Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Uptown Girl"

The next morning, we were on our way to Boston. The flight was one of the most nerve-wracking things I had ever been through, but I survived. It was weird, since they didn't let me use my own wheelchair, but oh well. All in all, I really wasn't looking forward to the flight home, and I decided I hated airplanes.

Keto and Veronica were able to sit with us, and that was the only good thing about it. They kept my mind off of the fact that we were thousands of feet off of the ground by talking about anything from school to what they've been watching on TV. At one point Keto and I got into a debate about whether Kingdom Hearts was better than Metal Gear or vice versa, but in the end, we decided it was impossible to compare the two. (But hey, Metal Gear is STILL the best, okay?).

Valerie was there waiting after we got our bags. The butterflies started up in my stomach when I saw her, but boy was she a sight for sore eyes! She looked tired, but still beautiful with her long hair falling around her and her bright eyes sparkling. Ugh, I had missed her!

"I missed you!" Veronica squealed as she ran forward to throw her arms around Valerie. The two girls squealed and giggled and squeezed each other to death for a moment, then Valerie pulled away to give Keto a hug as well, then Ms. Harlow. Finally, she turned to me.

"Hi, Randall," she said softly. My mind went spinning at the sound of how shy her voice was.

I smiled, but I knew I was blushing. "Hi..."

She laughed and gave me a hug. "Oh, stop that, you'll make me blush, too!"

I returned the hug, and when she pulled away, she glanced around the airport with her brow furrowed. "Where's Arjun?"

Ms. Harlow rolled her eyes. "Oh, he decided not to come. Something about school, I guess."

"Oh." If Valerie was disappointed, she hid it well. She ran her fingers through her hair and smiled at us all. "Well...I'm afraid I don't have a good place for all of you to sleep yet."

"Aw man!" Keto cried. "I came all the way here to sleep!"

Veronica giggled. "That'll be fixed soon enough. Lead the way!"

Valerie laughed with them. Gosh, I loved the sound of her laugh. It always cheered me up.

Valerie led us out to the parking lot and to her car. Ms. Harlow sat shotgun, and Keto, Veronica, and I squeezed into the back. My wheelchair barely fit in the trunk with all the suitcases and whatnot, but we managed.

The drive to her new apartment was short, but I was surprised to find that the building was pretty old looking. I didn't expect her to be able to afford something nice, but it was frustrating to think that she let Stephen drag her all the way up here.

"This is it," Valerie said as she pulled into a small parking garage. She sighed. "It's not much, but it's a roof over my head."

"You do what you can," Ms. Harlow said. "You should have seen the house I live in now right when I moved there. It was a dump, but it was all I could afford."

"Well, it looks nice now!" Veronica said. "We'll help you fix it up, Val. And once you're a famous dancer, you can live wherever you want!"

Valerie laughed as she parked the car. "Maybe," she said. She shut the car off, then we all got out. Once I was back in the wheelchair, Valerie led us to an elevator. It was creepy, and it felt like the cables would snap at any moment, but we soon reached the fourth floor, where Valerie's apartment was.

The hallways were long and they seemed to be clean and well-cared for at least. There was a large window at the end of the hall that let in a lot of natural sunlight, but the yellow bulbs in the ceiling did most of the work.

We got up to a white door with a plaque nailed to it with the apartment number, 495, etched in gold letters. Valerie unlocked the door and pushed it open, then flicked on a light switch so we could see inside. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...it just looked empty and old.

We all filed into the room to see a few boxes stacked here and there, and there was a worn couch on one side of the room up against the wall. There were no curtains over the windows, but shades kept most of the light out. Valerie opened them so we could see better.

"It's not much, but I'll make it work," she said, glancing around the room. It was exactly that; just one big room. There was what must have been a bathroom on one side of it, but no other doorways.

"We'll make it work," Veronica said, grinning. "I think it's charming."

"Just needs some furniture," Keto said, nodding. "Do I feel a shopping trip coming on?"

"I think that'll have to wait," Valerie said, laughing. "I want to get everything cleaned up, first. Then we'll have to figure out where all of you are going to sleep."

"We'll figure it out," I said. I studied the room, imagining what it would look like once we got everything set up. With a lot of TLC, I was sure it would be perfect. But part of me just wanted to talk Valerie into coming back down with us. Was she even happy here in Boston? I guess I could ask...

In the meantime, we had a lot of work to do.

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Listen to Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl"!

Peace✌️~ A.J.