The GEEKs

1. cats and light bulbs

"Have you met the neighbours yet?"

"Nope, and honestly it kinda feels like the whole building is half empty. Like I've heard someone walking in the hallway twice in two days." I report to Eva over the phone. Her and Gwen are back in San Diego visiting their families, as is Lizzy visiting hers in New York. As for me, I couldn't be arsed to go back to DC; I've already seen my family once this year and that's about as much as I need.

So there I am, in our new top-floor apartment which was about the only four bedroom place that we could actually afford. It kinda makes me feel anxious now thinking about what a bedlam this is gonna be once my three roommates come back to Seattle. I was the designated mover for all four of us though, since well, I'm the only one in the city right now, so I had to drag Eva's bags of shoes, Gwen's document folders, and Lizzy's stupid useless mattress all the way from the other side of the city. On the upside, I got to take the bedroom with a skylight.

So there I am. A fresh University of Washington graduate. For the first time in almost two decades I'm not supposed to start writing essays and working for grades that don't mean shit this September. Feels good, man.

"Gwen says you should just go knock on someone's door with some stupid pretext and introduce yourself." Eva relays the message to me.

"Since when is Gwen so interested in making friends?"

Eva laughs a little and I know all too well that's an expression of agreement. "At least you'd have something to do for the next six days until we get back."

"Yeah, no, I've been shredding away before you called, I'm using this solitary time to rekindle my love for the Jazzmaster."

"That's a good girl, get it out of your system before I get back."

"Oh fuck!" It took that long for my train of thought to fall of the rails. "I forgot to buy light bulbs again." To be fair, I only just remembered that because I can see the reds and yellows of the sunset crawling into the apartment from the living room window. I was working today; I work at this thrift shop, they have everything from gym socks that Shaq might have worn once to mixtapes that have witnessed disastrous love affairs and break ups. It's an okay place, especially for someone like me who enjoys digging through all sorts of random weird shit to pass the time, but the owner and her mother are hands down the two most annoying, bitter, out of touch with reality women I've ever met. "Well that calls for another night eating ice cream dinner in front of the TV. Why isn't there anyone left in Seattle to hang out with?" I whine thinking about how a lot of our friends moved away after graduation.

"See, this is exactly why you need to go meet the neighbours."

"Yeah, I'll just be like—"

"What?" Eva asks after a silent pause which occurred when I heard a knock on the door; not so much a knock as a bang really.

"Someone's at the door."

"Well go get it."

I don't know why but I sometimes get anxious about opening the door or answering the phone; it's not that I'm scared of people, but I guess I just get way too comfortable being by myself sometimes and it startles me when I'm suddenly being forced to communicate with someone. "Okay. Just so you know, this is probably how I die. Tell Gwen I'm still sorry about that sweater I burnt a hole in two years ago on the day after Christmas."

"Okay." Eva chuckles lightly and I hear whoever's at the door banging on it again. "I'll see you in a few days."

"If I'm not dead."

I make my way through the apartment that feels like an oven tonight since it's the very beginning of September and the sun still heats the world up, and that combined with the cheap roofing is never a pleasant experience. This better be someone good, I'm really not in the mood for dealing with desperate salesmen or...whoever else it could be... I have no idea what I was expecting to find on the other side of the door but when I see two grungy looking guys they somehow don't seem out of place at all, almost like I was anticipating their arrival. One's got a ridiculous frizzy mop of curls that makes him look like he's just been electrocuted and the other one's beaming at me with his baby blues that go so incredibly well with his baby face as I scan them.