Ezra & Aria

Change

Ezra sat in the large soft leather armchair near the window, his feet propped up on the sill, enjoying the calm summer sunrise. He had been up for a few hours at that point, having given up on sleep somewhere just before dawn. He had carefully rolled out of her warm, grappled embrace, generating only a slight mumbled protest from his sleeping lover.

His sleeping habits were far from regular nowadays. There had been a time, over a brief few years where he fell into contented sleep quickly, when out on the open road, in the fresh air, back when it was just the 2 of them. But those blissful, carefree days were of the past and now his mind was a traitor. He had fallen back into the pesky insomniac habits of his youth, though he hoped that one day, with time, that maybe he could return to that relaxed euphoria.

So before the sun was fully awake Ezra had made coffee, then fed the fish (Todd) along with the cat (Pekoe). He then showered and returned to his perch in their bedroom area, his all-time favorite view from their loft. He could see over the whole of their quiet neighborhood, past the city skyline and onwards to the mountains with ease.

The apartment Aria had found them almost 6 years ago, was a true treasure. Big, rare and old. After a prolonged and near panicked search, she finally came across it while they were still on the road. The pair were staying in Portland and spent a rainy afternoon huddled together in a tightly packed coffee house, downing refill after refill, hoarding the free wifi, drooling over pictures and filling out the online application. After a lengthy phone interview with Leslie (their new landlady), a reference check (thanks to 'landlord' Fred Andrews) and a brief Skype call, they put down a deposit and the place was theirs.

They moved in the second they arrived in Seattle. They rolled up with nothing but the clothing and camping gear they had spent the past 2 months in. Ella and Byron would start shipping out their things in mid-September, but until then, they camped out in their new apartment. They even set their tent up, inside, just for fun, and because they could with ease in their giant space.

It had been an old textiles factory, built in the 30's, operational through to the 50's, abandoned in the 60's then modestly converted into a long, one-room apartment in the 80's. From the ground floor entrance, there was a narrow flight of stairs that spilled you out into a small, closet-like mudroom at the top before the large space opened up and sprawled out in either direction. Tall windows flanked all 4 sides of the galley style space and a large 'U' shaped kitchen with a big island occupied one end, while their bedroom space occupied the opposite end and the small efficient bathroom was tucked behind the kitchen for ease of the shared exposed plumbing. Their office and living room spaces occupied the center but left plenty of room for a plethora of house plants, bookshelves and even a reading nook, of sorts, where Ezra was currently relaxing.

Their appearance was situated above a large laundry mat, dry cleaners and more recently a coffee shop. Shit coffee, but tragically convenient. The landlady had little luck keeping reliable tenants because, for some reason, no one wanted to live above noisy businesses. It didn't bother Ezra and Aria because the shops below ran on mostly bankers hours, so the building was quiet at night and on the weekends and the added noise factor did keep their rent insanely low.

When they moved in Ezra felt like they could never fill up the loft. Like the vast space between the dye-stained hardwood floors and the tall exposed ceiling joists would forever feel vacant. But, after only 2 years into living in the loft, they managed to make it their own just fine, steering into the whimsical and retro esthetic by highlighting the uncovered brick behind their bed, while framing their tall windows with lights and tapestry.

Now, 6 years later, the aloe he had bought her at the bodega style grocery store around the corner from their building, their first week of living there, had flourished into a large floor dwelling planter and occupied the entire corner set of windows in their bedroom, opposite his current perch. And though most of the decorating was done by Aria, his personality and input was included in everything, right down to their indoor hammock, dark blue dishcloths and red plaid bed sheets.