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I pick up my bag and look up at Tommy. He is trying to school his lecherous look into one that oozes confidence. He’s failing.
I give him my sweetest smile before answering, “Thanks, but to be perfectly honest, I would rather try surfing alone, on my period, in a school of sharks before going on a date with some asshole who is playing my friend.”
I barely catch Tommy’s look of utter disbelief as I exit the surf shack.
Tommy doesn’t come out to say goodbye to us.
“Took you long enough,” Sarah says as we start towards her car.
“Sorry,” I answer, “please tell me you won’t be seeing that creep again.”
“After he screwed over my friend?” Sarah answers in disgust, “Oh god no. He didn’t even have the balls to come out and say goodbye. What a worm.”
I catch Isaac’s grin as we reach the car. There is definitely something brewing between those two.
Sarah offers to drive everyone home, and exhausted from the cold, we happily agree. She drops off Conner and Isaac first and is just pulling up in front of my apartment when she turns to me, looking worried.
“You’re sure you’re okay? I know we haven’t been friends all that long, but if you ever want to talk, I’m here, okay?” Sarah says.
I feel the blood drain from my face. I thought I’d been able to fool my friends into thinking I was just looking for them in the water, but it seems like Sarah saw through it.
“I’ll be okay. Thank you, really. For everything today. It means a lot.” I answer, and I mean it. She literally saved my life out there.
“Okay then,” Sarah answers, not one to prod. “Get some sleep. I’d suggest a hot bubble bath, but I doubt you’ve got a sexy man waiting for you in there to pull you out of the water if you decide to try drowning again.”
I laugh as I exit the car, “thanks again! See you tomorrow!” I wave and then turn to head to my apartment.
My home is on the fourth floor in the middle of a long hallway. While the rooms aren’t big, the apartment complex has everything I need.
There’s a communal, coin-operated laundry facility down one side of the hallway, with a snack machine to boot. Along the other side of the hall, there’s a staircase that leads down four flights of stairs to the front door, but best of all, further down the staircase, there’s a second door that leads to the building’s underground parking garage.
While I typically walk to school, the winters here are treacherous, and the city’s only bus service runs twice a day – first thing in the morning and late at night. So, after one horrible winter of trudging through freezingrain and nearly breaking my neck half a dozen times, I spent the following summer working as many hours as possible.
I found work at the library and helped at a café during the tourist season. The pay wasn’t phenomenal, but it was enough to put aside some living money for the school semesters and enough to buy myself a used car.
However, since parking passes are expensive, I have resolved to drive only during the winter term and walk during the spring and fall months.
I’m nailing this adulting thing. I should get a sticker for my efforts.
I flip on the lights in my apartment and feel ready to collapse onto my bed for the night. My bachelor apartment isn’t much to boast about. It has a tiny kitchen that opens to a small bedroom and a micro-bathroom off the front door.
Even though it’s small, I was able to fit two bookshelves that I found in the trash during my first semester here. Their shelves are bowing from the multitudes of books that weigh them down.
It was a toss-up between the shelves or an old couch I’d found since there wasn’t room for both. Ever the bookworm, I feel like I made the right choice.
Forgoing the couch, I elected to buy a few extra pillows for my bed so that I could prop myself up when I wanted to sit.
My bed is slightly larger than a twin – I bought the double bed from my neighbour after sleeping on an air mattress for a month. It’s a bit lumpy but is now covered with a few rainbow-coloured quilts and an assortment of colourful pillows.
I further brightened the space by adding twinkle lights up and down my walls, a reading lamp next to my bed, and some bright purple black-out curtains.
It’s small, but to me, it’s perfect.
I drop my bag onto my only barstool. The apartment is too small for any kind of dining table, so I use my kitchen counter as both a table and a desk.
Switching out the main lights for my twinkle lights, I finally let myself fall into bed. My body feels bone weary, but no amount of exhaustion can stop my mind from racing.
What on earth were those blue lights today?
