"I meant what I said, Sophie!" My Dad scolded me as he pointed his finger in my face, sternly.
"Yes, yes, Dad, I get the point." I roll my eyes, "This is going to be an eye opening experience, where I learn to be a responsible adult and what not."
I wave my hands with fake and sarcastic enthusiasm, as we stand in the middle of the street. Just behind us was a large moving van, currently being unloaded of boxes that contained my personal things. Just by our feet, my things began to build up as we stared at each other.
He let out a large sigh, digging into his pockets. I could hear the spear change rattling around and clashing together as he fished for what he wanted.
Finally he hooked out a silver set of keys and dangled them in my face. Slightly taunting me, not letting me grasp onto them just yet.
"You've got 3 months young lady! I have paid your rent for 3 months and for that long only. After that, this apartment is your own responsibility to pay for. During your time away from home you're going to learn to provide for yourself instead of dipping into the family bank whenever you want." My dad told me, still gripping onto my keys, "That means you're going to have to get a job of your own. In the meantime, I've transferred money into your account for basic things like food and toiletries. But from now on you need to earn your own luxuries!"
I looked into his serious eyes. He had the same pale blue eyes as I did, only they looked a lot more angry and cold. His lips were folded into a frown which reflected the bad attitude that had developed towards me, his only daughter, over the years.
"I said, I get the point." I sighed dramatically, as I swipe the keys from his hands.
Like a spoilt child, I cross my arms over my chest and huffed down at the floor. My life recently took a turn for the worst and my father's actions were far from supportive.
All my life I had been treated like a child, being showered in expensive things and everything I could ever ask for. I never had to work a day in my life, because my father always provided for me. He wanted that support to continue and to make sure it did, he introduced me to a young suitor who was part of a wealthy family. This was an opportunity for me to secure my future fortune, while he also worked on his own business links with the family.
Unfortunately, things didn't work out. Even though it was my relationship that crumbled, it can be debated that my father was in fact more heartbroken than I was. I had lost the man that I loved, but in his eyes, his broken business bonds were more important than his daughters broken heart.
"Look, sweetie, I'm not doing this to be cruel." He tried to comfort me, putting an arm around my shoulders, "I'm doing this because I love you and want you to develop into an independent woman. It's about time you supported yourself for a while."
"More like you're punishing me for not marrying Nathan." I mumbled slightly under my breath.
I felt my father's body tense as he let go of my shoulder and stepped away from me.
"Look here," his soft tone had suddenly changed back to being serious, "Nathan was an impeccable future husband. Your future would have been very bright if you had just stayed by his side!"
"He seemed to be an impeccable suitor for the whole town." I shot back, glaring at my father.
"I've had enough of this conversation!" He held his hand out in my face, "You brought this upon yourself. Maybe if you dealt with the situation more maturely, I wouldn't be needing to teach you this life lesson."
He wasn't completely wrong, after the split, I had moved back into the family home. At this time I had no stable income to fall back on, so I depended on the family funds to get me everything I needed.
I admit, my spending habits didn't get out of hand until 6 months down the line. That's when I learned about Nathan's new girlfriend. Spending a large amount of my teenage years with a person, made me feel physically sick to think of them with another woman. So my spending habits got nastier and more frequent. I would buy the nicest clothes and items, to make myself appear more desirable again. But my parents realised what I was doing, and cut my funds off, quickly.
"This new start is going to open your eyes, sweetheart. I promise, we're doing this to benefit you." He tells me, as he moves to get into his car, finally leaving me with my isolated home, "Now, your mother wants you to call as soon as you're settled in."
"Glad to know she still cares." I sarcastically spit at him, my face still holding a sour expression.
"Don't be so dramatic." He slammed the door of his car and started up the engine, "Oh and don't go making friends with any riff-raff. We have to keep the family name respectable."
"It's funny that you think you're still respectable." I replied, shooting him a snarky wave.
"Have fun." Was all he called before starting the engine and speeding away. Leaving me to now fend for myself, as a newly developing adult.
I groaned under my breath as I watched the car speed away. Seeing him leave me here, on my own, made my chest feel a little empty. I had nobody to fall back on, nobody to keep me company and worst of all, I had been left to fend for myself for the first time in my life. I was completely clueless and what terrified me the most was the fact that I had no idea what was waiting for me around the corner.
I continued to stare off down the road, even when my father had vanished. I didn't dare turn around and face the truth. But when a strong and slightly eager finger bombarded my shoulder, I was forced to turn around. When I turned, I was met by the large and wide figure of one of the moving men. In his hand he held a clipboard, that he subtly shoved in my face.
"Sign here please." He grunted, his voice unpleasantly deep.
I took the pen out of his hands and scribbled my signature down onto the bottom of the document. When I handed him it back, he slid it behind his ear and inspected the writing.
"Well, that's our job, done." He told himself, before turning over his shoulder to speak to his co-workers, "Get ready to head off lads."
"Wait, are you not going to move everything up to the apartment?" I asked, stopping him from turning away completely.
"We don't get paid enough for that." He told me, his face staying as emotionless as humanly possible, "Have a good evening, Miss."
The worker then completely turned away from me, clumsily headed back to the front of the van where his friends were waiting for him. Without an ounce of regret, he climbed into the driver's seat and drove away. I can imagine the view they had in the side mirror, an image of me staring helplessly after them.
Looking around at the mounds of new furniture and personal items, made me feel even more helpless. On my own this was going to take me all night. I let out a big sigh, before taking my hair into my hands and pinning it back into a ponytail.
Eventually, I narrowed it down to a few easy boxes. First, I tackled the large pieces of furniture that I single handedly heaved up two flights of stairs. The larger boxes came next, which were easier to clamber into the elevator. This saved me a lot more time.
When I eventually got to the smaller and lighter boxes, most likely filled with clothes and shoes, I started to get a little lazy. I would balance two on top of each other and juggle them into my new home.
A few hours later, I was down to just three small boxes. Instead of making two trips, I carried all three at a time. My vision was limited by the high tower of cardboard I was holding. I struggled a lot more getting in and out of the elevator and pressing each button. But I managed.
The challenge came when I got to the apartment door. While trying to balance my remaining boxes in one arm, I attempted to fish my keys from my back pocket and stick them inside the door. With a lot of weight balancing on the single arm, as soon as I grabbed the keys, I felt the boxes wobble and become unsteady. In my attempts to keep my tower upright, I dropped my keys onto the floor. The loud clashing noise managed infuriated me a little more.
"Fuck." I breathed angrily.
With my best efforts I tried to bend down to reach them, trying to keep balanced. Even using my knee for extra support. As I struggled more and strained to reach, I watched as an unknown arm reached below me and scooped up my keys. I straightened up, my vision still being blocked by the boxes. Yet I could hear the stranger fiddling with them, inside of the lock.
The door was opened and the mystery person held it open, as I stepped in and placed down the boxes, grunting breathlessly as I did so.
"Thank you." I say, before I turned around.
"My pleasure." A male voice replied.
When I looked back, I was met by a soft pair of dazzling blue eyes. Slight stubble covered his rounded face, which was the same shade of auburn as his cropped hair. The hand that still held open the door, was connected to an arm that popped with muscles. Thankfully his voice was friendly, which matched the welcoming smile that was painted on his face.
"I'm Ethan." He greeted, "I live right across the hall."
"Sophie." I smiled back, "It sure is nice to see one friendly face."
"Are you new to London?" He asked, now leaning against the door rather than holding it open.
"More like new to this whole experience." I desperately tried to make a joke out of it.
"Oh right, so this is your first time living on your own then?" He seemed very interested.
I nodded, shrugging in the process. I watched as he glanced around the small living space, that was scattered with boxes.
"You seem to be managing just fine up to now." He complemented, standing up straight, "But if you need anything at all, my apartment is directly opposite. Don't be shy."
"Thank you." My smile was genuine as I stared at the friendly gentleman.
"Have a nice evening, Sophie." He told me as he backed up out the door.
"You too!" I managed to yell, just before the door closed all the way.
My spirits were slightly higher as i began to unpack the rest of the boxes. I was mostly relieved that my new neighbour was friendly and welcoming. And these pleasant events made me feel a lot more confident about starting this new life.