A Room With A View

Chapter Sixty-Two - Madeline

December 14, Thursday

Madeline spun in place. She was trying her best to keep the awe from her voice. She'd never been in a two-story apartment before. It was incredible.

The first floor of Agatha's--no, Brian's--apartment had a big, wide entryway with old creaky wood and a staircase that spun up and away to the second story. It felt like a movie set.

After the entryway was the living room on the left, the dining room on the right, and a kitchen in the middle that was larger than the one her parents had at home. None of Agatha's furniture was still there--Elena's husband had removed it all--but there was still a faint smell of must that clung to everything. Madeline had a few scented candles she could donate to the cause.

Upstairs, each of the three bedrooms was covered in dark wood that paneled the walls. There was a bathroom with a real chain-pull toilet and an old, claw-foot tub. It seemed original to the building. Madeline loved the bathroom best, as weird as that thought was. She just liked to stand in the room and think about all the old people who had once lived there. Not that she wanted to imagine them in the bathroom, but it was just the one room that seemed most like the past, and so Madeline felt the strongest connection to the ancient tenants when sitting on the edge of the tub. She pictured them like phantoms, moving throughout the space in their corsets and silk vests.

"Mads?" Brian called.

Madeline pushed off from the tub and followed his voice down the hall. He was standing in the master bedroom, surrounded by towers of boxes.

"What do you think of it?" he asked. His back was to the window. Madeline shimmied her way through the box towers toward him and threw her arms around his shoulders.

"It's perfect," she said honestly.

Brian smiled, creases forming at the corners of his eyes.

"I'm glad you like it, because...well," Brian's cheeks turned scarlet, "I was hoping you might move in."

It took Madeline a second to understand what Brian was saying. She dropped her hands from around his neck.

"What?" she asked, more to buy herself time than because she hadn't heard Brian.

Brian pushed his glasses up the bridge of nose. "Well y-you have to move out because Phineas won't let you stay, and I thought rather than you having to find someplace that is far from work or whatever I thought maybe you could stay here. I mean, in a different room, of course. There are three bedrooms here. You could have one them to have your own space. You could have this one, even." Brian swept his hand around the room. He kept looking at her quickly, then looking away.

Madeline chewed her lip. This was a huge step. Like a big, Relationship with a capital R step. Then again, she could just think of it as a roommate opportunity? It would be closer to Dosser's and still just a subway ride away from Cafe Clark. Plus it would be easier to get to the theatre in midtown from the Watley. Otherwise Madeline would have to look at places deep in Astoria that were easier on her bank account. That would be a tough commute to make daily.

Also, Madeline loved the Watley. She'd made it her home. She didn't want to live.

Then again, what would her parents say if she moved in with her boyfriend? Worse...what would her brothers say?

"You don't have to answer now," Brian said. He was comically red. "You can take your time. You can take all the time." He was babbling. Madeline found it cute.

"I would like to take some time to think about it, if that's alright," Madeline said.

Brian nodded vigorously, his glasses scooting down his nose.