cole?”

“Good, I think.”

“How’s Grandma?”

“She’s fine except she’s feeling guilty that she’s keeping you from coming home.”

“Well, she knows that’s just how it is, right?”

“Of course. It’s just that she’s missing you and, well, everyone here is missing you and she feels responsible.”

It felt good to know everyone misses me.

“I miss you all, too.”

“So, what’s happening?”

“We did some apartment hunting today.”

“I’m glad you’re getting right on it. Maybe you can beat anyone else who thought they’d be living in the dorm but is finding out they can’t.”

“That’s what Alan and I thought, too.”

“So, did you find anything you like?”

“Yes, we did.” I told him about all 5 places we had looked at and that these were the cheapest within walking distance of the campus. I described each of the places and ended with the price.

“So, you want to take the loft, right?”

I was surprised. “Actually, yes. But how did you know?”

He chuckled. “I could hear it in your voice. You were business-like and somewhat devoid of emotion when you described the others. When you described the loft, I could hear the smile in your voice.”

“Wow, Dad, sometimes you blow me away.”

“Shucks, Cal, I’m just old and wise.”

“You’re not old but you are wise.”

“Stop flattering me. I’m not going to tell you which apartment you have to take. So, you don’t need to butter me up.”

I laughed. “Dad, can’t you believe that I think you’re wise?”

“It’s not very American for a guy to think his dad is wise.”

We both laughed.

Thinking fast, I added, “That’s because they don’t have you for a dad.”

He laughed again. “Stop it, Cal. You’re making me blush and your mother has come in to stare at me.”

“Hi, Mom!”

“Wait.” I think he held out the phone because from a distance he said, “Say that again, Cal.”

“Hi, Mon!”

From a distance I heard her yell out, “Hi, Cal.”

“Okay,” Dad said from close. “How are the finances?”

I told him the rent is $1100; we figure utilities at $250 and food at $600.

“Apiece?”

“No, for both. So, the total per month each would be about a thousand.”

“You might be a little low on utilities and food, but maybe not. In the end, it will be what it needs to be. The cost of the dorm and food plan was about $800 a month, I think, so $1000 or a little more sounds reasonable. I’d say, go for it.”

“Thanks, Dad. We’ll see if Alan gets the go-ahead, too.”

“You remember that I expect you to get some work so you can pay for most of your expenses, right?”

“Of course. Without a car, I can’t do delivery, but I thought maybe there would be an on-campus job like landscaping I could do. Or, the loft is right in Nob Hill so maybe I could get a job in a restaurant, but probably not if the lockdown goes on.”

“That’s good thinking. You’ll just have to look and try to do the best you can.”

“I will, Dad.”

“I know you will, son. Call your Mother tonight if you can.”

“Yes, sir,”

“Bye, Cal.”

“Goodbye, Dad.”

I lay down on my bed, which wouldn’t be my bed much longer. I thought about my conversation with Dad and I thought about what I might be able to do this summer. With most stuff closed and no car, not many options came to mind. I decided I needed to see if the lockdown would end or persist and see what options I could find.

Evening

Happily, Alan’s parents thought the loft sounded a little fancy, but the price seemed okay. So, over Monterrey chicken, Spanish rice, and steamed broccoli, we discussed the matter.

We decided we might as well stay at the dorm until we were kicked out on March 21 so we could save a little on the rent at the loft. We figured it might take three trips in the Durango to move all out stuff. That gave us about 10 more days before we had to come up with our deposit and first month’s rent. The only thing we thought we would need to set up housekeeping would be a few dishes and some sheets for the queen bed. We had sheets for the single bed and several towels between us.

On our way back to the dorm, Alan said, “You know we skipped our workout today.”

“We were so busy with the apartment-hunting.”

He nodded. “Let’s walk around for a little while. It’s a beautiful night and some exercise is good.”

“Hey, let’s walk over to the loft,” I suggested.

He grinned. “Let’s.”

We took a somewhat leisurely stroll, enjoying the maple trees that had tiny little bright green leaves starting to come out on the bare limbs. Some of those beautiful trees with the purple leaves were also putting their new leaves on. (I don’t know what they are called.) And we even saw some daffodils blooming and a couple of lavender bushes with tiny blossoms.

“Spring is in the air,” Alan noted.

I checked my watch when we arrived at “Brandi’s Boutique,” which I had not noticed when we were there earlier.

“Just 9 minutes from the dining hall.,” I announced. “What do you think? About 15 minutes from the middle of campus where most of our classes and the library are?”

“That sounds about right,” Alan responded.

The air was crisp and clean with only a couple of cars moving in this usually-busy corridor. Restaurants had “Closed” signs or notices that they were only open for carry-out service. We saw one couple who looked high school age to us. Like us, they seemed to be just aimlessly walking. On our way back, we saw a woman walking her schnauzer.

When we got back to the third floor, Alan said, “Meet me in the TV room after you call home.”

“Sure.” I turned and headed down the empty hall to my room.