Knight in Shining Armor

Chapter 1: Meet and Greet

"Oh, come on!" She sighed, finally figuring an angle where she could push against the wall for leverage. The corner dug into her back for a second, and then hit against the base of her skull. "Ow!" She rolled for a moment before getting up to kick it. At least the stupid thing moved.... an inch. It moved an inch.

She sat on it, taking a small break as her chest heaved. She pushed a bit of hair behind her ear. She really should cut it. Long as it was. The tug at the base of her skull told her she was sitting on the brown locks, but she hadn't the strength to move just now.

Stupid trunk. Stupid hallway. Stupid idiot who got herself into this mess! Stupid jerk-ass who started all nice and caring and turned into.... Stupid! Stupid stupid stupid! She mentally cursed as she heard the elevator moving.

It was a loud machine noise, like everything needed a fresh coat of oil. One more thing to add to what this place needed.

She was thankful for the place, really she was. Even more thankful for the connections to get her a spot in one of the open apartments. But she'd never lived in an abandoned factory turned apartment rental before. Everything looked old and crumbly. Still felt a bit abandoned. Neglected. She sighed.

Enough of the pity party, she decided, getting up. She started to push the trunk again. She supposed she could've had it worse. This was New York. She cursed as the elevator stopped. She really needed to get this thing into the apartment. Another few feet. Almost there! She started pushing again.

"Need some help, Lass?"

She yelped, falling to the ground as the trunk slid a few more inches in her surprise. A hand in her face had her flinching, chest heaving.

"It's just a hand." Two men. There were two of them.

She looked up, accepting it after a moment. Though panic struggled to flood her veins with ice. Panic would do her no good. No, she had to remain calm. Calm... Right.

"Thanks." She mumbled. "I'm... I'm sorry. I'm moving as fast as I can."

"No trouble." The men looked a lot alike, same eyes, same height, same large winter coat. Same nice smiles. One was blond haired while the other had a darker hue. They were definitely from around these parts if the Irish brogue was anything to go by. They went to either side of the trunk and picked it up like it only had air in it, not a bunch of books and clothes and dishes. "Where too?" They looked back at her expectantly. It was the blonde one speaking the most.

She felt like she'd seen them somewhere before, but didn't quite trust herself at the moment. "Um... Right... Right there." She pointed to her door, wooden, chipped white paint, a bit of a dent in the bottom left side. She walked around them and unlocked it and they easily brought it inside.

"Oh hey, you got the old offices!" One of them said, maybe the brunette. They set it down on the floor of what was to be her living room. She was allotted two offices. A living room and a bedroom. They'd shoved a bathroom into her bedroom. She'd had to find a partition in China town for some enclosure.

"Thank you." Her voice was small, timid. She wrang her hands a bit like one might a wash rag to get excess water out of it. She kept her gaze to the floor, to their chests, to the room. Anywhere but at their faces.

"Our pleasure. Always like to help a pretty lass." The blond one laughed. "Say, you're that waitress from McGinty's, yeah?" She nodded. "Thought I recognized yeh!" He smiled. "I'm Conner, this dope is me brudder Murphy." He nudged his elbow.

"J-Jenna." She stuttered. She hadn't thought about running into customers here. They all seemed a lively bunch. Nice good hearted guys. But.... "Thanks... for the help."