Moving In

My name is Ben. I'm moving out of my college dorm and into an apartment. My own apartment! Not crowded with anything by men and my own stuff. I finally living the dream of a home owning American.

Currently I am driving the moving van with my younger sister in tow, who just happened to be very eager to help me unpack at my new apartment. She sat in the passenger seat watching the buildings out her window zoom by, revealing how much of the area she didn't recognize. Patricia wore black tights, a slowly skirt and tucked into that was a white button-up. She wore it with a few button loose to act as an anchor for her long blond curls. I had just picked her up from her private school.

She turned to me. "Hey."

"Hey," I said back.

She took a moment before she continued. "This is very far out. Are you gonna come visit?" Her eyes took on a sad look and it brought me down to the level of destroying the world to make her never look that way again. But I came back to reality and bit down on my lip in anticipation of how she reacted to what I was about to say.

"I don't think I can visit as much as possible as before."

"Oh." After that saddening response Patricia went back to looking out the window. We sat in silence for the rest of the drive.

We had arrived at my new apartment building. It was in a decent part of town, but still gave off the vibe of being up and coming. The bricks still had some paint left from where it was peeled back to expose it.

Patricia grabbed a box form the back and I took one too. We walked up to the front door and found an intercom system. I pressed one side of the box up against the wall nearest to me as leverage and used my free hand to dig into my back pocket. I then pulled out a piece of paper and narrowed my eyes at the name scribbled on it. "Riley," I said to myself.

"Who's Riley?"Patricia asked, "Are you rooming with a girl?"

This time her voice sounded angry, but I ignored it as the weight of the box in my hand grew more heavy as time went by.

I turned my attention back to the intercom and went from top to bottom looking for "Riley." Finally, near the middle I found Riley. I pressed my finger against the button next to her name. A buzzing noise went off and after a few seconds a voice occupied the machine, a female voice.

"Hello?" the voice called out, "Who is it?"

"Hi. My name is Ben, I'm the new tenet."

"Oh. OH."

"OH?" I said.

"I'm coming! I coming!" Riley yelled.

The intercom cut off and I turned to face Patricia. Her body language was on fire with aggression. She glared my way.

"What did she mean by 'I'm coming'?" she asked accusingly.

"Really? As if she would be doing that to me," I responded sarcastically. "Would you get your mind out of the gutter.

"Hmph." Patricia turned away from me.

At that moment the door flag open and there stood Riley, heavily breathing in and out as if she just run a marathon.

In between gasping for air she said, "S-sorry that took a bit. W-welcome to the Horizon apartments."

I turned to her and gave my best disarming smile as I eyed her up and down. Riley had an athletic build with red hair in a bob. She had on a pink tank top and jean short-shorts. She was in a word; adorable.

She looked from me to Patricia and then back to me. She smiled and motioned to the hall behind her. "Don't be shy. Come on in!"

Me and Patricia walked into the hall past Riley, who propped open the door behind us.