My over-drinking earned me a two week "vacation" from work. I was told to seek assistance for my drinking as it was interfering too much with my job. I regularly got drunk at work and my register counts were often short as a result.
The time off didn't help as I now had nothing to do but drink. While Rick seemed to enjoy the drunk sex at first, eventually my drinking wore on him. After a month of living with him, Rick told me I would need to move out.
He gave me some money for a security deposit and I moved into an apartment in North Palm Beach.
It was a one bedroom apartment in Lake Worth. The building had four floors and mine was on the bottom level. I had requested an apartment on either of the top two floors but there were no vacancies on those floors. A ground floor apartment was not my preference but neither was this building as a whole.
At least my apartment faced the pool. There were another set of apartments in the front of the building facing the street which cost slightly less. I opted for the pool view for the increased price.
The apartment was small. The living room was the size of Courtney's kitchen and the bedroom could fit a bed, a dresser, and not much else. The closet was too small to fit all my clothes in so they were still in boxes and bags sitting around the room. I had bought a cheap full size bed set but was unable to figure out how to put together the bedframe so the box spring sat on the bedroom floor with the mattress on top of it. Luxury living at its finest. It would have to make due until I could figure out how to assemble the frame.
The pool was...well a pool. It had water in it, albeit slightly dirty. The pool chairs and common areas were dirty as well. It took me a week to muster the courage to go out the pool as I was dreading meeting new people. I made sure to lay my towel down over the chair as there were brown stains all over it. Even though I had returned to work, my shifts were reduced. It was not ideal as they had taken away my Satudray night shifts when I made most of my money. The upside is I could now spend my Saturday afternoons at the pool.
I was wearing my favorite purple bathing suit but it was much tighter nowadays. Between the stress and drinking and lack of exercise, I had gained nearly fifteen pounds. While my boobs had grown with the weight, so had my stomach. I was now around one hundred and fifty pounds, likely more if I was being honest with myself. Luckily, the other residents and pool-goers weren't in the best shape either. The tenants were largely older child-less couples but there were a few small families in the complex. The women looked like they liked to eat and the men looked like they liked to drink. I would fit in just fine here.
I did not stay out at the pool long. I was often anxious in new places and situations and some of the stares I was receiving made me uneasy. I retired to my apartment for dinner and microwaved the burrito I had brought home from work the night before. I took a Xanax and grabbed a beer, hoping both would ease my anxiety. When that didn't work I grabbed another beer and walked outside and sat in one of two cheap plastic chairs I had bought. I had taken up smoking since moving out of Courtney's place and I lit one and smoked it as I took deep breaths to calm myself.
"Can I bum one?"
I turned and saw a man, hispanic, and likely in his forties. He was barefoot wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
"Sure," I said as I handed him the pack.
