Chapter 11 Messy Apartments & Shitty Situations
Messy Apartments & Shitty Situations
Connor
Ishuffle around, trying to pick up laundry, empty bottles, and all the crap my roommates have left strewn about everywhere.
How very male of them to not give a shit about the state of our place.
Can’t say I blame them. We’re all busy with swimming and classes and whatnot, but still.
How is a guy supposed to impress a girl in this dump?
Not that I’m trying to impress Maisie. I want her to have a good time, obviously, because I care about her, as a… friend. Yeah.
The doorbell rings, and I freeze.
“I’ll get it,” Brock says, racing toward the white painted door.
When he opens it, Angie bellows, “Hey, guys!” as she confidently sidesteps a frozen and slack-mouthed Brock into the living area. She strides past me into the kitchen, golden hair swaying. I hear her opening and closing our oak cabinets. “Whatcha got to drink around here?”
Brock is still standing there, door shut but hand remaining on the handle. Strange.
Then I see her. She’s in her rolled university sweats and a plain white tank top.
Her hair is still damp from practice, but she left it loose around her shoulders, showcasing its natural waves.
Her signature smile—unencumbered, full-mouthed, and gleaming—lights up her face. She’s so fucking beautiful.
I briefly register Angie popping a cork and the sound of Hunter’s gruff voice as he says, “Can I pour that for you?”
But then Maisie closes the space between the entry and where I’m standing, still embarrassingly holding an armful of random items.
“Hey,” she says, biting her lip to keep from laughing, “did you rob a thrift store and haven’t dumped your haul yet?”
I blow out an amused, albeit embarrassed breath. “I was trying to pick up a little before you guys got here. These heathens I call roommates don’t exactly clean up after themselves.”
“Do too!” Hunter calls from the kitchen.
“Nah, he’s right—we’re slobs,” Tyler says as he enters from the stairs.
“You didn’t have to pick up on our account.
” Maisie waves a hand dismissively. “You’ve seen our dorm room.
It’s just nice to hang out in an apartment instead of smooshing people—and by people I mean you—into our tiny room.
” She spins, fully taking in her surroundings.
“I never asked, how did you guys snag this place anyway?”
I shuffle back and forth before saying, “Walk with me to dump this stuff in the upstairs closet?”
“Sure,” she says, but quirks a brow like I’m being weird—which, to be fair, I am. The answer to her question isn’t simple, and I want a little privacy as I try to answer.
When we reach the landing at the top of the darkened stairs, I drop my armful into the first closet on the right and wrangle the door shut. Maisie is standing on the last step, eyes timid and holding one arm like she is eager to head back the way we came.
I need to rip the Band-Aid off and tell her.
“My dad got this apartment for me.” I run my hand through my hair and take a deep breath. You got this, Connor. “We have a…complicated relationship, if you can even call it that. I don’t usually like talking about it.”
“Oh.” Her face softens, and her body leans toward me instinctually.
“But I want you to know, to understand me better. It’s just not easy for me.” I let out a puff of air through my lips as I motion for her to join me in sitting on the top step together.
She obliges, releasing a small smile.
“My dad…well, he’s kind of a piece of shit.”
I’m always worried people will react poorly to me telling them about my dad.
Really, only Hunter knows for that reason.
But even though her eyes widen marginally, she shows no sign of disgust. In fact, she’s still leaning toward me and has an almost painstakingly tender smile on her lips. Like she’s hanging onto my every word.
“He, um—he…he ripped our family apart when I was fourteen. He traveled a lot for business. Gone two weeks, home one, that sort of thing. While he was away, he apparently was cheating on my mom…a lot, and one day, my mom called the hotel where he was staying, and a woman answered the phone.
“My mom pretended to be his secretary calling to make arrangements for his flight home. The woman on the other line was furious and confided that she had just found out she was pregnant. That she and my dad had never exchanged phone numbers. Then the woman told my mom that he had left without saying where he was going. She was in a panic, ranting that she needed to get ahold of my dad right away. My mom hung up, refusing to hear any more.”
“What? No!” Maisie gasps, covering her mouth in horror. “Connor, I’m…I’m so sorry.”
I pick at the carpet on the step below us, not meeting her eyes so I can maintain the courage to get the rest out.
“It was horrible. When he got home, my mom had all of his stuff thrown on the sidewalk in front of our house. She told him to leave and never come back. I can still hear the sound of her sobbing in the driveway after he left. She was so broken.”
I swallow, then continue, “After that, my brothers and I stepped up to help out. We each got an after-school job, we spent our evenings and weekends doing chores around the house, and none of us heard from Dad for years. The divorce was swift, but it wasn’t a fair split, to say the least. Dad had deep pockets from his consulting job, and my mom was a stay-at-home mom.
You can guess who was able to afford the best lawyer. ”
Maisie nods along, listening intently with a line between her brows.
“Thank god for Grandpa. He moved down the street, really helped fill the gaps. Including making sure each of us knew we were loved. He showed up to every school activity and cheered us on without expecting anything in return. He was a much better father figure than my dad ever was.” I shut my eyes against the grief for a moment.
Maisie waits patiently for me to continue.
“A few days after my seventeenth birthday, I got a call from an unknown number. It was him—my dad. I knew my older brother Robert had looked him up and reached out at some point after he went off to college, but I didn’t expect my dad to initiate contact with me.
I answered the phone, and he didn’t even have the balls to apologize. ”
My throat is tight, and I realize I’ve been slowly raising my voice, so I take a deep breath to calm my temper.
I don’t want to scare Maize. “He just asked what I was doing with my life. Where I was working. Where I’d be applying to college.
He said he had been following my high school swimming career and expected big things from me.
I didn’t even know what to say. What do you say to someone who abandoned you and your family?
“Long story short, he kept checking in, but only in regards to my progress as a student athlete. Every time I get off the phone with him, I only feel more anger, but for some reason, I keep picking up.” My fists are clenched.
I focus on my breathing, releasing my curled fingers.
“It honestly makes me sick that my dad pays for the apartment—that he has a hand in anything that I do here—but it also felt silly to turn down such an upgrade. Why should I let him ruin anything else, you know?”
I pause and look into her beautiful green eyes. I see my pain reflected in them. She feels sorry for me. Probably thinks I’m pathetic. I shove my head down and look at my feet.
Her strong yet slender hand rests on my forearm a moment later. When I turn to look back up, she reaches in further until her arms are twined around my body. It’s awkward because of the way we’re sitting on the stairs, but I let out a relieved huff and adjust so I’m wrapped around her too.
She holds me tighter and is quiet for another minute before she says, “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Connor.
No one deserves to be treated the way you have.
He doesn’t deserve you. You’re beyond amazing, so compassionate and caring, full of love for your family and friends.
” Tears start to well in her eyes and trickle down her face.
“I’m glad you had your grandpa. You obviously take after him.
” Her words are stilted, and my chest pulls seeing her cry for me.
For my story, my life. “I’m sorry you didn’t have both of them like you should have. ”
She nuzzles into my shoulder, and her tears fall onto my skin.
I wipe them away as she continues talking.
“You’ve been a light in my life these past few months, and anyone would be lucky to be in your life.
It’s your dad’s loss for wasting that privilege.
And I don’t blame you for taking this apartment from him.
I just hope he doesn’t think it in any way makes up for what he’s done. ”
Her eyes squint and lips purse. The angry look on her stunning face seems wrong. I lift my hand to her brow and rub it smooth.
“I appreciate the sentiment, Betty, but you certainly don’t need to be angry on my behalf.” I’m angry enough as it is, but something does feel looser having shared all this with her.
Her face softens, but she still eyes me warily. I stand up and hold my hand out to her. She takes it readily, and I pull her to her feet.
“Let’s head back downstairs. I’m a little worried about what our friends might be getting up to in our absence.”
Her responding laugh filters through my whole body, releasing some of the tension. I like her so much it hurts, and now she has a part of me I don’t share freely with others. I’m not sure how much longer I can take being her friend only, but what other choice do I have?