We finished eating and June handed us our bill. It was $10.50. I handed her a 20 and told her to keep the change. Kelly apologized again for upsetting her and she told us to forget about it.
We left the diner and walked back out onto the sidewalk. Kelly looked at me and said, “You wanna come over my place for a little while?”
My mind screamed “Yes!” and I tried to appear like I wasn’t excited. “Sure,” I said, “I love getting invited to other people’s homes.”
“Follow me,” she said. She beckoned me to follow her.
After about 10 minutes of walking, and seeming to turn at every intersection, I finally asked her, "Where do you live anyway?"
She looked back at me and said, "Pleasant Grove Apartments. It's kind of off the beaten path, to say the least." I stopped walking and she did, too. "What's wrong?" she asked.
I exhaled and said, "Nothing besides the fact that I wish we were standing outside your building right now and no one would notice that we just suddenly appeared there."
Sure enough, in a split second, we found ourselves standing in front of her building. "Well that certainly saved a lot of time," she said. "Why didn't you just wish us inside my apartment?" she wondered.
"Curiosity," I admitted. "Wanted to see what a college student could afford on her own."
"It's not much," she leveled. "But I like it, and that's all that matters."
The building was fairly non-descript. It was all brick and mortar, with no paint of any kind. The lawn around it was well-trimmed and there were freshly watered plants around the foundation. At the very least it seemed to be well maintained.
"Coming in?" Kelly asked.
"I wish we were inside your apartment now," I told her, and in an instant we were.
"Duh," she said and slapped her forehead. "Why couldn't I remember that?"
I reassured her, "Well it's not every day you come across someone who can do that. Makes me a pretty special guy," I added in my best see-how-special-I-am tone.
She dropped her purse on a table in what was her living room. "Oh don't play the macho routine with me," she teased. "That won't earn my good graces."
I looked around her apartment. It was nice enough considering that she was living alone on probably a fixed income. The rooms were clean and carried a pleasant scent. She had a small kitchen with a counter that served the dual purpose of preparing the food and eating it there too. She had a small couch in the living room that faced a 20" TV with DVD player, and a couple of small chairs flanking the couch.
"Pretty nice," I remarked.
"Thanks," she said. "You wouldn't believe it when I moved in," she said, rolling her eyes in memory of whatever it was she encountered then. Then she told me. "Filth everywhere. It was like the place had never been cleaned before. Here, sit down," she said as she sat down on the couch.
I followed her over and took a seat next to her. I looked at the small storage rack next to the TV. Some of the movies she had surprise me: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Spiderman, Godfather Trilogy, and a few other "guy movies" jumped out at me.
"Huh!" I let slip.
"What?" she asked.
I blinked and looked at her. "Nothing, just surprised by some of the movies you have. I didn't think too many other women would have any of those titles," I added.
"Hmm, I think there's alot about me you'll find surprising," she said with confidence. "Ooh," she grabbed my arm in mid-thought, "Why don't we improve my apartment a little."
I wondered if that was a good idea. Then I figured it's not like we're stealing so what's the big deal. "Yea, that's a great idea. What first?" I asked.