Susie bites her lip and hope crosses her face. “Okay, yeah that sounds good.”
After polishing off our bagels, we walk to the first apartment, which is just a few blocks away. It’s a ramshackle two story, and the listing says there’s an apartment on the second floor, not dissimilar to mine. We both stare at the clapboard exterior, which looks a bit rundown, to tell the truth.
“So the description says this in-law unit has a private entrance, so you’d be able to come and go as you please. There’s a dishwasher inside too, as well as laundry.”
Susie’s expression is shuttered.
“Very nice,” she says in a soft voice. But she doesn’t add anything else, so I merely smile.
“Let’s go see the next one,” I suggest. “We need to view at least a couple just to get the lay of the land.”
Susie nods, and we walk to another apartment available on the app. This one is in a big, brick building right near campus with a huge pine tree in front and needles scattered all over the front yard.
“Dang, I had no idea there’d be so many fallen needles even in the winter,” I say with a rueful smile.
Susie laughs.
“They’re probably behind on yard-work.”
I grin.
“You think? But yeah, if I had to guess I’d say this place is being subletted out by someone who went home for break, judging from that Coleman U pennant in the window,” I surmise.
She nods, agreeing.
“It must be so nice to have somewhere to go,” Susie murmurs before catching herself and blushing. “This is a pretty building.”
“It is. I have two more to show you.”
The other two apartments are more of the same. They all seem to be in relatively humble buildings, but at least from the outside, there are no obvious faults. Even better, they’re all downtown within walking distance of grocery stores, delis, the laundromat, and of course, my apartment too. At the end of our tour, I turn to the pretty girl and smile.
“So what do you think? Are your legs tired yet?”
Susie nods but then tears overflow her eyes as she stares down at the sidewalk.
“What is it?” I say in an alarmed voice. “What’s wrong?”
She swallows heavily before answering.
“It’s so nice of you to take me to these places, Ed, but I’ll be honest: I can’t afford any of them. I don’t have a budget for really anything but a night or two at a hotel, and that would be the max.”
Oh shit, why didn’t she say? Of course, these are modest places because I didn’t think she had a ton to spend, but I had no idea that her budget was so close to zero. That’ll never do, and on impulse, I tug the beautiful girl against my chest, cupping her cheek with one big hand.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay. We’ll figure something out.”
Susie sniffles. “This is such a mess,” she says in a broken voice. “I just don’t have any resources at my disposal,” she says in a small tone. “Really, none.”
I soothe her some more.
“I’m sorry, baby. It’s my fault. I didn’t mean to hurt you by taking you around to all these places. I really had no idea, and it must have been like pouring salt into the wound.”
She sniffles again, still clutching my shirt. It feels good with her warm form leaning against mine, those big breasts smashed against my chest.
“No, it’s okay,” she says in a low voice. “I should’ve been upfront with you about my lack of a budget. I’m sorry I wasted your whole morning.”
“Don’t be sorry because I had fun and got in some good exercise. Besides, we’ll figure it out. You’ll stay with me for a few days while we evaluate other solutions. See? Easy-peasy.”
Susie lets out another half-snort, half-sigh.
“No, Ed, this isn’t your problem to fix.”
But now, I frown while pulling apart before looking into those big brown eyes, my hands fixed firmly on her upper arms.
“I’ve told you a hundred times, sweetheart, that I want to help you. Honestly, it’s not a big deal and it gets me out of my head. I’m a workaholic after all, so getting me out of the office is a huge plus. Hell, I’ll treat this like a vacation.”
Susie snorts a little.
“This isn’t vacation, Ed.”
But I merely smile.
“Maybe not for you, but it is for me. It’s nice having a guest and it’s a great change of pace for a bleeding-heart liberal like me who’s always going on and on about the Earth. It’s good to re-focus sometimes.”
She bites her lip and looks down.
“Thank you so much, Ed. I don’t know how I got so lucky by meeting you.”
I don’t say it aloud, but I’m actually thinking the same thing. After all, I have a beautiful girl smashed against my chest, and even more, my cock’s already stirring. Before it turns into a full-blown erection, I push Susie away and grin.