Carly's Sheldon

Laundry Night

A discovery is like falling in love and reaching the top of a mountain after a hard climb all in one, an ecstasy not induced by drugs but by the revelation of a face of nature that no one has seen before and that often turns out to be more subtle and wonderful than anyone had imagined.

Chapter 1 Laundry Night

Carly Bennet had moved into a new apartment building just a few weeks ago. She had finally decided it was time to obtain a place of her own. She loved her Grandmother of course, but she was twenty-seven. Most people her age were married, had an actual house of their own, and were probably having kids. Carly, however, had been living with her Grandmother since she was five, after her parents had been killed in a house fire. The fact that this elderly lady had taken her in when she had no where else to go, made Carly feel emotionally obligated to stay and return the favor. But her Grandmother made it clear she'd be just fine on her own. So Carly reluctantly saved all of her paychecks at the library she was working at and attempted to find a new home. Her Grandmother had found an ad in the newspaper for a lease of an apartment over in Pasadena, which was about thirty minutes from where she lived.

Then, after a couple weeks of moving in, she finally was set up in 2a and had landed a job at the local library in Pasadena. It was what she had gone to school for - to be a librarian. She loved being around books and often enjoyed the scent of them. Her apartment reflected her love of reading material, with many bookcases around with different types of books on diverse subjects.

But what she really loved about the apartment was that it was all hers.

oO0Oo

It was a Saturday night around 8pm and Carly was sorting her clothing. The library closed at seven and she decided to do some much needed laundry. After grabbing some quarters out of her coin jar, she took a hold of a basket filled with light colored clothes and headed down to the laundry room that she had been in only once after she had first moved in.

Carly was humming quietly to herself when she walked through the doorway and didn't even realize that there was someone else in the room, sorting his own laundry into the washer. That was until he turned the washer on and she jumped in surprise at the sudden sound. Her head snapped over to him, no longer humming. He was incredibly tall, very lanky and had short brown hair combed over to one side. His eyes were adverted from hers and she was perceptive enough to see that he was extremely uncomfortable with her watching him.

Carly eyed him for a second, before opening up a washer and placing her clothes inside - conflicted on if she should speak with him or not. Since arriving in Pasadena, she hadn't really talked to anyone outside of work. Making friends had never been her strong suit. When she saw him start to leave from the corner of her eye, she hastily spun around.

"Hi!" she said but then regretted it after seeing him jump in surprise and turn to face her in horror. Maybe she shouldn't have been so loud and sudden.

She felt her face heat a little, but smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry. I'm Carly, I live in 2a. I haven't met anyone in the building and I figured I would introduce myself," she said awkwardly.

He stared at her for a long time and she began to wonder if he was deaf, but then he finally spoke. "Great."

And then he disappeared with his laundry basket in his arms.

Carly was left staring at the spot where he had been standing, bewildered. She wasn't exactly sure how to process what had just happened but she decided that he hadn't been comfortable in the first place; or maybe she just wasn't friendship material.