The apartment itself wasn’t old, per se. It was dated, but not run down. He was on the second floor, right by the steps. Which meant the most traffic going past, butit added to the experience. At least that was what he was trying to convince himself. The door opened into the living room straight ahead. It wasn’t open concept, something that Victor couldn’t decide if he hated yet or not. The living room was longer than it was wide. On the right was a flat screen TV on a modern looking stand. Across from it, against the left wall that separated the first bedroom, was a three-seater couch. It was a gray color, looked new-ish. A large window was on the outside wall, overlooking the grassy area in front of the building and the back of the science building. To the left of the door was an archway that led to the small kitchen. It didn’t give a whole lot of space, but they had a fridge, toaster, coffee maker, and what looked like a box of new utensils and plates sitting on the counter. There was just enough counter space to place a chopping board on one side of the electric stove and have the appliances on the other. The floor was a plain white linoleum. The hallway was about thirty feet long and a little dark, even with the overhead light. They’d have to set a lamp or something on a table at the end. To the left, past the kitchen, was the bathroom. It had a toilet and a shower, with one single cabinet and a bit of space under the sink. Again, it was all white and nothing too spectacular. The bedrooms were side-by-side to the right. The first one was the one that shared a wall with the living room. The other was at the end of the hall. They were the exact same size and layout. Two windows were set on the outside wall each, the bed frame positioned between them. There was a desk on the right, a tall dresser on the left. Each room had a closet set into the wall shared with the hallway.
His roommate had been in the apartment earlier to drop his stuff off. They only knew that because of all the sticky notes on boxes or furniture. The TV had been brought by him, theplates and utensils as well. True to his word, though, he hadn’t taken a room and texted Victor through the room mate app to go ahead and pick which one he wanted. Victor went with the furthest one, directly across from the bathroom.
“Are you sure you don’t need help unpacking?” his mom asked for the fifth time. They were all standing by the door. He was excited to start this, but he knew the moment they left and shut the door reality would hit him hard. He would be living away from the family for the first time.
“I’ll be okay,” he said. “I promise. I’ll call you in a little bit once I get some stuff set up.”
“You’re sure you have everything?” she asked. Also again.
“I don’t remember you being this worried about Paxton when we helped her move into her dorm.”
“That’s because we actually met her roommate,” his dad said. “I don’t like that he isn’t here.”
“Obviously he was here,” Victor said. “It’ll be fine. I love you, but go home.”
“I love you so much,” his mom said. She pulled him in for a tight embrace. “I’m so proud of you but I’m going to miss you.”
“I have my car,” Victor said. “And I’ll be home on the weekends to help out around the ranch. It’ll be okay. Okay, ow, Mom. You’re actually breaking ribs.”
“Sorry. Sorry.” She let him go and smoothed out the wrinkles from his shirt. Then she smiled, cupped his face in her hands and proceeded to hug him once more before stepping back. His dad offered his hand for a firm handshake.
“Call us if you need anything,” his dad said. “Stay out of trouble.”
“Trouble? Me? Never.” He grinned at the way bothhis parents rolled their eyes. They said one more round of goodbyes before Victor walked downstairs with them and watched them get in the truck. The apartments had a small pull around area at the back of the building that led to and from the parking lot at the edge of the campus. It was certainly convenient. He waved until his dad’s truck got lost in the sea of vehicles moving around.
He was officially on his own.
There were a lot of people walking in and out. Most of the parents had already left for the evening. They’d spent about an hour going through and cleaning most of the apartment, from the kitchen sink and counters to the bedroom he chose. His mom even cleaned and sanitized everything in the bathroom.
But now he was alone in the apartment and the noise he thought they’d have with being next to the stairs was not near loud enough. He looked at the boxes he had stacked at the beginning of the hallway. Two of them were his clothes, one was the new blankets and sheets, another pillows, and the last was small knickknacks he wanted to bring with him. He kept a lot of stuff at the house. The mattress had been a bit of a pain to get through the short hallway but he and his dad made it work. He wanted to move the furniture around a little, though. The bed would turn sideways with the head of it against the right wall, under the window so the morning light would hit his face if the curtains were pulled back. The desk and dresser could go on the other wall together. He eventually wanted to get a vanity of some sort to keep his skin care products and stuff on.
His phone dinged and he opened it to see Joe had texted him. Joe was his best friend and probably would be for the rest of their lives. He knew too much about Victor to not stay around.
Before he could even get a chance to read the text, Joe’s face popped up with an incoming call. That was his style; text and then decide that ten seconds wasn’t fast enough and he’d call anyway. His contact photo was them at the lake earlier that year. They’d gone with his family on Spring Break and both of them spent most of the days either on the boat or chilling by the lake.
“What do you want?” Victor asked. He grabbed the box he knew had the sheets and blanket. It wasn’t terribly heavy and he balanced the phone between his shoulder and ear.
“Dude, we’re living on campus now.”
“I take it your parents are also gone now,” Victor said. He set the box down on the bed. The frame was simple, white with slats of wood in an arch as the headboard. It was a size larger than what he had at home.
“They are. And Mom wouldn’t let me even sit on the mattress until it was sanitized and the protector was put on.”
Victor laughed. “Mom just bought me a whole new mattress.”
“That’s because you have a whole new apartment. How’s the roomie?”
“Don’t know,” Victor said. “He was here earlier, dropped his stuff off, set up some things and left a couple notes.”
“Who leaves notes?” Joe made a very unattractive snorting sound on the other end of the line. “Was it like this is my milk, don’t use it?”
“More like ‘hey, I got us a brand new TV and dishes so feel free to use whatever’. He also let me pick which room I wanted.”
“Lucky,” Joe said. “You won’t be stuck with the rent, though, right?”
“Nah, rent is paid monthly but we signed agreements so I only have to pay my half to live here. I’m sure he’ll be around. I know he said he’s got buddies from this area so he’s probably just out with them catching up or something. We’ll see each other plenty once classes start.”
“Imagine if you don’t, though. You would essentially have an entire apartment to yourself. The people you could bring back home with you and not have to coordinate your timing.”
