serendipity - johnny depp

1. a fresh start

BELLA

I felt nervous walking up to the front doorstep of my soon-to-be new home. The cab that brought me here was already down the end of the road, so there was no turning back now. The building was nice. I mean, as nice as my very first apartment here in Los Angeles could get. God knew properties here were expensive.

I grabbed my suitcases I brought with me from London, and started going up the front door stairs. I was met with a black door with the number 103 imprinted on it. I reached inside my purse to grab the set of keys the estate manager had given me; one opened the front door and the other opened my apartment condo.

I carefully opened the door, hoping it wouldn't make much noise. The interiors were nice though, it was like a small lobby, but there was no doorman or any receptionist, there was just an empty desk with a set of stairs beside it. Knowing very well that I didn't want to be climbing 4 flights of stairs with two luggage, I made my way towards the elevator, which was just behind the staircase.

The ride up there was pleasant. I mean, besides the fact that it needs a little maintenance, everything was going perfectly. I stepped off on the 4th floor and noticed that there were only two doors, both next to the other: A and B. My key had a 'B' on it so I turned towards that door. I quickly opened it and went inside.

Anyone could've walked in here and say that it was a mess. There was a small kitchen to the right, and a little living room area in front of it. There was nothing but a couch, a table, and a small television. There was a door that opened to the bedroom. It had a king-size bed and a bathroom. I just needed to install my stuff, redecorate the room and it would look better. I saw a note stuck to the fridge that said basic information about the housekeeping of the apartment, and some phone numbers I could call if I had any doubts.

I decided to go buy any stuff I would need right away, so I could at least have the basic things by the time I got to bed. I grabbed my keys, money, and my jacket in case it got cold and closed the door behind me. I turned back around and there was already another guy waiting for the elevator. He looked at me and just stared at me, for a good five seconds. I didn't know what to do, so I just smiled and walked next to him, still waiting for the elevator.

After taking a good look at him, I noticed he was quite attractive. He had light skin, but dark brown hair and eyes. His hair was slightly tousled, which made it look cute. He was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt, with a bomber jacket over his shirt. "You must be the new neighbor right? David told me someone would be arriving." He finally spoke. His voice was soft. I liked it.

"Hi! Yeah, I just arrived, but my apartment was kind of empty so I really wanted to go out and buy some basic stuff." The elevator finally arrived, and as it opened, he motioned for me to go in first, which I kindly accepted. He got in after me and stood next to me.

"Cool. When I moved here I had to do the same things. Do you need any help?" I was surprised at how easily he wanted to help me. I didn't know people were this kind in America.

"Are you sure? Don't you have other things to do?" I genuinely asked. I didn't want to be a nuisance, and being needy was the last thing I wanted to appear.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I was actually on my way to get some stuff to prepare for dinner." He stopped talking as the elevator stopped at the lobby. "But if you want to go alone, that's completely fine, I-" he started stammering as we left the elevator, so I quickly cut him off and laughed.

"No no no I didn't mean it like that! Of course you can come, I could really use the help actually. I don't even know where to go." I smiled as we opened the door and started going down the stairs. He told me that the shop was at a walking distance, so we didn't have to spend money on cabs.

"I'm Johnny, Johnny Depp." He held out his hand for me to take, which I did. 

"I'm Bella Jones," I said as we both smiled, then started walking. I was the first to ask something, wanting to make him feel comfortable, "who's David?" 

He smiled as he started talking. "David's one of the other neighbors. He lives on the third floor. He's a grumpy old man who gets along with the landowner, so he always tells us everything when he sees anyone of us." 

I laughed as I looked down. "Do many people live there?" 

He shook his head. "Oh no, it's only me on the 4th floor, David on the 3rd and a middle-aged woman on the 5th floor. So before you arrived, I was the only person our age."

"That must've been boring." He chuckled and nodded. "Do you at least have any friends that you could invite or something?"

"Well, I'm kind of new here too. I just moved here about a year ago from Kentucky, but yeah I've made some friends."

As we walked down the street, I learned that Johnny was here in L.A. to become a musician, but he was starting to succeed more as an actor. He had already done his first film the previous year, and had gotten a little fame because of it. 

I told him that I wanted to be an actress too, and mentioned that I already have an audition scheduled in about 10 days or so. He seemed content that we were both sort of on the same track. I told him about my life in London and we just talked about random but fun things. We really hit it off and we were getting along perfectly well.

After buying some towels, covers for the bed, and some basic stuff to live comfortably, we went to the grocery store and bought a full pantry for me, and some ingredients Johnny wanted for dinner.

We did call a cab back home because we had way too many bags by now. It was a short 5-minute ride, but we were already desperate to get back. We went over to my place first to put the groceries in their place, and then we went to Johnny's after because he insisted on me joining him for dinner.

I learned that he really didn't know how to cook, but he was trying his best which made me laugh uncontrollably.

"I knew when I decided on pasta it would be a disaster," Johnny mumbled as he tried to separate the pasta and the water. He was making a big mess in the sink and started complaining about burning his fingers.

"It's not that hard Johnny, look," I stood up and walked over to the sink. He handed me the pot and I asked if he had a strainer. Surprisingly, he did, so I put it in the bowl and turned it upside down so the water could drain. I handed the bowl back to him as he looked in awe. I laughed and he looked down shamefully.

"You made it look so easy, I didn't even know what that was for!" I watched his disappointed face amusedly as I went over to the fridge to get some tomato sauce.

"Now I'm sure you can do this perfectly well." I handed him the jar and he put a small portion of the sauce into the pasta. He looked proud of himself as he served two bowls and set them on the table.

"Bon appetit, madame." he said smoothly as he came over with some wine. 

"To new neighbors." I raised my glass up towards Johnny's as he repeated, "To new neighbors."