Time for School

Samantha

I followed with Samantha off the elevator after we reached her floor. I took a quick glance at the windowed wall by the elevators to see the rain picking up.

"Man, it is coming down now," I said.

"Good thing we got out of there when we did," she replied, turning to me with a smile. "Looks like we're in for some rough weather. Don't worry though, we'll be safe at my place."

"My savior," I joked, drawing a laugh out of her.

Her apartment was all the way at the far end of the building. It was one of the biggest sizes of apartments with three bedrooms in it. She whipped out her keys and unlocked the door, allowing me to go inside first.

"After you," she politely said.

"Thank you kindly, ma'am." She grinned as I joked with her once again before I walked inside.

"Wow," I remarked as I looked around the place. "It looks a lot different from when I was last here. A lot less ... 'nineties.'" Previously, the place was chock-full of color. Colorful carpet, bedrooms their own individual colors, even the rugs were eye-catching. It had become a ton more modern styled. No more color - there was just a lot of white. Floor-to-ceiling, white. Glass tables with metallic legs. The only real color around was the accented flowers placed with an almost surgical precision so that one's eyes didn't dare catch more than one at a time.

"Yeah," she replied as she shut the door behind her. "My parents hired a designer. They told him, 'make this place look more grown-up,' and this is what he came up with. My parents love it, but I kind of miss our old rainbow theme."

"It definitely felt like a fun house for me every time I used to come over here as a kid."

"I know, right?" she concurred as she led me into the living room.

"Wow," I reiterated at the sight of the large, all-white room. It wasn't a blinding white, though, it was ... nice. It felt like a room to just relax in. I could see why her parents liked it. That's when I noticed a large, mishmash of color on the floor. It was one of those eye-catching rugs I remembered.

"I see your parents still kept the crazy rug from the old living room."

"It's a little reminder of the old look. 'A piece of the past used for the future' is what they said." We both chuckled. Suddenly, the wind whipped at the sliding glass doors, catching our attention.

"Jeez," I calmly said, "what a day I picked to go swimming."

"Same." She glanced at my towel and then held up a finger for me to wait. "Hang on just a sec."

She quickly shuffled around the corner, leaving me to gaze around the room some more and take in the sights. It was amazing how things change. I guess I should know that. Samantha quickly shuffled on back and handed me a fresh, very fluffy towel.

"Here," she said, drying herself off with one of her own.

"Hey, thanks," I replied with a smile whilst drying myself off more thoroughly. She also took my own towel from me.

"I'll just put this away for now," she said. "You go ahead and sit down on the couch."

"Okay," I replied while she shuffled away again. I placed the new, nicer towel on the seat of the – surprisingly – white couch and took a seat on it. I looked out at the rain pouring down hard outside, idly reminiscing about the old days with Samantha. I always knew her to be fun and really full of life. It was nice to see that coming back after the initially cold reception she gave me. I remember slipping and falling while playing in the rain one time and how quickly she ran over check on me. She genuinely cared about me, but I wasn't terribly good at realizing that when I had bloomed into my rambunctious teenage years. Being shut out by her all this time was definitely not on my list of life accomplishments.