Chapter 4

Roomies

"Hey, Lyndzi, we're on Park Street," Riley said.

Lyndzi nodded, "Okay, my apartment is number 504. Press the buzzer. My roomie, Ellie, should be up there."

Riley pushed the old buzzer and heard a garbled voice. "Who is it?"

Lyndzi leaned towards the box. "Ellie, its Lyndzi and a…friend of mine."

Ellie let them in the door to the apartment opened. Lyndzi grabbed Riley's hand and dragged him towards the elevator. They rode up to the 18th floor then got off. There were two doors: behind one door you could hear "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the other had a large maintenance sign barely hanging from a rusty nail. Surprisingly Lyndzi led him to the second door.

"What's up with the sign," Riley asked, still not sure if Lyndzi knew where she was going.

Lyndzi knocked on the door and explained that Ellie wanted to keep her safe and thought the maintenance sign would throw off anyone who wanted to take advantage of her disability.

"Oh, I see."

The door suddenly swung open to reveal a tall African American. She was resting a large bowl full of brownie batter against her hip. She looked Riley over and asked, "Who is he?"

"Ellie, this is my friend, Riley." Lyndzi's emphasis on the word friend didn't go by unnoticed by either of them.

Ellie shot Riley a dirty look. "He better stay your friend, Lyndzi, and nothing more."

Lyndzi gave Ellie a playful shove into the apartment. "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

Ellie rolled her eyes at Lyndzi's back as they walked into the apartment.

Lyndzi turned around. "You did not just do that to me!"

"Do what?" Ellie asked innocently.

"You just rolled your eyes at me!"

"You got me, Lyndzi. Are you sure you're blind?" Ellie asked sarcastically.

Lyndzi just laughed and told Riley to wait in the living room while the girls packed for the trip. Ellie went off on Lyndzi asking why she was going on a trip with a guy she never met. Riley could hear Lyndzi explaining to Ellie as they went into her bedroom.

While the girls were off packing Riley sat down in a clear egg shaped chair. He looked around their apartment. It was painted purple with zebra throw pillows on all the chairs. One wall was covered with floor-to-ceiling windows. The kitchen was connected to the living room. There was a bar with four black leather stools. The kitchen was done in light green and chrome. The inside of the apartment was a far cry from what Riley expected; especially after seeing the maintenance sign.

Riley looked down at his $400 watch he got with his pathetic little ½ of the treasure money. Crap, he thought, our plane is going to leave in 30 minutes. I better go tell Lyndzi to speed up the packing.

Lyndzi and Ellie started to throw things into the suitcase without even noticing what they were. They had ten minutes left to pack.

"What does Riley look like, Ellie?" Lyndzi asked curiously. She had been wondering that ever since he said she looked beautiful.

"Well, he's a cutie-patootie," Ellie answered, narrowly dodging a pair of jeans Lyndzi threw to the suitcase. "He's got brown hair and dreamy eyes. Get this, Lyndzi. He wears those god-awful Converse you like to wear."

Lyndzi laughed, "Converse are not god-awful. I love them, they're so cute. Now that I'm thinking about it, can you put my black pair in the suitcase?"

Riley was just starting to get worried that they'd miss the plane when the girls came out of the bedroom. "Think you packed enough?" he asked, looking warily at the two large suitcases.

Lyndzi nodded. "I'm ready to go."

They left the apartment (after Ellie had threatened to castrate Riley if he didn't take care of Lyndzi) and took a cab to the airport. After getting searched at security, they ran to their plane. They barely made it on. Ben and Abigail were already waiting for them.

Abigail spoke up. "Lyndzi, you can sit by me for now. I'm sure you don't want to get bored by Ben and Riley. I'm much more entertaining than them."

As the plane started to take off, Lyndzi wondered what she had gotten herself into by accepting the invitation.