Ali's POV
Here I am. Standing at the front of my new apartment.
It's worse than the website.
It was dark and smelled like dead rats. There's only four rooms. The bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and living room. They're all small as hell.
Once you walk in you're immediately in the kitchen. To the left there is a doorframe that looks like the door was taken. When you walk through the doorframe you see the living room then bedroom. The divider went down the whole room and stopped about two feet away from the wall so you can go back and forth to the bedroom and the living room.
The bedroom only had room for the bed. It was those kind of beds when you pull it down from the wall. I don't even know if I want to sleep in that bed. If I did I'd probably land in something gooey or fall off because of how small it was. All the rooms had barely enough space to have people walking around in.
The kitchen was- ew.
The bathroom? Don't even want to talk about it.
There was a small living room next to the bedroom and it was the biggest room. I might as well lay a blanket on the floor and sleep there. It's the safest place to sleep. Once I put my luggage on the floor of the bedroom my phone rings.
I look at my phone to see that Andy was calling me.
"Hello?" I answer the phone.
"How's the apartment?" Andy asks right away.
I look around the cruddy apartment with my eyes observing every corner. I swear I saw mold coming from one of the corners.
"I think I'm going to cry." I state eyeing the mold.
"That bad?" Andy asks.
God, if she was hear she should even run out screaming.
"100 times worse than the website." I say walking out the apartment. It was getting too stuffy in there.
"Maybe it was a bad idea to move out of Luke's apartment if the best you can do is that." She says.
"Well, if you find any apartments for me that's better than this and as cheap tell me as soon as possible." I say sitting down in front of my door.
"How are you going to pay for that anyway?" Andy asks.
"Oh, about that." I say trailing off.
"What is your devious little mind thinking of?" Andy asks teasingly.
"I," I paused, "was thinking of dropping out of school so I can get jobs." I say quickly.
"What?" Andy screams. "You're going to drop out?" she asks.
"And what do you mean jobs? You're going to get more than one?" She yells once again.
"Yeah." I say stretching it nervously.
"You're crazy! You need the education, Ali!" Andy yells.
"I know, but I need a roof over my head. That's more important to me than education." I say.
"If you need any help you let me know." Andy says kindly giving up.
"Thanks, bye." I say hanging up.
Great. I have to work myself thin to keep this crappy apartment and drop out of school just so I can do that.
Honestly, I do want an education. Everyone does. Having an education means having a good job and future.
I want a good future.
But I guess no one gets everything they want. Especially the one thing they want most.
I put my phone in my pocket and look at the cracked ceiling. This is not how I imagined myself to be once I moved here. I thought that I would be living in a decent apartment living happily away from John. But, no. I can't because I'm me. And I never have a good outcome.
"Ali?" I hear a voice call out to me.
I look up to see the face I least expected.
"Hunter?" I ask squinting my eyes a little to see if I was imagining it.
"What are you doing here?" he asks coming closer to me.
"What are you doing here? I thought you live farther away." I said.
"Everyone tells their lies." he says sitting next to me.
"Why are you living in this crappy place?" I ask.
"Well, this is what my family can afford. What about you?" he asks.
"Same." I shrug my shoulders.
We stay there in silence for a while. We don't even move.
"So, where you heading.” I ask him awkwardly.
"Oh yeah, I got to go to my job." He says getting up.
Wow. He works too and this is all they can afford?
"Bye, see you later." I say waving at him. He waves back and heads all the way down to the end of the hallway to the elevator.
I sigh and get up myself. I then go to the elevator and head out of the apartment complex and started walking around to find any place that's hiring. I had to quit that other job at the music store since I couldn't make it there in time from how far away my apartment was from Luke’s. Plus, it would be better if I had a good amount of distance away from him.
I told Leo about how I had to move apartments and that I'm dropping out of school to keep it. He was mad, but he got over it after a couple of weeks. He knew that I was more concerned about having a roof over my head than having an education. He himself didn't finish school either. The only difference is that he has someone to help him. Nikki.
After a couple of hours I found a waitress job at the end of my street. It's a good thing I don't have to walk that far. I'll have to see how this job works out until I get another job.
It was a homey kind of restaurant. The restaurant is in the middle of small and big. I can tell that I was going to like it. The people there is very kind and the uniform wasn't bad. It was just a plain black shirt with jeans. I'm sure I have that in my wardrobe.
I walk around some more to get use to where I am now that I have the time. It wasn't that different from the other apartment's surroundings. Stores cramped against each other on each side of the road, people walking everywhere. I think the difference was that there is a lot more smokers here.
I'm a little scared to go back to my apartment. I don't want to see the mold covering the corners, or the rings covering the tub of the bathroom.
I take in a deep breath and put my key in the hole.
"Ali!" I hear Hunter's voice call out and I take out my key from the hole and sigh in relief.
"Hey!" I say turning to him. He just got out of the elevator.
"Want to come over for dinner?" he asks me running over to me.
"Is it ok with your parents?" I ask.
"She won't mind," he gestures to his door, "coming?"
"Yeah." I say following him to his door.
Once we walk in it's just like mine, but so different. It was all so- clean.
The kitchen looked spotless and once I walked into the living room everything was so organized.
"It's clean right?" Hunter says. Can he read minds? I think he catches this by my facial expression.
"The apartment was filthy once we moved in here. We cleaned it up." he explains.
"The white walls also make it look brighter and cleaner." he says pointing to the walls. I nod my head taking in the sight.
In the living room was a blanket that was stretched out with a couple pillows at the head of the blanket. In the middle of the huge blanket was more blankets folded up. I look over to the bedroom to see the same bed I have but with different sheets.
"This must have taken a long time." I say walking back into the kitchen where Hunter was.
"Not that long. We finished it all in a day. We had a lot of helping hands to help us." he says opening a few cabinets.
"I hope you don't mind rawmen." he says grabbing two of them.
"I lived the rawmen life. I don't mind." I say. He smiles and adds water into the containers and puts it in the microwave.
When both of our soup is done we sit in the living room eating it from the container. We both just eat in silence. I'm being extra careful not to spill anything on the blanket.
"You know, tomorrow we can help you clean up yours." he offers.
"No, I don't want to be a bother."
"No, it's fine. My little siblings love to clean. I also have more white paint so we can paint your walls too." he smiles at me with bright eyes.
"Sure, thanks." I say taking in some more noodles.
I look up at him to see that he was still looking at me. I begin to feel cautious about myself and tug at my clothes.
"What?" I ask sitting up straighter and wiping my mouth.
"I just forgot how beautiful you are." he said gazing at me.
"And you say that you aren't good with girls." I say rolling my eyes.
"I'm not. I guess I'm only good with you." he says putting his elbow on his knee and propping his head with his hand.
"Sure." I say sarcastically. He laughs and I stand up to throw away my container, he does so as well.
"I'm serious." he said leaning against the sink.
"And I believe you." I say as I walk back into the living room with him following me not too far behind.
"Hunter we're home!" I hear a voice yell out.
Once I turn around I see three children come running to Hunter happily calling his name repeatedly.
"Hunter sorry we're late dear, I was held back at work." she says from the kitchen.
Once she sees me in the living room she stops in her tracks staring at me with amusement. I was too busy watching the kids being so cute with Hunter to notice until a few minutes.
"Who's this?" She asks kindly to Hunter.
"Oh, this is Ali. She just moved in." he tells his mother.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Laura, Hunter's mother." Laura says walking over to me holding her hand out.
"The pleasure is all mine." I say shaking her hand once she's close enough.
I glance over to Hunter sitting on the floor with his two little brothers and little sister. I can't help but laugh at how he's tickling them.
"He's a fine man." Laura whispers to me.
"Yeah, he really is." I say still looking at him.
"Oh yeah, mom, can we help Ali clean up her apartment tomorrow morning?" Hunter asks sitting up.
"Of course! It must be filthy." she says putting her hand on my shoulder.
After a while I learn that Alex, one of the boys, is the second oldest. Chase, the other boy, is next after Alex. The girl's name is Zoey and she's the youngest. They're all so beautiful.
"I'm sorry, but it's getting late. I should go back to my apartment." I say standing up from the living room floor.
"Ali, you have to leave?" Zoey asks tugging at my pants.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'll see you tomorrow though!" I say patting her head.
"Ali, you should spend the night here. You don't want to sleep in that filthy apartment do you?" Laura says standing up as well.
"Oh, I can't. I don't want to be a bother." I say shaking my head.
"C'mon just one night. It'll be fine." Hunter says still sitting on the floor with Zoey on his lap.
After a couple of minutes of thinking I end up staying the night with them. The kids cheer and so does Hunter playfully.
We all got ready for bed and Laura was the one that got the bed and the kids slept on the floor with Hunter. I slept on the floor also lying next to Zoey.
"Ali?" I hear Hunter's voice whisper from the other side of the blanket once all the kids fell asleep.
"Yeah?" I answer softly.
"Never mind."