o n e
Penny
I have come to realize how shitty my luck is. Only a day in my new apartment and I have already managed to lose my set of keys and left the only other spare set locked back inside.
I pull everything out of my duffle bag for what I think is the fifth time, but just like the last time I checked nothing. I groan and stuff everything back into the bag before sitting against my door and leaning my head back, my eyes moving up towards the ceiling to stare at the lights that line it.
I don’t want to call my landlord, that is the exact opposite of what I want to do, but I have little choice in the matter. I pull my phone out of my pocket typing in the number I’d written down under ‘Landlord’ in my contacts, my thumb hovering over the call button as the sound of footsteps echoes up from the staircase to my left. I take a deep breath and stuff my phone back into my pocket.
Great, this was the last thing I needed, to be embarrassed in front of my new neighbors. Behind the corner a large head of bouncy black curls appears, she is holding a Starbucks cup in one hand and her phone in the other. She doesn’t notice me as she looks up quickly before looking back down at her screen. A second later she realizes that I’m sitting in front of her on the floor, because her eyes widen and she quickly stuffs her phone into her jean pocket before looking back down at me. She blinks twice before a large smile spreads across her face.
“Hi! You must be Penny?” She asks as she walks past me towards a door with the number 7 on it across from where I am sitting.
“Uh, yeah,” I say, “You know my name?” I stand brushing dust off from the back of my sweats.
“Oh, sorry, of course, we haven’t met,” She turns putting her coffee cup into the crook of her opposite other elbow, and sticks a manicured hand towards me, “Brooke,” she says, smiling radiantly at me.
I smile back and take her hand in mine, “Nice to finally meet you!”
She glances down at my duffle bag with half of my clothes still hanging out of it, “Were you waiting for someone?”
“Oh, no... I-I got um locked out” I say sheepishly, nodding to my door, “Lost my keys somewhere, I lose everything that’s small and losable.”
God, I sound so stupid.
“Oh, no worries! I’ve got an extra inside, you know just in case,” She winks before turning back, unlocking her door swiftly and heading inside, “Come wait inside,” She calls over her shoulder.
I scramble to stuff the remainder of my clothes into my duffle bag before following Brooke into her apartment.
As I step into her apartment I stop and look around in awe. It’s lavishly decorated with art and decorations filling every blank space, carpets and plants are placed perfectly to make the apartment so cozy. Each room also has a different colored accent wall, the kitchen has a wall that is painted a warm orange, her living room, a deep forest green. As I walk further into her living room her collection of beautiful art stares down at me from every corner.
“Your place is amazing!” I say, placing my bag down on one of the swivel chairs at her island, taking a seat in the other.
“Thanks, I’ve been changing it up a lot, since I’ve been living here for so long, I like to spice things up once in awhile,” She says, walking into a room I’d guess to be her bedroom.
She comes out moments later with her shirt off wearing only a bra, a black lacy one.
“What do you think?” She twirls once before looking back up expectantly, “how does it make my boobs look?” She asks, using her hands to push up her breasts.
“Oh! Um, it’s really nice I like it!” I say flustered, my cheeks growing warm, “makes them look.. um... plump.”
“Haha thanks, just got it today but wasn’t sure if it fit well,” She walks back into her bedroom, “I needed someone’s opinion” She calls out.
People in the city are so much more open than they ever were back home, I shake my head, not really my home anymore. New York is a city I have been fantasizing about ever since I was little. I lived in Spring Lake a neighborhood in Monmouth County, New Jersey, that has a lot of old rich money but nothing eccentric or exciting. My life was simple then, but I wanted it to be extraordinary.
“So are you from New York?” Brooke walks out fully clothed in a tight tank, with some sweat shorts on, her curls pulled into a lazy bun atop her head.
I shake my head, “No, I lived in New Jersey”
she forms an ‘o’ with her mouth and moves towards the fridge, pulling out two iced teas, she walks over and passes me one.
“What made you want to move here?” She asks.
Brooke has a very easy way of having conversations, unlike me, she seems so easy going. At least I’ve been able to meet someone in this city, it seems so big and makes me feel so small. But I guess I like that about this city, feeling small, unnoticed and unjudged.
“I’ve always wanted to move here,” I swirl the iced tea cap in between my fingertips watching it spin out on the marble counter, “There’s something about the life of the city and the culture and people, I want to be apart of it all.”
She nods, “New York has a great scene, the nightlife is the best,” She reaches over the space of the counter and grabs my wrist, “we need to go out sometime! I know all the best spots.”
I smile, “Ya I’d like that, I don’t really have any friends so I’m glad I met you” I squeeze her hand.
“Totally, we’re going to be great friends.”
“Agreed.”
-
“So do you work out?” Brooke asks.
It is a little later, Brooke is helping me set up my IKEA furniture, consisting of my desk and bedside table.
“No, I dance actually”
“What!! No way that’s super cool” She exclaims from the floor, her face is scrunched up as she squints at the confusing leaflet with the directions.
“I want to be a ballerina, here, for the NYC ballet company,” I twist another screw into the bottom of the desk with my screwdriver. “I’ve been dancing practically my entire life, I can’t seem to remember a time when I didn’t dance...”
“That’s amazing, I wish I had your drive,” She pouts, “This is hard, I forgot how bad I am at building anything” She laughs, holding up the directions.
“What do you do?” I ask.
“I swim for New York University!”
I glance up momentarily, “That’s huge Brooke congrats.”
“Oh its nothing, I’ve always been swimming, it makes me happy. My parents want me to be a lawyer but that’s not really what I want to do. I just haven’t had the guts to tell them that I have been taking design courses for extra credits,” She holds her index finger up to her lips, smirking.
I laugh, “yeah my Mom’s the same, but I decided to push for my dreams and here I am.”
I stand up turning the desk over onto its four legs, it leans slightly to the right, of course, it’s crooked. I sigh and fall back into my couch.
“I’m giving up,” I declare, pulling a pillow onto my lap and reaching for the remote.
“Same!” Brooke shouts, walking over to the couch and plopping down beside me, pulling a fluffy blanket over our legs.
“Hey so there’s this thing happening this Saturday, and I was thinking of going but had no one to go with. You wanna come? It’s going to be super fun and the perfect time for you to get out and meet some people!” She explains.
I look down at my hands in my lap as ‘Friends’ plays in the background, this is what I wanted, a life more than what a small reserved town could give me, I repeat to myself. Smiling I look over to Brooke, my new friend, and nod.
She squeals and pulls me in for a side hug, “This deserves celebratory pizza and wine, to our new friendship!”
I smile back at her, watching as she hops up from the couch and prances into the kitchen with her phone held up to her ear speaking with the pizza place on the other end.
My life here will be good, a fresh start, this is what I wanted, needed. I was suffocating with my mother and her husband, it wasn’t a family, it was the opposite. I needed to move here to be able to breathe again, and I feel like now, sitting on my couch in my apartment with Brooke my friend. I have finally been able to catch my breath.
