Under Her Control (GxG)

Chapter 1 - New Girl In Town

I let out a huge sigh as I set down the last big heavy box in the living room. Drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted, I find myself plopping down onto the floor. Not the best idea... since it was hardwood. My whole body melts into the floor as I just lay there and stare out the window.

Chelsea, my roommate, takes a seat next to me excitedly. She crosses her legs. "Hell yes, I can't believe we just did that in like two hours. We're crazy."
"Hell yeahh!" I try to match her energy, but my words sound more like a yawn than a statement.

"Are you ready to start unpacking?" Chelsea stands and reaches out her hands to pull me up.

"Hell no," I groan. I swat her hand away and sink further into the floor. Chelsea decides to pull me up anyway. My legs wobble a little as I gain my balance back. Chelsea walks over to our kitchen and marvels at the granite countertops and the kitchen island. She giggles with excitement as she opens the door of the empty stainless-steel fridge. She peeks inside and then opens up one of the cardboard boxes on the counters. It's a set of brand-new nonstick pots and pans that we picked up at the Target next to our apartment.

Letting out another groan, in defeat, I walk over to her to help out. A wide, toothy smile starts to form on my face. Her energy is so contagious that I find myself giggling with her. Finally having my own kitchen just felt so right. I could finally decorate things how I wanted it, and stock up my own fridge and shelves. My parents would hate whenever I bought my own groceries, even up until I finished college earlier this year.

"Okay, okay. Let's unpack," I squeal. "But, I have to meet up with Sam in like two hours, because we have to go shopping."

"Shopping?" Chelsea tilts her head in confusion, gesturing to the conjoined living room and kitchen full of boxes. "We just went shopping."

"For that interview I have tomorrow, remember? It's for that new skincare company." Trying to avoid overthinking the way things will play out tomorrow, I walk over to the corner of the kitchen to unpack and unbox the recycling bin. One thing no one ever told me about adulting was how expensive trash bins were. I wanted to scream-cry when I found out I had to dish out sixty dollars to get a decent-sized, durable bin.

Chelsea pauses for a moment, probably trying to scrape away at her memory. Then suddenly, a lightbulb as her eyes open wide. "Ohhh!" She breaks down a few empty boxes and tosses them in the bin. "Can I come too?"

"Fine," I say, playfully rolling my eyes. Truthfully, I loved it when the three of us got a chance to hang out. Sam has been stuck with me since childhood since we grew up in the same gated community. We'd race each other with our scooters and stick together at neighborhood events. Despite having just met Chelsea last year, she found a way to quickly climb up the ladder of my inner social circle. Funnily enough, she was my RA. I always had people over at my dorm for drinks and movie nights, and we got a ton of noise complaints. She lived on our floor so she'd always be the one forced to check on us. After three encounters with her, she asked to join us for a movie. Once I introduced Chelsea to Sam, there was an immediate bond there and then I guess the three of us became unstoppable.

Chelsea stops packing, and a big grin lands on her face. "Are we going into the city?
"
"Uhhh.... I think we were just going to head to the Marshall's about a mile out-" I start, but Chelsea interrupts me by grabbing my hands and dragging me back into the living room.

"No, no, no. You've got an interview for a big-time company, we're taking you shopping," She says with a sly smirk. I could already see the ideas racing through her head. "Plus, think about all the cute guys there."

"And girls-" I interject.

"City boys... I bet they think they're so mysterious...." Chelsea's voice goes softer, as if she's just speaking to herself. "Or the really tough ones dressed up in leather jackets...."

"Going to start getting ready now!"

"What if I meet my true love on the subway? Like we bump into each other when the train starts, and then-... He catches me. We lock eyes..." Once you get Chelsea started on a topic like this, it's pretty hard to stop her, so I decide to just slowly back away. I make my way down to my bedroom.

Our rooms are on opposite ends of the apartment. Mine is closer to the shared bathroom, and hers is closer to the living room. Most of my furniture still needs to be set up, but my bed is pretty much good to go. I reach under the bed to pull out my suitcase, and the first thing I do is grab one of the towels I packed from home and run to the shower.

Getting ready for me doesn't take long at all. I grab one of my nicer pairs of black jeans with a thin-white checker pattern that pairs well with a black button-up shirt and some black boots. I sit in the couchless living room, finding a spot on the floor as I wait for Chelsea. I hear some knocking on the door and get about three texts on my phone. I didn't even bother looking at the phone because I could already guess who it was.

A rather mellow Sam emerges through the entrance arch and immediately greets me with a hug when she spots me.

"How was the drive?" I raise my eyebrow ever so slightly before returning the hug.

"It's giving... I definitely need to move closer. But whatever," Sam laughs. "I don't mind a little road rage if that means I still get to see you. I was scared you'd move across the country or something."

She looks around the room, with an impressed nod. "Nice place. It's even better than the pictures."

"Yeah! It should be all set up by the end of this week. The couch is yours whenever we have that ready and you need a place to crash!" I smile. "Wanna come inside for a bit? Chelsea is still getting ready."

Sam nods. She takes a seat on the floor and pats the spot next to her for me to come join. She adjusts her large circular glasses a small bit before she pulls a small pouch out of her purse. Out of the pouch, she removes her tarot cards and smiles, giving them a quick shuffle. "Want a reading?" She asks, her eyes full of intent.

I nod. She shuffles some more. She was really good at Tarot and sometimes her readings were so accurate that they actually scared me. I loved watching her excitement whenever she'd pull some meaning from her cards. "Okay... great! All ready. Ask the deck anything."

My head goes completely blank. I can't really think of anything right off the bat. "Can we just do like a yes or no question maybe? Maybe about my job interview? Or just maybe a general reading?"

"I'm sure you're prepped for that, so fuck it. Let's do a general read and see what we get," Sam shrugs and lets out a giggle. She spreads out the cards face down before me. "Alright, let's do a single card reading. Pick one."

I take a deep breath and she sets the card I picked in front of me. "Actually... I want to ask it what I should do to... Get over her," I pause. My heart rate picks up. "Shit, sorry- is it too late to change my question?"

Sam flashes me a look of empathy and places one of her hands on mine. "Want to just focus on shopping today?"

"I still want to see what card I got." I still want to know.

"You sure?"

I point to the card. Before Sam is able to flip it over, Chelsea bursts into the room and struts over to us. "I'm ready, bitches! Let's go." Her eyes land on the cards. "Come on, cards later. Shopping now, let's go before it gets too late!"

Sam lets out a small sigh of relief. She takes a peak at the card before packing it up and putting her deck back into her purse. She nods to herself. "Interesting..."

I want to ask her more about the reading, but Chelsea is pretty much pushing us out the door already. We make our way down to the PATH train station. It's about a fifteen-minute walk down. We wanted to get an apartment even closer to the station but the pricing spike was crazy. The walk went by really quickly as most of it was spent discussing all of the things we wanted to do before our schedules got crazy busy. Then, in no time, we were fully set and on our way to New York City.