Page 13 of Kiss Me Softly

“You live in Irving Park, right?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“If you live there I’m sure I’ll like it,” she said. “Let me know what you find out.”

“I will.”

I hesitated for a minute.

“What is it?” Aurora said, picking up on my change of mood right away.

“Do you, um, do you need to borrow money to get an apartment?” I asked, my words all in a rush. “I know you just started your job.”

To my horror, Aurora’s eyes filled with tears.

“Oh my gosh, you are so sweet. I actually have money saved up for the deposit and several months of rent,” she responded. “I just figured I’d wait until payday to get a place so that I had a paycheck to show the landlord. But I really appreciate the offer. It’s very sweet.”

“No problem.” I brushed aside her gratitude. “When are you going to tell Chris that you’re not moving in with them?”

“The day I get the keys to my new place,” she said. “Just in case it goes badly.”

“You might not want to mention that I’m your neighbor.”

Aurora

“Don’t bother calling me, you cheating bitch! We’re done!”

I winced as Chris screamed loudly out the front door of the walk-up, catching the attention of everyone on the street. I dragged two suitcases and a couple of bags towards my waiting Uber, saying a little prayer of thanks that I’d left most of my stuff in storage in St. Louis. It made it much easier to get out of this place.

To say that Chris hadn’t taken it well when I informed them that I didn’t want to live together was an understatement. They’d been furious, accusing me of cheating and telling me that we were breaking up.

I wasn’t sure why they were surprised by my moving out. I’d been dragging my feet about us looking for an apartment together, finding excuses not to go. It had to be obvious that I’d been having second thoughts.

Things hadn’t been good since the move. We’d scarcely kissed since we moved here, and we hadn’t had sex in months, not since St. Louis. Looking back, things were bad between us even before they asked me to move here with them. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking agreeing to move with them in the first place.

Then again, I liked Chicago better than St. Louis and my new job was a million times better than my old one, so it wasn’t all a bust. And then there was Frankie. We’d been growing closer since I moved here, certainly closer than we’d been in school, and the more time I spent with her, the more I liked her.

If I was totally honest, I was falling in love with her. Or maybe back in love with her, since I was half in love with her back in college, even if I hadn’t been aware of it. But I needed to keep my feelings to myself until they passed.

Frankie still had a girlfriend. And despite Chris’s accusations, I wasn’t a cheater. I was moving into her building, and dating a neighbor would be complicated, especially when we broke up – and there was always a break-up. Plus, I needed a friend more than I needed a girlfriend, especially after the acrimony of this break-up.

My best plan was to keep my relationship with Frankie firmly in the friend zone.

“You made it!”

Frankie was sitting on the stoop when my Uber pulled up in front of my new apartment building. She grabbed a few of my bags and helped me drag my stuff up to the third floor. One thing about living here, I’d get my cardio in since the building didn’t have an elevator. I was embarrassed by how much I was huffing and puffing by the time we got to the third floor.

Frankie of course was perfectly fine.

I used my key to open the door, looking around my new home curiously. I’d seen the apartment right after the last tenant moved out, but it had been filled with a bunch of junk that person left behind and not in the best condition. The super had promised that after the unit was cleaned he was planning to repaint and refinish the floors, and I was pleased that he’d kept his word. The walls were pristine, and the newly finished floor gleamed in the sunlight coming through the window.

My new place was what they called a jumbo studio, a little larger than a regular studio unit. It was partially furnished, which was great considering that I’d sold most of my furniture before I moved here. The furniture was in decent condition too.

The apartment had giant bay windows in the front, looking out over the residential street below. I was already planning to get some cushions to create a little reading nook on the ledge below the windows. I imagined myself cuddling under a blanket reading a book while the snow fell outside.

The living area was separated by a half wall that provided some private space for sleeping, large enough for a double bed and nightstand. A couch was pushed against the living room side of the half wall. It was navy blue with a slipcover that looked like it was from Ikea, a small table with a lamp on one side. There was no coffee table or television set in the room, but I definitely could work with what I had here.

On the other side of the main living room there was a series of built in shelves and cabinets, adding a lot of storage. The small kitchen was in the back of the apartment, a window over the sink looking out to the fire escape and the courtyard behind the building. Frankie had told me that in the summer the landlord hosted a barbeque for tenants in that space.

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