My alarm was set for 8.30AM this morning, but I had slept right through it. When I woke up it was already 9.30 and we had to be there at 10AM. There was now only half an hour left for me and Tom to get ready. I rushed to Tom’s room and much to my surprise he wasn’t there. I went back to my own room and put on some clothes, ran to the bathroom, applied my makeup as quick as I could and rushed downstairs, only to find Tom in front of the TV again.
‘Good morning.’ I said and walked over to the kitchen. I checked the time and grabbed an apple for on the way.
‘We have to go.’
Once uttering those words it did not take Tom long to turn off the television and after that he got up as well. I grabbed my jacket, since it started to get a bit chilly outside, and we made our way out to my car. The first apartment was a bit far from here. Which wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but I wanted to take a look at it anyway. Maybe it was a really nice place, who knows? It was about half an hour away from here, which would also mean, if we’d take it, Tom had to change schools and I may have to find another job. It wouldn’t really be a problem for me to drive half an hour to work everyday, but it wouldn’t work with Tom going to school.
When we arrived, it looked like a nice place at first. But when we got in, it was just horrible. No word other than that to describe it better. We walked through it for another couple of minutes, and listened to that man going on and on about how great it all was, but that was it. I had already made up my mind about this one.
In the car on our way to the next place Tom said,
‘That was just awful, we’re not going to live there are we?’
I chuckled a bit at his words and then replied,
‘Absolutely not.’ Shaking my head while saying so.
The next place was a bit closer to our current home. Approximately 10 minutes away. That wouldn’t be a problem at all. As we got closer I noticed that the neighbourhood was not very nice. It looked nicer on the pictures. Once again, we proceeded to get to the house and got inside. The inside, actually, wasn’t too bad. It was small, but big enough for the two of us. This could be an option.
‘What do you think?’ I asked Tom.
‘It’s ok. Not extremely nice, but not that horrible either.’
We walked through all the rooms and then went back to our car again. There was only one place left, which was, again, a little bit closer to our current home. Might even be under 5 minutes so that’s a good thing. I really wanted to stay in the same neighbourhood. I felt comfortable here and I had a feeling Tom did too. It looked nice from the outside and I was hoping that the inside would be as good as that.
‘Looks nice, right?’ I asked.
‘yeah, it does. Can we look inside?’
I only nodded my head at that. We got out and went inside the house. It looked pretty good. I felt some sense of relieve flushing over me. As we got further into the house and saw more of it, I fell in love with it even more. It was perfect and certainly the best one we’ve seen so far today. If Tom loved it too, I could see us live here. Again, it wasn’t too big, yet it was just big enough for the two of us. It was perfect.
After seeing the last place, we went home. Here we are now, eating lunch – far past lunch time I must say – and thinking about all we’ve seen today.
‘So, what about the last place we saw, you like it?’ I asked.
I needed to know whether or not Tom liked it too, as I promised that man showing us around in the house that I’d let him know if I’d take it as soon as possible. But from the looks of things now, I think I will take it. It was definitely the best one.
‘Yeah, I think it's nice.’
‘But would you want to live there?’
‘Sure.’ Again that enthusiasm.
‘Alright, I’m going to think about it for some more and then email them.’
He only nodded his head at me. There was a hell of a lot to process, I understood and I noticed he was having a hard time with it too. But who wouldn’t? I just wished he would talk about it more and not push it all away like he does now. That didn't have to be with me. Keeping everything inside wasn't right.
I only had to click that ‘send’ button and we could basically start packing. I had written the email that said I wanted to take the apartment. A new house, a new start. I was actually looking forward to it to be honest. Maybe a new start was just what I needed.
What we needed.
Starting all over again. It would be hard, of course it would. Work, college, and now taking care of Tom. But it could all work out. Positive.
After some more emailing we agreed to meet up for signing the contract and talking everything through one last time. There was this weird feeling inside of me when I received the email with the date and time. It all came so close now. At the same time it became more exciting every second. I sat back in my chair and read the email over and over again. Was it real? Was this actually happening?
My first apartment.
My own apartment.
A small smile crept on my face. Tom sat across from me playing a stupid game on my phone. I stood up from the chair and made my way upstairs. Before I could, I was stopped in doing so, by Tom asking me where I was going. After telling him I was going upstairs to shower, I did exactly so. Once being under the hot water, my tensed body relaxed a bit.
