Page 58 of Crashing into Love

“I have an extra you could borrow. But do you not want to board at all while you’re here?” Drew asked and took Selma’s roller bag, pulling it toward herself.

“No, I do. I mean, we can. If we don’t, that’s okay, too. I don’t want to disrupt your schedule or–”

“Rituals?” Drew guessed with a little sideways smile.

“Right.” Selma chuckled.

“Well, it’s up to you. I told my coach I was going to rest my knee this weekend.”

“Is it–”

“It’s okay. A little sore from my training, but nothing to worry about. I went to the doc yesterday, and she said everything still looked good inside there. Mind over matter, mostly. I was just favoring my other knee a little too much on some of the turns because I was used to this one needing a break. I’m good, though.”

“Okay.”

“So, ready to check out my place?” Drew asked. “It’s nothing fancy at all, so I hope you weren’t expecting much.”

“No,” Selma said with a little laugh. “I guess I kind of pictured you living in, like, a bachelor pad or something. Is that wrong?”

“You’re about to find out. And you’ll also have to tell me because, to me, it’s just my place.”

“How would you describe your place, then?”

“Is calling it my place not descriptive enough?”

“Okay. Let’s go inside,” she said and gestured for Drew to lead the way.

They walked up a concrete path that led to two steps, and Drew opened and held the glass door for her. Then, the woman pressed the call button for the elevator, and they waited in awkward silence until it arrived. Once inside, Drew pressed the button for the third floor of the four that seemed to be in the building, and up they went.

“So, how was your flight?” Drew asked, ending the silence.

“Good.”

“Cool.” Drew nodded a few times. “And Gia?”

“She’s good, too.”

“Cool,” Drew repeated, nodding still.

Selma looked down and smiled because they were both being so awkward right now. Finally, it felt like, the elevator opened, and Drew walked down the hall to her door, which was apartment 3D. She unlocked it, letting Selma walk in before her.

“I’m not exactly a clean freak or anything, but I do normally keep it about this clean – in case you were wondering if I had to spend hours cleaning up before you got here.”

“I wasn’t wondering that. I gathered by the fact that you do your laundry immediately after getting home that you’d probably be on the cleaner side. It’s nice, Drew.”

Selma looked around at the modest living room, where Drew had a soft-looking cream-colored couch and a chair to match. They both seemed a little too large for the space they were in, but that felt appropriate for an apartment at the same time. There was a small desk in the corner, where a laptop rested and not much else. Then, outside of the mounted TV and the table under it to hold the TV stuff, there was only a coffee table in the room made of dark wood. It looked like it was probably from IKEA, and Selma pictured Drew sitting on the floor in maybe a tank top, with nothing under it, putting the thing together.

“So?” Drew asked.

“Huh? What?” she asked back, being pulled into the present instead of her fantasy world.

“Is it a bachelor pad?”

“Where are all your trophies and medals? I expected them to be all over the place.”

“They’re at my parents’ house,” Drew answered. “Their place is much bigger than mine, and there’s a whole room of those in the basement, if you really want to see all of them. I don’t keep much here. I only have the medal I just won, I guess. Mainly, I keep pictures here.”

“Pictures?”

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