When I Saw You I Felt...

Apartments

***

It was the next day, Nathan and I were too tired so we both went home after the beach. I went downstairs to get my breakfast to see my mom sitting on a barstool at the kitchen Island. That was weird, she is usually on the couch.

"Hey honey," she said as she took a drink of her coffee.

"Hi," I said as I opened the fridge to get eggs.

"There is something I want to talk to you about," she said with a tint of nervousness in her voice. Her hair was down and she was wearing blue denim jeans and plain black shirt, and she had curled her hair.

I nodded, and she continued by saying, "I am looking at some apartments today, if you would like to go with me."

"Sure I'll go," I wanted to be nice to my mom and give her a chance.

"Perfect!" She said as a grin formed on her face.

"I'll get ready after breakfast if that's okay," I said.

"Of course," she replied. 

I went downstairs to the living room, after I got dressed. I was wearing jean shorts and a light blue cardigan. I put my hair in a ponytail and put sunglasses on my head. I think my style has changed after everything. When Lilith and I were friends I would always wear baggy jeans with graphic tees (kind of a more grungy style.) I guess that is because Lilith told me too.

"You look nice, I love the cardigan," My mom said.

"Thank you, so do you," I replied, things were still stiff but they were getting better. I could tell, now I could actually talk to her. Who knows going out with just her might bring us closer together.

"I can drive, if you want," I answered. I do know that driving used to make my mom nervous.

"Thank you," she said, I guess it still did.

I got everything I needed and went out to my car. I sat in the front seat and tried to start my car. It took a second but it started.

My mom had a concerned look on her face, but I just turned on the radio.

"What's the address for the first apartment?" I asked. Without saying anything she put the address in the GPS.

"That's only 10 minutes away!" I said surprised.

"I enjoy being able to see you guys again," my mom said as I left the driveway.

"Yeah, me too," I said, it was nice knowing my mom is okay even if I was still mad at her. I thought about it a little bit, my mom went to rehab to get help and she wanted to make sure she had her best life before she brought us back into it. She was thinking of me and Anthony. I never see my little brother anymore he is always at a friend's house or baseball.

"You haven't really been home that past couple of days," she said with a gentle tone.

"Yeah, my friend needed me," I said as I stopped at a red light.

"Yeah I heard about that," she said in a joking tone, she knew I was lying. She was looking over at me from the passenger's seat and laughed a little.

"How's Nathan?" she asked in a monotone tone like it wasn't a big deal.

"What?" I asked.

"I sleep on the couch, remember?" I retraced my memories and remembered when I had my water bottle and Nathan came to the door and kissed me... Oh sh*t.

"He's fine," I said as I looked ahead.

"Look there it is," I said.

**

We got out of the car at the apartment building and it looked really run down, nothing like it did on google maps. We still decided to give it a chance.

"Hello, I am Larrisa. We spoke on the phone," she said to my mother. Larissa had red hair and freckles, she had green eyes and was wearing a purple business suit.

"Follow me," Larissa said as she guided us up the black spiral staircase. I walked behind my mom like a little kid.

When we got to apartment 10a the door handle got stuck and it took Larrisa two minutes to get it to open. My mom and I stood to the side awkwardly as she was struggling.

"I got it to open," She said as she pushed the door open. My mom gave me a side glance, which probably meant 'this isn't a great start.' When we walked into the apartment Larrisa turned on the dim lights. The entire apartment had a dark tan carpet. I don't know if that was its original color. The walls had scrapes on them and there were little holes in the walls in the kitchen, probably a mouse's house.

"On the other hand, I don't think this apartment is a good fit for you," she said as she tried to stay in her work voice.

"I agree," my mom said.

****

We looked at three more apartments and some of them were really nice. There was one more we had to see, this apartment building was new. When I got to the building it was only 3 feet tall, there were bay windows and a nice view of the distant city. Larissa led us up to the apartment that was for rent, this one had to be the best of all. The walls were freshly painted white and the kitchen had granite countertops,eggshell white cabinets, and a kitchen island. We walked over to the connected living room. It had light gray carpet, the same white walls with trim. There was a fireplace and a mantel where the TV could sit.

"This apartment has three bedrooms," Larissa explained. I thought that was really cool, leading out of the living room there was a door frame and four doors. One must have been in the bathroom. Larissa began to show us each of the rooms. I could see the joy on my mom's face. This had the same rent as the other four we saw today. In my head I was picturing what this would look like with furniture if my mom let me style it.

The first room was a small empty room with the same gray carpet, there were two windows right next to each other on the back wall. Larissa showed us the bathroom and it was the standard bathroom, it had a white shower tub, a sink toilet and utility closet.

Larissa then showed us the Master bedroom which was the center door in the hallway. It had five of the same windows lined up right next to each other on the longest wall and three windows on the smaller outer wall (the windows are the same one as the picture above.) There was a walk-in closet which My mom loved. Then Larrisa showed us the final room, which had a three point window and the walls were painted pastel orange. Then there was a small non walk in closet to the side, it had a sliding door which was a mirror.

"They ran out of white paint so they thought this color would look nice," Larissa explained.

"It does," I said.

"I'm interested in this, I would like to get my name in before it's taken,," Mom said.

"Great, Let's fill out some paperwork," Larissa said.

****

My mom ended up getting the apartment, she came out of the building so excited and so was I. Out of everything we saw today that had to be the best yet. Larissa did tell her that rent would be more per month, but it was in my mom's range.

"Want to get lunch?" I asked as we got into the car.

"Of course," she replied she had glee in her voice which I had not heard in a great while.

I noticed something was different between me and my mom. We kind of bonded today, I could read her looks and she knew things about me that I didn't even know and I felt like we were getting closer like we used to be when I was little. My dad and I get along but we never really talk and I feel like I could with my mom.

"Your phone is ringing," Mom said as she handed me my phone. It was Nathan, so I answered it.

"What's up?" I asked in a casual tone.

"Can you come pick me up?" he asked in a worried voice.

"What's wrong?"