Beside

4 - memory

"Fox, the world looks blurry from up here."

"Maybe you're just going too fast. Want to slow down?"

"No, it's not that. Everything's been blurry lately."

"Should we tell someone? Like a teacher—"

"No, it's okay. I like our blurry world. Just don't let go, okay?"

ｃｈｒｉｓ

The morning feels like a fever dream, even after Whitney sent me off with a green tea in hand and a kiss on the head for good luck.

I drag two battered suitcases out of the taxi, staring up at the gleaming blue-glass skyscraper stretching up into the clouds like a modern fairy tale. My new home.

The doorman with a handlebar moustache raises an eyebrow as I stumble past, suitcase wheels clattering over the polished marble floors of the lobby. Everything smells like decadent mahogany and money.

I clutch the paper with the address as I step into the elevator. Floor 74. I punch the button, and the doors slide shut, sealing me inside this little silver cage that shoots me up, up, up.

The elevator chimes, and my heart jumps up to lodge itself in my throat. I smooth my tee shirt, rub my palms on my jeans, and take my suitcases, stepping out.

This is it. Unit 5, the number etched in gold. My new life.

Knock-Knock.

I wait. Maybe they're not home. Maybe I've got the wrong place. Maybe—

The door swings open, and there she is—a tall girl with wild, dark curls bursting around her head like a thunderstorm. She's wearing a white hoodie with yellow bananas printed all over it. Her nose is a little crooked, and her skin's warm and golden, and she's blinking at me with big, dark eyes.

"You're really pretty," we both blurt out at the same time.

The words hang there, sparkling between us in bits of confetti. And then we're both blushing, cheeks turning pink like we're little kids caught passing notes in class.

"Thanks," we say. Then we're laughing.

"I'm Camila, but call me Cam," she says, grinning. There's a little gap between her front teeth. "You're Chris?"

I nod. "Hi."

Cam steps back, gesturing for me to come in. "Welcome to the circus, Chris."

I step through the doorway, and it's like walking into another world.

White leather couches stretch out, all sleek and polished like they've never been sat on. Some of the floor is marble, shimmering like water under the light streaming in from balcony doors, and a massive white piano sits before the windows against the skyline, its keys glinting.

"Wow," I breathe, trying to take it all in, but it's too much. Too big, too fancy, too...everything. "This is... wow."

"Yeah, it's a bit much, isn't it," Cam says, her eyes following mine as she looks around. "You should've seen my reaction when I got here. It's just..." She waves her hands. "Absurd. But we're not, like, snobs or anything. I guess we try not to spill too much on the couches."

Near the impressively fancy kitchen, there are stacks of boxes piled up like a cardboard fortress. "Jed's moving out today," Cam explains, crossing her arms. "He's just a little... He's got one foot out the door and the other stuck in the Milky Way. I basically packed for him."