Hey guys, sorry that this update is really late. Year 12 has been kicking my ass but I'm on holidays now! I'm starting to think a schedule isn't a good idea since I have assignments coming out of the wazoo, but I'm writing whenever I have a free minute (unfortunately that's not very often). In return I'm going to try and update my other story fairly quickly for you guys now that I have a bit of time off!
So here's chapter two, and I hope you guys enjoy!
The day that Derek had picked for us to meet up was not going in my favour at all. After my alarm didn't go off I only had twenty minutes to get ready for work by the time I woke up, which meant that I had to skip out on my usual morning coffee in order to shower, get dressed and do my make-up. It only got worse from there when I couldn't get my car into gear to reverse, which seemed to be becoming quite a common problem with it. Maybe it was time to ditch the old, beat up Holden that I'd owned since high school for something a bit more modern. The fact that the air conditioner didn't work either was just the cherry on top, and since it was the middle of summer, my car was stifling hot.
The second I walked in the door of the office I was greeted by Angela, who didn't even look up from her computer screen as she bid me a 'hello'. After I had put my bag in my locker, I took my seat at the receptionist desk. I shuffled through the papers that Julia, the woman who had worked the shift before mine, had carelessly left behind without filing them. It happened often, after seven years of working as a dental receptionist and assistant, she just didn't care for her work anymore. Unfortunately this meant that I was the one to pick up after her and I hoped that it wasn't going to be for much longer. The boss was getting sick of Julia's shenanigans and was probably figuring out a way to fire her, which meant that we'd get a new junior to train.
Halfway through picking up Julia's mess and filing it away, I was interrupted by Nate, who was one of the dentists. He shot me a friendly smile and I sent a half-hearted one back.
"You don't look so good." He said.
"Thanks," I replied sarcastically. "It's probably from a lack of caffeine."
"Tsk, that's not good for your teeth, Chloe."
"Nothing's good for anything nowadays, now go and have lunch." I glared.
He held his hands up in mock surrender and laughed as he walked out of the building, most likely to get his usual order of a McDonald's kid's meal.
After filing away Julia's work and starting on my own, I marvelled as Nate came back bearing a hot, take-away coffee from the shop next door. He set it down in front of me and gave me a quick smile before disappearing back into his room where his next patient awaited him.
I greedily consumed the caffeine that was laid in front of me.
"Rough night?" Angela asked. "I never see somebody drink their coffee that quickly unless they have a hangover."
"More like rough morning." I grumbled.
"Isn't it a little early to be drinking?"
I scowled at her assumption. "You know what I mean." I ran my hand through my messy strawberry blonde hair and pulled it up into a high ponytail. "It could not have come on a worse day."
She held her hands up in mock surrender and laughed. "Well hopefully that liquid energy kicks in fast. We need to clean out one of the storage rooms today and do a re-stock."
I skulled the rest of the coffee down and threw the cup in the bin. "Then we'd better get started."
The store room wasn't what I had anticipated at all. I opened the door and swallowed the lump in my throat that told me I was never going to leave in time to get to Derek's apartment by half past five.
'Did a tornado tear this up?' I thought to myself.
Angela and I exchanged glances and rolled our eyes before setting off to work. Don't get me wrong, I loved being a dental assistant, but on days where everything seemed to be going wrong, it took a lot of effort, especially when I had to clean and re-stock a storeroom that closely resembled a bomb site.
My plans for finishing work at 5 o'clock diminished when I realised that we still had a long way to go. It was quarter past five when Nate came in looking for some supplies.
"Don't you have that meeting with this Derek guy in fifteen minutes?" He asked pointedly. "You should probably get going."
"I should probably finish this before I leave." I told him as I gestured to the room that still was a wreck.
Nate rolled his eyes at me. "Just go, Chloe. I'll finish up after I've done my paper work."
"Thank you, Nate." I grinned.
After grabbing my belongings I headed straight to the car, already knowing that I would be late. I didn't want to rock up in my work uniform so I ended up changing in the back seat of my car. Classy, right? I just hoped that the windows were tinted enough to disguise what I was doing to the outside world.
After driving around for half an hour trying to find Derek's apartment building in a part of town that I wasn't so familiar with, I finally found it. I shut off the ignition and took a few deep breaths.
Deciding against the elevator, I climbed six flights of stairs before coming to the level that I was looking for.
After I had found apartment 368 I nervously knocked on the door. Standing back, I fidgeted with my hair, my clothes – anything that might have kept my nerves in check.
A click of the door unlocking made me snap my head up as it cracked open a fraction. Behind it I saw half of a face peek out at me.
"H-hi, you must be Derek. I'm Chloe. Chloe Saunders." I smiled, trying to appear more confident than I actually was.
"I know who you are, and you're late." He sighed and closed the door completely.
Raising an eyebrow, I was about to knock again when I heard the clinking of the chain that must have still been locked on the other side. The door swung open completely to reveal a man, who must have been at least six and a half feet tall. His jet black hair hung in his eyes but behind the curtain of hair, I caught a glimpse of vibrant green.
"Derek. Derek Souza." He rumbled.
"Nice to meet you." I held out my hand, anticipating a handshake or some other kind of formality, but he just looked at it and smirked.
"There's no need for formalities, Chloe." He told me as he stepped aside. "Come in."
Considering that I didn't know Derek, I didn't know what to expect when I stepped into his apartment. As he closed the door behind me I began to look around. To the left of the entrance there was a cosy looking brown leather couch which faced the television that was supported by a small cabinet. The shelves of the cabinet appeared to hold quite an impressive DVD collection. To the right of the room was a small kitchen and dinner table. The table was covered in papers and books, and on the very top of the stack balanced a laptop that looked like it was ready to topple over.
"Uh, yeah it's not very tidy. Sorry." He mumbled. "It's not usually like this."
Fully taking in the room, he was right about it not being tidy. But the clutter and the mess made it seem more welcoming. It actually looked like a home and somewhere that I knew that I would be comfortable living in.
"It's fine." I smiled.
Derek made us coffees and we sat on the couch to talk. He asked about where I worked, my future goals and most importantly, whether or not I could keep up with the rent. Since the rent was such a reasonable price and I worked quite a bit, I assured him that it would be fine. If need be I could reach into the money I already had saved.
Derek seemed reasonably nice. He was softly spoken and my guess was that he was a little bit shy. From the scatter of books and paperwork over the kitchen table and bench, he was probably very work-orientated and maybe even a little bit messy. It didn't bother me though, considering I wasn't the tidiest person myself.
After he asked everything that he had planned, he stood up. "I guess I'd better give you a tour then." He mumbled the words. "And a key to the place."
"Really?" I smiled.
"Well it's either you move in or another guy who smells like vinegar and breeds rats. I know who I'd prefer."
I didn't question it. I finally had a place to stay and that was all that mattered to me.
Derek showed me around the apartment and we discussed the bond and payments.
"So how come it's so cheap?" I asked him.
"My previous roommate did a runner. I came home from a weekend away and his things were gone, along with my TV. I wanted somebody new to move in to share the expenses."
"If I'm going to move in are the expenses going to even for the both of us? Because it's awfully cheap." I lowered my voice. "Nobody died in the bedroom, did they?"
He stopped dead in his tracks and spun around to look at me. "What?! No!"
I held my hands up in surrender. "It was a joke."
Derek scowled. "Well as far as I know, nobody has died here."
We continued with the tour. He showed me around the bedrooms, the bathroom and the study. Of course I had already seen the living room and kitchen when I first entered the apartment and they were completely different to the rest of the rooms. The kitchen and living room were cluttered with books and papers, whereas the hallways, bedrooms and bathroom were tidy and clutter free.
Derek had me sign a bond and before I knew it, I was saying goodbye and heading back to my car. It was official; I finally had a place to call home! Granted on the pre-existing clutter, I was going to have to tone it down on the personalization. After all, I had to share it with somebody else and Derek probably wouldn't appreciate me ruining what he already had in the apartment.
I was definitely going to need to leave some boxes back at home too. When I first moved out I had bought everything that I needed to in order to have a cosy apartment and that included furniture. Most of it was stored away safe in my parents' garage, but it couldn't stay there forever. Regardless of how much my parents loved me, they were getting sick of me using their house as a place to store all of my things even though I lived there. I was going to have to sell a lot of my furniture, which would help me in the long run financial wise.
When I waltzed through the door of my parents' house, I threw my bag down and skipped into the kitchen where my mom was tending to a pot that was set on the stove and my dad was at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. They looked up at me, curious as to why I was so cheery, and then it dawned on them.
Mom's initial expression of surprise turned into happiness and gave me her usual, sweet smile. My dad broke out in a huge grin as he put the paper down.
"I take that it went well?" Dad asked.
I smiled and that was all they needed. "I'm so happy for you, honey!" Mom chirped. Dad congratulated me and gave me a light, affectionate thump on the back.
"So when are you leaving us?" He asked.
"Derek's going to call me when he clears out the spare room, then we'll talk about a date." I announced excitedly.
My parents congratulated me again and I left them in the kitchen to go to my room. When I looked around, I sighed in relief that I hadn't unpacked all of my boxes.
But I still knew that I had some work to do…
I admit, I'm not the greatest at ending chapters but I'm still somewhat pleased with how this turned out.
Thanks for reading!
