This is a story i had an idea for a couple of weeks ago and started writing. Its a Spashley story of course.
Please read and review. Be sure to let me know in the comments whether or not i should continue it.
Thanks and I hope you enjoy.
I had dreams of living in California since I was a child. It only got more intense as I got older. I would hold myself up in my room watching the O.C and listening to my California playlist. Posters of the golden state covered my walls until I couldn't see the hideous rose pink paint my mother picked out when I was a baby. Paula hated my obsession; she called California the devils playground. I think she just hated it because it was something I loved.
"Spencer" She interrupted my thoughts. "Are you asleep?" she takes her hand off the steering wheel briefly to nudge me.
"No, Tess. Just thinking. I can't believe we actually did it." I lift my head off the car window I have been staring out of for the past two hours or so. "It looks just like it does on TV"
"Do you hear that? Its why I woke you up." She asks and I perk up my ears to hear a faint clanking noise. I kill the volume on the radio and as I suspected the noise gets louder, it's coming from the car.
"Maybe the engine picked something up. I've never heard it make that sound before." I admit. "How far are we from the complex?"
She takes a look at the directions, "We're still about an hour away from the city and then from there we're a half hour away from the apartment." She says.
"So lets ignore it. We're only a hour and a half away now there's no telling how long it would take if we stopped at an auto store. We can have the car checked out tomorrow." I decide, and I guess she agrees because she turns back up the radio and we continue to drive.
I rest my head against the window again. I guess we both have a lot on our minds.
Tess is my oldest and best friend. We met in pre-kindergarten and since then no one could ever separate us. Yeah we had a few fights here and there but nothing could shake us. Nothing would ever shake us.
I want you to move to California for yourself,
I want you to find whatever your heart needs,
I want you to move to California for yourself, but not for me.
I was born and raised in Belmont. It's a little town in Ohio that no one ever visits and no one ever leaves. There's less then 500 people in that town, to say that everyone knows everyone wouldn't do it justice. Tess and I have been saving for years to escape. We could never afford a plane, but I had a car and we saved up enough to pay one month's rent and security for pretty decent apartment in Long Beach. It was a gamble and I knew it but staying in that stuffy little town just wasn't going to do it for me any longer. We didn't tell our parents, or anyone else for that matter. We just packed our stuff little by little and a week ago I guess you can say we made a run for it. My mother kept a stash around the house incase me or my brothers ever ran into an emergency, I took it on my way out. It was enough to cover all the gas we needed.
I want you to wander silent past my outstretched arms,
I want you to hide yourself from all I see,
and though my heart will fight until its dying breath, you're not for me.
I love this song. I assume it's about a boy and a girl, and the boy is letting her go to find herself. Ohio's that boy for me. It would never work between us. I feel myself drifting into sleep and I don't fight it. I'm an hour and a half away from the only thing I've ever wanted.
…
The property was huge we realized that within the first few minutes of being here. Its fenced in and there has to be over two hundred apartments on this side of the complex alone. Lucky for us when we arrived at the management office they had someone to show us around. There was a pool and a tennis court but both seem to be deserted as we were walking to our building.
"This is it, apartment S5C." he used our keys to open the door and stepped inside holding it open for us. "Living room, kitchen, bedroom." He quickly points in the direction of each area. "The balcony is through there, you have a nice view of the pool. Here ya go ladies." He tosses me the keys and starts to leave.
"Thanks" Tess and I both call out as we watch him walk down the hall.
"No problem." He says over his shoulder. Once he's out of sight I close and lock the door.
"He was so cute." Tess gushes, and I laugh. He was pretty cute.
Tess heads to the balcony but I linger for a while in the living room. The apartment is small, one bedroom, but there's only two of us and we're no stranger to sleepovers so I don't think space will become an issue.
"Spencer, come look." Tess calls from the balcony and I follow her voice outside. "He was right, we have a great view." She says once I'm by her side.
A few people are now hanging out around the pool, just kicking back by the looks of it. One guy in particular catches my eye. He's tall with dark hair and really nice eyes. Everyone is so much more attractive in California. I take a look at my ivory blouse and light blue denim jeans, I thought I looked cute when I paired it with my baby blue converses but now I just feel….
Whatever the feeling is I shake it off and luckily it looks like Tess has something to say that will distract me.
"I saw a repair shop pretty close by on the way in. I was thinking we can unpack the car and afterwards I'll take it over there and maybe they can figure out what's wrong with it." She proposed.
"Okay, but before we drop the car off we need to do a little shopping. We don't have much money left, but need a bed to sleep on and some groceries." I added.
…
There wasn't much to unpack, just clothes and a few essentials. We finished up quickly and asked around until we found out there is a Walmart not to far from the apartment.
"God, why are beds so expensive." Tess whined. "I don't think we can afford any of these Spencer."
"Just wait here, ok. I'll find something." I tell her.
I made a few turns and eventually I found them, air mattresses. There was nothing glamorous about sleeping on an airbed but it would get the job done until Tess and I found jobs and could afford something better.
"Excuse me." I turn my head toward the source of the voice so see a middle aged women pushing a shopping cart. "Can you tell me where the detergent is?"
"Yea I just passed it, there in aisle three across from the scented wipes." I answer and continue reading the back of one of the air mattress boxes.
"And the Yoplait? I couldn't find it near the milk."
I'm clearly not wearing a uniform vest I don't know why this woman would assume I work here. I start to get that same nagging feeling I did watching the dark haired boy near the pool but it subsides.
"That's because it's not with the milk. Its on the opposite side of the store near the chesses and butter and such." I force a smile. My mother taught me to treat my elders with respect.
"Thank you, dear" She smiles and pushes her cart away.
"You don't work here." The voice startles me from behind and I practically jump to see who it is. I find myself face to face with an older white-haired gentleman who actually is wearing a uniform vest. "Any normal person would of told her to fuck off. I'm Marty." he introduces himself and extends his hand.
"I'm not normal." I shake the extended hand and return to trying to figure out the best air mattress to get for Tess and I.
He chuckles, "Nice to meet you".
"Hey, you actually work here. Which one of these air beds should I get?" I ask.
"This one." He hands me a box from one of the higher up shelves. "It's the best bang for your buck, lasts a long time."
I take the box and take a peek at the price. "It's a little of my price range, Marty." I pick up the box I was looking at earlier and start back to find Tess.
"Wait," he calls me back and I stop. "I'll let you have the better airbed for free on one condition." He says and I turn to face him again, "You come back in for an interview tomorrow. We could really use some … not normal people working here." He smiles, and it's a warm contagious smile like my fathers.
"Tomorrow? What time?" My eyes widen, he doesn't need to offer me a job twice.
"12pm sharp, come to the front desk ask for Marty." He says handing me the air mattress. "See you then"
….
"I got a job… I got a job… I got a job" I'm practically dancing by the time I find Tess.
"What? How? When?" She asks, and I recap what happen for her.
"Wow, Spencer. That's great, once I find a job we'll be set," She started. "I was worried for a while but this moving thing it could really work." She's beaming now and we're both too excited for our own good.
"Its gonna work Tess, I'm not going back to Ohio. Not ever."