Roommates Box Set #4-6

1. Alyssa

1

ALYSSA

“All right, that’s all I’ve got. I’d say that’s enough for your first day, right?”

My new boss looked over the five of us. In some ways, it was nice starting my first job out of college with other newbies. On the other hand, it was starting to feel a bit like we were a pledge class. “Any questions?”

“I have one.”

Zeke looked over at me. He was the owner and founder of Zee Tech Industries. He’d instructed us to refer to both the company and himself as Zee. Yeah, that wasn’t confusing at all. “What’s on your mind, Alicia?”

“Alyssa,” I corrected, not for the first time. “When will we find out what division we’ll be working with?” Though we’d been joined at the hip today as we took the tour, filled out HR paperwork, and listened to Zeke’s many welcome spiels, we were each supposed to be placed with a different team.

Zeke raised an eyebrow and gave us a crooked smile. “Come back tomorrow and find out.” He clapped his hands like an over-enthusiastic camp counselor. “Now go home and live your lives. We’re all about work-life balance here at Zee Tech.”

He actually made shooing motions as we gathered up our things. I walked out of the huge open workspace next to McKenna, the only other woman in our little group. “Ready to go live your life?” I asked her.

She grinned. “If unpacking a million boxes counts as living.”

“At least you’ve been here since Thursday. I’ve only had one night in my apartment. I couldn’t even find a blanket last night, so I had to use my winter coat.”

McKenna laughed as we stepped out into the parking lot. “Not much need for that here.”

That was true. Though it wasn’t exactly warm , it also wasn’t cold in my new town of Lake Boise, Louisiana. It was nothing like the January weather back home in Colorado.

“Wait up.” Dan, another new recruit, caught up to us. He had sandy blond hair and a stern expression that masked his quirky sense of humor. “Are you two doing anything tonight?”

“Unpacking,” we said at the same time.

“I did that a long time ago,” Dan responded with a grin. He’d gotten his degree at the university here in town, the only one of us who hadn’t moved from somewhere else. “A couple of us are going to a bar down on Main Street. Cheap beer, reasonably good food. You’ll love it.”

“Is it full of college kids?” McKenna asked doubtfully.

That made me chuckle. “Until December, we were college kids.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I want to hang out with them,” she said. “Can I let you know later, Dan?” We’d all exchanged numbers at lunch.

“Call me D,” he said, with a pretty good impression of Zeke’s over-friendly manner. “But sure. Just text if you want to come and I’ll send you directions.”

We parted ways and I thought about his offer as I climbed into my car. Lake Boise wasn’t that big, but so far, the only parts I knew were my apartment, my new workplace, and the convenience store I’d stopped at this morning when I couldn’t find my deodorant.

So far, however, it seemed like a nice town. I’d done my research before accepting the job and moving down here, but it was different actually being here and seeing the place for myself. It looked vastly different than Colorado. No mountains in the distance, for one thing. The houses in the neighborhood I was driving through didn’t look like the ones in Denver. They were older, and the trees that lined the streets towered above me.

My phone rang, and I broke into a grin as I saw my friend Kylie’s name pop up. She was probably calling to see how my first day had gone, and I was eager to share everything with her. I pulled over across from a small park and rolled down my windows. The fresh air smelled good, though there was a slight chill that suggested the night would be much cooler.

“Tell me everything,” Kylie said before I could even say hello.

“It’s amazing,” I said, trying not to gush. “You should see the products they’re working on. I want one of everything for my home. But oops, I’m not supposed to talk about that.”

“I’m getting my MBA,” Kylie said, amusement in her voice. “I’m not going to steal their idea for the latest gadget or whoozie-whatsit.”

I giggled. “What was that last thing?”

“Beats me, you’ll be the one designing it. But tell me more. What’s your boss like?”

“Charismatic,” I said, after a short struggle to find the correct word. “He’s got all these ideas and endless energy and enthusiasm. I think I can learn a lot from him.”

“I’m putting you on speakerphone,” Kylie said, and a moment later, I heard a man clear his throat. I was pretty sure my brother was joining the conversation.

“How was it?” Mason asked.

“She just started filling me in,” Kylie told him.

I told them both about the on-site gym, the “thinking room,” the snacks, the napping pods, and all the other cool things the firm provided employees.

“Is there any actual engineering going on at your engineering startup?” Mason asked. Only my brother could sound amused and judgmental at the same time, but I didn’t mind. For years, we hadn’t had much of a relationship at all. But once he met Kylie, things changed.

“We’re going to be assigned to our teams tomorrow.” As I spoke, I saw something orange out of the corner of my eye. Some kids were flying a kite in the park on the other side of the street. “How are your classes going?” Both Mason and Kylie were in graduate school. Mason was an engineer, like me.

Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that I was an engineer like him, since he’d finished his undergraduate degree a few years ago.

“They’re already piling on the work and it’s the first week,” Kylie complained. I could empathize—I’d had a really rough time of it last semester.

While we talked, I watched the kids playing. There were two of them, a boy and a girl. The kite slammed into the ground, and the boy handed the spool of string to his sister and then ran to pick up the brightly colored kite.

At least I thought they were siblings, perhaps even twins. I couldn’t see them clearly from here, but their hair was a similar shade of light brown.

“Did you hear what I said?” Kylie asked.

“Yes. Wait, no, sorry. Got distracted by my new surroundings. Did you say something about Jude?” Jude and Parker were the other members of Kylie and Mason’s rather untraditional relationship. My brother and his roommates had been best friends for years, and when Kylie came along, she somehow fell for all three of them, and vice versa. But it worked for them, and I’d never seen my brother happier.

Speaking of happy, the kids had gotten the kite in the air again, this time with the help of a tall, dark-haired man who was probably their father. Though I couldn’t hear his exact words, he was shouting instructions, and the two kids were huddled together as they unwound more string. It looked like such an idyllic, small-town scene. Sure, kids flew kites everywhere, but something about the quiet park, the happy little family, and the majestic trees covered in Spanish moss was quite picturesque.

After my call ended, I stayed right where I was, reflecting on the conversation and thinking about my life in this new place. I didn’t know anyone here. My third-floor apartment was not much of a home yet, but somehow, I felt like this could work. Lake Boise was a nice town full of friendly people—or at least that was my initial impression. Kylie had thought that too. She’d helped me drive down, my little car nearly overflowing with my things, and I’d taken her to the airport yesterday.

A shout caught my attention. The kite had made a grand escape, the reel of thread bouncing across the grass, heading toward the street where I was parked. The boy chased after it, and the girl did too. She was about ten feet behind him.

A jolt of alarm shot through me before my mind caught up. The kids looked to be seven or eight—old enough to know not to run into the street. Still, as they kept coming, I looked for the cute dad I’d seen earlier.

He was looking the opposite way, his phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear as he spoke and gestured wildly.

Look up! I silently urged him, but he was engrossed in his call.

My hand went to the handle of the car door as my eyes scanned the small street. Very few cars had passed since I pulled over, but one was coming now. I could see it driving past the smattering of cars parked on the opposite side of the street from me.

The kite reel skipped across the street, perhaps fifteen feet ahead of me, and the boy was still running after it. Without conscious thought, I opened my door and stepped into the street. My heart pounded, but my brain was still rationalizing. The boy wouldn’t run into the street. He knew better than that. But the line of cars parked there worried me. The driver of the oncoming car likely couldn’t see him behind the cars.

Relief filled me as the boy slowed. As his sneakers touched the sidewalk that lined the border of the park, I could see he was going to stop.

Then the girl fell. She faceplanted on the grass and cried out.

The boy swung around in alarm—but momentum still carried him in the direction he’d been going. He stepped backwards off the curb of the sidewalk and stumbled.

My heart completely stopped, and time did, too.

Everything was happening in slow motion. The car was almost there. The boy was rapidly stepping backwards, trying to regain his balance.

And I moved, too. Though my brain was stalled, my body knew what to do. I ran into the street at a diagonal as I raced toward the boy.

A squealing sound reached my ears. The driver had seen me and hit the brakes—but the car still skidded forward.

The boy lost his battle with gravity, his little body tilting backwards directly in front of the bumper of the car. Then I was there, my arms outstretched as I shoved him out of the way.

That was when the car slammed into me.