Apartment 70

The One With The Jail

“But I don’t see why I have to move out straight away.” She told her mother on the phone. It had been three weeks since Ally’s eighteenth birthday, and her mother was already pushing her to find an apartment of her own. She had said something about becoming independent, but Ally was certain she just wanted her out of the house; probably to turn her room into an in-home gym of sorts. “It’s not like I can’t just stay with you for the summer.”

“You need to be on your own. It’s not healthy for a young girl to stay with her parents all her life. You need room to experience things and grow.” Her mother said in return.

“It wouldn’t be my whole life, mom. Just three months.” She simply stated, holding the phone between her cheek and shoulder. Doing that strained her neck, but opening a jar of spaghettios with one hand was proving quite difficult. 

“No matter. You are not staying here for the summer, and that’s final. Don’t ask again.” She demanded. Ally sighed in defeat and said her goodbyes, hanging up on her mother before she could say anything else that would upset her further. It’s not like Ally was trying to mooch off of her family. For three years she’s held the same job, which brought in a good amount of personal revenue. Of course, a full time job at the local supermarket wasn’t going to cut it for very long. What with the inevitability of paying back student loans, Ally already feared for her future. But it would do for the summer, so she wasn’t too quick to jump on the idea of searching tirelessly for another job. Plus the interview process; it was just all too much for her to think about.

Carrying the now cooked spaghettios to her kitchen table, Ally opened her laptop and set the bowl down. She wasn’t sure exactly how she was to find an apartment in two days, but she figured Craigslist would be an easy, although lazy way. Of course she’d set up a meeting with the landlords of the apartment and figure out if the ad they placed was genuine or a hoax, and hopefully make a good enough impression on them to where they’d agree to lower the rent. 

Scrolling through the massive amount of ads, Ally finally narrowed her search down to three places. One place was located forty minutes away from her parents’ home, came with two bedrooms, a fully furnished kitchen and lakeside view. Another apartment was around a five minute drive from home, and was already housing two people who were searching for a female roommate to complete their trio. The last house was an apartment on the East side of town, came with six bedrooms -- all but one inhabited -- and was across the street from many of her favorite local shops. After setting up meetings with everyone, Ally closed her laptop and ate her spaghettios. “Delicious as always,” She mumbled happily to herself before shoving another spoonful into her mouth.

Her hands were unusually pruned after washing her bowl. Everything she came in contact with either stuck to her fingertips for a moment or almost ripped her delicate skin off. Ally decided to shower before her hands dried so that she wouldn’t have to repeat the process over again.

After nearly knocking herself unconscious by exiting the shower, she got dressed in sweats and a tee shirt, her usual nightly get up. Changing out of her work clothes, or school clothes when she still went, was one of the best feelings in her opinion. It felt like she was peeling away a layer of her that she didn’t really mind, but a layer of her that kept her tied down. Maybe I’ll quit, she thought as she settled into bed. No I won’t, she replied to herself. 

Just before she drifted into a slumber, her phone rang loudly, nearly causing her to have an aneurism. She cursed herself for not turning the ringer down before answering the phone.

“Hello?” She answered groggily. 

“Have I caught you at a bad time?” The person on the other line asked.

She thought about it for a moment. Technically, yes, they’d caught her at a particularly bad time, but she didn’t say that. Instead, she replied a mouse like no and sneezed. “Excuse me.” She laughed quietly.

“No problem.” Said the mystery on the line. “It’s Brian, from work by the way.” She recognized the name, but couldn’t really place a face to it. 

“Oh, hi Brian. How are you?”

“Not too good actually. You see, well… I’ve just gotten into a little… incident at a bar and I’ve finally sobered up enough to call someone but my parents didn’t pick up and you’re my only friend with a car and… well. I was wondering if you’d come bail me out of jail?” 

Her side of the phone went quiet. 

Brian cleared his throat, “Hello? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, um, sorry. You want me to what?” She asked, in disbelief. Maybe she had heard him wrong. Maybe it was a dream. Unlikely, because it felt an awful lot like real life, and things in her dreams are never this peculiar.

“Bail. Me. Out. Of. Jail.” He sighed. “I don’t really see how complicated those words are.”

“Um, okay? Which jail are you at?” She asked, getting out of bed and slipping on her slippers. As she grabbed her keys, he gave her as much information as he good before the security guard snapped at him to get off the phone. 

She had no idea why she was doing this. Brian and her were not friendly, they only used small talk in their conversations and the only thing she really knew about him was that his father owned some small fishing company in Maine. Not that that information mattered as she drove to the county jail where he was being held.

“I just can’t believe you got yourself thrown in jail for an argument over drawer organization.” She laughed as her eyes were fixated on the night road ahead of them. He laughed in return.

“I know. But when it comes to organization, I’m quite the fighter. A lot of people reckon you fold your clothes and lay them horizontally, but that’s a bunch of shit. Vertically is the way to go.” He told her.

“No way! Horizontally is more compact, and you don’t have to worry about your shirts falling over once a huge gap is between them.” She replied.

“Don’t tell me you’re being serious right now.” He said, quite angrily. She looked at him for a mere second before turning her eyes back at the road.

“I’m not, of course.” She laughed, trying to prevent another heated debate that might end in yet another night in jail for the young boy. Looking over at him again, she could see the bruises already darkening on his knuckles, and a faint pink scratch under his left eye was raising ever so slightly. “You feeling okay over there?” She asked quietly.

After a brief moment, he answered. “Yeah, I’m good. My eye hurts a little though.”

“I couldn’t imagine why.” She laughed.

As they drove, a slight drizzle started pouring. It wasn’t much, only enough to make her turn on the wipers to the lowest setting. She loves watching the rain droplets land on the windshield; the way each one fell slowly until they reached the bottom or joined another droplet on the way there. The road ahead was beginning to fade away, white lines blurring past with haste and disappearing in an instant. After dropping Brian off and waving goodbye, Ally made her way home in the darkness. It was almost midnight, and she could feel her eyes drooping heavily with exhaustion. When she made it home, she slipped under her covers, closing her eyes finally and drifted into a light slumber.