Boxes. Boxes as far as the eye can see. Well, as far as my small, one bedroom apartment allowed. That’s right. My apartment. I spun around, arms outstretched, the centripetal force gathering all the blood at my fingertips. A sensation I will never get over. Everything around me in the boxes that spanned my small kitchen and common room was mine. Second year at Eastern Connecticut State University was going to be a blast. No more dorms. No more community showers and lack of air conditioning. Sweet freedom was all mine.
“Whoa there, ballerina Barbie.” My excitement was interrupted by my father’s mocking tone. I halted and the room continued to spin around my head. When the world settled I stared at my dad. He was a tall guy, strong jaw line, brooding face. Very dad-like. In his hands was the last box of the lot. “You sure you need all of this stuff?” He asked, setting the box down on top of a large blue tote much like the others around the room.
“I use all of these things.” I explained. He rolled his eyes at me, obviously not believing me.
“She really does.” My mother came wandering in through my front door, her dark blonde hair pulled back into a straight ponytail. She was holding a stuffed bear that I had had for as many years as I can think back to. She was sniffling and her blue eyes were watering, making the color even more vibrant. “You forgot Mr. Snuffles.”
“Mom, you did this last year. I thought we were over this already.” I groaned, stepping towards her. I took the bear from her grasp and tossed him over to the couch to my left. The look on her face was priceless, but it was just a bear. I pulled her into my arms, enveloping her in a tight hug.
“You have to call everyday.” Her voice was shaky, but she composed herself quickly and ran her fingers under her eyes after she pulled away from me and stood at my dad’s side.
“I’m not doing that, mom.”
“She’s not doing that, Suzanna.” My dad repeated. He hooked an arm around my mom’s small waist. How in the world did I get all the curves? “Let’s get going.” He pulled her towards the door. My mother protested, coming up with every reason to stay, but my dad pulled her away nonetheless. “We’ll see you in a few weeks, Ashleigh!” He called out before shutting the door, and that was that. That was my parents leaving me on my own, in my own apartment, free to do what ever I pleased.
I kicked off my shoes, got my phone out with some headphones and pressed play on one of my favorite bands, The Fratellis. Chelsea Dagger blared through into my ears and I danced my way around the boxes. Tomorrow marked the new semester at Eastern and the day was already half way over. Time to unpack. I pulled my lengthy hair into a messy bun at the top of my head. I grabbed the first box, pulling back the cardboard until it popped open. My smile grew when I saw what was on top. It was a collection of pictures from our family trip t Arizona. My fingers ran over the glossy surface of the photo of my brother and I. It was my new favorite picture of the two of us. I hopped over a few boxes to make my way over to the kitchen and magnet the picture to the fridge door.
Mitch decided the year that we graduated high school that he didn’t want to go to Eastern. Instead he went to New York to work on his dream of Publishing. He said something about twins going to the same college after high school was weird. I’ll never understand him.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, momentarily stopping the long list of music playing.
From Nicks: HEY!!! You here?
I quickly text my best friend, Nicole Dante, back. She must have just gotten into town after being in a car for nearly ten hours. I never understood why she chose a school so far away from her home in Cleveland. I, on the other hand, chose Eastern because it was still close to home, but the hour drive back to New Haven was still a hassle so I wouldn’t feel the urge to go home every weekend. I went home a lot last year, but that was because of Jake, and well, that didn’t turn out too well.
From Nicks: Good, I’m coming over. Village Heights, right?
About ten minutes of unpacking later, I heard a honk from outside. I made my way over to the window and looked outside for Nicks’ yellow, Volkswagen Beatle. There she was, waving like a lunatic. “I’ll buzz you in!” I called out to her. She nodded enthusiastically and hopped away from her car, her long dark brown hair tangling behind her. Moments later she was in my apartment, ogling at the amount of space I acquired for a minimal amount a month.
“Where’s your hot brother?” Nicks licked the tips of her fingers and smoothed her straight fringe that swept across her forehead. “Darn, he’s not here, is he?” She pouted. Her obsession with my brother, and several other guys that I am pretty sure she has never spoken to, was a little weird, but that’s just how Nicole “Nicks” Dante was.
We stood there and stared at each other before bursting out in a fit of happiness. “I haven’t seen you in so long! How was your summer?”
“You know, the usual. Slaving away with food service.” She shrugged. “How was your trip to AZ?” She peered over to my fridge and saw the picture I placed on its surface. A grin spread across her face as she took a few steps towards it and looked at it up close. “Oh yeah, looking good, Mitchel White. Looking good.”
“Oh my god, Nicks. Stop. That’s weird.”
“Hey, I can appreciate your good looking family members. Not just your brother. Your dad is a fine mother fu-“
“STOP.” I plugged my ears, refusing to hear another word of her weird affection. When I knew she had stopped she stuck her tongue out at me and winked. “Why am I friends with you?” I groaned, picking up another box and emptying its contents onto the kitchen table to see where they needed to go.
“Because I help you unpack.” She grabbed a bunch of cooking spoons and spatulas and stuck them in a drawer. Having Nicks there made unpacking much easier. Mostly everything was unpacked by the time eight o’ clock came around. My stomach gurgled and I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything all day, not since stopping and grabbing coffee and a pastry from the cafe back home in New Haven.
“Pizza?” I questioned.
“You read my mind.”
While waiting for the pizza to arrive I went over my schedule for the next day. I was pretty sure about where all my classes were. Eastern’s campus was small and easy to navigate and there was enough time in between my classes to get from first place to the next even if I got lost.
The buzz of the god’s came from the speaker at my door. Pizza was here. “Come on up.” Moments later there was a knock on my door and I paid for the pizza. We ate. We laughed. But then it got late and Nicks decided it was time to go. “Sociology in the morning?”
“First class of the day.”
“See you then, chica.” Nicks closed the door behind her and I locked it, turning around and leaning against the cold, wooden surface.
I looked at my mess of an apartment. Empty boxes were thrown every which way, but I couldn’t bring myself to clean it up that night. You never realize how tired you are until you stop for a moment and breathe. Though, in that moment I felt like a big ball of sweaty grossness. I dragged my sore, tired body into my fairly sized bathroom and stripped from my clothes after turning the showed onto the hottest temperature it had.
Steam quickly plumed into the air in the bathroom and fogged up the mirror. I watched myself disappear into a white cloud as I pulled my band from my hair and let the mess that was my hair fall down past my shoulders. I pulled the shower curtain back and stepped into the shower, quickly drowning myself under the showerhead. My hair stuck to my face as the hot water soothed my sore muscles. I sputtered water from my lips and pushed my hair from my face, taking a breath away from the water. I was glad for the fabulous water pressure. It was nothing like the community showers on campus.
I utterly forgot that I never put anything on my bed to sleep with when I stepped out from the bathroom and changed into some comfy sleep shorts and my oversized Eastern t-shirt. I was so exhausted that I didn’t even bother with the sheets. I merely threw my pillow and blanket onto the mattress and fell face first onto them. It was nearing midnight when I set my alarm for the next day and cuddled into my blanket. I closed my eyes, allowing sleep to be my partner for the night. As I drifted into that state of being asleep, but yet not completely dead to the world, a loud thump sounded from above.
That was nothing new. I dealt with the occasional noise from my upstairs neighbors the year before in the dorms. It was something I figured I could handle in the apartments near campus, which were where most students lived after the first year, myself as a prime example. Another thump and then silence. Good. I could go back to sleep and be ready for the next day. Well, that’s what I thought I could do, but the thumping continued, in a rhythm that only led me to believe that the upstairs tenant had quite the sex life. Then music started to play, loudly I might add.
I sat up with a huff, my hair fluffed out to the max no doubt. I waited a good thirty minutes for the music to stop with no avail. It was now nearing one in the morning and it needed to stop.
I climbed out of bed and slipped into some shoes. I grabbed a sweatshirt form my closet and pulled it over my head. It passed up my shorts, but that wasn’t a pressing problem at the moment. My noisy upstairs neighbor was my main problem. It was one in the morning on a Sunday, well now Monday. Why in the world was this person even awake? I grabbed my keys and headed down the hall to the stairwell where I then made my way upstairs and knocked on the apartment above mine’s door. The music died down and I could hear the doorknob clicking open.
I had everything in mind that I wanted to say, not too mean, although getting to the point, but when the door opened I was at a loss for words.
“Yes, love?” The guy standing in the doorway was wearing a sheet, wrapped around his waist. His torso and arms covered in seemingly random tattoos. I fought for my words, but my eyes demanded all of my brainpower. He had deep brown curls that swept across his head and pale green eyes that watched my every move. I felt self conscious about my over sized sweatshirt and too short shorts. But, oh god, that jaw line, chiseled by Michelangelo himself. I swooned in his direction. “Are you going to stand in my entrance way all night or are you going to speak?” His voice dripped heavily with a British accent.
I collected my thoughts and spoke quieter than I normally would. “Could you, uhm, turn your music off, please? It’s really late and I have to wake up early tomorrow.”
His soft expression hardened and his raised an eyebrow at me like I was absurd for even thinking about asking him to quiet down. “Not my problem.” I took a quick step back before I was caught in the door that was slammed in my face.
Rude.
A/N: Hey so there is chapter 1! I hope you guys liked it. Don't forget to vote and comment!
Much Love
Jachxx