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That was, until we had to carry the six-foot-tall Douglas fir four blocks back to our building, and hadn’t even considered the fact that we’d have to lug a fuckingtreeup three flights of stairs before making it into our apartment. We also failed to realize that we didn’t have a treestand, or lights, or ornaments.
We ended up inside the stairwell of the building, halfway up the first flight when we abandoned the tree right there and finished the climb ourselves. I mostly blamed Penelope, since she insisted on picking a unit on the top floor when we moved in with Carter three months ago. We could’ve picked any unit in the building, but she demanded the highest one because of her irrational fear of tsunamis. Something about evacuating in L.A. traffic being impossible, and our best bet for survival being the roof of the building, assuming we’d all be home at the time of the tsunami, and that the prerequisite earthquake wouldn’t level the building first, that is.
Regardless, Penny and I ended up so drunk last night after leaving that tree in the stairwell that we’d forgotten about it entirely until Carter came home. Once he walked in on us cutting out penises on construction paper and taping them to each other’s face, he had little doubt that the tree he had to climb over on his way in was our doing. Penny only cried, realizing she ruined his Christmas surprise. I laughed as he tried to console her. He told me we’d handle it in the morning and whisked Penny off to bed.
Now, the following morning, the three of us stared down at the stairs below us from the second-floor landing, considering what to do next. “You know, I had two calls this morning from other tenants about that goddamn tree. I had to play it off like I didn’t know what happened because I don’t know how to explain to them that I, their landlord, am responsible-by-association for the foliage they had to climb over while coming in and out of their homes.” He glanced at me. “You know, Juan Droitis threatened to call the building owner and report a fire hazard.”
I lazily waved my arm. “Juan can fuck off.”
Juan was an uptight prick, and a teacher I worked with. Despite the fact that he’s a pompous ass, he’s actually the one friend I’ve made outside of Penny and Carter since moving to Los Angeles from Northern Oregon six months ago. He and his husband, Dante, were looking for a new place to live when I met them at the start of the school year, and Carter had just finished renovations on the apartment building his dad bought last spring. Carter was looking for tenants so I got him in contact with Juan and Dante, who were the first to move into the building, outside the three of us.
Juan is my ally at work– but as a neighbor, he’s a total nightmare. He’s called Carter with noise complaints at least three times, which is alarming considering that only four of Carter’s eight units have tenants right now. Even more alarming is the fact that two of those calls were placed aboutmeapparently coming up the stairs too loudly. Though, if he knew it was me he was complaining about he’d just scold me himself. I don’t think Juan realizes that the building owner is Carter’s dad, so he’s constantly threatening to file a complaint against Carter.
I’ve been telling Juan for months to cut the shit and chill out, but he doesn’t listen. I almost feel guilty for referring them, but at the end of the day, Carter needs tenants and it’s been harder than expected for him to find them.
That was part of the reason I agreed to move in with them to begin with. When Penelope was accepted to UCLA and asked me to make the journey to California with her, we moved into an apartment together. Carter convinced his rich dad to buy an investment property down here on Venice Beach so he could follow Penelope too (in a very dramatic and on brand fashion for the two of them). I knew Penelope was aching to move in with Carter once his building was ready, but she was trying to refrain for my sake. I urged her to move in with him, and looked for my own place before quickly realizing that Southern California rent prices and my salary are not a love match.
Carter asked me to move in, if for no other reason than to tell his dad he at least had one renter. There was no way I could afford an entire apartment in his building, so I rented a room in their apartment instead. I pay next to nothing, but I technically still count as a tenant. I think they took pity on me too, and Penny feels responsible for me moving down here. She thinks I did it for her, but mostly, I moved down here for me. I thought I’d have a better chance of finding myself here. Figuring out who the hell Macie Cunningham really is. Though, six months in I’m not sure I’ve even started looking for her.
“I think we’re going to need back-up.” Carter’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.
He pulled open the door that led into the second floor hallway, just as Juan and Dante were opening it. He smiled at them as he stepped around them, pulling out his phone.
I plopped down next to Penny on the steps as we waited for whatever backup Carter was calling in. Juan tsked as he brushed past me. “I should’ve known. Your name was written all over this, Macie.”
I scoffed, not bothering to offer a response. I knew he was joking, so I held back the reply I wanted to snap at him, but I wasn’t going to pretend I didn’t find it annoying that everyone assumes I’m behind every dumb idea I find myself involved in. I’m only behindmostof them.
Dante smiled at me, kinder than his husband. “Are you excited for winter break?”
“Can’t come soon enough,” I muttered.
“Well, at least we can agree on that.” Juan laughed as they made their way down the stairwell, pressing against the wall as they moved around the Christmas tree that still lay propped up against the steps. “Carpool tomorrow?” he asked, opening the door that led to the alley behind the building.
“You’re driving!” I shouted.
Twenty minutes later, Penelope and I were still on the steps of the stairwell, well into our third game of emoji Connect Four, when the door at the bottom of the stairs opened again. I stood to see which tenant we’d be apologizing to this time when I was instead met with a glimmering pair of smokey brown eyes.
He bound up the stairs two at a time, practically leaping over the tree in his way before reaching us. Dom only smirked at me as he asked, “I’m assuming this was your idea?”
I hardly noticed Penelope wince before I exploded, words gathering on my tongue before I even knew what I was saying. “For the love of God. Why the fuck do you people always assume that I am the only person on this planet capable of having a stupid idea?” My hands found themselves knotting their way through my curly hair. “I don’t give a shit about a tree. I don’t even celebrate Christmas.”
I paused to take a breath when Penny cut in, “It was my idea, actually. I wanted to surprise Carter with a Christmas tree because he’s never had one before and we didn’t realize how difficult it would be to carry it home. By the time we made it this far we were too tired to carry it up the stairs.”
“So, you just… left it?” Dom asked, amused.
“She forgot to mention that they were both plastered,” Carter snorted.
“Ah, well that makes sense,” Dom said, winking at me.
I rolled my eyes.
Dominic Evans had done little else than piss me off in the eight months I’ve known him. The night I met him while on a trip with Penelope for one of her academic conferences, he was like a twin to Carter’s easy, breezy, charm. He was a striking, breathtaking, walk-stopping kind of handsome. I remembered the way his dark skin glowed under the lowlights of the night club when I saw him for the first time. The way his eyes sparkled with glittering allure as he zeroed in on me. How I could make out the tone of his muscles underneath his shirt, and the way his jaw flexed as he ogled me. Never in my three years with my ex-boyfriend, Jeremy, had I thought about being unfaithful, had I really even thought about leaving him. But that night—seeing Dom for the first time—it had clicked into place for me. Jeremy never looked at me the way Dom did in that moment, and Dom hadn’t even known me then.
Despite the fact that I was with my ex on that trip, that he had been the one sitting next to me, Dom was the only thing I could focus on that night. He was charismatic and funny. He asked me to dance and was understanding when I declined. He was able to pull words out of Jeremy, something that few people were good at. He spoke about Penelope with an adoration that could’ve matched my own. He listened attentively when I talked about the fact that I’d spent much of that evening walking around West Hollywood trying to catch a glimpse of the Real Housewives (an adventure that annoyed everyone else). He didn’t chastise me for being too drunk, or tell me I talked too loud. Or that I got too excited about my favorite foods or my discounted dress, or the time I saw Randy Jackson at a restaurant. Not like Jeremy did. He seemed… amused by me. Intrigued.
What he failed to show me the night we met, however, is what an arrogant asshole he is. Because the next time I met him, all that charm had seemingly disappeared. My interactions with him now typically contain him bickering with me about everything I do, accusing me of being a bad influence on Penelope, or making lustful eyes at me.
The lustful eyes I don’t always mind, because at the end of the day, heishot.
