Colorful Hands(Lucky Blue Smith)

Chapter 2

A.J's POV

I have to admit that Lucky's studio apartment exceeded my expectations.  He kept going on about how small it is and was really playing it down on the way here.  The door has flaking pieces of white paint coming off on it with the numbers 56 loosly screwed to it.  

Once he was able to unlock the door after giving the door knob a good jiggle, my eyes widened as I took in the small room that was his home.  It was roughly 380 square feet with one bathroom, a small kitchen area, a large closet, and "living space".  Despite the two mini fridges stacked on top of each other and the water stains seeping down the white walls, it was homey and I was expecting something dirtier.  

As I took some more steps into the room I see the futon and the small twin mattress that is pushed up against the wall with a few stray blankets thrown around.  

"I know it's not much." Lucky broke the silence.

"No! This is so cute, I really like it." I say and he looks down at his feet and then back up at me.

"I should have let you know that I have a room mate. But he is gone for another day so it won't be crowded tonight." He says waiting for my reaction.

How can he possibly live with another person in this apartment?

"Oh. It must be quite the squeeze in here when he is home." I say looking around the room again, yet still standing awkwardly holding all my luggage.

"Here let me....take your luggage." he says glacing around the room while trying to find a place to put my large suit case.

I sit down on the futon and bite my lip as it squeaks.  I smell so bad and I have been wearing these clothes for 2 days, not to mention its 2:56 in the afternoon and I haven't eaten any of my meals for the day.  

"Hey..Lucky...would you mind if I walked around the city to get, I don't know, like a feel for it?" I say while playing with the rip in my jeans, hating  how bad I am with strangers.  

"Yeah do you want me to show you around West Harlem, ya know show ya the ropes." He says kinda moving his hands at that last part.

"That would be fantastic! Can I change first though. Don't want to be caught in this in case we pass any street style photographers." He laughs at my "joke" but in my head I was being serious yet I laugh along anyway.

I open up my suitcase and start to carefully dig through it.

"Wow, lots of black." Lucky says noticing my clothes that I'm going through.

"Uh. Yeah it's one of my favorite colors." I say not really even knowing how to explain my mainly black woredrobe to him. "I'm just gonna change in the bathroom, kay?" He leads me to the bathroom and I close the door and lock it out of habit.

It's not as clean as the rest of the house and the toilet seat it up.  Tooth paste is in a pile on the counter and the shower curtain is basically 100% beige, though you can see that it was once white.  I put on my clothes and change out of my boots that have made my feet stinky and sweaty these last few days.

I come out and grab my black purse. ((pic of outfit attached))

"Wow. You look like a true New Yorker." Lucky says with a smile.  He has a black crew neck sweat shirt on and back jeans on too, they have faint speckles of paint on them here and there but I notice his all black outfit too. 

"Wow. Lots of black." I say mimicking his words from earlier. We both chuckle and walk out the door onto the streets of West Harlem, Manhatten. 

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"And thats the closest Subway station." Lucky says pointing to the sign that says "125th St." And I nod smiling as we are back around the loop outside the apartment building.

"I really like this part of town." I say still rather shy even though I just walked around with this Lucky guy for over an hour.

Lucky gives the doorman a little wave as we walk to the elevators.

Wow. Doorman.  Fancy.

Once we are in the old elevator, I glace at Lucky and he is taping his fingers on his thighs.  He always looks like he is thinking and uncomfortable, and that starts to make me uncomfortable, and I blush as I feel like it's my fault that he thinks this is awkward.  

I sigh as the door of the elevator dings and then opens. I can't help myself and my nosey ways any longer. 

"If you feel uncomfartable with me staying with you tonight, I totally understand, I really can stay somewhere else, I just don't-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, what the hell are you talking about?"

"I just..you have been....You seem like you're thinking about something all the time. And I feel like it's that you're uncomfortable with me staying with you." I say starting to feel embarrassed by my accusations.

"I'm totally cool with this, you're probably the least sketchy looking stranger that I have let into my house." he says looking me dead in the eye. "I'm just nervous about my room mate, and I guess I am thinking about you meeting him and him meeting you and-"

"What's wrong with me meeting him?" I cut him off.

"Nothing 'wrong with him', he is just a little different, and you look like a ....like.. I dunno....a young, pretty girl, yes that's it a young, pretty girl." He stays messily running his fingers through his bleached hair.

"That doesn't make sense to me." I say even more confused than I was before.

"Don't worry about it okay, I promise nothing to worry about." He smiles and opens the apartment door and motions for me to enter.

I nod my head "And I can't thank you enough for even just letting me stay here and showing me aroun- moutherfucker!" I clench my jaw as I land loudly on my butt, falling once again today this time slipping on a large puddle that was in the path of the door.

"Holy- are you okay." Lucky looks up "God dammit. Another leak!" gripping my waist we slowly walk over to the futon where he sets me down.  "I'm sorry we havn't had trouble with leaks in a while." he tells me as he walks over to the closet to get a bucket, but once he opens it canvases and sketch books all topple out.

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Author's Note:

Hey, I'm going to continue updating this story. Please let me know what you think of it and what I can do to make it better, this is my first story so constructive critism would help!