#2
Madelyn's POV
Here goes nothing.
I clutch onto Bruno's leash a little tighter in one hand, using the other to grip my suitcase handle. I stand on the pavement outside a beautiful apartment building.
My apartment building.
That's going to take a while to get used to. Of course I don't own the building, but it's where I'll be living for hopefully the next four years.
I wait anxiously for my roommate to come down to get me.
I texted her a minute ago, so she will be down any second. I watch the front glass door as it opens revealing the girl I'm assuming is my roommate. She stands slightly taller than me, yet not enough to tower over me. Her body is lengthy and slightly tanned, with her dark blonde wavy hair parted to the side and cascading down her back.
She glides towards me, smooth on her feet. Unlike me. She stops directly in front of me and extends a hand, I release my suitcase handle and grasp her hand in mine.
"Hi I'm Caroline, but you can call me Cara."
"I'm Madelyn, nice to meet you." She releases my hand. Shortly after, I turn towards Bruno, "and this is Bruno my service dog"
"May I pet him?" She questions.
"Go for it"
She breifly allows him to sniff her hand before running her fingers through his dark fur, "nice to meet you too Bruno"
"You can follow me" she motions with her hand.
I follow behind Cara through the front door of the building. She quickly greets someone as they pass us, before leading Bruno and I into the elevator.
The ride is silent aside from the elevator gears turning and the ding as we pass each floor. The ride slightly awkward due to the social tension.
Bruno and I are led a couple feet away from the elevator. The door has large gold numbers on it, reading "325".
She twists the knob and leads us into the apartment. The wooden floor dark, matching the kitchen cabinets. Yet contrasting the lighter walls and doors. I release Bruno's leash once the front door is shut.
"And... your room is right here" she stands in front of two doors, and taps on the left one. "I've put your stuff that came in the mail here as well"
"Thanks"
"No problem. I'm going to start making dinner. When you're finished getting settled in, we can go over the boring paperwork. Any requests for dinner?"
"I'm good with anything" I reply wheeling my stuff towards my room.
I finish putting my bed together and then making it, before my stomach inevitably starts to rumble. I decide to take a break and walk out to the kitchen.
"How's everything going? Do you need some help putting the furniture together?" Cara asks.
"I managed to put my bed together, but later, I'd really appreciate some help."
I still have a desk, dresser, and a couple night stands that still require assembly.
***
"Signing this paper essentially states that you are going to pay rent and the security deposit, you can read all of it if you want." Cara tells me.
I lightly flip through the stack of pages and decide not to read all of it. "I believe you" I grab the paper and a pen, signing my name in multiple spots.
I know I shouldn't believe someone I just met, but I decide to anyways.
"Okay now that that is settled, help yourself to dinner"
"It smells delicious"
As I'm shoving my face with food, Cara breaks the silence. "So where are you from?"
I swallow the food in my mouth before opening it, "Maine, born and raised" I respond, "you?"
"I've lived here my entire life" she responds, "what are some of your hobbies?" Cara asks.
"Um, reading and swim I guess. It's not really my favorite thing, but my mom made me stick with it in high school and then I got a full ride. I don't really do much else, swimming kinda controls my life"
"I like reading and swimming too, and I'm not just saying that so that it seems like we have a lot in common. I'm actually on the swim team at our college." Cara pauses and I take that moment to nod, letting her know that I'm paying attention. "What's your favorite book?"
"Probably A Child Called It, I normally gravitate towards romance but this one is nonfiction. As terrible as the situation is, it is a really good book."
"I've heard of that one. But I have yet to read it." She pauses, "Who do you have back home? For family? Friends? Boyfriend?" She says, carrying the conversation.
"No boyfriend. It's just my brother, my mom, and I. My brother is biological, but my mom adopted us when I was 8 and he was 6." I respond, doing my best to open up about the things I don't like talking about. We're roommates now, so we'll have to get comfortable with each other sooner or later. "What about you?"
"It's my mom, my dad, and my twin brothers. They're 15"
"Teenage boys are the worst. I know from experience, my brother is 16. Maybe when my brother comes to visit, our brothers can hang out."
"For sure, I'll talk to them about it"
***
Today is Friday. Cara and I plan on ordering a pizza and watching Grey's Anatomy all night. Over the last week, Cara and I have actually gotten pretty close. At least as close as you can get with someone within the span of a week. Turns out we have quite a bit in common.
We switch on Grey's Anatomy, starting from the beginning.
"Ugh Meredith and Derek are so perfect together" I take a bite out of the triangle slice of pizza I have in my hand. "Literally look at how he looks at her, you can just see the love in his eyes"
"I know. They're perfect together, too bad he dies" Cara replies before taking a sip of her root beer.
"No. Cara, why would you tell me that? He can't die"
"I'm sorry, but it's true"
"No" I say, unable to fathom what she told me.
This is one of the many things I love about Grey's Anatomy. I love that the writer of the show has no mercy. Normally, I would know for sure that none of the main characters are going to die. But with this show, I never know. It keeps the show suspenseful.
We go back to watching our Grey's Anatomy and arguing about the death of Derek Shepherd. I suddenly hear music coming through the wall.
"What the hell is that?" I ask Cara.
She groans and rolls her eyes, "The hot douche next door likes to party. I guess we just have to wait it out."
"So why don't you tell him to stop?" I ask.
"Because he's going to do what he wants"
"Ugh. I'll do it"
"Wait what are you doing?" She questions.
I stand without answering and walk towards the door, "telling the douche to shut the hell up"
"Have fun"
I go to the room next to mine and Cara's and bang on the door just below the golden letters.
No response.
I bang on it until it swings open, exposing the loud music to the outside world, an unsteady man stands in the doorway. "Heeeyyy"
"Hi, can I talk to the person who is throwing the party?"
"You're talking to him babe"
"Babe?" I question under my breath, but decide to let it go.
"My friend and I live next door, and we would like you to turn the music down"
"No can do. We're partying. If you want you can join. Or my room is right over here if you want to..."
"Just turn down the music" I yell, making sure he can hear me over the trash that is playing
Before he can respond, some random blonde attaches his mouth to his.
"Excuse me?" I yell, but neither the guy nor the girl budge. I push past them and into the apartment. Theres a hoard of sweating drunk teenagers grinding on each other. Once I spot the large speaker, I walk over to it, grab the cord and tear it from the wall. The music instantly stoping. Many groans echo around the room in protest. "Party's over" I yell.
The initial guy I just talked to is no where to be found. I ignore the groans and slip right out of the apartment, shutting the door behind me.
I reenter my apartment and plop down on the couch. To my surprise, the music doesn't start back up.
"How did you get him to turn it down?" Cara questions.
"He started making out with some girl while I was talking to him, so I just walked in and unplugged the speaker"
Cara's jaw drops, "that's sounds exactly like something he would do"
"Unplug the speaker?" I question, confused.
"No, start making out with someone while he's talking to another person"
"You know him?"
"Yeah, we went to high school together, and now we go to the same college. He is the infamous Cole Hart. The biggest player there is. I'm pretty sure every single girl in my high school had slept with him. I guess it makes sense though, he's unbelievably hot" she smiles.
"Please don't tell me you're swooning over the walking STD"
"Did you see his mesmerizing green eyes, his god like face, and the perfect swoosh of his dark brown hair?"
I pretend to think, "actually, it was kinda hard to see his face with some blonde sucking the life out of him"
She rolls her eyes.
"Also, I have dark brown hair and green eyes too. And no guy has ever swooned over me" I say.
"You guys would be perfect together" She gushes "he could be your person".
My jaw drops in astonishment, "Sorry, I'm not interested"
"You should be, at least for one night."
"Can we just get back to watching the perfect couple?"
"Whatever you say" she says, her voice going an octave higher.
***
I wake up to the light shining through my window.
I groan and attempt to rub the sleep from my eyes. I physically roll off my bed and start to walk to the living room, not bothering to change from my oversized shirt and small pajama shorts. On my walk to the living room, I toss my messy hair up in a messy bun. I watch as Cara hurries around the apartment, getting ready for... actually, I don't know.
"There's breakfast on the counter if you want some" Cara says quickly while putting her jacket on, "oh, and can you get the mail please? I'm waiting for something"
"Yeah, of course. Where are you going?" I question.
"I have a job interview. I'll be back in a bit"
"Okay, see you later"
"Bye, don't forget the mail" she says quickly as she walks out the door.
"I won't"
After she shuts the door, I go to the kitchen counter and find two over easy eggs with toast and some strawberries. I smile to myself, when we first moved in together, we talked about our favorites, and I told her this is my favorite thing for breakfast. My mom used to make it for me everyday when I was little. I'm surprised she remembered. I switch on the tv, and plop down on the couch with my breakfast.
After I finish eating, I wash the dishes and thoroughly brush my teeth. I grab my house key and leave the apartment, not bothering to get dressed or try to look even remotely presentable.
I shut the door behind me and lock it. But since I'm me, the key slips from my fingers. "Shoot" I mutter under my breath, bending down and retrieve the key.
"Damn, you've got a nice ass"
I immediately stand up and turn around, astonished at the objectifying comment coming from behind me. Low and behold, my douche of a neighbor. "Excuse me? Do you need something, or are you just going to stand there and make objectifying comments?"
He takes a couple strides forward.
I place my hand on his chest, feeling the taut muscles beneath his shirt, "not interested, so don't even waste your time"
I walk away from him and towards the elevator. I press the down button, soon after, the doors open. I press the button to take me to the ground floor. As soon as the doors are about to close, contrary to what I wanted, someone stops them.
I huff as I look up and see Cole. He steps in and the doors shut behind him.
"Do you need something?" I ask again.
He opens his mouth to speak but I decided I should probably rephrase my question.
"Something not 100% impossible"
He opens his mouth to speak but then I realize I should probably rephrase it again. I hold my hand up to silence him. "Actually, let me rephrase that. Something that has a possibility of it happening"
"Actually I was just going to get my mail" he says.
My face instantly turns red, "Sorry" I whisper.
He looks at me and just starts laughing. He clutches his stomach and literally almost falls to the elevator floor laughing.
In between laughing, he manages to say "you're... face is... so.. red"
It's not that funny.
The elevator dings as it reaches the ground floor, the second the doors open, I walk out. And by walk I mean basically run. The type that people do in the mall, the type that people go to the Olympics for.
"Wait" he calls after me.
I ignore him and continue to my mailbox. Sticking the key in and twisting it until it eventually pops open. Before I can grab my mail, Cole catches up to me.
"Sorry about that. Hi I'm Cole Hart"
I grab my mail and turn around after locking the mailbox.
"I'm not interested"
"I'm just trying to introduce myself"
I stay silent for a while, as I walk back to the elevator. I get in as soon as the doors slide and press the level that my apartments on. Cole comes in right behind me, carrying his own mail.
"I'm Cole" he tries again, "and your name is...?"
"Madelyn"
"Did you just move here?"
"Yeah"
"Where from?"
"Maine"
"Why would you come here out of all places?"
"I got offered a full ride for swimming"
"I'm sure there is other places closer to Maine that would give you a full ride. Why here?"
I don't answer. I'm not about to tell a stranger about my messed up childhood, and why I wanted to leave so badly.
"Bye Hart" I say as I exit the elevator and walk the couple feet it takes to my apartment. I unlock the door as fast as possible, walk in and shut the door behind me.
Bruno walks up to me, noticing my off breathing. I pet him to help steady myself. After a while, I feel better. "Thanks Bruno" I say, leaning down to give him a kiss on top of the head.
I never knew going to get the mail would be such a hassle.
Why was he so interested in me?
Probably to get in your pants my inner voice says.
True I reply... to myself.
Wow... I sound like a psychopath.
***
It's been about a month, Valentine's Day passed last week. I spent another Valentine's Day single, I think that makes it 18. 18 years that I've been single. Never ever, in my entire life have I had a boyfriend. Guys just aren't interested, and I don't do all that lovey dovey sappy stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love watching it on tv and in movies and reading about it, but that kind of stuff just isn't for me. I don't do love. I don't see a point. You spend all the time letting a person break down you're walls, you starts to trust them, and they can destroy you with just a couple words.
Anyways, swim team practices are starting soon. Which would usually make me super anxious. The only thing that is helping is the fact that Cara is also on the team, so I'll know at least one person.
Ring
Ring
Ring
"Cara, your phone is ringing" I yell, she is currently in her room getting dressed.
"Coming" she yells.
Second later she grabs her phone and answers it, "hello... yes, this is her..." her face lights up "I did?... thank you so much... Monday sound great... see you then... bye" she presses the end call button.
"Who what that?" I question.
"I got the job" she says, elated.
Cara doesn't have a whole lot of savings left, and her parents always told her they wouldn't help her pay for things once she hit 18. She had a job, but she lost it and has been looking for a job for a while.
"Oh my gosh I'm so proud of you" I say, matching her tone of voice. I stand up and engulf her in a hug.
Once I release her, she realizes she has to go. She puts her shoes on and grabs her backpack. "I'll see you after school? At practice?" She asks me.
I don't have class today because my professor is sick.
"Of course"
"Bye"
"Bye, have fun"