We’re moving in together!

On my face right now is a toothy, awkward, nervous smile. My eyes are wide and I don’t know if I’m beaming or screaming on the inside.

We’re going to live together. In August when my lease is up, Dave and I are going to move in together. We’re going to find a nice (and Dave wants to emphasize nice) two bedroom apartment with a short commute to my school and a washer and dryer in the unit. I want a bigger kitchen and I need a dishwasher (I lived for two years without one in previous apartments and it sucked). The place also has to accept cats because Funk is coming with me.

I am so excited. And nervous. And excited. And nervous.

It happened in an awkward way. You know as well as I do that I’d been thinking about asking him if he’d be interested in moving in together and I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to bring it up. I figured that I didn’t really need to ask him for another month or two because August is kind of a long way off so I was planning on putting it off until the last minute, in true Riely fashion. 

The Story:

We went out with Clint and Colin last night after getting together to watch Battlestar Galactica (yes, it sounds nerdy but I’m telling you it’s the best show on cable and this is it’s last season! Next week is the season finale!). Clint and his girlfriend of three years, Rachel, have been having problems. Clint thinks that she’ll be moving out of their apartment when their lease is up in July (which is coincidentally the month before my lease is up). I said, "Well maybe you could be my roommate! I need out of my current living situation." He laughed and asked when my lease is up, I told him, and he said, "Yeah, maybe!"

Dave heard the whole thing.

Later, when Dave and I were laying in my bed (rather drunk, I should add), he said, "So you want to move in with Clint, huh?" I laughed and explained to him why I thought it’d make sense. Then I said, "Well I was also thinking about asking you if you would be interested in being my roommate but I’ve been having a hard time trying to find the right time to bring it up. I suppose now probably isn’t the best time because we’re both drunk, but there it is. It’s out there. The offer is out there."

Basically he replied with a, "Really?" and then gave a long response about how he’d also been thinking about it and considering it (see? I knew it!). He’d talked with his friend BK about it, also. When he’d been talking in the past about renting a 1+den he’d had living with me in mind. He also explained that he is nervous about it like I am (he has, like me, never lived with a significant other before) but feels that it makes sense.

And that’s pretty much it. We talked a little bit more about our options (where we’d want to live, how much we’re willing to spend, exactly what we’d be looking for, etc) and then we fell asleep. This morning there wasn’t a lot of discussion because I was in a mad dash to get ready for work (I’m at work right now :), but we’ll likely talk more about it tonight. I’m calling him after work and the two of us are going out for Colin’s birthday.

So it begins. I’ve spent most of my work day so far looking at apartments online (because I’m a slacker). I also have to tell my sister. And my parents. I think that’s what I’m most nervous about now… the idea of letting my sister go and leaving her to her own devices scares me. I hope that she won’t have a problem finding a roommate… I know that I’ll get guilted if she does.

On another note regarding my sister: she had her court date yesterday! I think that her sentence is perfect: she was charged fully for her DWI and they did not reduce her blood alcohol level as she’d asked. With that said, her punishment is equal to that of somebody who blew a .08: she loses her license for 6 months but will get a work permit after 30 days. She had to pay a $300 fine and will pay $700 to have her license reinstated when the time comes. The kicker (and the best part, in my opinion) is that she will be on probation for 10 years. This means that if she gets another drinking related offense within 10 years, she will be charged with a felony and have to do jail time because although her sentence is light, the .22 blood alcohol level that she blew will still be on her record.

It’s perfect because she is being treated gently but firmly. The probation is extremely long, but that only means that this whole ordeal will not be something that she can forget any time soon. It will keep her from drinking and driving and that is exactly what we all wanted.