The Lease Up

5. Tongue Teaser

Song for Chapter: Paralyzer ~ Finger Eleven

GABRIEL

These last couple of weeks have been the longest I've experienced doing a lease up. Walk-in traffic has been coming in steadily and the prospects are leaving deposits faster than we have units available which is not surprising.

But the staff is not up to par.

I advised Cynthia to let Lily go after the third day. The poor girl just doesn't have the leasing chops, at least not for this large of a project. She was sweet, but lacked a sense of urgency and even basic common sense.

Cynthia spends her time 'building relations' with different vendors, but I'm not surprised seeing as Keith is known to have a similar work style. And the maintenance team needs to be micromanaged to ensure shit gets done.

I've been handling more paperwork than I usually do, processing applications to get people moved in quickly, but we have a new leasing agent, Evan, who seems eager to do his part and seems promising with his three year experience in the industry.

But none of that has been occupying my mind as much as the strong urge to see Vanessa again. Knowing she's fifty feet away every single day has been more distracting than anything else I've experienced and I find myself constantly looking across the street hoping for a glimpse of her.

The more effort I put into not thinking about her, the more impossible it becomes. The thought of shopping her property like she did with ours crosses my mind, but I've already done my research. Besides, her low-income property is in another tier compared to the luxury high end property that is Arbor Pointe.

There is a negative stigmatism with affordable housing in the industry, but times have changed and unless you specifically ask or know a property offers low-income, they are hard to distinguish, within reason, some management companies are better at changing the image than others.

"Your double espresso, Gabriel." The barista smiles, placing my drink on the table before returning behind the counter. I've been coming to the quaint coffee shop around the corner from the property before work enough so that they know my drink before I even order it.

I take a sip, enjoying the heat and strong flavor coating my throat. My eyebrows furrow noticing the writing on the side of the cup; turning to read a phone number with a note:

Call me, Kelsey.

Catching the flirty smile from the barista before she helps the next customer, I groan. Great, looks like I won't be coming here again. Obviously, I use my looks as an advantage when I outreach, but that doesn't mean I want to get hit on. Harmless, flirty banter here and there? Sure. But anything beyond that is just tacky.

My gaze lifts to the sound of the bell at the entrance signaling a customer walking in and I smile when I see who it is.

Vanessa's dark sunglasses shield her eyes against the bright morning sun, before she removes them. Her business casual look is sexy and professional all at the same time with her bold red lip color, black pants and checkered gray halter top with a ruffle-like tie and thin strapped peep toe heels. They're still lower than the ones she wore that night; she must reserve those only for special occasions. Her black hair is curled in perfect loose waves.

She has a small stack of papers in her hands and I grin knowing she's here to outreach, but it's too late—two weeks too late—I've already staked claim here.

Kelsey, the barista, greets her asking what she can get for her, Vanessa glances at the menu briefly before giving her order and then she goes into her spiel, displaying the papers in her hands.