AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 1
Brooke
A blank canvas with a field of opportunities to create new memories was my first thought when I saw my new apartment. The white walls, exposed face brick, wooden floors that didn’t creak at every step I took, and the casement windows that let in natural light; all of these features sold this apartment for me. Plus, it had a bathtub!
“I can’t wait to create new memories in here!” I squealed as we placed the boxes down in the middle of the room. I placed my hands on my hips, taking in my new home once again. I did it! I was finally living alone and didn’t have to deal with that old place that had some terrible cranky plumbing, creaking every time somebody flushed their toilet.
Sometimes it felt like I could hear my upstairs neighbor’s sewage moving through those old pipes the landlord never wanted to fix; and when the pipes made that horrible creaking sound, I had suspicions that something was stuck.
Thank God I didn’t have to deal with that anymore!
“This place looks amazing, Brooke,” Matthew complimented, and I struggled to not blush. The entire moving trip from my old apartment to the new one had been a challenge because he was there. I could hear him, I could smell him, and I could feel him. Ugh!
“Yeah, you sure you don’t want a roomie?” my best friend Marie asked me as she wrapped her arms around my waist, and I chuckled humorlessly as I shook my head. Absolutely not!
“Sure! Who wouldn’t want to live with you?” I sarcastically remarked, and she rolled her eyes and motioned toward Matthew with her head.
“I didn’t mean me. I meant, would you be willing to live with other people?” She lifted her eyebrows, signaling that she was hinting at something, and I slowly shook my head.
“While you guys discuss that, I’ll go ahead and fetch the last box from my car,” Matthew said, and I thanked him as he left my apartment, and Marie violently hit my arm.
“What did you do that for?” I shouted as I rubbed on the stinging area, and she clicked her tongue.
“You are so bad at signals! I’m trying to get you to extend an invite to Matthew,” she whispered as if she didn’t want him to hear anything even though we both knew he was on his way downstairs to his car.
“Invite him for what? He has his own apartment,” I scoffed as I opened a box and began unpacking; she joined me, but I could tell just from her huff that she was annoyed with me pretending I didn’t know what she was talking about.
Can’t get mad at a girl for acting clueless.
“You know very well what I meant! Come on, Brooke, you’re grown...he’s grown, too. Get what I’m saying?” She shook her shoulders, a stupid grin on her face as she winked, and I shivered.
It wasn’t that I was horrified by the actions she was suggesting; I was horrified that she was mentioning them.
“No, that would be weird,” I disagreed with her, and she groaned and dropped the wrapping paper into an empty box, gently placing the plate in her hand down on the counter. “Besides, he isn’t interested in me like that.”
“Does he know that you’re interested in him like that?” she threw the question back, and I shrugged a shoulder, as I spoke softly.
“I like his posts and share them on my story; wouldn’t you say that’s flirting?” I asked her, and she looked at me, shocked, as she registered what I had just said.
“Huh?” she whispered as she pulled her eyebrows together, and I nodded innocently. I believed I was shooting my shot and Matthew was just blind.
“I liked his Facebook stories more than thirteen times; it really doesn’t get louder than that Marie. He’s not interested.”
“Yes, it does!” she shouted, shocking me as she slapped her hands against the cold granite, and I winced. Her hands must sting so badly right now. “What are you, an idiot?”
“No,” I mumbled, and she pushed her fingers through her short wavy locks as she whispered something under her breath. “I’m not an idiot!”
“You sound like one. You have to say, ‘I like you; let’s go out,’ and then you’ll be able to tell whether he likes you or not after he gives you an answer,” she said all in one breath, and I looked at her as if she was the stupid one.
“You would never say that to a man you liked,” I called her out, and she giggled as she bent down and grabbed another plate, repeating the process of throwing the wrapping papers into the empty box, and I made a mental note to take the box out with me when I escorted Marie and Matthew back downstairs.
“No, I wouldn’t, but they do, and it works on me all the time,” she grinned as she cupped her face, and I sighed as I shook my head. And she calls me the idiot?
“That’s why all your exes are horrible people,” I said. She gasped and threw a paper in my direction. I laughed as I picked it up from the floor.
“You can’t blame me for them. I am a lover of love, and they took advantage of that!”
“Hmm-hmm,” I nodded sarcastically, and she clicked her tongue.
