Hearts Desire

Kenneth Clark carefully climbed up a winding set of metal stairs with a large, full cardboard box in his hands. His brown eyes just peeked over the top and as soon as he got to the top, he gave a light kick on a door letting it swing open. With a final grunt, he shuffled inside and dropped the box to the ground, pushing it up the thin hallway with his foot the rest of the way. "Finally," Kenny sighed, lifting a hand to wipe his brow and then brush the few loose strands of his thick brown hair from his eyeline, "Finished."

"Woohoo! We are officially moved in!" Kenny turned his attention to the cheering voice and grinned. Standing in the kitchen, midway through unpacking a box of gifted silverware and dishes was his new housemate, Mindy Long. Mindy was an absolutely stunning Asian woman of South Korean descent, and she had been Kenny's best friend since they had first entered schooling well over ten years ago. No matter what happened in their lives, whether it be good or bad, the one constant they knew they always had was each other. So when high school ended, and they realized they only had a few months before they were college-bound, they hatched a genius scheme to not only keep them side by side but also prepare them for the real world. They rented an apartment on the outskirts of Dartwin, the next town over, and only thirty minutes away from their University to be; Bear Mountain University.

When Mindy had first brought up the idea to her friend, she didn't honestly believe that it'd gain any serious traction, but as always, Kenny had a way of surprising her. Only a month and a half into their final summer vacation, Kenny had already brought the idea up to his parents, talked to a few of his friends with the right connections in Dartwin, and used his savings to put down a deposit. And just like that, the pair of friends had a cozy, affordable two-bedroom apartment all to themselves. It was a whirlwind of change, but neither could be more excited for what was to come, especially knowing that they had each other to go through it all.

That being said, when it came to Kenny and Mindy's relationship, things couldn't have been more platonic. Neither suffered from a lack of attractiveness, even with Mindy being much more of a tomboy than the average girl her age, her natural beauty was apparent. She took care of her appearance, her long black hair always silky smooth and knot-free, and her cute face free of all blemishes. Not to mention that even hidden under the baggier clothes her perfect feminine figure was still distinguishable. The detractor that separated the pair was the blindness that came with a lifetime of friendship.

Kenny had always looked at Mindy as family, as nothing more than a sister. Well, except for one time during the early years of middle school, when puberty was hitting them both he noticed Mindy developing and was feeling some reactions of his own that felt very foreign. That, however, came and went within the same week it started. Mindy didn't differ from this too far, though her feelings at one point grew very complicated with the man. In their first year of high school, Mindy started to wonder if her feelings for Kenny went past friendship, but the idea of screwing said friendship was too much of a risk for her to take. It took some time, but the young oriental girl was able to put those thoughts into their place and keep things with Kenny the way they had always been, and at the end of the day, she'd always be grateful for that.

Kenny made his way into the kitchen and grabbed Mindy into a quick spinning hug that earned him a wild laugh in response, "We are official adults! We live on our own! Work our own jobs! And we'll be going to college in only a few months! This is awesome!"

Mindy was released from Kenny's hold and she immediately returned to unpacking with a huge smile, "Yeah, just forget about half our rent coming from our parents for the next few years, and sure, we're full-blown independents,"

Kenny planted his hands on his hips and looked around contently. The apartment wasn't much, a large living and dining room mixed with a small, but feasible kitchen, a single bathroom, and two equally cozy bedrooms. Still, it was theirs, after years of having only the space of the four walls that made his bedroom to call his own in Greenwall, this could have been a mansion to the teen. "I forget, are you getting the bedroom closer to the front door or closer to the bathroom?"

"I already put my clothes away in the one by the front door, so you're getting that one," Mindy thumbed over.

Kenny nodded, lifted the body he brought in, and walked off to the room in question. Pushing inside he brought the box in and set it down on the bed, immediately opening and pulling out a pile of folded clothes. The bedroom was definitely smaller than the one he had back home, it had just enough room to fit in a desk and chair as well as a single dresser along with the bed. There was also a small closet for additional storage but Kenny wasn't one to complain, it was going to fit everything he had brought with him and that was more than good enough for him, "So...do we like, throw a house party or something?!" He called out from his room,

"Who'd come?" Mindy lightly laughed back, "Our parents already saw the place, JJ is out of state with his family, Nicole's on her concert tour, and for most everyone else, a two-hour drive to Dartwin is a little far for our little abode,"

Kenny walked out of his bedroom and rounded the corner, "Hey, Brian is in Dartwin all the time, and Anna --"

"Is right here!" Kenny and Mindy both quickly turned to find the blonde girl peaking her head in their doorway, "Hi guys!" Mindy let out a squealing cheer and rushed past Kenny, quickly grabbing the blonde into a tight-squeezing hug.

Unlike Kenny and Mindy, Anna Ross knew how to plan things out properly and didn't need to make rash decisions when it came to her move to Dartwin at the start of the summer. All throughout high school, Anna had a clear drawn-out plan when it came to her future, and step one was getting a small one-room apartment in Dartwin for her time at BMU. While she was always friends with Mindy and Kenny, when she learned they had worked out a similar plan, they had since all gotten a lot closer. Mindy and Anna had started hanging out together almost every day before their moves, and once they learned that Anna was only going to be living a few blocks away, Kenny knew that they'd be doing it a lot more now.

As the hug broke, Anna's emerald green eyes shifted attention to Kenny and she gave him a warm friendly smile, "Hope you didn't mind me dropping in, I just knew today was your official first day here,"

"Not at all, Anna, you're welcome anytime, all the time," Kenny assured the blonde without hesitation. When it came to Kenny's relationship with Anna, Kenny always felt that they were a bit odd. They met late in his second year of high school when Kenny befriended Nicole Moore, who was without a doubt Anna's best friend in the world. At the time she was dating someone so Kenny always knew to keep his distance, which at first seemed like an impossible task. Her body was perfect, curves in all the right places, not a thing out of place but more so, Anna had the sweetest personality to go along with it. It was fair to say that Kenny had an immediate attraction to her, but always knew to respect the line between them. Eventually, Kenny let his emotions tapper off and did his best to treat Anna almost like a little sister, and it worked well. They'd joke around, and tease each other from time to time, but also have some profound conversations if they found each other alone. Now that Anna and Mindy were turning into close friends Kenny was sure that they'd be a close trio all throughout college.

Anna looked back to Mindy, "So what do you have left to put away? Anything?"

"Just a few more boxes for the kitchen and then Kenny has his room, but we're pretty much done!" Mindy explained as the two girls stepped past Kenny and moved into the kitchen,

"Oh awesome, here, let me help. I remember I was dying to be done unpacking by the end," Anna giggled as she reached into a set of boxes,

Mindy let out a long groan, "Oh God, you've got that so right, I kept seeing all these boxes and was like, blegh!" Anna and Mindy shared another laugh, "After I'm done I'll cook us something to eat, and you can stay for dinner! You'll be our first guest!"

"Aw, thank you! I'd love to!" Anna sweetly accepted,

Kenny let out a little chuckle, "Lost in their own world," He murmured under his breath and then felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Pulling it out, he looked and found a text, "Oh...Hey, Brian just asked me to go meet him for a drink, you all good if I head out, Mindy?!"

"Yeah, Anna and I got this! I'll save you a bowl of whatever I make just in case!" Mindy called back,

"Cool, see you later! Nice seeing you, Anna," Kenny headed to the front door,

Anna peaked her head around the corner and gave the brown-haired teen a wave, "You too Ken, see you soon!"

Indeed an older thread I was working on at one point, but decided to finally bring it back. If anyone was interested in the idea of the new thread I put up at the start of the month, unfortunately I just hit a block I wasn't able to get past. The days of doing stories like The Lodge just have passed, I like the freedom of location, so that story won't be happening. But this one as well as a return to Twin Flame will happen soon. I hope you guys will enjoy; and I have a backlog to edit and post so expect some regular updates. Thanks guys!