The Amazing Roommate

She said, "Yes. But I have no money for a winter wardrobe. Will you buy me some clothes, please? I will pay you back after I am working."

I replied, "We will eat dinner at a restaurant at the mall and then I will purchase you some clothes. You don't have to pay me back as long as I am the only man in your life. Is it a deal?"

Her eyes glistened, and said, "John, I can not even imagine another man in my life at this stage of my life. But, your buying my clothes is risky for you. You could lose your investment."

Then I said, "Enough of that. Life itself is a risk and I will take my chances."

My credit card purchases for her clothes and food totaled $1300.45 for the evening.

The next storm came and went and I had cleaned off my car and was shoveling the sidewalk when Melissa came out and playfully threw a snowball at me, but I couldn't throw one back because she was wearing her new winter coat. So I dropped my shovel, grabbed her and ran into the hallway of the house with her in my arms.

She said, "I want you in my body and throwing a snowball was the only way I knew to summon you." She was still in my arms laughing as we began kissing. I finally deposited her on the towels covering the entrance hall.

"Dear, please get in my bed and turn on the blanket to high as soon as you get undressed. I will be in with you as soon as I put up the tools and shed my foul weather gear." She nodded 'yes' as I placed her on the floor. I had taken off my gear and left it in the basement when I put up the tools . I reached Melissa, who was now relaxed in bed obviously naked, while I was now wearing my street clothes. I hurriedly unbuttoned and step out of them and was naked in front of her. I emptied my bladder and ran back into our bedroom and dove into my bed, where her arms were open to me - except I landed beside her. An hour later we got up to fix dinner and start our evening.

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It was the holiday season and we attended three parties - one of which was a wine only 'Yankee Swap' game party where all the contestants playfully screamed at each other before the game ended because of the forced trivial gift swapping that is part of the game. She told me later that that professional association party was the most fun. Another was because of an invitation from an architect friend, who invited us to his home. It was the first stand around, drink, and talk party Melissa had ever attended, but she was entertaining and never embarrassed me or herself in a conversation. We left after spending the minimum amount of time business decorum required.

The last one was a local club of my distant college's alumni association. I am always hesitant to attend those because I find them a 'one-ups man' boasting contest while people watching - i.e., looking for a possible sex partner - is the real game behind the apparent 'game' going on. But I did have a couple of friends who usually attended yearly and I was excited to introduce Melissa to them. My trepidation was that my ex-wife attended this annual party sometimes (we met while in college), and it was a 50-50 chance that she would attend. I really didn't want Melissa to get involved with her - though I had told my tenant about my hostile ex-wife before hand and she treated it as a matter of complete indifference.

Melissa and I were dressed in our best party clothes - how incredibly beautiful she was, people told her two or three times after we had checked our coats! I reminded my Honey, "If my ex-wife does attend I hope she will be nice. One thing I like about you is that you haven't the ability to be any other way." She smiled big at me, obviously pleased. Afterwards, I looked carefully at this woman I had grown to love. Incredibly, her breasts again looked large against her small body and the large aureoles with the big protruding nipples in the center pointing about 10 degrees up from the horizontal were very inviting. When I would introduce her to an old acquaintance, both the husband and the wife looked down at her perky and scarcely hidden breasts. Often a couple was reluctant to allow us to move on to meet more people, and insisted on engaging us in conversation.

We had circled the meeting hall when the buffet dinner was announced - still no sign of my ex-wife. I was almost in a relaxed state. After we had food on our plates we sat with the Engineering School frat brother and his wife who had met us for dinner in the fall. Their close friends sat on the other side of them. The picnic table for eight had been decorated with the holiday theme. The men sat on one side and the ladies on the other by convention. Introductions were made.

The conversation amongst we three men was light and saturated with wit and humor, starting with the Patriots and Bruins and talking mostly amongst ourselves. The ladies were talking mostly amongst themselves as well. I didn't pay much attention to what they were saying but I did hear a lot of laughter and I overheard Melissa talking about her 'introducing a pregnant Anglo student to San Francisco Chinatown' shortly after arriving at Stanford. She then mentioned 'chickens hanging outside of shops and rushing to leave Chinatown'. Then all three ladies laughed loudly, and then another lady told a story with the same reaction from the three. It was obvious to me that all three were enjoying themselves as I continued to participate in our 'manly' conversation.

About half way through my dinner, a stranger sat by me and my ex-wife sat down by Melissa opposite me, taking the remaining spot at our table.

She spoke up loudly so the whole table could hear, "Fancy meeting you, John Banks, with a date this year! How nice to see you!"

Pissed off that she had sat at my table, I asked out loud, "Tell me what's your name nowadays and I will introduce you, Sweetie?"

Taken aback at my rude question she replied, "I am Helen Forrester, which is my maiden name you will remember, John, and this is Fred, my date." I did note that this guy was someone new on her string compared to the one last time I saw her.

The other two couples introduced themselves and Helen looked at the very tiny woman sitting beside her who had said nothing and asked, "Honey, what's your name and are you an immigrant?"

Continuing in the fun party mode she had been enjoying before Helen arrived, Melissa started mimicking broken English like she just 'got off the boat from China,' and said, "I am Melissa Coolie and, yes mam, I am a kitchen worker at the Chow Soon Restaurant in Chinatown." At that point the three ladies lost it laughing loudly for it was just another funny joke to them.

Watching my ex-wife's face turn red, I spoke up to calm her and said, "Melissa Chang, meet Helen. Helen and I lived in wedded bliss once upon a time - during one of the many brief episodes of fun and frolic in her life so far."

The two ladies shook hands and Melissa said to my ex-wife, "John told me that you picked out the condo where I rent a room while I am in graduate school, so let me applaud you for having good taste."

Helen said somewhat shocked, "Well, thank you for the compliment. But pardon me for starring but you look so young?"

She replied loudly again so all of us could plainly hear and said, "Yes Mam, Clean liquor and fast men will do that to you every time." Helen even laughed a little at that crack. While six of us were robustly laughing she continued while looking straight at Helen in a serious mode she said, "Actually I started college very young and finished my undergraduate at Stanford in three years and then started graduate school here right away. Then I read Mr. Banks' advertisement and rented a room from him."

The wife of my frat brother said, "Its very nice to see you again so soon Melissa, and you do look very lovely tonight."

Melissa said, "Thank you. Hey, lets plan on having dinner again or maybe do a foursome on a bike trail together as soon as winter turns loose. Want to?"

"We surely will," said the Frat brother's wife.

I tried to get Helen's date, Fred, into a conversation but he said nothing except answer specific questions I asked - so I gave up. About that time the band started playing for the dancing that would follow. It was a slow waltz led off by the President of the association and his wife, and soon many other couples joined. I said to Melissa, "Let me introduce you to dancing. You told me you didn't know how but just move like I will lead you and we can dance."

"O.K. This glass of wine makes me feel like I am already a professional dancer as well as a comedian."

Incredibly she did not try to lead and simply followed as I moved her through three elementary patterns. I could see the look of excitement in her eyes that she could actually do that. After we returned to our table, she said to me, "Dance lessons are in my future!"

The next number was a Sinatra number - foxtrot - and Helen said to me, "Since Fred is not a dancer like Melissa, why not you and I try this old standard, John?"

I dug at her with my reply, "Not a chance! But you could have picked up a white ribbon to indicate that you would like to be asked by the single men in attendance. There are some real studs here and you might get lucky!"

Helen's face turned red and her anger was mounting when she said, "Fred, lets get out of here and leave these boring people to themselves." She grabbed his hand and pulled him along towards the coat closet.

The rest of our table conversation was about food and recipes and Melissa danced two more numbers doing elementary steps that I led her through. Then the louder more popular music started playing for newly graduated so the remaining 6 of us got up and left.

Driving home, Melissa said, "Your ex-wife is a nothing and nobody, but I certainly understand that you still have emotional responses around her. I don't think she is worth your feeling anything. For example, did you see the look of pain and terror in poor Helen's eyes when you declined her dance invitation? As a practical matter your declining was not the source of her pain but it made her display pain on her face. She showed all of us that she has squandered her existence to this point. What is your thought of why people do that to themselves?"

I scratched my head at such a very tough question and finally said, "First I am not perceptive enough to read faces like that - in fact she was just being herself, to me - while I know you miss absolutely nothing. And now that you mention it I completely agree. But, my take is that people like that are 'Dazed and Confused,' to quote a line from a pop song?"

"But why is that so?"

I paused for a minute and said, "Well, parents, teachers, the TV, and pop songs and peers teach values to each youngster while growing up - and most of them conflict with each other. The poor child then finds himself an adult one day unable to 'plan his work and work his plan,' as a result. That is paraphrased from something I read on my Engineering School bulletin board once. Those conflicts, for example, caused me to not plan sufficiently when I asked Helen to marry me. Looking back, that could only have happen because I was confused. A very few - including you, for example - have fewer conflicts because your value teachers infected and conflicted you less and your skills appear superhuman to the casual observer as a result simply because your nature is to always be mentally alert. "

She said, "Obviously, one should always act on ones best well-reasoned judgement - even in matters of love. For example, had you and your ex-wife suddenly fell madly in love again tonight and you suddenly separated your world from mine as a result, I know you would have considered all the factors and made your decision about what to do rather than respond to a feeling you had. If she were going to move back in with you it would hurt me for a few days but I would still want you to remarry her in that scenario."

As the calendar creeped forward, the stormy winter and chili spring were over and finally it was the beginning of the warm season in May. My sense was that Melissa loved me more and more, though by the time warm weather came my secret of being madly and completely in love with her was becoming more and more difficult to keep my secret - if in fact it was ever a secret from her. Her studies had been going well and my work was starting to increase now that more buildings were being built than the bust year of 2008.

I took her to a resort on Cape Cod just before the premium prices went into effect. Watching her actually be a kid building sand castles and splashing in the sea seemed to make me younger as well. Then there were the bicycle rides where we put the bikes on the car and then traveled to distant scenic bike routes via road and/or ferry. We spent a week in Manhattan where she saw the Metropolitan Opera perform in the park and she was in heaven and pleaded that we come back during the regular opera season. I am quite sure that that summer was the high point of her life probably for many years to come - understandably, mine too.

In the fall well after school had started she came to me and said, "John, I know you are spending more and more money on me for which I thank you, but I need to earn money. Right now, for example, I don't have enough money left for air fare to go home next year."

For the first time, her reminding me that this magic world will come to an end in less than a year hit me between the eyes and I was fighting depression for the first time since long before I met her. So I asked, "So what do you have in mind, my dear?"

She said, "Tutoring. My dissertation adviser said, ' I know some very advanced students who hopelessly struggle with advanced concepts which are easy for you, but far over the head of the usual tutors advertising their services. Interested?'"

I asked, "Where would you do this and what would be your procedure?"

She said,"If you would allow me to move my bed to the basement temporarily and bring up the table and two chairs that are down there, I could tutor in my room. I plan to spend one hour with each student and I would do that one day per week."

"Darling, my first thought is that I will just give you the money that you would earn but I know you wouldn't take it and it would decrease your learning capacity - the teacher always learns when teaching, is an old saying. "

"So. I will go along with that." She ran to me and kissed all over my face.

"Thank you. Thank you."

We settled into Friday as her tutoring day, where starting with three students, she cut it off when the word of mouth advertising brought the number to 5 students from both of the nearby campuses. She earned the going rate for graduate tutors and her attitude was markedly improved since she now was earning her own money. She always kept her study room door open and from time to time I would come in near the end of the session with two cups of hot tea and listen to their meaningless math-speak with each other until they took a break to enjoy the tea.

The winter and the holidays passed very quickly and I continued falling deeper in love each passing day, as I developed a preoccupation with watching the calendar at the same time - even though I admonished myself to live one day at a time. The annual holiday season alumni party was not attended by ex-wife this year and both of us had much more fun than last year.

In late May she was defending her dissertation and shortly after that she showed me a certificate that said she was now a credentialed 'Doctor of Philosophy' Mathematics, i.e., Doctor Chang. She had been submitting her resume to a number of companies in Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong. I was aware that she had been getting foreign mail since March. One day she said, "I will fly to Singapore to live with my uncle and his wife in June. My parents will be arriving there June 8th on an extended visit. I have accepted two job offers. One is employment with a pharmaceutical research center in Singapore on August 1st. I also have accepted employment with a bio-science company on the outskirts of Boston as well. It too, has an August 1st start date - and its very exciting to me since I have already talked to some of my, perhaps, co-workers there and know exactly what they are doing. Ultimately, I don't know what goes on in a pharmaceutical research firm. But, when I get to Singapore I will visit my employer and ask some questions and visit with co-workers and then I will decide which offer I will take and cancel on the other. And of course, you will be the first to know my decision."

Pretending unsuccessfully that my world had not gone to hell in an afternoon as I sat heavily in my chair, I said, "My recommendation is to make the choice that is a better fit for your lifetime goals. If you leave my life permanently and I have this gaping hole in me, I will focus on the good times we will have had and not those we no longer will have, while I recuperate."

She replied, "Hey! That is the perfect attitude. In the mean time, lets live and love," she said while jumping up to hold me close. She started unbuttoning my shirt. After we were in the bed naked, I asked, "May I just kiss your body now?"

"All kisses are welcomed! And they are welcome until at least I fly to Singapore on June 6th."

The End.

Epilogue: I did not advertise the vacant rental I had after she left. I was hoping against hope, that she would return to Boston, and I opted to lose the two months of income. For one thing her winter clothes and boots were still in the closet and her computer, kitchen tools and other items were still here. June was the cruelest month for me as it slowly dragged by. I did not have a single skype or oovoo video call from her. I kept thinking I would ask a fuck-buddy out but I didn't want to even touch another woman as of yet. So I went to a neighborhood bar and played darts and foosball with nameless men there.

It was a hot July 10th and I had put 15 miles on my bicycle. I sat in a food court at one end of the Charles River bike trail, tired and restless. My primary purpose was to lust after the scantily clothed ladies chattering there on this very warm day. A miracle of meeting someone who could put Melissa out of my mind, didn't happen so I went outside and unchained my bike and rode home. Once there I checked my voice-mail and it was from Melissa - "The workplace environment in both companies are about equal in desirability. So I have chosen you and Boston. Will you pick me up at Logan on July 16 ..." and then she gave the flight and time particulars and a number to call her back if I had changed my mind about us. I played the message again to be certain I had all the details.

I then sat down and cried like a baby with happiness.

After the slowest moving week of my life the morning of the 16th arrived. I parked my car in Central Parking and killed an hour at the airport baggage claim anxiously waiting - I even brought a book to read but couldn't concentrate on it. Her flight number was flashing as 'arriving' and I bolted out of my seat and waited just outside the restricted area standing near a TSA employee. I finally saw her coming down the terminal corridor inside a secure area. She saw me at the same time. We both started crying as she had begun to almost run. Life was very good indeed!