Hating the Guy at the End...

Chapter Nineteen: Long Drop at the Top of the Social Pyramid

It's been three days since my apartment was broken into. Three days since I officially landed the job as a mentor and bartender, and when I spoke to Samuel about us taking it slow. It's been fine so far, I stayed over until the end of the week, like I promised. However, tonight is going to be the first time in a long time since I slept by myself in this tiny space. It felt weird being back, as if I were an intruder in my own home, especially when I was putting in new furniture that replaced the one that were damaged and when I hung my clothes back up in the closet.

The walls were repainted white to cover up the incoherent markings of teenagers, bed no longer held that metal bar bed frame that I carried from home- now it's just black wooden plaques at the foot and head of the bed. Every piece of furniture I brought was modern to replace the white pieces I lugged from my parents house- it was all gone, dumped in the trash to only be eaten by termites.

"You can't keep holding onto the past," Ronny said after pushing the wooden red oak desk into place. The theme of my room was red and black, it fitted the new pots and pans I brought from the thrift store, along with the curtains and blankets. It was really bold and made the room darker with a little personality, but I have to get use to it. "Besides," he sighed heavily while wiping his hands clean from sweat. "You are the one who wanted to change their future."

I slowly rolled my eyes at his correct statement, "I didn't mean material wise. I guess this makes me seem older, I didn't want Samuel walking into a college dorm."

"I'm sure the guy wouldn't care if you had a Mickey Mouse poster hanging on your wall."

"Well, Mickey Mouse those go with the coloring." I teased while actually thinking if I should put some posters up.

"You're not actually considering-"

"A little."

"Joy, if I walk in here and see kiddy posters up on these walls, I'm going to burn them on the sidewalk and burn you for even tapping them. Got it?"

I put my hands up in surrender, "Got it. You still coming to the bar tonight? I think Samuel is going to be there, so you two can finally meet face to face."

"Yeah, you mind if I bring Gabriela?"

"I thought you two weren't together?" I questioned while going into the kitchen to grab a warm beer Ronny brought over to motivate us to get the decorations done today.

"We're not, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends. It was just one drunken hookup."

"Okay, no need to get defensive, I'm just asking."

Ronny sighed heavily while rubbing the back of his neck in guilt, "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." I decided to pop open two beers, I can tell this conversation was going to get deep. He accepted the one I offered while I drunk from mine to warm my blood and make my muscles relax.

"Say if, hypothetically, you got a girl pregnant."

I spat out the beverage in my mouth all over the floor before choking on air and leaning over my knees to catch my breath. With the aid of Ronny patting me on the back and a few ugly coughs, I got myself together and sighed heavily. "Continue."

"Okay, so you find out she's pregnant by- maybe spotting the pregnancy test under a few loose tissues and you take a look at it, not intentionally snooping few her trash. But the girl doesn't know that you know and you try to play it cool but you're freaking out on the inside. Anyway, hypothetically speaking, what do you do?"

I blew raspberries while shrugging my shoulders out of instinct, "Hypothetically, I would speak to the girl about it. There's a low chance that it's not hers and it could be a friends, so it's best not to assume anything. Also, I would recall rather I wore a condom that night of a hook up you idiot! Seriously?!"