Chapt. 1- your shoes move me.
I took in a deep breath and stepped off of the train platform. The concrete felt unfamiliar beneath my feet as I found myself being swept into the hustle and bustle of the big city. There were people on every side of me pushing past each other at speeds I didn't even think were possible for human feet. Well, speeds I knew most definitely were not possible for my own considering I could trip and fall simply standing still.
I felt so out of place clutching my suitcase to my chest instead of some fancy brief case or trendy messenger bag. My long brown hair cascaded in its messy ponytail down my back and I noticed I was one of the only people who wasn't homeless that had no make up on. Hmm. This is going to be an interesting transition.
This was going to be so much different than living in Michigan.
My hundred acres of land filled with forest and apple orchards and ponds were left behind in my trek to the city of Chicago. All of a sudden I wasn't so sure this was the right choice to have made. What would I do when I just wanted to be alone now? When I needed my space to think or read a book in solitude? I couldn't exactly walk out of my front door and sit in the grass with nothing but the breeze and rustle of leaves gracing my ears.
No. Now there would be the sounds of the city. The cars whizzing by on the streets and people walking and talking down the sidewalks. I'd hear trains and buses on their routes around the city. There is no silence here. There is no solitude.
What about my mom? My poor mother! She was all alone on those one hundred acres in that trailer we called home. I wouldn't be there when she got home from work anymore. I wouldn't be able to sit with her and watch movies or talk and laugh over coffee and toast in the mornings. What would she do without me to help keep the house clean and keep her company when she wasn't at work? I was such a selfish daughter. I can't believe I came here.
Okay, so I'm officially freaking out. It's my first big move away from home. I'm not exactly the most outgoing person in the world. I was happy and content in my own little bubble for so long, but I just HAD to go screw that up now didn't I?
Breathe, Bella. Breathe. In and out. There you go.
This will be good. This will be good. This will be..
"Bells! You made it!"
Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted as the familiar voices tore through the crowd of people and jerked me back to reality. I hoped my face did not give away any of the panic I was feeling. Thank God the city was so loud and busy or they would surely hear my heart about to explode from the confines of my chest.
Looking up through the crowd and seeing Alice bouncing up and down with her wild pixie hair dancing along with her and the drop dead gorgeous smile that was spread across Rose's face calmed my nerves a bit and got me more excited to be here. The three of us girls squealed with excitement as I burst through the mass of people and into their waiting arms. I had missed my best friends for far too long now.
"Ali! Rose! Ah! I'm finally here and I made it in one piece!" I laughed as I dropped my suitcase to the sidewalk to embrace my friends a little tighter.
"You're here you're here you're HERE!" Alice squealed. The three of us laughed and Rose bent down to pick up my belongings. She pressed the button on her key chain and the trunk of Alice's bright yellow Porsche popped open. I shook my head and sighed. I already missed my big red truck and the un-fanciness of it. (Yes, I may have just made up my own word and I'm absolutely okay with that!)
I shook that thought from my head and smiled as Alice continued to bounce around like a ping pong ball. She bounced into the street on the passenger side of her car and I flinched worrying that someone would take her tiny frame out not even realizing she was so close to the oncoming traffic. I held my breath momentarily until Alice was safe in the confines of the passengers seat. I rolled my eyes and exhaled. I swear that girl has not a care in the world.
"You're driving, Rose?" I asked as I climbed into the back seat and buckled myself in.
"Unless you'd like her to drive," Rose smirked and looked at Alice from the corner of her eye. "I don't know about you but I'd like to get home in one piece. Do you really think at this point her full attention would be on the road?"
Alice bounced onto her knees and shifted against the leather seat so her beady little eyes peeked over the headrest at me. She was so alive and full of excitement that I could not help smiling back with just as much enthusiasm.
"I guess that makes sense." I laughed as Alice stuck her tongue out at Rose and then averted her attention back to me.
"I can't believe you're finally here Bella! I have so much to show you! The apartment is so great you're going to love it! We'll make dinner tonight and let you get settled in, but we have to get up extra early tomorrow so we can go shopping."
I opened my mouth to protest but Alice continued to chatter at high speed to keep me from getting a word in edge wise. I caught Rose snickering in the rear view mirror and I glared at her reflection as discretely as I could.
Once Alice had her mind set on something, especially involving shopping, there was no arguing or changing her stubborn little mind.
"I mean, you just moved to the city Bells! Time to put away the overhauls and the flannel shirts. You can't go out in public in those unless you want people to start tossing change at you, ya know?" she giggled then at her joke and I finally got a word in.
"Al, calm down! I just got here. I know that you're not the biggest fan of my wardrobe," I looked down at myself then feeling just a little self conscious, and a bit offended that she honestly felt I dressed so bad. I thought I looked fine! "but I really don't think that my first full day here should be spent shopping. I'd kind of just like to, I don't know, relax and get settled in." I bit down on my bottom lip waiting for her reaction.
Alice was eying me disapprovingly. I knew that I could not escape her shopping obsession forever, but if I could have one day to just be myself with my two best friends, I'd be willing to give in. Just this once.
"Please Alice, just one day. I promise once I'm settled in I'll take a day for you to play dress up with me and torture- I mean take me clothes shopping."
She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout for a few seconds but after a bit of contemplation she seemed to realize that she was still going to get her way and her face brightened up again.
"Fine. One day. Lucky for you I took the entire weekend off so that gives us plenty of time to shop before Monday." She crossed her arms and gave me a very satisfied look. I sighed and shook my head at my little friend.
Close to twenty minutes later, Rose pulled up and parallel parked in front of our apartment building. I looked out the window for a few seconds almost nervous to step out and actually admit that this was now my home. I would be sharing a big building in the middle of a huge city with a couple hundred other people and my two best friends. I would not be falling asleep in my bed to the sounds of bull frogs and crickets, but to cars, buses, trains, and the occasional sirens of some emergency vehicle. I was getting lost in my thoughts and worries when suddenly I realized I was no longer peeking up at our apartment building but at Alice standing in front of me with her hands on her delicate little hips tapping her foot at me. One of her pencil thin eye brows was cocked and her lips were set in a fine line.
"Are you just going to sit in there and stare or are you going to get out of the car and come inside?"
I shakily grabbed the handle of the car door and let myself out. Rose had my things already out of the trunk and lead us to the front door. We took the elevator to the third floor and stepped out directly in front of a giant bay window overlooking Lake Michigan.
"Wow." I breathed.
"Pretty great view, isn't it?" Rose smiled at me over her shoulder.
"I'd say."
Once we'd made our way down to the end of the hall Rose popped her key into the lock of apartment 347 and I sighed as we stepped through the door. Across the room the shades were drawn away from the slider doors that lead out to the balcony off of our dining room displaying the beautiful view of the lake. The kitchen was off of the dining room and though it wasn't very big, the new appliances looked great and I was pleased to see we had a dish washer. The living room was spacious and held a big brown fluffy looking couch, a matching recliner, a small shelf littered with DVD's and video games, and a cherry wood entertainment center complete with a 20" flat screen TV and X-BOX 360. There were a couple of picture frames on top of the entertainment center with pictures of the three of us girls back home when we were younger. It made me smile. Off of the living room were two doors that lead to the master bedroom and the other leading to the "guest" bedroom. The bathroom joined the two rooms together. This was a really nice apartment.
"Ready to see our bedroom?" Alice asked cheerfully as she skipped towards the master bedroom.
"We're all sharing a room?" I questioned, a smile playing on my lips.
"Of course we are Bella Marie! Come on, you didn't think we'd settle for any one of us being all alone in their little bed room did you? I mean, could we really not have a dance party room? We really have been away from each other for too long haven't we?" Rose scoffed teasingly.
A dance party room! Yes! It had been too long since the three of us girls had lived close to one another. Back home, we would have sleep overs and always dedicated a room of the house to "secret" dance parties. If you were ever hanging out and noticed one or more persons randomly missing, you knew you were most likely missing out on an intense and fast paced giggled fueled dance party in some random "secret" room of the house. It could be a bed room, a closet, a bathroom, it didn't really matter. We'd decided a long time ago that when and if we all lived together, we'd have a room of our place specifically dedicated to dance parties.
Remembering those days gave me a brilliant idea and I knew the other girls caught the spark in my eye as I turned my head to the smaller bedroom door. At the same time we all dashed for the bed room giggling like little kids on Halloween getting ready to dive into our candy bags.
"So, who's ready to 'iron a little carpet?'" Alice squealed as we burst into the bedroom and took our random respective places on the "dance floor". Ironing the carpet was a term we came up with that was originally code for "cutting the rug" and eventually just stuck whether people knew what you were talking about or not.
"Oh, hell yeah I am!" Rose said as she began doing the running man at warped speed, her long blond locks swishing frantically back and forth across her neck and cheeks. The force she exerted to get to the speed she was at made Alice and I double over in laughter.
I composed myself quickly, being used to seeing the hilarity that ensued with these circumstances. I began flashing the lights on and off in the bedroom and jumping up and down flapping the arm that wasn't attached to the light switch while Alice did the tootsie roll and we all laughed uncontrollably.
After a few minutes I stopped flickering the lights and the other girls slowed their pace.
"Getting tired already?" Alice asked slightly out of breath.
"I was just curious actually. Do you know who lives beneath you? And are they going to be mad that we're probably shaking the pictures from their walls and causing earthquake-like sensations through their apartment?"
"You mean beneath us Bells. This is your place now, too." Alice corrected.
"Right. Beneath us."
"Actually, the apartment below ours has been vacant for a while now, we've checked." Rose said very matter-of-fact. Of course they had already researched these things. They are well experienced in the art of dance parties.
"Well, regardless, I think it's time I get the tour of our bedroom. There will be plenty of time for dance parties once I put my stuff away and can feel like I'm actually living here and not just a guest in our apartment." I grinned.
Our bedroom was really cute and quite a bit bigger than I had expected. There was a loft bed in the far right corner of the room which I could tell was Rose's considering the bedding was all white and baby blue, and a day bed with a trundle. The walls were an off white with a giant poster of James Dean hanging just above Alice's bed. The curtains were a lacy baby blue and hung just shy of the window sill. Closer to the door, there was a giant walk-in closet with three dressers situated in the center, shoes covering the floor, and dresses and jeans hanging on the rods. I was sure I'd probably only need two drawers in one of the dressers to fit every piece of clothing I owned. I was about to comment on the fact, but I did not even have a chance to get the words out of my mouth.
"Don't worry, Bells. You'll have just as many clothes as the two of us before too long. I'll make sure of that." Alice chirped from behind me.
I sighed and threw myself down on the trundle bed.
"Greaaaat." I said sarcastically.
Rose and Alice immediately jumped on top of me and we all exploded into a fit of giggles.
"It really feels good to be with you two again." I said as I scooted over so we could try to get a little more comfortable.
"We've really missed you, Bella." Alice said as she snuggled in beside me.
I nodded my head. It really had been hard living away from my best friends for so long. I missed them dearly, but I had to "take care" of some things back home before I could join them here. Now that I had, I was sure going to make the most of it. This place was going to be a place of healing and returning to the passions and people I love most.
"When do you have to meet up with the guys?" Rose asked curling her legs up and pushing her hair back over her shoulder.
"I told them I was going to take the week to get settled in and get used to my work schedule, so probably next weekend sometime."
"Good, that gives us our nights to hang out and catch up then." she smiled.
The three of us spent some time just laying around catching up and discussing weekend plans. I eventually got up and put my clothes and toiletries away as we continued our stories and reminiscing about times back home. I noticed my stomach growl just as I was putting the final few things from my suitcase into place.
"Someone's hungry." Alice commented just as her stomach betrayed her as well.
"I'd say I'm not the only one!"
"How's pizza sound?" Rose asked as she flipped her phone open already dialing the pizza place down the street.
Alice's eyes lit up. "Pineapple and ham?" she squealed.
"What else is there?" I said knowingly as Rose placed our order.
I grinned and high-fived the girls and we all jumped up and went into the living room. I plopped onto the comfy brown couch and Alice pulled some paper plates out of the cereal cabinet. We had our pizza delivered and sat around the television to watch The Office.
It was the episode where Jim comes into work dressed up like Dwight in the beginning. The three of us ate our dinner and laughed until we cried. That was one of our favorite episodes. After seeing it for the first time, Alice had made the three of us little tote bags with a bear eating a beat and shooting laser beams out of it's eyes at little spaceships. We carried them around everywhere! We got a lot of comments on them too. Alice was so creative, I swear.
Already on a bit of a high from the three of us finally all living together, laughing so hard from watching The Office, and it being a bit late, we all decided we needed to release some of the energy from our systems by no other means of course, than a pretty happening dance party.
This time, Alice did her signature move "the stomp" as she clenched her hands into fists and shook them up and down in rhythm with her feet while she stomped circles around the floor. Her head too, was in rhythm with her limbs, causing her hair to fling wildly about her face. Rose was over in a corner trying to moonwalk, and I was doing jumping jacks and running in place around the center of the room.
After about five minutes of us jumping around and dancing without any sort of music other than our snorts and giggles, there was a loud knock on the door. The three of us stopped dancing immediately, eyes wide, and covered our mouths.
"You're the newbie, you go answer the door! Maybe they wont be mad, whoever it is, if they don't recognize you." Alice whispered frantically.
"Yeah right, Al! You're the cute one, you go answer it!" I spat back.
"Oh Lord, I'll go get it. But you two better not cower in here like a couple of wusses! I'm not going to take all the heat for this." Rose laughed as she stalked towards the door. She's always the tough one.
We all scurried out into the living room and Rose peeked through the peephole. She turned to us with her hand on the door knob and shrugged.
"I think they put their finger in front of the eye hole." She whispered, slightly annoyed. Alice and I giggled at Rose's term "eye hole". It really must be late.
We all took deep breaths, Alice hiding behind me and peeking from under my arm.
When Alice opened the door, there stood a big muscular guy in a pair of white sweat pants. He was carrying a blanket and his eyes looked full of sleep. He was about six foot four and slightly tan, I'm sure he'd have been pretty attractive if his hair wasn't in such disarray and he didn't look like he wanted to punch us all in the baby makers. Actually, the hair in disarray was pretty hot, just not the whole baby maker punching gaze.
"Hey… uhm... so where are the elephants?" the guy asked sleepily scratching his head.
"Excuse me?" Rose laughed once and looked back at us in confusion.
"The elephants... where are they?" he asked again.
Is this guy sleep walking? I wondered in my head. I bit my bottom lip trying not to laugh in case he was awake and would get offended at me finding humor in his odd question.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. We have no elephants... in... our... apartment." Rose said trying to keep her own laughter at bay.
"Oh well, if you find them could you please inform them that there are people in this apartment building who have to be up in the morning and them stampeding around above my head is keeping me from sleep. It's actually pissing me off pretty good. I'd like to not fall asleep on the job tomorrow if its at all possible." He smirked as he wrapped his blanket around his shoulders like a cape.
"Well last we checked there was no one below us so sorry if we kept you awake..." Rose said seeming slightly annoyed at his smart remark.
"Mmhmm." was all he said as he turned and started to walk away. "let them know that if they're quiet the rest of the night, I'll give them a box of peanuts." he added as he walked away down the hall and back to the elevator.
Rose slammed the door and spun on her heel to look at Alice and I.
"I think that jerk just called us fat!" she fumed.
It got quiet for about ten seconds and then we all burst out laughing.
Apparently, we did have down stairs neighbors after all.