Under A Paper Moon |N.H|

2

"It's... nice," I say, trying to seem as enthusiastic as my father when he asks 'So, what do you think?' for about the thousandth time.

I'll give it to him, the location is great, the view is great, everything is great.

The only thing is, it's completely empty apart from a blow up mattress on the floor of my room, a dresser, and a few plants sitting on the windowsills.

The apartment is nice, seriously, and I'm so grateful for it. It's just a bit hard to picture it considering it's completely empty.

Maybe furnishing and decorating will be fun for me.

I'll add it to the list of the millions of other things I have to do.

At least I'll be kept busy.

"I know there isn't much here yet," my dad starts, reaching his hands out to me like he doesn't want me to lose my excitement, but I'm fine with just the air mattress for the time being. I really just need a place to sleep, and I didn't want to be a pain in my dad's ass by crashing on his couch. "I tried to decorate a bit, but I thought maybe you would want to take care of that, so I just stuck some plants out for some color, and I blew up that air mattress for you and tossed some blankets and pillows down. If you want, we can go out today and get some shopping done so you can feel a bit more at home, that way you can get writing?"

I listen to his suggestion, but decide against it.

"That's okay. All I need for now is somewhere to sleep." I point to the mattress on the floor. "And I have that, and a fridge," I add while pointing out the bedroom door. "And I have that too. I'll order take-out tonight and worry about groceries tomorrow, and I can worry about decorating sometime else. If I have the interview tomorrow, I need to get writing. It doesn't matter what my surroundings look like, as long as I can think of words to put on a doc."

He's nodding like he is listening to me, but his eyes are a bit wide and he looks like he's biting his tongue, holding back from interrupting me and sharing his thoughts.

"What do you want to say?" I laugh, knowing he has another suggestion that he is keeping to himself.

"How about I get take-out for you tonight, and we can have that together?" he asks.

"Don't you have work?"

"I took the whole day off," he says. "If you want time to adjust and organize the things you have with you now by yourself, then I'll go without a complaint. Just let me know what you want for dinner, because I'm not letting you eat your first meal here alone."

He's right, I don't really want to eat alone.

"You game for Italian?" I cock an eyebrow.

He nods, turning his wrist to check his watch. "I'll pick up Tony's on the way over. I'll be back here between seven and eight. That will give you a few hours to get comfortable."

"Okay, thank you."

He steps around the air mattress on the floor to give me a side hug, kissing the top of my head before heading out.

Well, I'm here.

It hasn't hit me yet though.

Right now, it feels like summer camp or something.

I squat down to the floor, sitting down on the air mattress before collapsing onto it, listening to the light humming noise coming from the air conditioning unit on the wall next to me.

The plants add a cute touch to the room. Maybe I'll go for a green, earthy kind of theme in here.

I'm sure Pinterest will be my best friend for a while.