Meet On The Ledge || Greta Van Fleet

Chapter 26

    2016 - September

    I was so close to New York, I could almost taste the freedom. I opened the windows to feel the warm wind on the highway towards the Lincoln Tunnel. I hadn't slept for a long time, not taking the time to stop along the way. I was kept up by coffee, Coca Cola, and playing music. I should have been listening to loud rock n' roll but I settled for the classics. Cat Stevens poured through the speakers. When I listened to music like this it made me think and I needed time to really think. I thought a lot about Jake, I thought about her too. I thought about how much I loved him and I could only imagine how much she loved him. We hadn't talked about it for almost a year, our plan had worked. He never made me feel like there was someone else, I was always his priority, but he still had never ended things with her which hurt me to my core. A core that Jake had never even seen, let alone dove into.
    It was early in the morning when I arrived to my new home. The building was large and grey. People were walking in and out with huge roller bins filled with their things. I left the car double parked outside and walked in to register. First, they gave me my key, then a badge to get into the building. I took the elevator up to the 15th floor, I'd never lived that high up before. As I turned the key in the door, I heard people inside. The door swung open and I was greeted by an older woman. "Hello dear!" I didn't recognize her, was I supposed to?

    "Hi.."

    "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm Kate's mom." I stayed silent, as I didn't know who Kate was. "She's one of the freshman staying in the suite.

    "Ohhh... I'm Maggie!" I stretched my hand out to her.

    "Well, come in, come in!" I walked into the dorm, it was bigger than I thought. There was a little living area with a couch, a table, and kitchen supplies (i.e. a fridge, stove, oven, microwave etc.). Then there were two doors, each of them had two beds in them. The doors each had two names on them. One said Margaret and Katherine, the other said Lily and Dylan. I walked into the room that had my name on in and was greeted by a girl I could only guess was Katie.

    "Hey, are you Margaret?" She smiled at me, as she hung up a black and white poster of JFK and Jackie Kennedy in a little sailboat putting up the mainsail.

    "Yeah, but everyone calls me Maggie or Mags. You must be Kate?" She nodded, smiling wide. She had beautiful long blonde hair, the type most people are envious of and green eyes, god did I wish I had green eyes. "Have you been here long?" I said, noticing that her bed was made and most of the stuff was hung up.

    "About an hour, but my parents are here to help, so it went by faster." She picked up another poster, this time it was a Talking Heads poster. I didn't expect that.

    "You like the Talking Heads?" I asked a little surprised.

    "Yeah, I love them, the music is other worldly." She said happily. "Hey, do you want any help unpacking? I'm almost done and we have the whole day. I smiled at her.

    "That would be great, but if you decide you don't want to anymore you can just say so."

    "Nonsense, we're roommates, that's what friends are supposed to do." I didn't think about that. She was going to be my first friend in this city... weird to think about. "Plus, my dad loves this stuff. He'll hang your power strips for you and make sure posters are even. He's weird like that, but hey he is a dad." I laughed at that, what it must be like to have a dad that really cares. Someone who would do anything to make you happy.

    We spent the rest of the morning taking trips to my car and fixing up my part of room. I would have been totally screwed without the Fitzgeralds. After that, Katie's parents left, but not before getting my parents information so they could send pictures of us decorating the room. We were left alone to just sit and talk. "Do you wanna do anything tonight?" I asked.