Just Friends

Three.

Once we have the keys in our hand, we know our first step is painting our new apartment. We decided last night that today would be painting, tomorrow is going to be furniture and then on Sunday, our asses are moving in officially. We head off to the closest store to buy paint and I call my mom to tell her the news. "Hi, baby," she says as she answers. "Hi, momma. We just got the keys to our new place. Dad showed you the pictures, right? We even got permission to paint. Isn't that awesome? Do you think mint is an acceptable color for the kitchen?" I hear her sigh and laugh lightly. "First of all, slow down, Dill. Second, yes, dad showed me the pictures. Adorable place, but I can see why you guys would want to paint. I think mint would be good. Especially, you know, with the color of the cabinets, mint would be perfect." She sounds excited for me.

"Thanks, mom. We're headed to the hardware store now. Amy has a couple friends here that are going to help us paint today. How are you and dad?" I almost hate asking, hoping she doesn't say they miss me. "We're okay, we're going to the lunch with the Smiths today. Be glad you got out of here before they married you off to their son Brian. That boy is a mess!" Mom laughs, which makes me and Amy, who can hear this all thanks to speaker phone, smile. "Oh yeah right, I know you and dad would never have let that happen."

"Damn right we wouldn't have. Well, we have to get ready to go. Have fun painting and send me pictures when it's done. I love you, Dylan." In this moment, I miss her so much. "I love you too, momma. Talk to you later," and I hang up. "Well, she sounds a bit better than yesterday," Amy says once I've stashed the phone in my purse. "Yeah, she does. I'm glad. Couldn't believe she said that about me being gone, she must be adjusting." Amy nods and pulls into the hardware store, parking as close as possible since I'm still a little bitch about the heat. The store is huge and intimidating, but Amy just pulls me right along, headed to the far back corner of the store. "Ross told me the paint is back here, don't think I hang out here all the time." I laugh and follow her, overwhelmed by all the choices displayed.

Amy and I discuss the choices while the worker simply stares at us, or most likely Amy. We had decided on mint for the kitchen, a calm color that would look awesome with the color of the cabinets and the black dining room set Amy has. What I didn't realize is there are apparently 162 shades of mint green. What the actual fuck?

Amy picks out a few she likes and pulls up the picture of our kitchen, it still feels weird to call it that, and holds them up, looking to me for an opinion. "I like the lighter one. We can always add darker shades in decoration and pillows on the dining chairs." She nods along while I talk, probably hoping I said exactly that. She puts the darker chip down and we move around. "Dill, what are you thinking for the living room? I was thinking like, lavender or something. Do you like that idea?" I wasn't too into purple, but I had won the mint debate from last night so I could give this to her. "Sure, whatever you think. Should be light, though. Dark paint would not look good in the apartment." I follow Amy to the lavender as she called it, thinking all the shades she holds up look exactly the same. She settles on one and looks to me, I just nod, deciding to trust Amy on this one.

We move along, the worker still watching us, and chose for our bedrooms. I pick what the paint chip calls "Dusty Rose" and move to Amy who is trying to decide between a pale yellow and orange. I point to the yellow and she nods, returning that hideous orange color to its spot. Thank god we avoided that argument. We both decide to leave our bathrooms as they are, not wanting to paint the entire apartment. We move to the worker who finally snaps out of whatever fog he was in, and jumps to help us. He mixes us the paint, all while his eyes move from me to Amy and back. What a little perv.

Another thing I never realized was that you need a million fucking supplies to paint. Drop cloths, roller pans, tape, brushes, cups, rollers, roller extenders, and stirrers... like what the hell? This is going to cost us a fortune. The paint was on a deal, so we saved money there, but all this shit is ridiculous. "Ross told me to get all this stuff but it's just so much," Amy huffs, pushing the cart. I nod in agreement and we move to the check out, standing behind a man buying 3 ladders. I always assumed one ladder would be sufficient for any household. It's finally our turn and I'm shocked when the total isn't nearly as high as I expected. Amy and I must look confused because the worker shows us the itemized receipt. "Nothing except the paint was more than 4 dollars a pop, these things are necessary, but are fairly cheap." We nod and thank her, making our way out to Amy's car.