Moonlight | lrh

0.1

28 Days Clean.

Pushing open the door leading to my new bedroom, I sighed. The whole room was painted a bleak cream colour. Lowering the cardboard box onto the end of the single bed, I took my phone out of my pocket and checked the time.

I was exhausted. My internal clock was still nine hours behind so, instead of it being eight in the morning like it is here in Sydney, my body thought it was ten at night, like it is in Ireland. Slipping my phone back into the pocket of my sweatpants, I exited my bedroom.

As I walked back into the hallway leading to the living room, I heard something fall. I felt my heart jump up and land in my throat as the thought of meeting my new roommates had never occurred to me. I had completely forgotten about them.

"Shit," a female murmured as I walked back into the living room. A blonde head of hair was leaning over the coffee table as she tried to fix back up the vase of flowers that had been awaiting our arrival. I smiled at the sight because when I first arrived, I too knocked the vase and sent the flowers flying.

"Here, let me help." I offered, walking up beside the girl and grabbing a few flowers that had fallen from the glass table. I set the vase upright and put them in gently, making sure not to bruise the stems.

"Thank you," the girl sighed out in an unmistakable Canadian accent. Adding the flowers she had collected to the vase, she took a tissue from her bag and wiped up the spilt water. I stood back and wiped my hands off the back of my jeans, a nervous habit I had developed.

"I'm Georgia," she told me, also straightening up and wiping her hands. The first thought that entered my head was that of jealousy. She was stunning. She was a blonde hair, blue eyed beauty. I shot her a smile and stuck out my hand, not knowing what else to do.

"Shanley, but you can call me Shan." I thought about it for a moment. I had such a boring name, I hated it. "Yeah, please call me Shan."

Georgia smiled at me and took my hand in her own, giving it a firm shake before taking it back and grabbing her suitcase. I spotted my green one by the door and made a mental note to move it in case any of our other roommates tripped over it.

"Where are you from? I can't place your accent," Georgia asked me, furrowing her eyebrows together. A smile instantly grew on my face. If there was one thing I loved, it was my heritage.

"Ireland," I told her. A look of recognition passed Georgia's features and she clapped her hands together.

"I knew it! I love Irish people!" she exclaimed excitedly. I laughed slightly at her and shook my head.

"You're from Canada, yeah?" I said, being polite. Of course I knew she was Canadian, I could tell their accents a mile off.

"Montreal specifically but yeah, Canada." Georgia informed me smiling. Our conversation was cut short by her phone vibrating erratically in her pocket. She slipped it out and a smile grew on her face.

"Sorry, I'll be right back." She said, swiping my thumb across the screen. "Hello?" she answered. Not wanting to intrude, I walked over to my suitcase and grabbed the handle. Shooting Georgia a quick smile, I made my way back into my bedroom.

I left my suitcase at the end of my bed beside my other one and my two boxes of belongings. Deciding I should probably start unpacking, I threw my brunette hair up in a ponytail and lifted one of the suitcases onto my bed.

I was in Sydney, Australia for the summer. I did a lot of voluntary work back in Ireland and one of the charities I worked with, offered me a spot in this placement. It was a five month programme where basically you share a house with three other people from around the world and you work for the summer. You earn your own money and you have to fend for yourself. It was going to be such an amazing experience and I couldn't wait for the journey ahead. My biggest fear was that I would end up with someone horrible in the house but so far, Georgia seems nice. I can only pray that the others will be like her.

Opening the suitcase, I stood back for a moment. My room wasn't the biggest. There was a bed, a wardrobe, a nightstand, and a chest of drawers. The single bed in the middle of the room took up most of the space. Deciding to be crafty, I pushed the bed into the corner of the room so that one side was completely against the wall. Smiling to myself at all the new space I had, I continued to unpack.

It took me at least two hours to empty both of my suitcases and hang the clothes up. I pushed the newly emptied suitcases under the bed and exited the room, deciding to get a drink. Thankfully, the apartment was fully equipped with delph and other such equipment. We just had to buy food and our own personal toiletries.

Walking into the kitchen, I found a brunette leaning against one of the counters talking to Georgia. As soon as Georgia's blue eyes connected with my moss green ones, she grinned at me.

"Hi," I said, looking at the brunette girl. She beamed a smile at me and waved quickly. She had blue eyes and a dark red colour in her hair. Her dyed hair framed her face in a series of bangs.

"Hey, I'm Bethan. Please call me Beth though, I hate my name." She said with what sounded like an Australian accent. Chuckling at her, I waved back and smiled. I knew instantly that this girl and I were going to get on great.

"I'm Shanley. You can call me Shan though because I too hate my name." I introduced myself. Beth laughed at me and gave me a quick thumbs up.

"Okay, call me Gee because I don't want to be the only one with their full name in this house." Georgia spoke up, causing both Beth and I to erupt into a fit of laughter.

"Got it. So Shan, you're... Irish?" she said, trying to pinpoint my accent. Nodding, I leaned against the counter and played with my hands.

"Yep. Are you from Australia?" I asked, not as confident with her accent as I was with Georgia's. Beth rolled her eyes and threw her hands up dramatically. Beside me, Gee laughed at my statement and I furrowed my eyebrows together in confusion.

"New Zealand, mate. New Zealand." She informed me. Biting back a laugh, I nodded my head and went to the sink and poured myself a glass of water.

"Isn't there supposed to be another girl? I thought it said there would be four in the hou-" Gee started but she was cut short by the door in the living room shooting open and a box being pushed in the door. Followed by another. Then a suitcase. Then finally a person.

"Why the hell is this place far away from the elevator?" a girl exclaimed in an Latina accent, throwing her hands up in the air and pushing her suitcase in front of her. "My taxi driver was a complete culo, he didn't even offer to help me with all my stuff! I thought people in Mexico were bad but jeez, a little manners would be nice!" she exclaimed.

The other two girls and I looked at each other with shocked faces. The girl walked into the kitchen and took the glass of water from my grasp, drinking it down quickly.

"Gracias, chicka." She said, handing me back the glass and throwing herself against the counter. The room fell silent for a moment before Gee, Beth and I broke out into a fit of laughter. The new girl stared at us for a moment before she too, joined in on our laughter.

"Sorry, I just hate men. I mean, they could be nicer?" she said, biting down on her lip. Gee waved her off while I placed the glass into the sink and got out another.

"I'm Beth." Beth spoke up. "Well I'm actually Bethan but you're not going to call me that." Turning around with the glass of water in my hand, I took a sip just as the new girl nodded.

"I'm Shanley, but you're going to call me Shan." I told her smiling. She smiled back at me and nodded her head again.

"And I'm Georgia. You can call me Gee though because I didn't want to be the only one in the house without a nickname." Gee told her. The new girl laughed and nodded her head. Pushing her hair behind her ear.

"I'm Jacey, don't you dare call me Jace." she said, looking at each of us. "It's a guy's name and I do not want that nickname." Georgia nodded enthusiastically while Beth and I offered her our hello's. "Where are you all from? I'm from Mexico."

"Ireland," I told her.

"New Zealand."

"Canada."

"Sweet," Jacey smiled, rubbing her hands together. She looked back at all her bags and groaned. "I'm going to go unpack," she said.

You know, I think this summer could turn out to be pretty good... If I do say so myself.