“Shit,” I go to pull away, but Moni reaches out to keep my finger pressed against the hole, and the door instantly stops moving.
We look at each other and burst out in nervous laughter.
Moni swipes her finger over the hole this time and the door opens just a crack for her to pass by. Not waiting a moment, she zips past and immediately I hear a rustling noise and her squeaking eek.
Walking in and closing the door behind me, I’m assaulted by blue and green streaks of color flying back and forth in front of the short entrance hall enough times that I can’t count or even guess where in the room she could be.
“Omg, Omg, Rez! OH MY GAWD! This is awesome. Oh! We’ll have to upgrade that. Look at this! Is that stainless steel? Holy pine needles, you can fit like the entire football team in that bedroom. Ooooh! Is that an eleven way? Twelve way? Rez, how many people are on a football team anyway? It doesn’t matter. They can all fit! Hey, do you even like guys? No need to answer that! We’ll have plenty of time to have those kinds of talks! Holy donkey balls! I mean, look at this place! This room is the cheese whiz!” She finally pops back in front of me as I reach the end of the hallway where she starts bouncing around and expertly faints into my arms.I wonder if all the fainting spells have done some damage to her head. I giggle at the thought. It’s something to ponder.
She’s the size of a small toddler, thankfully, so instead of waking her, I just walk the rest of the way into the open room while holding her close.
Holy shit!
I almost drop Moni as I take in the view she had already seen. No wonder she fainted again. This place is enormous. White walls, floors, and decor everywhere. It’s like someone puked up white snow all over the place. So maybe all the white decor might have something to do with bringing in the light, making it look massive. Overwhelmed, a memory rushes to me and I choke back a sob.
My mother stood in her yellow kitchen peering down at me with one of her smiles reserved only for me. “It brightens up the room, Rezzi, that’s why I pick white or soft colors.” She motioned toward the tiny window above the kitchen sink, “No matter how you feel, it brings cheer and happiness to any area.”
The weight in my arms as Moni shifts yanks me out of the memory with a gasp. I shudder and grasp Moni tighter as I will my tears to stop falling. I miss my mother so much. She would have loved how light and bright it is here, but she too would hate the all white decor. I can’t focus on the past no matter how much I want to.
The entrance hallway opens to a massive open concept room. The entire back wall has floor to ceiling windows that let in the early evening sun with top-down, bottom-up shades, giving me a complete view of the ocean and the grounds below.
Walking to the white leather sofa in the sunken living room, I place Moni down so I can take advantage and investigate in peace for a few minutes. Wiping my eyes, I notice there’s a kitchen with all stainless steel appliances and a smart refrigerator to the left of the entry hall. The island has a huge welcome basket on it with scattered papers all over the surface; that accounts for the paper I heard rustling.
Across from the kitchen is a dining room table with white chairs and what looks like a white curio cabinet filled with fine china against the wall.Because every student needs fine china to eat their pizza off of.And who in their right mind eats on all white furniture? That’s going to be a bitch to clean while in college, or whatever this place is equivalent to on Earth. There’s a hallway between the kitchen and dining area, so I decide to explore that side first, passing through them quickly and peeking into rooms as I go. The first door on the left is a completely stocked laundry room, and across from that is a small gym. At the end of the hall, one door leads to a bedroom that’s bigger than my grandparents' living room back home. The only door left is a decent size bathroom, decorated with simple off-white decor that just makes me cringe. I can’t even tell where the wall ends and the floor begins.
I make my way back down the hallway to check out the other side and sigh when I see Moni still passed out, drooling on the sofa. Okay, so sue me, I miss her bubbly personality. Who else does better commentary?
“Hey, pipsqueak,” I say, tapping her on her cheek. She shoots up like a bullet and immediately becomes her four-inch preferred self, floating at eye level. “I did it again, huh? What are we up to?” she asks while giving me a slight smirk, wringing her hands in a ball and turning a slight pinkish color.Aww is she embarrassed?
I can’t help but laugh as we walk past the fireplace and towards what I hope is the bedroom wing of this “dorm room.”
“We’re up to seventeen, but I definitely don’t blame you on this one. I almost dropped your ass when I saw this place. It’s like a five-star hotel room,” I laugh as she sits on my shoulder.
“Hey! Those are fighting words, Paul Bunyan. No one drops Monikaloy and lives to tell the tale,” she threatens while pulling on my ear like she’s milking a damn cow, then abruptly stops. “Well, except for JP... Knox, I guess. Oh, and Gus, and Zeke once, a few of my cousins. Oh, and that woman that sells fireweed on the westside.”
I bite my tongue to stop my original retort and shake my head, jarring her. “I said I almost did. This place is huge and gorgeous, but I definitely would have picked a different color scheme. Who in their right mind decided white on white was a good idea for a school dorm room?”
She pushes back my loose hair, “There’s only one person that the preparatory school would commission. Believe me, this is her style of decor at such short notice,” Moni sighs but doesn’t offer up details. “That’s why we’re meeting with JP! He’s a shopping and decorating guru,” she sings.
“Are all the dorm rooms this nice or did we just hit the jackpot in the Purgatory lottery?” I ask Moni.
“Girl, your guess is as good as mine since this is my first time here, but based on the view and how big this place is. We’re millionaires now, baby!” she laughs.
Moving on, we walk down the short hallway, checking out the two closets when we walk into heaven. I’m so claiming this place. The floor to ceiling windows continued into the room, showing off a breathtaking view below. On the left side of the bedroom, there are double doors and nothing else. On the opposite side sits a king size bed and a desk next to it, in the corner. Another door is next to the entrance, but other than that it’s sparse, not even a damn dresser. Trying the first door I see, there’s a walk-in closet that’s utterly empty with drawers and shoe racks installed along the walls. Holy shit! Now this is a closet. Too bad I didn’t have my clothes to fill this up. What am I saying? Even if I did, there’s no way my clothes would even come close to filling one rack and two drawers. Who in their right mind evenneedsthis space. When we open the second door, we find a massive bathroom.
“See, I told you. You could fit a football team in here.” Moni preens, puffing her chest out.
Moni is right about the size. I’m not actually willing to try her suggestion, but there’s nothing wrong with having dreams. The bathroom is more like a top-end spa, with a massive soaking tub and an encased rain shower in the middle of the room.
“I’m so claiming this room, that is, if you’re okay with it?” I ask as I continue to drool over the size of the bathroom.
“Oh that’s fine. I’m taking the one down the hall, closest to the laundry room. I love laying on the washer during the spin cycle,” she declares, my eyes going wide. Looking at my face, she laughs. “What? It’s like a free massage. You should try it.” She then looks me up and down and tsks. “Nevermind, you’re too massive,” she points out. Moni does a sweep of the room while I open up a few cabinets.
Moni floats in front of me, catching my eye. Her vibrant green skin now has a yellowish tint when she turns to me and raises a yellowish-green eyebrow and motions to the room. “Does all the white make you sick, too, or is it just me?”
I nod because she isn’t the only one the all-white decor is affecting, as a slight headache once again is making an appearance. She claps her hands to get my attention and waves me to follow her back to the kitchen. She shuffles through the papers on the island until she finds what she was looking for. “Well, thank God, the school is paying for us to decorate this dump. Let’s get buck naked and plant the city red,” she giggles, waving the letter like a flag.
“You mean let’s get buck wild and paint the city red,” I roll my eyes as we walk to the front door.
