| Three The cab ride to my new apartment in Boston took all of twenty minutes. It was the beginning of fall so the leaves were beginning to turn vibrant reds yellows and browns. The residential street my apartment was on was called Penbrook Avenue and my apartment building stood five stories tall. The cab pulled to a stop in front of the building and I stepped out. � Welcome home, Kate,� I said quietly to myself. � That�s 15,� The driver said sitting my duffel bag at my feet. I reached into my purse and gave him a twenty. � Keep the change,� � Thank you,� He said. � You have a nice day,� � You too,� He drove away and I picked up the bag, slinging it over my shoulder before entering the building. 314. That was my apartment number. I don�t know how long I stood there, staring at that number. Maybe I was afraid to open the door because if I did I knew there was no turning back or maybe I thought that Nick was on the other side waiting to berate me for trying to leave him. � Are you okay?� A quiet voice asked from behind me. I turned and looked at the person asking the question. She smiled nervously and quickly stepped forward. � I saw you, get out of your cab and I thought that maybe you�d need some help moving in but of course you think this is weird and that I�m stalking you. I�m not really, I�m just the designated welcome wagon around here I guess, but obviously you haven�t even walked in so maybe I should come back tomorrow,� She rambled nervously. � Hi,� I smiled. � I�m Katherine. Katherine Lauser, but you can call me Katie,� I extended my hand to her. She eagerly shook it. � Joey McIntire.� � That�s your name? Your real name?� She rolled her eyes and laughed. � Yeah. Josephine. And I spell mine with an I, not a Y. I don�t usually tell people my last name for that exact reason. Then I have to go into how I spell my name and it�s all just drama,� She laughed. � Oh. I�m sorry, I didn�t mean to offend you or anything.� I said. � You didn�t know. Now you do. So are you going to go in, or stand out here looking at the fine numbers embellished on your door?� I looked back at the door. � Right. I just wanted to make sure this was the right place.� � It is. Hey, Listen I�ll let you get moved in maybe if you�re later we can go out and I can show you around,� � That would be great, Joey, Thank you.� � No problem. I�m in 304,� She jogged back down the hall waving one last time before disappearing around a corner. Stepping into my new apartment was� how can I say it?� uneventful. Perhaps physically I was just too tired to comprehend where exactly I was, but I knew immediately I wasn�t home. My new apartment was about the size of our sitting room back home, with a long dull brown couch in the corner and another brown chair with and ottoman to the right. There was a small round wooden table in what I assumed was the dining room. Four dark wooden chairs circled the table and in the center of the table was a vase of flowers. The kitchen was to the right of me, small and dark. I had no dishwasher and the stove was gasoline. � Excellent,� There was hardly anything in the fridge except some milk, eggs, baking soda and lunchmeat; which meant I�d have to find a grocery store. I dropped my duffel bag on the dining room table and started down the small hallway. The bathroom was right across from my bedroom already furnished with a queen size bed and dresser. While I was unpacking what little clothes I had brought along with me, my phone rang. I hesitated to answer, afraid of who was on the other line. I went back to unpacking, but the phone continued to ring and eventually I picked up. � It�s about time,� Shandi sighed. � I was beginning to think something had happened to you. What took you so long?� � I thought you were someone else. Sorry,� � Its too soon, Heather. He�s couldn�t find you this soon,� � You don�t know Nick,� I laughed quietly. v�� � You don�t know me. I�m not one to let all my hard work go to waste. Anyway, I was calling to let you know a few things. There�s $1500 under your mattress in a blue envelope, along with a few other papers like your car registration-� � I have a car?� � Yes, a Corolla. Dark blue. It�s parked outside. Use the money wisely, its going to have to last you for a couple of weeks until I can find you a job. Your car keys are in the envelope and your phone number. Be careful about giving it out, Katherine-� � Katie.� I corrected. � Its just Katie.� � Katie. Be careful. Make no mistake about it, Nick�s looking for you. Probably right now as we speak,� � But you just said-� � What I said was he couldn�t find you. But he�s looking. Just keep that in mind,� � I will,� � Good. I�ll be in touch,� She said before ending the call. Great. Nick�s looking for me, which means he�s probably already gone to see my mother, sending her into full panic mode and she�s called my sisters- it never ends. I finished unpacking my things and grabbed my new car keys, heading for the door. I opened the door and jumped back when Joey was standing there, her hand raised to knock. She and I both laughed a little. � Sorry. I didn�t mean to scare you,� � It�s okay. I was just going out to my car,� � You have a car? I thought you came in a cab?� � I did. I had it sent separately,� I lied. � Wanna make sure its all in one piece,� � Care if I join you?� She asked. � No,� I stepped out of the apartment, closing and locking the apartment door. � Which way?� I asked. Joey pointed to the left. � We have to take the stairs, the elevator�s broken.� We walked down the dimly lit hallway until we reached the end, turning the corner to go down the steps. � So where�s the nearest grocery store? I need to get some things for the apartment,� � Well there�s a Target about 15 minutes from here and a Safeway around the corner. Was there something in particular you were looking far?� I pushed the garage door open and scanned the parking lot for a dark blue corolla. � Uh, just some stuff. Over there,� I spotted what I hoped was my car and went over to it. � Why?� Joey shrugged. � Just curious. So where�d you move from if you don�t mind me asking,� � Florida,� I said flatly. � Wow. You left sunny Florida�. For this? Why?� � It was time for me to go,� I shrugged. � Do you think you could show me where that Safeway was?� Four � What do you say we get married?� Nick smiled, lifting his bright blue eyes to me. � I mean, it�s not like we don�t know each other and we�ve been living together-� I sat up looking at Nick, laying beside me in the bed, his hair tousled from sleep, the sheet resting on his waist exposing his bare upper body. One arm was behind his head, the other laid across my thighs. � You want to get married?� � Today. We�ll get dressed and go down to the courthouse and get married.� I laughed and threw the cover back climbing out of bed. � I can�t marry you, Nick,� � Why not? You look excellent in my clothes, but the way,� � I can�t marry you, Nick. It�s too soon. Even if I wanted to, I can�t cause I have class in an hour-� � Skip it. What do you need to go to school for anyway? I�ll take care of you. You know I can.� � Gee, the proposal a girl dreams of all her life,� I said sarcastically picking up my clothes from the floor. � How could I possibly say no?� � What do you want? Me on one knee? With a diamond the size of Texas?� He laughed. � If you love me like I love you then all that shit shouldn�t matter, Heather. If you love me like you say you do, then you�ll say yes.� � This sounds like the beginning of an argument, and I�m not going there with you. I�m going to take a shower and then I�m going to class. We can talk about this tonight,� I walked around the bed and headed into the bathroom closing the door. I turned on the shower and pulled off Nick�s shirt tossing it on the floor. I climbed in the shower and closed my eyes, letting the hot water run over my body. I heard the bathroom door open, but paid it no mind, until I felt Nick step in behind me. He wrapped his arms around and kissed the back of my neck. � Nick, Stop it,� I squirmed away from him. � I have class. I can�t be late,� � Heather, look at me. I wanna talk to you,� � Can it wait? At least until I get out of the shower,� � No. I love you and I wanna marry you. Today. You said no, and I�m asking you again. And I�m not going to stop asking you until you say yes,� � Nick-� � Look me in the eyes and say no,� He interrupted, grabbing a hold of my waist and turning me around to face him. I gasped when I saw him standing before me, holding a diamond ring in his teeth. He smiled and knelt as best he could in the shower taking the ring out of his mouth. � He looked up at me and reached for my hand. � Heather, I love you with all my heart and soul. I never thought I could feel this way about anyone, but I can�t imagine my life without you- could we turn the water off?� He laughed. � It�s ruining the moment.� I reached back and shut off the shower. � I�m sorry,� � Its okay.� He cleared his throat and continued. � I�m asking you to give me the chance to take care of and love you for the rest of your life. I will mess up and piss you off and chances are you�ll want to leave me,� He laughed. � But I will always love you and you will always come first. I�m not really good at this sort of thing-� he bowed his head. � You�re doing fine,� I said quietly. He looked back up at me, slipping the ring on my finger. � I love you, Heather. Please do me the honor of becoming my wife,� � That had to be the most wonderful proposal I�ve ever heard,� I smiled through my tears. � That�s the only proposal you�ve ever heard,� He smirked. � So? Will you marry me? Can I stand up now?� I nodded. � Yeah, Nick. I�ll marry you,� He smiled and stood up pulling me into his arms, kissing me. � I love you so much baby,� � I love you,� � C�mon. Let�s go to the courthouse,� He held my hand and pulled me out of the shower along with him. � We can be there by ten thirty-� � I have class. Maybe we could go after,� I said. � I have a really big test coming up and I need to-� � You can make it up, right? Go tonight or something,� He grabbed his pants from the floor and a sweatshirt from the closet. � C�mon, Heather. Get dressed,� � Why the big rush? If I can go to class later why can�t we do this later?� Nick pulled his pants up and fastened them. � Because I don�t want to wait, Heather. I asked you because I want to marry you now, not tonight, not tomorrow, not two weeks from now� today,� � I don�t understand why this is so important to you-� � I told you,� He laughed. � I love you. Now get dressed.� |