prom date | wroetoshaw

Alone In London

By the time we'd reached London, the sun had set, darkness taking its place. The moving van arrived half an hour after we did, and an hour and a half later, they were gone, leaving just Harry and me together. Harry being Harry, had offered to stay and help me unpack the necessities for tonight. I wasn't about to say no either, because even though I'd slept in the car, I was still incredibly tired, and didn't have a lot of energy.

"I think if we just get your bed set up, we should be all good. Oh, and the kitchen. Which one do you wanna do?" He asks, dumping his coat on top of a pile of boxes.

"I'll try the bed. I'll end up setting something on fire if I try to sort out the kitchen and all of that. I can just give you a shout if need be," I say gratefully, looking at the packaged bed box. I'd purchased a new one for this apartment, just because the old one didn't fit the sort of vibe I'd wanted for the apartment. It meant I was building it from scratch.

"Good idea...try not to break a bone doing it," he said sarcastically, heading off towards the area of the kitchen, leaving me to haul the box into the separate bedroom. It couldn't be that difficult, right? It was just like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, except the puzzle pieces were actual long bits of material fitting together to make a bed.

Once I was alone in the room, I tore open the box, emptying the contents onto the floor. And there were a lot. Luckily, a white pad full of writing fell out too, which I assumed were the instructions. But upon opening them, it looked like they were just as, if not more complicated than the bed pieces themselves.

"Put plank C into plank F and scr - what the fuck," I mumbled, holding up two planks that didn't seem to have any labels on them whatsoever. Surely I didn't need to ask for Harry's help already?

No. I was going to do this by myself. Prove a point to him, and also myself.

Reading further on in the instructions, I saw a guide to knowing which plank was this, mentally scolding myself for not doing so earlier. I discovered plank C and F, managing then to follow the first two steps of the instructions. There was still a long way to go, but for now, it was a start, and better than nothing.

An entire hour had passed now, and I was close to screwing in the last plank remaining. Everything else had gone well, and towards the end, I was actually getting the hang of what I was supposed to be doing.

Harry hadn't come in from the kitchen yet, so I assumed he was still stuck on that. I couldn't wait to boast that I'd finished my job before him.

Once the last plank was in, I pushed myself back on the floor, surveying my hard work. The mattress needed to go on top, and it needed to be moved into the corner, but the bed frame was finished now. And it actually looked really good. I couldn't wait to show Harry.

Jumping to my feet, I hurried out of the bedroom, yelling his name, barely able to contain my excitement. "Harry! I finished the bed, are you still on the - what the fuck?" I stuttered, stopping in my tracks at the sight in front of me.

Not only had he finished my entire kitchen, but he'd also unpacked all of the kitchen boxes, along with reassembling most of my living room furniture too. It was still a mess, with rubbish everywhere, but he'd saved me about five jobs for tomorrow. And there I was, guessing that he was still setting up the basics in the kitchen.

"Nice one," he grinned, looking up from where he was building my dining table. "I'll come to look in a second, let me just finish this," he grunted, turning his attention back to the table, using a screwdriver to tighten one of the screws.

"I'm just gonna move the mattress," I call out to him, walking over to the giant mattress leaning against the wall, having no idea how I was supposed to carry it into the bedroom. I'd manage.