Old Me

20 - Netflix & Chill

I wasn't expecting such a nice place for someone so young. His house was single-story with a small front yard. As soon as we entered we were standing in a little mudroom with another door into the house.

"Are you a shoes off person?" I asked as he hung his keys on a hook by the door.

"I am, but it doesn't matter. Whatever you're comfortable with," he said as he slipped out of his Vans and placed them on a shelf beneath the mudroom bench.

There was a proper mudroom, with another door before we actually entered the house.

I followed suit and placed my shoes off to the side of the bench. Michael switched on the lights to reveal an open plan living-dining-kitchen as we walked through the second door. A hallway to the left led to a bedroom or bedrooms I assumed. There was an L shaped sofa facing the wall where a TV was mounted and I dropped my purse on the floor next to it. Behind that was a dining area that flowed into the kitchen which covered the far right walls of the house in a U-shape.

The floors looked vinyl and recently done. I watched as Mikey opened the bag from the restaurant and pulled out several take out boxes. He pulled out silverware from the drawer beneath him and some plates from a cabinet.

"Here you go," he said handing me a plate, "dig in."

"Thanks."

I filled my plate and stood there awkwardly, unsure if we were going to eat at the table or on the sofa.

"Make yourself at home," he said smiling at me while he finished serving himself.

"Okay," I said turning to sit at the kitchen table.

"What do you want to drink," Michael asked as he set his plate down across from me, "I've got water, Gatorade, orange juice, green juice...um..."

He trailed off as he opened his fridge before adding, "and milk."

"Water is fine, thanks."

"Ice or no ice?"

"Ice, please."

He poured both of us cups of water with ice from the fridge and joined me at the table.

"You can start eating, you didn't have to wait for me," he smiled noticing that I hadn't yet touched my food.

I nodded and started eating. We both ate in silence and I tried really hard to keep from spilling on myself. I prayed I didn't get anything stuck in my teeth.

"This is really good," I said after a while.

"Yeah, this was one of the first places I ate at when I moved here."

"How'd you end up in this house? I mean it's kind of far from downtown where you work."

"My friend, well Calum's dad, helped me find it. It was cheaper to rent here than downtown."

"Okay, yeah that makes sense. Downtown is expensive. Well, SD, in general, is expensive."

"Yeah, but it sure beats LA."

"Yeah, I hated LA. It was so dirty. And the traffic was horrendous! Plus rent was pretty steep too, especially if you actually wanted somewhere decent to live."

"I'm trying to convince Luke and Ashton to move down here too. Luke has applied for a couple of different jobs in the school district nearby but won't hear back for another month or so. Ashton, on the other hand, loves his job and hasn't found a better offer. It just sucks because we're all really close and if he was the only one far away it'd be hard."