Romantic One Shots & Imagines

One Shot #13: Moving Out

                   Its 2021. I'm 23, I'm single and I'm jobless. I've already graduated from College two years ago and I'm still living in an apartment with my college roommates. Not that it's a bad thing. They're my best friends, Chris and Tom. We've known each other for 6 years and lived together for almost 5 of them. For a while, though, I've been thinking it was a bad thing for me. I felt like my life wasn't going anywhere. Eating pizza and drinking it down with beer two or three times a week with them will be some of my best memories, but if I don't get on it about my career, I'm going to end up being a deadbeat like my father. I've come so far; I can't waste all that I've worked for to end up like him.

                    Ever since Chris got engaged last year, he and his fiance have been working on getting their own place. Right now, Its just them and another couple battling it out for the house. They're so confident that they're going to get it, that they've already packed up most of their things. Him leaving was what triggered me to think about moving out too. It wasn't until he packed his first box that reality sank in.

                     With the money from my savings, I found another apartment. A studio apartment in a town 3 hours away. I didn't want to move out that far, but my options were pretty limited. Given that Chris was busy with the wedding, I couldn't find a good time to tell him that I would be moving. I suppose it didn't matter much anyway since he's starting a new chapter of his life. As for Tom, I have to tell him...I just don't know how.

                                                                        I pick up my phone. "Hey."

                                                                        "Bri? Why are you calling? You do realize I'm across the hall from you." Tom says on the other line.

                                                                        I smile. "Yeah, I know...I just...I have to tell you something." I start to feel something weird forming in my stomach.

                                                                        "What is it? You know you can tell me anything." He sounds worried.

                    I tell him everything. I tell him how I just felt like it was time for me to move on with another chapter in my life too. Tom was accepting of it, but he seemed a little off ever since then. I assumed it was his job just stressing him out. Tom getting a promotion, Me finding another apartment all by myself and Chris getting married, it seemed like we were all splitting ways and drifting apart. We had everything that we needed with each other. It never seemed like it was going to happen even though we knew it would.

*********

                     Its been a month since I told Tom that I was going to move out. Chris finally got the house and he just got done moving in a week ago. Its weird though, that conversation that me and Tom had that night keeps running through my mind. I walk up to the elevator and press the button for the 5th floor. When the doors finally open, I walk out and turn the corner only to meet Tom, leaning against the door outside our...his apartment. Curiously, I quickly walk up to him.

                                                                     "Hey." I shake him gently, thinking hes asleep. He slowly lifts his blood shot eyes to meet mine. "Hey! Whats the matter?"

                                                                      "Nothing." He waves it off. "I just had a stressful day at work and I've only been running on 4 hours of sleep and coffee."

                                                                       "I'm sorry. How about we order in and watch episodes of Doctor Who until you fall asleep. Where are your keys anyway?" I ask as I open the door.

                                                                        "I forgot them inside."

                                                                        "I suppose I should give mine back to the landlord soon..." I say, jingling my own keys.

                                                                       "Bri," He says. Our gaze meet again. Seeing how serious he is, I put down my bag and walk up to him. "Why are you abandoning me?"

                                                                        "I'm not..." I shake my head as my heart breaks. "I'm not abandoning you. Believe me, I don't want to leave you here all by yourself. I only wish I realized it was my time to move out a while ago so you could still have Chris---"

                                                                         "No, I mean why are you abandoning me?" His eyes start to become glassy. He starts to look down at his shoes. "I never dated much in college. I only did to distract myself from how I felt about you. I started falling in love with you Freshman year. By the time we were Sophomores, I couldn't believe that I got the opportunity to move in with you. At first, I didn't tell you because I was afraid of what you would say and then I later convinced myself that I shouldn't tell you because I rather we stay friends than nothing at all if it made things awkward. I didn't want to live in a world where you stopped talking to me or hanging out with me...but now I see that's happening anyway..."

                                                                           "Me moving wouldn't have stopped me from talking to you." I try to convince him.

                                                                           "But we wouldn't have seen each other much. Maybe if it was only an hour away but..."

                                                                            We stand there in silence. I take his hand in mine. "Tom, look at me." I smile to comfort him. "What we have already is too much to just throw away. I'll never just abandon you." I take a deep breath. "You changed my life the first day I met you, you know. I only had one more class left for that day and it was a pretty miserable day up until I saw you. You were a ball of excitement and I was like 'who is this kid?' but your smile was infectious and come to find out, we had a ton of things in common. I can't think of a person that knows me better than you and I like to think I know you better than most too. I didn't want to; I wanted to focus on my studies, but soon enough, I developed a full blown crush on you. Its a wonder, after all this time that we've lived together, that we didn't have this talk sooner, but I think I felt the same. I didn't want to ruin what we had already. I've read stories and saw with my own eyes how relationships like that could end up and it scared me. With Chris leaving and everything, I just thought that I needed a fresh start." I shake my head yet smiling. "I never said it out loud before. I only admitted it to myself once...but...I'm in love with you too."

                      He moves closer to me, closing the gap between us. Gingerly, he caresses my face with one hand and takes mine with his other. My eyes close as I become comfortable in his touch. I feel him moving in closer. First, he nuzzles our noses then swiftly takes my lips in his. I couldn't help but think that this felt right. Its 2021, I'm 23, I'm in love and I'm finally doing something great with my life.

                                                                                    The End.

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