New Apartment

I moved into my 12th floor apartment today.

In the morning I went over to the leasing office to talk to my leasing agent Craig. I had to sign some paper work and get my keys. Because of a faulty (former) roommate situation and a lazy cousin situation I'd been bombarded with all sorts of problems since I had moved out here last summer.

Craig, my leasing agent, was aware of some of them as I had been trying to sort out these problems directly related to rent and the leasing conditions of my former apartment.
Craig had been very helpful and had more than once lent a listening ear. Every time I looked at him, I was reminded of the hackneyed phrase "peircing blue eyes" because that's exactly what they were.

We were on friendly terms by now and had chatted about hybrid cars, facebook groups that had people burning hearts on Valentines Day, nice places to hang out in the neighborhood (the Whisper Lounge) and where to get good furniture at an affordable price, as well as how much to tip movers and delivery guys. We also agreed that people moving into the city should not complain about rent being expensive. "If it's too expensive then go back to the Valley" - we both agreed.

This morning, Craig offered to show me the new place that was ready for move in.

It was gorgeous.
The smell of fresh paint welcomed us when I stepped into my new home. Granite kitchen table tops and brand new fixtures greeted me. The wooden floors in the living room were waxed letting out a shiny warm glow. The windows that lined the entire side of the living room didn't have a spot of dust and a panoramic view of the Hollywood hills could be seen.
The view from the master bedroom was even better. I would get a direct view of the sunset because the room was facing south.

Craig and I stood side by side in the master bedroom, looking out into Los Angeles.

I could not help but stammer. And I only realized later why there was such an awkward silence while I tried to string together the sentence.

"I, I don't know how to ask you," I was drawing out the sentence unnecessarily because my brain wasn't working and all of a sudden I could not think of the word "subtle."

Finally, it hit me, "without being subtle, but-"

Craig looked at me. I realized there was no "subtle" way of going about this.

"Uhhh, are you guys allowed to accept gift cards or what not as a token of thanks?"

Craig blinked and then opened his mouth, "No, no, no. Absolutely not."

Only later, while we were leaving the new apartment and Craig was holding the door open for me did I realize what I must have sounded like in that bit of conversation in what was to be my bedroom. Some sort of confession of love. Oh, God.

Shortly afterwards, I ended up dropping off a Starbucks latte at the leasing office with Craig and Rosa (another wonderful lady who helped me.) While dropping off the latte at Craig's desk I stepped back and accidentally rammed into the divider behind me, almost knocking it over. Everybody in the office looked up to see me and the divider swaying back and forth. My face turned crimson. I was suddenly aware that I had not washed my hair that morning due to lack of time and that I was wearing sweats and looked like crap.
"Oops," I laughed nervously and rushed out of the office.

I am a clueless, hapless, world-class klutz.

But I love my new apartment.
I wake up to the sweet kiss of the morning sunlight enveloping my entire room.
California, thou art growing on me.


(Hmmm. As I write this a loud car alarm has gone off in one of the parking lots. It's 4 am. What? Argh!)