Page 126 of Tell Me It’s Right

My heart is racing by the time we make it to center city, and I’ve all but forgotten how to move my limbs when Keava and Leo start unpacking the car. Leo’s waits behind us with a few bags we couldn’t fit in mine.

And also because we needed two cars. Mine is staying here. BecauseIam staying here.

And they’re leaving.

“One foot in front of the other,” murmurs Liam beside me. He smiles when I meet his eyes, then squeezes my hand and pulls me from the car. “Come on. I can’t wait to see the place.”

I never thought I’d be living somewhere with a doorman, and I almost expect them to take one look at me, decide I don’t belong here, and shoo me away. But then we’re in the elevator, and I have a brand-new set of keys in my hand.

Luckily, since the place is already furnished, the moving-in process is fairly minimal—just my clothes and personal items.

“Damn,” Liam says under his breath as he sets the box in his hands on the kitchen counter and ventures to the windows on the far wall. “You can see Rittenhouse Square. This view must be amazing in the fall.”

The space is undeniably small. A double bed is tucked in the far corner with a desk beside it and a TV mounted on the opposite wall. They attempted to separate the kitchen from the “bedroom” with a love seat and a tiny bar table. Even with the small furniture, it feels overcrowded, but it’s not much different than the dorms I’d had in college.

“It seemed like you have a ton of restaurants and stuff around here, so that’ll be nice,” Liam goes on. “And there was a grocery store two blocks down. And I like the building. Seems really safe.”

The panic on my face must be really fucking obvious if he’s trying this hard.

His eyes soften, and he pulls me over to the windows so I’m standing with my back against his chest as he wraps his arms around me.

Liam’s right. That view really is amazing, especially compared to feeling like I was living in a cave in Leo’s basement.But instead of the dread I’d felt moving in there, without me noticing it, I guess it started to feel like home. Leaving it behind feels so much more bittersweet than I was expecting.

Not just the basement. But seeing Leo every day. Seeing Carson, Liam. Being close to the water. Being close to my parents, but not too close.

When I used to close my eyes at night and picture the way I thought my life would go after college, it looked a lot like this. A new city. An apartment that was tiny and cramped but at least it was all mine.

A small smile brushes my lips. I can picture myself going for walks through the park in the morning, grabbing coffee down the street. Maybe finding a fitness studio, though that might be stretching my new salary a bit too far. So, the gym in the building then.

And somehow, someway, this feeling of mourning my time back home will fade untilthisfeels like home instead.

“What are you thinking?” Liam murmurs.

I take a deep breath, letting in the nerves and the overwhelm and the fears instead of fighting against them, so when I turn, I don’t have to force my smile.

“I like it.”

Between the four of us, the unpacking doesn’t take long. After taking me on a “practice commute” so I’ll know how to get to my building on the first day, the sun is already setting and it’s time for them to head home.

Leo hesitates in the door, a strange look on his face. “You have that pepper spray I got you?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes, Dad.”

“And you need to be careful about where you park that car. There are break-ins all over the city.”

“I know.”

He opens his mouth, closes it, then frowns, like he’s out of things to say but doesn’t want to be.

“I’ll miss you too, Leo,” I say quietly.

He looks away and clears his throat. “We still have all your furniture in your room. Just. If you change your mind. You can always come back.”

Your room.Notthe basement.

I hug him before either of us can get emotional because neither of us will know how to deal with that.

“I’m sorry to rush out of here,” he murmurs. “But, you know, Keava has to be up early and?—”

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