Max leaned his head against the bus window, backpack in his lap. Talk about embracing the suck. Two weeks ago he proposed to his girlfriend of four years, she said yes, happy teers all around… Yeah, until she wrecked his car. Naw, wrecked isn't even the word. It was totaled, scrapped. That wasn't the kicker, nope, she'd been with her ex-boyfriend. At two o'clock in the morning, after having sex in his car.
Max snorted, wanted to wait for marriage his ass. Now everyone thought he was the asshole for dumping her while she was in the hospital. All things considered a broken hand and glass shards in her lap was a light punishment since they had to add drunk driving to the mix.
Now, he'd had to pay out the nose to break his lease, had no car, waiting for insurance to see what they'd give him, no job, no girlfriend. What he did have… was just over a thousand dollars in the bank that he'd been saving for a small beach wedding, a ring he either had to keep or return, his hand-me-down laptop, secondhand Samsung phone, four pairs of clothes, two pairs of shoes, and a notebook. A notebook paper, hell if he could afford the fancy computer one.
At the bus stopped, he shrugged his backpack on, grabbed the two reusable shopping bags, and pulled up the motel he'd booked. After walking for over an hour, he struggled into the dingy lobby, check in, threw the bags on the stained seat, then he just curled up on the bed.
Fuck, fuck… Fuck! What was he going to tell his ma? She'd been so excited… he'd ghosted his whole family since the hospital called. Arriana, fuck. What the fuck, seriously! If she's going to make bad choices, at least make new ones! Fuck! Why…
Max roughly rubbed at his face, fuck, he would not cry one more tear over her. He needed to get his life together. First things first, he needed to find a new apartment. He pulled out his ancient, cracked laptop that could only be on when plugged in, and started booking viewings.
Shit, even in this area pickings were slim… of course he was only looking at apartments under five hundred dollars. Hopefully the security deposit wasn't outrageous… and they didn't check his credit score… Arianna had maxed their shared card. He'd removed her, but he'd have to pay the three thousand back down ASAP, the interest would stack fast.
He spent the next two days looking at over 10 apartments… the ones with just roaches, had dirty carpets, and in sketchy neighborhoods were some of the better ones. One had a broken window despite the security bars… another had a front door had had been kicked in so hard it didn't even close anymore. Those were all still over four hundred a month.
Max pulled another flyer for apartments off a light pole… two hundred a month… utilities, garbage, and internet included? Max looked at the name and number… with a sigh he tucked it in his backpack. Most likely another scam but he was desperate. The motel was only forty-six dollars a night, but it was eating away at his funds fast.
Back at the motel, his meal for the third day in a row was a peanut butter sandwich, a bottle of water, and the complementary extra orange he'd swiped from the motel's breakfast. He pulled out all the flyers and numbers he'd gathered from more possible apartments…
"Doesn't hurt to try… unless they knock me out and steal my kidney anyway." Max dialed the number on the flyer that said two hundred a month. To his surprise, on the third ring someone picked up, not even an automated voice.
"Uh, umm Hello, I'm uh, I saw the flyer, for an apartment?" Max explained in a rush, damn, had to be a scam.
"No worries mate! I'm Dillon, yeah it's time I get a bigger place. What's your name?" The voice chuckled good naturedly. It was a little deeper, maybe mid-late twenties.
"Oh, Max, I'm Max." Max answered, "Uh, is tomorrow morning a good, uh time? I'm looking at a, like, uh, five apartments tomorrow, so.." What was he even saying? God just kill him now.
"Gotcha mate! I'll text you a diner close to the apartment, breakfast on me. See you at nine yeah?"
Huh? Breakfast? "Uhh, I mean, if you text me the address I can, uh, meet you there? At the apartment."
"It's all good, I hit the gym early and I'm going to miss this diner. It's my treat so don't come with a full stomach. See you at nine Max." Dillion said.
Uhh, this was way too weird, but the location of a diner popped up on his phone. It was about twenty minutes away if he took a taxi… damn, but walking was over three hours…
"Really, breakfast isn't, I uh, don't need it. Just, want to see the place…" Max tried to explain. The guy just chuckled.
"Trust me Max, you're doing me a favor, it's awkward eating alone. See you at Nine, hope the rest of your day goes good mate. See you tomorrow."
Then he just hung up. Free breakfast was tempting… the granola bars and old fruit from the motel looked like someone pulled them out of a dumpster… with a sigh Max fell back on the bed. Fuck, this guy sounded way too good to be true. Definitely a scam. Still, if he could get a nice breakfast… it would be worth the 3 hour walk…
Max booked four other viewings before crawling under the blanket. He was so damn tired, just then his stomach grumbled. Looking at his phone, another message from his older brother.
Hey! Scrub! You missed out on dinner again! Let me know when a good time to chat, luvs ;)
Max left his phone to charge, then forced himself to fall asleep.