Knightly in Shining Armor

Lourdes

I opened the door to my apartment. It was still half a wreck, but at least I got the bedroom cleaned up.

"Bienvenido a mi casa." I waved my hand around as I walked inside. I kicked off my shoes and slid across the floor in my socks to drop my paintbrush in the cup it belonged in. Lukas stood in the doorway with a confused look on his face.

"Bienve-what now?" He asked.

"It's Spanish," I explained as I went to grab his suitcase. "For welcome to my home. You can come in, I don't bite... often." I winked and headed across the apartment to the bedroom I never used.

My apartment was a small studio one in Lower Manhattan, near NYU. It had one bedroom with an en-suite. I didn't use it. The only one who had used it before Lukas was Bennett. I slept in the loft. There was a small stairway to get up to it. It was closer to the door.

The apartment is pretty narrow, so the loft is at one end, above the office. It's close to the front door. On the opposite wall is a gorgeous wall of windows, which I adore, and the fire escape. The kitchen is at the back of the apartment, with some lovely large windows of its own. The door to the bedroom is near the kitchen as well, at the end of the loft. There's another door next to it for another bathroom that doubled as my closet and laundry room. In all, the thing is pretty much an over glorified hallway.

"It's... small." Lukas drawled out as he followed me through the apartment.

"Well, the location is convenient and I scored on the lower rent price, so I'm not complaining," I retorted. I pushed open the door and set the suitcase on the bed. "By the way, I spent two hours cleaning this room and used my only set of spare sheets. Try not to make a total mess. I'd appreciate it."

"What the hell do you think I'm gonna do in a room the size of a postage stamp?" He scoffed. "This is like the size of my closet back home." I rolled my eyes. Entitled rich boy.

"Well, we can't all be billionaire white boys, now can we?" I swept out of the room. I glanced at the clock on the wall. 10:56. I groaned and copied down my grocery list. I hung it on the fridge once I finished. That would be my main task for the next day.

I walked around the apartment, cleaning up the little things I hadn't yet. I watered the plants, straightened the picture frames, and shut the windows I had left open.

Then, as Lukas continued to unpack or whatever he was doing, I began reorganizing my shelves. I straightened the books. I dusted the shelving and re-positioned the trinkets and things I'd collected. I moved onto dusting after that.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lukas asked as I shook my duster into the trash bin.

"Cleaning." I moved a stack of papers onto my desk in the office. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Why the hell are you cleaning at this hour?" He continued to question.

"Because I didn't have time to finish before I had to go pick you up." I grabbed the broom.

"Clearly you hadn't finished, this place is a wreck." He swiveled around on his heels, taking in the imperfections of the apartment.

"Well, are you going to stand there and complain or are you gonna actually pitch in?" I tossed him the broom. "Ang tamad mo."

"Was that Spanish too? What the hell was that?" He only looked more confused by the second.

"Tagalog. Filipino. Means you're so lazy. Now come on, we have work to do." I grabbed some glass cleaner and went to start cleaning the windows.

"I just got here and you're making me do chores? What about guest etiquette?" He grumbled, begrudgingly beginning to sweep the floors.

"If you're living here, you need to pitch in with chores, too." I climbed the stool to reach the upper windows. "My apartment, my rules." I hooked my phone to the speakers and started to play my lo-fi.