So this feels a tiny bit rushed to me to be honest, please don't judge me too hard!
Julia Brasey welcomes the two of us into her company car, intent on taking us to a few places she has in mind for us. this time, she keeps the facade that she is happy to see us. For a moment I think about calling Scot to come get be, because he is watching Sawyer for the day as a favor to Derek. As quickly as it takes to slide my phone from my pants pocket, Derek snatches it up and secures it in his leather jacket's inner pocket. Without my escape plan, I focus on the commute to the starter home Mrs. Brasey has to show us, and we all talk about what we want in our ideal home on the way to the first place she wants to show us. She says that she chose this house, even though she knew almost nothing about what we want, because it seems good for a growing family, and with that in mind she wanted us to see it.
"So tell me a little about what we have going on here now, just some information to help you in the process." She breathes, radiating her perfume through out the car.
"Well, our budget is roughly $445,000, and with my recent research, I know the market is going up, so we decided it would be better to do this now rather than later." When she asks a question, I answer for myself, and calmly wait for Derek to answer for himself when she directs a question to him specifically. Soon she has an idea of what we are looking for as a group.
I let her know exactly what I prefer "A nice house with fairly good curb appeal is what I think I typically look for myself. Things like granite counter tops, maybe stainless steel appliances. But the appliances are not a big issue to me in the long run." Of course I know things like that off the top of my head, but there are some specifics that I have to keep in mind for the situation at hand. It's not just me and Sawyer any more. "A formal living room would be a fun way to have guests over. You see, we hold get togethers fairly regularly, so the formal room is higher on the list for me than say maybe a basement, which is also a step in the right direction." Her nod from the drivers seat is encouragement enough for me to continue. "Since i'm a tiny bit over protective of my child, and I see many more in our future... I would like for the other bedrooms to be located near master. I really can't stress enough how key it's for my kids to be close to me." and it seems that she understands. Her body language is different after I decide to open up to her. "So yeah, if there are any houses like that, they will have my vote."
Derek keeps it simple with the woman. "I'm not picky, whatever pleases him really. The only specifics that I want to add at this point in time is that I would prefer an open floor plan over a closed floor plan. And I want a good sized play room for our little boy, something we could possibly turn it into a home office later on down the line, when he grows out of that. Oh, and a big yard is a must for not only us, but the guests that come over almost every day. If there is any properties with extra land included, we would consider going above our budget we have set right now."
The first house she takes us to is not all that bad in all honesty. She describes it as a traditional house that is well below our mentioned budget. The house looks good from the out side. Julia introduces the house by letting us know " This style is called 'split level', where some of the house is up a half flight of saris, and the other is down a half flight. The main living space is kind of in an in-between level. Right now, the exterior is a sky blue, with stones covering the lower level of the house. The stone work adds curb appeal to your living space, and if you don't like the blue, you can paint over it when ever you feel like doing so."
"With anything we would have remaining in out budget, that would be something we could do easily. We could even have a 'house painting party' instead of a 'house warming party', right Derek?" Derek does not seem opposed to the idea when he grabs my hand, however, his face is telling me that this house is not his favorite at the moment.
"The previous owners kept the grass green, but that is hard not to do with all the rain… right fellas?" She asks, trying to earn a chuckle or something of the nature. The pace she sets toward the door is semi relaxed. "A two car garage, at the end of the cull de sac gives you more than enough parking for your events that you tell me about, seeing as there is a great amount of space between houses." We take a step inside, and the door is shut nicely behind us before the woman continues. "This lovely bay window right here by the door gives you a great chance to see the front yard at all times, but there is no hiding from those on the outside looking in." she adds with a chuckle. She is just trying to be charming, but what she says brings a few safety concerns to mind. For example, Peter? I don't want him looking in my window. I cant just ignore him like the girl scouts, something tells me that he is a little more forceful with 'promoting' his 'product' (mental air quotes). "This would be a 15 minute commute to the area that you mentioned your group of friends all live in, but that is almost negated by how low it's priced at. It's only $274,500, and the total square footage of the house is 2300 square feet."
Derek looks at me for a moment, after a few seconds of thought, he speaks "I have been thinking of asking some of our pack to move in. I think it would be better to become a unit with the young ones we should be having soon." That is kind of a surprise to me, although when I think about it, they are always around us anyways. It seems that they only go to their houses to give us privacy and to collect mail. Julia seems to like the idea of calling our 'group of friends' a pack. To her it's not weird, but it's also not the same thing as it's with us.
The floors look great to me, there are constant hard wood floors through the ground floor. In the middle of the house is a large room, that seems like it would be good for a pack room. On the main level in the back is a kitchen that has dark cabinets with sharp clean corners and stainless steel appliances. "The sink is great, and I like that the master bedroom is right there off of the living room" Derek volunteers as we exit through the kitchen into a small back yard enclosed on one side by a hill coming down in levels. "But the stone terrace levels in the back yard are not necessary for the two of us." The steps up the hill look like a stair case for a giant, the only thing I could picture is the bricks on the edge coming toppling down on any of the kids that are going to be living here.
With the deal going downhill fast, Julia takes us back inside. From the main level we go down a half flight of stairs to a family room, which is promising in my eyes. Folding his arms, Derek shows his discontent with the split level again. A falter sits on his face before he finds a simple cover that I would understand. "It would be more work to go up and down stairs while Lydia is pregnant." His tone suggests that Lydia is not his focus in that statement. "Not to mention the kids. I don't think you would forgive yourself if they fall down the stairs." This makes sense to me, but I doubt that we will ever find any house that is big enough for us and all on one level. "Are you ruling out multiple levels Derek? I don't think it's going to be possible to do that with the size we are looking for." Julia steps away for a moment, allowing us to discuss things.
"We could look for something with rooms spread across multiple levels, Until they are big enough, they could be on the ground floor. And in all honesty Stiles, how long do we think the kids will be too fragile to handle the stairs?" He has a point. Sawyer is only four, and he runs around like a complete lunatic. I'm a little too worried about it, I think it's because I spend too much time talking to Judith at the park. She has a little girl that Sawyer plays cars with when ever we go there. To wrap up this tour she walks us to the bedrooms up the half flight of stairs, there is carpet in all of the rooms, each with a different color wall paper that is actually eye catching. The rooms are just too small for me to picture any adults staying here on a full time basis.
Derek seems altogether unhappy with the place, so in lieu of offering any negative comments, he comments about how the price is good, and how he likes the grass. I quite enjoyed the kitchen, because it is located close to what would be our bed room. That is always good when I am denning, deep down I know that if that is the only reason I like this house, we will end up with a hefty investment in something that only makes me extremely happy for five to seven months at a time. I really don't like the house, but we both say nice things that we noticed.
After the first house, Julia drives us all to a tiny coffee shop that is located three blocks from our next destination. "So now we have a feel for what you like, and what won't fly. There is a great place close to here that I wanted you to see today since we are in the area." As we sit, she retrieves her tablet to show us a few pictures of what we are going to look at. From the pictures, the house looks like a better match than the place we just came from. "The house is on the market for $425,000… Which is below your budget, and like you requested, they have several acres attached to the back for more, if you are wanting them that is."
Derek is interested in the land and house way more than the coffee the waitress sets in front of him. "How much land for how much money?" No bull shit, to the point.
"The land that is possibly attached to the house is about 15 acres that are heavily wooded." That peaks both of our interests off the bat, "All together, the house and 15 acres would come up to $475,000. It's prime real estate because of the towns growth. So it's yours or it's a mall." Julia spoke facetiously. With the refreshments now gone, the three of us decide to drive on to the next house before the day ends.
When we pull up to the house, the sign in the front yard has all of the information we need. The house is listed for $425,000 with over 3000 sq ft. It's a 5 bed, 3.5 bath, and it has a basement. Julia skips the formalities in favor of walking us to the door because it's apparently a very hot item, according to her, "Anything with more than four bedrooms in todays society is bound to go fast." The house has a certain charm to it though, it looks like it's from a neighborhood, but it's at the end of it's own private drive.
On the other side of the entrance is the front room, the plan for the room was a living room, but I think it would be a pack meeting room. "Of course the bar in the corner would be stocked with tea, right babe?" Derek chuckles, mostly because it takes allot to get a werewolf drunk. We would probably have to clear three counties for the small pack we have. The arch way to the right of the bar leads into what we would use as the living room. Giant windows cover the back wall are equipped with shutter blinds. The blinds do their job well enough, but cleaning them is going to be a pain, as Derek points out. A huge fire place takes most of the west wall, with a spot to mount a flat screen above it. From the kitchen, the living room is only a countertop away with bar seating on living room side. The transition from room to room was easy enough for both my and Derek's likings.
Dark cabinets make up the kitchen, allowing the fridge to blend in to the design. Over kitchen sink sits a huge window that is rounded at the top, this window matches the others with it's white shutter blinds. However, these are open to the back yard area, which looks great from the sink. "The appliances need updating. But like you said earlier, those things should not be a deal breaker." Derek announces as we make our way to the food nook attached to kitchen. Above where a table should ideally go is a window with the same shutter blinds. This pair open as well, allowing natural light to pour in and illuminate the walls.
Through a tiny hallway off of the living room is the entrance to the master suite that we have been hoping for on the ground level. The room is wonderful, it's large and the walls are painted a deep red that gives off an air of power in my mind. Looking down, we notice the dark wood floors, we don't normally go for them in the bedroom. But this time, the floors seem to go well with the vision I get when I picture us living here. The bathroom that is attached to the master has a double vanity with granite counter tops. Quietly, I tug at Derek's arm, when he cocks his head to acknowledge me, I speak low enough that Julia can't hear me, but Derek will pick it up just fine. "I want you to fuck me on every surface of this house. Twice." So I am not subtle, so what. I mean when I look around, there is a great shower, it has built in benches and a large shower head, what more could one ask for in a shower. The tub in the corner can fit a few people in with space to spare. That double vanity has counter space in-between the sinks, we can be creative with that for sure. A door on the other side of the room leads to a walk in closet where we could be as loud as we want to be, when ever we want to be.
Derek's look of disapproval spurs me to behave for at least an hour, long enough to finish the tour for sure. Upstairs has the number of bed rooms we are looking for. With all of the sexually active bodies we would be housing, I think we would still have to build more houses on the land if we ended up here. The upper level has all hard wood floors. The rooms are all a fair size for adults to stay in. The people selling the house have made one of the rooms into a family 'den', which would be un necessary, so it would go back to being a bedroom again if we were to get the house. The whole floor has 2 bathrooms to split, which is rather good if you ask Julia.
Walking back down stairs, Julia has one more stop for us. The back yard is a good looking bonus to the rest of the house. A fair sized pool is accented with a sitting area. The fire pit and grill would be concerns for me with the children, but Julia assures me that nothing bad would happen here with all of the adults we have over.
On the way back to the office to part ways, we make casual small talk, but it's clear that Derek and I have something to take care of as soon as possible.
When I started typing all of this, I never expected to reach my 3,000 word limit this fast, so I decided to split this up over a few chapters. This is necessary for the plot development that I have planned. The house that is either voted fore or selected will be where they lean to. There will be one more house, so it is either the winner of these two or that one. As always, I hope you have enjoyed this installment of "Road to Hale". ~Bambam3527