It’s better for all of us that I’ve left, and I expect they’ll realize it soon.
50
A different person
“This place is so cute!” Rachel says, when I unlock the door to our new apartment.
“It’s great, isn’t it? C’mon, I’ll show you your room.”
In a rare stroke of good luck, the apartment on Four Points was not only still available, it’s also quite nice. Not as nice as the one I shared with Jade, but better than I was hoping for, honestly. There are two bedrooms, the kitchen and bathroom are both a decent size, and the complex seems to be well maintained. It also had the advantage of being immediately available.
I filled out the rental application yesterday, before Rachel and I spent the night at a motel in Whitman. Without going into too much detail, I told her about how the men I’d been staying with had gotten to be too controlling. I don’t want her making similar mistakes, and hope she takes a lesson from it.
Rachel may never have a problem with men because I strongly suspect she prefers women, but the same kind of control issues can come into play no matter what the gender, of course. Rachel’s never talked to me about any kind of sexual preferences, though I occasionally say things to let her know I’m open, in case she ever wants to discuss anything.
“It’s so big,” Rachel says, walking from room to room.
“It only looks that way now. Once the furniture’s in here, it will shrink,” I tell her. “Oh, looks like Jade’s here already.”
A text just came through, alerting me to my friend’s arrival. Even though it was such short notice, Jade was able to arrange for Justin and one of his friends to bring our furniture over from where it had been in storage in his garage.
“You can stay here,” I tell Rachel. “I’ll go meet them.”
I see Jade emerging from a truck that’s backed into a spot near the front of the building. Something’s off with her body language, and she’s slow to smile when she sees me.
“Everything okay?” I ask when I reach her.
“It’s fine,” she says, though her tone and expression tell me the complete opposite. When I give her a look, she says quietly, “I’ll talk to you about it later.”
It’s then that I notice that Justin seems in a similarly foul mood, though his friend, a big red-headed guy who I find out is named Pete, seems oblivious, or maybe he’s just trying to make the best of what might have been an uncomfortable ride here.
The two guys quickly unload the furniture and carry it into our unit. Pete is pretty friendly to both Rachel and me, but Justin doesn’t say anything unless he’s asking where to put something.
When they’re done, the new apartment looks a little more like a home, with a couch and chair, a coffee table, and two beds, one of which was Jade’s, but she doesn’t need it now that she’s living at Justin’s. She and I purchased the living room furniture together, but she tells me I can have it. There are also boxes with kitchen stuff, towels and sheets to unpack.
“I took the night off to get settled,” I tell her. “Want to stay and have dinner with us? I can drive you home afterward.”
She frowns. “I’d better not. Justin will be expecting me to cook dinner. Maybe on your next night off?”
“Sounds like a plan. Hey, how’s your new job going?” As she’d hoped, Jade got the job at Maddy Lewis’s bakery, and was excited about starting there when we texted about it.
Her face brightens temporarily. “I just started yesterday, but so far, it’s really good. Maddy’s so nice, and I’m learning a lot.”
“That’s great. I’ll try to stop in sometime soon.”
“You should do that,” she says.
“Well, thanks again for bringing this over so quickly,” I say, noticing that Justin and Pete are standing in the door, and Justin looks impatient.
“Your new place is great,” she says, giving me a hug. “Enjoy!”
I am excited about the apartment. It’s in a good location, and I’m so glad to have Rachel out of our mother’s house. I’ve missed her these past few years, and I think we’ll have a lot of fun together.
My positive outlook lasts through a couple of loads of laundry, making my bed, unpacking, ordering pizza, and finally relaxing on the couch with Rachel while we watch a program on my laptop.
It’s not until I’m alone in my bed that a wave of sadness hits me. If I’m calculating correctly, it would’ve been my turn to sleep in Devin’s bed tonight, though maybe if I were still living with them, we would’ve had more nights where I slept with two of them together.
I’d love to have Devin, and maybe even Shane, here with me right now. I slept better when I was with them, and even though Shane can be a big jerk, he was a really good cuddler, and, damn him, he taught me to like cuddling.