A Different Kind of Us

Chapter 9

[Last time on ADKOU: Sutton and Ada became friends again, deciding they would 'go slowly' with their dynamic; the Cyntera crew went out to Happy Hour and Sutton and Ada had fun laughing together; Ada invited Sutton out to lunch on Saturday; at the end of lunch, Ada invited Sutton over to her apartment.]

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Ada lived in a modest apartment building right in the heart of Midtown. Sutton tailgated her into the complex's parking garage, where Ada braked and pointed out her car window to a slew of spaces marked GUEST. Sutton pulled into one of them with ease.

"Come this way!" Ada called when Sutton stepped out of her car. Sutton walked to meet her, watching her pick at the keys on her keychain.

They rode up the elevator together. Sutton thought how funny it was that they had ridden in the work elevator together many times now, but this elevator ride was so much different.

"Seventh floor, huh?" Sutton asked when the doors opened.

"Seventh heaven."

"You hated that show."

"It was embarrassingly cheesy," Ada said, her nose wrinkled. "I still don't get why you liked it."

Sutton stood aside while Ada worked her key in the lock, and then Ada pushed the door open and Sutton was looking into her apartment, into the place Ada now called home.

"Don't just assess it from the doorway," Ada smiled. "Come inside."

The kitchen was spotless. The dishtowels and oven mitts were color coordinated in the same sky blue shade. The hand soap near the sink was one of those big artisanal bottles Sutton had always associated with urban professionals.

"Your kitchen is, like, perfect," Sutton blurted.

Ada laughed as she dropped her bag onto the counter. "No thanks to my roommate. She's a total slob."

Sutton looked around. "Where is she?"

"Probably out thrifting. She collects old records even though we don't have a record player and then she stacks them all on our kitchen table and doesn't move them for days."

"Not that you're annoyed by that."

"Not at all."

"You have almost as many Save-the-Dates on your fridge as I do."

"Your parents are letting you keep them on the fridge?"

"I mean, no, I keep them in my room, but you know what I mean. If I get one more Save-the-Date I'm gonna burn it."

"Some of these are Linda's," Ada said, adjusting the magnets on the fridge. "I swear she gets invited to a new wedding every week. For some reason she loves it. Anyway, come on, my room's over here."

Ada's bedroom was everything and nothing like Sutton expected. Though her childhood bedroom had been saturated with picture collages and music posters, the visual elements in this room were spare. Sutton's eyes roved over the few frames: a picture of Ada's parents, where they are young and vacationing at Niagara Falls, both of them wearing big, exuberant smiles, their teeth showing like they are about to bite on air; one of Ada's grandma--her dad's mom--sitting in a reclining chair and smiling directly at the camera; one of Ada's old family dog, West, who had since died; and one of Ada with friends Sutton didn't know, Ada shining in the middle, all of them laughing around her.