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California State University, Sophomore Year
"Lizzie" Miranda's voice floated through the duplex as Lizzie lugged a stereo speaker into the living room. "We need you to settle something. I say this is a closet, and Gordo says it 's a bedroom!"
"Just give me a minute." Lizzie set down the speaker and wiped the sweat from her forehead. That third trip out to the U-Haul had left her winded. She caught her breathe, finally taking a minute to look around.
Okay, so the duplex was a little run-down. And it seemed a little smaller than she remember. But there was something charming about all the quaint details, like the bay window with its hardwood seat and the stairs' carved hardwood banister. Lizzie tried to picture herself curled up in the window seat, talking on the phone or laughing with her two friends, or coming down the stairs in the morning.
It was a little strange to think of her living in this space, of her life unfolding within these walls. She got up and walked around the room, gazing up at the ceiling and out the windows. Her mind drifted back to her first day at California State, how she's wandered around like this in an empty dorm room in Flit wit hall, full of excitement hope and jitters.
"Isn't it wild?" Miranda's face emerged from the doorway she had disappeared through ten minutes ago. "All this space is ours!"
Lizzie smiled as she shut the door of the closet she's been peering into. "I know, I can't believe that I'm standing in my living room in my house. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that we're starting a new school year."
And stranger yet, Lizzie realized, she was starting it alone. Meaning no boyfriend…
"No kidding," Miranda agreed. "I feel like we just finished with finals two weeks ago. There's no way we're sophomores already."
"Yea…" Lizzie agreed, realizing that she'd zeroed in on what had been bothering her all day. It wasn't that she was in a strange place, or was anxious about starting sophomore year, or even that everything she owned was buried in boxes.
It was knowing that she was on her own. Last year, she and Ethan Craft, impossible as it seemed, has been an inseparable couple. And now she was…
On her own…Lizzie didn't know whether to cry or laugh, if she should be happy or sad by this fact. Lizzie couldn't even remember thinking about Ethan this summer. She had been too occupied with other things, or other people. Person. Conner. To be exact, she mentally corrected herself. Lizzie shook her head; he hadn't bothered to return her phone calls so obviously there time together meant nothing. Lizzie knew Conner wasn't the most dependable guy. At this point she never expected to hear from him again. Lizzie shook her head again to clear her thoughts and heard Gordo and Miranda talking upstairs. Something hit her.
What if they couldn't find a fourth roommate right away? What if they'd been too stupid to take the place the three of them couldn't afford? What if they were short on rent and actually had to ask their parents for money? Lizzie had already lost a few nights of sleep worrying about possibilities she was sure Gordo and Miranda weren't even thinking about.
Lizzie lifted her head from her hands as she heard Miranda come barreling down the steps. "Lizzie, Lizzie, come look I have decided which room is mind" Miranda said with triumph.
Lizzie followed her upstairs and into one of the rooms. Miranda stretched out her arms, tilted back her chin, and twirled around the bedroom. "Well look at it? Isn't it gorgeous?" She gestured out the large bay window identical to the one downstairs, where the afternoon sun hung low in the sky.
Lizzie spoke up, "Hey, what makes you think this is your room, I pay just as much rent as you do, and why shouldn't I get it?" Lizzie asked getting frustrated.
Miranda seemed to think about it for a minute then, "Because I saw it first"
Gordo corrected her, "We are not six anymore, besides, neither one of you are getting the room without a fight. I've checked out the other rooms, and this one is definitely the best. The one down the hall is a decent size, but then there's just that shoe box by the kitchen and a musty, dusty old attic room."
"I am not living in an attic," Lizzie declared.
"Well I'm not living by the kitchen," Miranda put in. "It's a high-traffic area. I'd never get any sleep, besides, this one has a walk in closet and I have more shoes than Lizzie."
Gordo groaned. "OK stop, listen, we can each pick a room and then give whichever one's left over to the fourth person."
"You've got that right," Miranda agreed. "But that still doesn't leave enough good rooms to go around. And I'm not giving up this one."
"Well, neither am I!" Lizzie was talking louder and louder. "You can't honestly believe you deserve this room because you have more shoes than I do!"
Miranda crossed her arms and faced away from Lizzie with a huff.
"Break it you two!" Gordo cut in. "I want this room as much as you guys do. But we still have about a million boxes to unload. So we'd better get moving if we're going to squeeze a trip to get furniture before we have to take the U-Haul back." He backed through the doorway, gesturing at them to follow.
"Gordo's right, Miranda." Lizzie lifted her chin and gave Miranda a cool stare. "We can discuss this like adults later." She headed after Gordo, and Miranda followed.
"One, two, three- LIFT!" Gordo commanded.
Lizzie didn't think she had the energy to lift even her finger, but she, her brother Matt, Miranda, and Gordo hefted with all their might. The couch they'd just bought at the Salvation Army, a 1970-s monstrosity, that Lizzie had been outvoted on, lifted just enough to clear the threshold of the duplex. Together the four of them staggered forward a few paces into the living room.
"Which way?" Matt groaned. Luckily he had agreed to drive up to CSU, the 2 hour drive, to help them move in.
"Over there…" Lizzie tilted her head.
Painstakingly they inched the sofa forward and deposited it in the center of the room. Lizzie easer her weary arms out from underneath the couch and gradually uncurled her stiff, swollen fingers.
"It's perfect." Miranda commented. Lizzie and Gordo nodded in agreement.
Lizzie plopped down on the coach and felt her eyelids slowly close. She dragged herself to her feet." I am going to go take a nap, I'm beat"
"Oh no you don't!" Miranda called after her. "Napping definitely constituted marking territory. Nobody so much as shuts an eye until we decide on bedrooms."
Lizzie sighed and shuddered, they had no electricity, no bedrooms, and no power whatsoever. If this was moving to a new house, she never wanted to experience it again.
Miranda took a bite of pizza. The thought of getting up to register for classes tomorrow was overwhelming. All she wanted to do was curl up in her warm bed and sleep a few days.
"Ok you guys, the next thing is deciding who gets what room, it has to be done." Lizzie continued, she had been going over a list of to do things for the past hour and a half.
Miranda glanced over at Gordo and saw him stifle a yawn, then ask a question. "Well how are we going to decide?"
"Let's just discuss why we think we deserve the room we want," Miranda suggested. "For example, maybe certain people, such as me, have millions of shoes and need more closet space than others?"
Gordo laughed. "Nice try" He said as he took a bite of pepperoni.
"Listen there's only one fair way to decide…" Gordo said reaching for the straws that had come with the pizza. "We could just draw straws whoever gets the longest picks first."
Miranda hesitated, glancing sideways at Lizzie. Lizzie opened her mouth, then closed it as if she were about to make an objection but couldn't come up with one.
"Its ok with me," Miranda stated. "Let's just get this over with so I can get some sleep"
She and Gordo turned on Lizzie. She spoke her opinion. "I guess it's the only way."
"All right then," Gordo started. "Let's do it"
***This is just a trial story… if you want to see what happens please review and let me know if you like it! If I don't get that many reviews I won't continue because that means no one is reading it! Please review and tell me what you truthfully think*** AND WHAT I HAVE TO WORK ON**
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