My Austin Apartments Part 3

Since my territory was South Austin, I didn't want to drive from Pflugerville to South Austin to make my calls. So I decided to move.

I looked at a few apartments. I used the formula my friend Junior taught me. Divide the cost by the square footage to find the cheapest apartment. His formula didn't have a variable to include my girlfriend, The-Bitch-in-Austin-Do-I-Sound-Bitter. So I picked a place in the same complex, in the building next to hers. It was an older complex near St. Edwards University. What a great place! One August, I even took my nephew to the Dallas Cowboys' trainig camp.

I signed the lease a month and a half in advance. They were going to do some refurbishing, but said I could move in a week before the first of the month. I borrowed a van from work and loaded it up. I drove the 20 miles from Pflugerville to St Edwards drive. I pulled the key from my pocket and headed for my new apartment. The door was open.

They were still working on it!

So I went back to Pflugerville.

The next day, I drove down and unloaded my stuff, and noticed that there were no appliances. No fridge, no stove, no dishwasher. Instead of three days to move, as I had arranged, I had two. But I managed. Since I moved in on a Saturday, and had to pack all my groceries into an ice chest, and they didn't furnish appliances until Tuesday (!), I got a free week rent.

The-Bitch-in-Austin-Do-I-Sound-Bitter complained that she didn't have one of those spy holes int the door. She said he complained to the management but hadn't heard anything. So I went to a hardware store, bought one, and installed it for her. At the time, I didn't realize she was screening boyfriends.

Anyway, living near my girlfriend was kind of cool. Until she let a co-worker move in.

This guy (Yes. Guy.) worked at the same convenience store chain, and at that point, everything changed. We stopped going out, and except for me seeing her at work, I never saw her. Eventually, they moved to a complex on Riverside Drive. For several months, she would talk to me on the phone, but we never went out. When he went back to his wife, she finally invited me over.

Then I helped her move into her mother's house. We dated for a few months, then stopped.

I now know she had started dating someone else. But it took me a few more months to realize it.

One day she called me to talk about her having a hysterectomy(sp?). She complained that no man would want to be with her since she would no longer be able to have children. I told her that anyone who told her that was a jerk. (Yes, I had a clue.) Then, later, she called to give me the "Friend" speech.

I never spoke to her again. She called a few times after that, but finally got the hint.

I spent another six or seven months there. But my heart wasn't in Austin anymore. I quit my job and moved back home.