Changing the Past and the Present

Chapter 1

(Valeria's POV)

Honestly, I never thought that moving into a house would be this much work. Okay, maybe I did, which would explain the dread that washed over me as I boxed all of my belongings from my dingy flat and had to unbox them at my new house. I made one of those decisions that many pensioners complain about. You know, the types of conversations that you have with your grandparents that follow this structure:

"You're too young to be moving in with someone of the opposite gender!! And before marriage too!! Why, back when I was your age....."

"Abuelita.... when you were my age, the audio cassette was recently created and Abuelo was in a motorcycle gang. I feel like that was more scandalous than me currently deciding to move in with my boyfriend of 5 YEARS...."

That's right. I had decided to move in with my boyfriend of five years, Ashton, and some of our friends-- Calum, Luke, and Michael-- as it is the common solution that Millennials and older Gen Z-ers have decided to use in order to save some money. My parents put up a lot of fights when I told them my decision, but I argued that I was twenty-five years old and capable of making my own decisions. I had my own steady job, as did Ashton, Calum, and Michael, so we all pitched in to buy a house that was selling cheap. It had recently had some parts renovated, mostly the areas of the house that were falling apart since it was an older house built two centuries ago. From what I heard, the area used to house a castle, but we all know what happened as the population grew and crumbling buildings had to give way to modern housing. Nonetheless, I was surprised at how big the house was, but it made sense since it was a bit into the countryside. At least it had indoor plumbing, and the previous owners had added a pool into the backyard. The addition of a modern day swimming pool into the backyard surprised me, but then again, they seemed to abandon the idea of a garden in the backyard, since there were barely any plants, except for the row of roses that lined the right side of the fence, along with a large tree. Odd choice to have a random row of roses in front of a tree, but I used to think pairing neon green shorts with a fluorescent pink shirt was a good idea, so who am I to judge?

I moved the last box of my stuff into my room. Ashton and I agreed that we should have our own separate rooms since we both wanted to keep our stuff, and there was no possible way to have all of our stuff in the same room. Then again, we both probably shouldn't have moved both of our entire apartments, and donated some things. The room was quite spacious though, so all of my belongings fit in my room. Maybe later on in our relationship we would be able to share a room, but we're currently in our phase of our relationship where we were testing out living together, even if our friends were also living with us. I stared at the mattress leaning against my wardrobe and poked my head out of my room.

"Ash? Cal?" I called, hoping one of them could hear me, before ducking my head back inside my room to begin unpacking some boxes.

I heard footsteps get closer and closer to my room, before I heard a knock on my door.

"You called?"

I turned around to see Ashton standing at my door. "Sorry. Cal and I were carrying in the dining table."

He was sweaty and breathing heavily as he leaned on the doorframe. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing back some of his brown hair and adjusted his bandana.

I smiled at him and shook my head. "No worries. I know. I could hear Cal yelling at you to 'pivot'. I just needed help with putting my bed together. I'd rather not sleep on the floor," I told him, gesturing to the mattress and the bed frame that was screaming to be re-assembled.

"You have a couch," he reminded me. I gave him a look.

"I don't want to fall off the couch and onto the dusty floor. So will you help me with this bed or not?" He chuckled from the doorframe.