Serendipity ↬ COMPLETE

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The New House

"I give you this to take with you:

Nothing remains as it was. If you know this, you can begin again, with pure joy in the uprooting." -Judith Minty

Our black 2014 Dodge Ram 1500 pulled into the driveway of my new home, the moving truck from U-Haul right behind us. Tucker was going crazy, eager to get out and explore his new surroundings.

As soon as I opened the door, he bolted from the high truck in a hurry and I giggled. I jumped down after him, my Justin Gypsy boots crunching the gravel underneath my feet. I looked around and took a deep breath of the Orlando air. I smiled really big. I missed Williston, but Orlando was beautiful and I'm glad I got accepted to University of Central Florida and agreed to enroll.

I heard Tucker barking and turned to see him barreling toward me. I laughed and knelt down as he jumped on me. I caught my balance and started rubbing his face. "Do you like your new home, Tucker? Huh? Do you like your new home, boy?" I asked, laughing happily as he licked my face.

"Leilani, come on, sweety. We need your help unloading the boxes," my dad called, he's head popping out of the back of the U-Haul truck.

"Coming, Daddy!" I called. I patted Tucker's head and stood up, jogging over to the truck. I knew Tucker was right behind me.

I jumped in the back of the white and orange truck that held all our belongings. I grabbed a box that had "LEILANI'S ROOM" written on the tape in my loopy and curly handwriting. I climbed out of the back of the truck and followed my parents into the beautiful one story house in front of us.

"Dad, where is my room at?" I asked him, stopping in my tracks out of the way of the movers who were helping us.

He brought a box to the kitchen and came out a second later. "Follow me." I followed him down a hallway, bare white, and empty, begging to have pictures of memories hanging and decorating the dull cream shell white paint job.

"That's kind of an ugly white," I commented.

"We plan on painting, Leilani," he said.

"What color?" I asked.

"Maybe a nice yellow or a beige,"  he answered. He stopped in front of a closed door and said, "Here's your room." He opened the door for me and I took a step forward and turned to my right.

"Whoa, it's huge!" I exclaimed.

"The room is about 30 feet wide by 45 feet long. It's plenty of space for you, Tucker, and all of your books," he said.

I stepped into the bare empty room, taking in the space. It seemed so much bigger while it was empty, but when I get my queen sized bed in here and then my two book shelves in here, it might be a little smaller. Plus, I have my desk, my television stand, and my nightstand. I guess we'll find out how big this colossal bedroom will be once all of my belongings are in here.

I put my box out of the way and then followed my dad back out to the truck.

It was two hours before everything was unloaded from the U-Haul. My parents tipped the movers for helping us unload and they left. We started unpacking from the boxes. My parents sent me to unpack my room and then went to the kitchen.

I walked down the empty hallway to my room, with Tucker close behind. I opened the door and saw the change. The movers had assembled my bed in the middle of the room, when the headboard pushed snugly against the wall. And my two bookshelves were assembled as well, side by side, in the far corner to the left, across of the bed. They were leaning against the wall that was shared with the door. My nightstand was next to the right side of my bed and my desk was against next to the two bookshelves, directly in front of my bed. It looked just how I wanted it to.

I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut through the packing tape on one of my boxes.

When I got the flaps up, I stopped purple fabric. This box had my bedsheets in it. Perfect. My bare mattress needed some sprucing up. I pulled the long comforter from the box and saw my fitted sheet and the regular sheet at the bottom. I retrieved them as well, and began making my bed.

As soon as my bed was made, I tossed the empty box to one side, and moved along to the next box.

The next book was labeled, "Leilani's room. Clothes." I opened it up and saw it was my undergarments, and socks. I lifted the box and brought it over to the nightstand. There was two drawers of the nightstand and I placed the box down, and opened the bottom drawer of the stand.

I started unpacking the box and folding my underwear and bras and socks neatly into the bottom drawer.

After half an hour of unpacking, I had two shelves full on the bookshelves, my desk had all of my supplies and papers and things, and I had most of my clothes in my beautiful and medium sized walk in closet.

My dad knocked on my already open door and I looked up from the third box of 30 books. "Yes sir?" I said.

"We have a guest. Come say hi. She's our neighbor," he said with a smile.

"Okay," I said, standing up on my feet. I turned to Tucker, who was napping on my bed. I clicked twice and he popped his head up, making me giggle. "Come on, boy!" I called, leaving the room with my dad. He jumped down, his choker chain collar jingling as he trekked over to my side.

We came into the kitchen and I saw a beautiful middle ages woman sitting at the kitchen table with my mom. My mom smiled when she saw me and turned to the woman. "This is my daughter, Leilani," she said, introducing me as the lady looked at me, smiling.

"Hi," I said shyly.

"Hello, Leilani. I'm Joan McDonough. I saw the moving truck and thought I'd come say hi. How are you liking Orlando so far?" she asked kindly, smiling at me.

"I love Orlando. I've been here before. I love it. It's beautiful," I answered politely, returning her genuine smile with one of her own.

"That's good to hear! My kids love it here, too. I live right across the street there. And I was just inviting your parents to dinner at my house with my family. We'd love to have you guys. What do you say?" she explained.

I smiled at her again. "I think it sounds like a good idea," I answered.

"Great!" She looked up at my parents and continued. "I'll be cooking dinner at around 6 o'clock, if you decide to come. I'd love to see you guys there," she said.

"We'll be there. Thank you for coming over. We appreciate it," my mom said, standing up to shake the lady's hand and then she and my dad led Mrs. Joan to the front door.

When they came back, my dad looked at me. "Okay. Go ahead and go back to unpacking, and at around 6 o'clock, you can shower and change and we'll walk across the street at 6:30," he proposed.

"Okay!" I cheered. I was feeling pretty good about the dinner tonight. Maybe Mrs. Joan has a daughter my age that I can become friends with. Or a son. I wouldn't mind having a guy friend around.

I skipped back to my room, Tucker on my heels, and continued to unpack the open box of books that I was unpacking before Dad came in.

I love it here.