Renting (Chapter 8)

I stared at the olive colored door as I waited for the owner to open the door. Daphne, nervously biting her nails (a habit that took me forever to grow out of, despite my mother's constant bothering), stood behind me, also waiting. The door opened and a young woman (not what I had expected) looked at us confused from the doorway.
"Hi, I'm Jona and this is Noah. We're here to rent the upper level of your house and access to your kitchen." I hesitated slightly with the names, but I chose to use our given names. We had used them when we had gotten our jobs and we'd most likely survive longer if we maintained them. I felt that we'd be safer if we pretended that we weren't trans for now. It felt like hiding our true selves, but if that was what we had to do to protect ourselves, then it was what would have to be done.
"Oh come right in. Let me show you the rooms that you can use and what the rules are." I cautiously stepped into the extremely clean house with Daphne close on my heels. She gave me a look to tell me that she understood why I had chosen to use our given names once again, just like I had when she had chosen to use Noah at Mario's.
"First off," I snapped back to the real world from my thoughts and paid attention to her words as best as I could. "you have to clean up after yourself. Trash is put into the trash bins and put outside on Mondays. I will check on Sundays that the rooms upstairs are clean. The top half of the refrigerator is yours to use. Same goes for the freezer. You may use the kitchen when necessary. Lights go out at 10 and waking time is 7 at the latest." She began to head up the stairs. When she reached the top, she waited until we seemed ready and listening again.
"Here is the second floor. This is the top floor unless you count the attic, which you are not allowed into. Try to keep it quiet and no permanent decorations. The pay is $250 per month. These are the only rules I ask you to follow. Is that clear?" We nodded silently and she slipped back downstairs to leave us to our own devices.
"Let's take a good look at what's up here then, shall we?" Daphne looked slightly weary, but her eyes were bright with excitement, so I agreed. There was only one bedroom with only one bed, a couch, a small table, two chairs and a spacious closet. It was a good thing that there was a couch or else I would never be able to sleep. A small bathroom was next door. Other than that, there was a small empty closet near the bedroom and a balcony. (It seemed that this closet was used for towels and stuff, but I never really paid attention to things like that.)
"Well, it's a decent place. Relatively clean and spacious. It'll do for now." I thought that we had gotten a pretty good deal for $250 a month.
"Can we afford it though?" Daphne's gentle voice reminded me that we had to watch the money.
"Well... I think food might be around $150 a week. Other things, such as toilet paper and such, probably will be around $25-$50 a week. You make $1100 a month and I make $950 a month so we should be able to make it."
"So we'll make a little money at least?"
"I should hope so. We may have to eat sparingly though."
"Well, I wanted to watch my figure anyways." We laughed, though weariness and sadness tinged our laughter.
There wasn't much to unpack, and we were done by around 2. Then we headed out to buy supplies. By then, our stomachs were starting to growl, and to stave off the hunger for a while, Daphne opened up the chips, and we ate as we walked to Costco. We didn't say anything at all as we walked; the only noises we made were that of chewing.
Daphne headed off to find the things that she needed and I went off to find what I needed. When we met again, she had a basket full of things and so did I. Then we got some simple snacks. The total cost ended up being $189.48, more than I had expected. But it was just for the beginning. Most of the things would be used for an extended amount of time. Even so, I worried.
~*~
At around 4, Daphne and I made it back to the place that was to be home for a while. We ended up going to the supermarket and buying a lot of microwave-able foods. Probably not very healthy, but it was food all the same. I also picked out some fruits and vegetables we could eat for snacks and such.
The freezer section that we had been allowed ended up being almost completely full, while the refrigerator section only had fruits and vegetables and was mostly empty.
Daphne wasn't very hungry and only had a small appetite, but I was ravenous. She ate half of her microwave dinner and I ate mines and the other half of hers. Even after that, I was still hungry. But the meal filled me enough so that my stomach was no longer growling, and that was all that really mattered.
I did a few crunches and push-ups while Daphne was taking a shower. (I also set the alarm on my watch to 5 in the morning.) When I got out of the shower after her, I found that she had organized our things. She showed me where everything was and then collapsed onto the bed. I settled for the couch.
It wasn't too bad after adding a pillow and a blanket. It was a little small and lumpy, but it was fairly good. I tossed and turned all night. Daphne was asleep, I could tell, for her breathing was peaceful and slow. It wasn't that the couch was uncomfortable, it was more that...I had too many things on my mind. Yet, I wasn't really thinking about them, stuff was just floating around in my mind.
I wondered how much a gender change would cost for the both of us, if we would be able to survive, if we would be able to save up enough money to do a gender change, if we would ever be accepted as trans. And there was more things going on in my mind, that I think I won't mention.
It must have been past 12 when I finally fell asleep, for I remember looking at my watch at 11:38 and not being able to sleep for a long time afterwards.