You never give me your money,
You only give me your funny papers...
The words echoed inside Jennifer's head as she glanced for a moment out her car window, wondering when she would get to her destination.
Twenty minutes later she pulled into an apartment complex that looked more like a large house than anything.
She opened the driver's door of her car excitedly and got out. She made her way to the trunk, which had all of her stuff from her previous living situation, aka her parents house.
Yes, she was thirty five. Yes, this was her first time living alone.
After getting the first cardboard box filled with office supplies out of her trunk, she made her way to a convenient side door which very un-conveniently required a key card to get in. Which, of course, she didn't have.
She cursed in her head, sighed, and then proceeded to make her way from the side of the building to the front double doors, which, thank God, didn't have a key card scanner. They also had a desk assistant which helped her by opening the door. She thanked them multiple times, and then she put her box down on the wood countertop at the front desk and asked another assistant about signing in.
"Name?"
"Jennifer Stewart."
"Ok, your mother just called. I'll just have you sign here and I'll get you your key card," the front desk person said as they handed her a clipboard with some papers on it.
She took the clipboard and sat back on one of the chairs in the lobby, wondering for a second if they were there for people to really sit on or just for decoration.
She decided to sit on them anyway.
After getting signed in, the front desk person gave her her key card and pointed her in the right direction, and after looking around for a while she eventually found the elevators.
She pushed the button to go up.
Since there was no one around her, Golden Slumbers started playing in her head. I need to listen to some new music, she thought as the door opened with a ping, and to her relief she saw no one in the elevator. She stepped in and just as she was balancing the box in one hand to push the fourth floor button, she heard someone's footsteps.
She immediately turned toward the sound that was getting louder every second while she tried to steady herself and make sure she didn't drop the box and look like a complete idiot. Yeah, that would be a great first impression, she thought as she tried to smooth her long, straight, brown, and windblown hair.
As she looked at the person who entered the elevator her first thought was ok, it's just a guy. Nothing struck her as weird or odd as she'd suspected for some reason. Everything from his plain blue polo shirt to his light khaki pants and his dark brown sneakers screamed blandness.
The only thing that was really striking to her when she first saw him were his eyes. She only saw them for a moment, but it seemed like they had at least three different colors in them. His hair was brown, with slightly shaggy bangs and light layers.
The first thing he did was clear his throat. Then he said,"Uh, do I know you?"
"No, you don't. I'm just moving in," she explained, shifting the weight of the box from one hand to the other, which made his eyes shoot down to her hands.
"I'll help with that," he said, reaching out his hands to try and take the box from her grip. Not so fast, she thought as she quickly turned away from him and ended up facing the wall, looking like, well, a complete idiot.
"Oh no, I'm fine," she said while staring at the wall and huffing from carrying her box of office supplies.
"Are you sure?" the guy asked, raising one eyebrow as he took another step toward the back of the elevator as the door closed.
After a couple moments of silence, the guy decided to introduce himself, which honestly she didn't mind. It meant she didn't have to ask him later.
"Just so you know, my name's Michal. Michal Johnson," he said.
She looked over to him and stuck out her hand.
"Well, Michal Johnson, I'm Jennifer. Jennifer Stewart," she said while shaking his hand.
They spent the rest of the elevator ride in silence, watching the numbers tell them that they were going up.
When the elevator pinged at the fourth floor, Jennifer was surprised when Michal took a step forward, almost like he was planning on getting out.
He better not be trying to help me again, she thought as she stepped forward and looked at him almost expectantly, hoping that she was communicating with her eyes that she didn't want any more help than he had already tried to give her.
He returned the look for a second before getting what she was trying to say. He stepped forward again, this time a little smaller so as not to bump into the elevator door.
He looked slightly back at her still holding the box and told her this:
"If you think I'm getting out to try and help you again, you'd be wrong."
She hadn't really thought that was going to work, so she just stood there for a second looking like a complete idiot, before responding:
"Ok, look, did I think you were going to help me? Yes, maybe. I just don't want you to get any ideas," she replied, almost annoyed that he; a) was still looking at her, and; b) looked like he was about to burst out laughing any second.
She huffed, clearly annoyed, to which he quickly turned his head and walked out the doors. Weird, she thought as she adjusted the box, looking back at the doors which she realized were about to close.
"No!" she quickly exclaimed as she rushed with the box, trying to catch the doors.
But before she could, they suddenly stopped closing. She looked back at Michal, who was holding his foot between the doors, catching them before they closed.
The door sensed his foot and opened again. She let out a breath before seeing that Michal had already begun walking down the beige colored hallway again.
She quickly walked out of the elevator, trying desperately to catch him. He had his hands in his pockets, and he seemed to be completely in his own head, like none of that had happened in the elevator.
After what seemed like a long and exhausting jog, she finally caught up to him when he was putting his key in his door. She read the number: 676. She glanced at the door across from his, and to her shock and partial relief that door had her room number on it.
"Are you trying to help me now?," he questioned as she heard the door knob turn, signaling his leaving. She quickly looked back and forth between his and her doors, trying to think up a way to explain her following him there that wouldn't sound stalkerish at that moment.
"Uh, well, you see," she tried to form words, but they just wouldn't come. She was beginning to turn around to open her door when she guessed it clicked for him, and he responded.
"Oh, I get it now. That's your door, isn't it?," he asked, pointing to her door, to which she just nodded her head.
"I didn't know Jim left."
He glanced down for a moment, to her box and then back up at her. For a moment she thought she saw hesitation in his eyes.
"You'll want to watch yourself around here."
Then he went inside and he was gone, replaced by the dark oak door against the beige walls.
When Jen opened her door, she was met with stark cleanliness. There wasn't one speck of dirt or dust in the whole place. After putting down the box, Jen decided to go get some more.
