APARTMENTS 

Tuesday, the 6th of June

Noah places another box beside me and kisses the top of my head. I remove the duck tape and loudly groan. Between the kitchenware from Noah's apartment and the stuff Lea bought for Percy, the cupboards are about to overflow.  

The front door opens and Percy's laughter fills the apartment. He places a box beside the kitchen counter and proceeds to show my father how he caught a football in a game. Dad places another box beside his and smiles.

"When you start college, I'll have to come and see a game."

"That would be awesome." Percy smiles. 

"How many more boxes are left?"

"Five more, but those are all for my bedroom."

"Thank goodness, because we don't have anymore space for anything else in the kitchen."

Dad follows Percy outside while I shove the remaining pans into the cupboard. I turn around and groan at the mountain of boxes in the living room that still need to be unpacked. The next time I move, I'm hiring someone to do it for me.

I add the box to the growing pile in the lounge room, this is a pile I enjoy looking at because it means we're making great progress.

Noah wanders out of our bedroom and wraps his arms around my waist. I lean up and kiss the end of his nose. Percy pokes his tongue out and makes gagging noises. 

"It's not too late to throw Percy out. Most of his stuff is still in boxes."

"Hey, that's not fair." He pouts. 

"I think we should establish some house rules." I smile. 

"How about no kissing in communal areas?"

Noah pecks my lips and laughs at Percy. 

"There's no way I'm agreeing to that rule. We just went through an ordeal of hiding our relationship, I won't be doing that anymore."

"No gross making out sessions while I'm here then." He wrinkles his nose. 

"I can agree to that." I nod. 

 "While we're on the topic of partners, please don't bring any one night stands home. I don't want to deal with them in the morning."

"Neither do I, so okay," Percy agrees.

"You two can hash out the other details and let me know what you decide on."

 I leave them in favour for hiding in our bedroom. I can't believe this is our bedroom. I still can't believe we're living in a place together. 

 Noah wanders in with a smile. He crosses the room and grabs my arm. I rest my head against his chest and inhale a deep breath. He kisses the top of my head and squeezes me.

 "Once we're settled, living with Percy won't be so bad. Lea wants me to keep an eye on him and I can easily do that if he's living with us."

 "Moving to California is a huge adjustment for everyone, but it's less scary with you both here."

 "When we've unpacked, this won't be so scary. I understand what you're going through. On the first night I called my mother because I was homesick."

"I think it's adorable." I smile.

"Of course you do." He chest rumbles with laughter.

We break away and I inhale a deep breath.

"Let's get back to work otherwise I might cry."

"I'll be right here to dry the tears." He softly smiles.

"I love you, Noah."

Noah passes me a box and I place the clothes into the drawers. Once I reach the end of the box, he tosses it aside and pulls me towards the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking a break with you."

"We're not having sex, Percy and my father are in the kitchen."

"We'll be quiet."

His hands venture under my t-shirt and explore my body. I fall onto the bed and smile as Noah climbs on top. I twirl my fingers through his hair and pulls his lips to mine.

"Charlie, Noah, come quick," Percy screams.

Noah tenses and he roughly exhales.

"Just ignore him, he'll go away." I chuckle.

"Charliiieeee," he squeals at the top of his lungs.

"Just stick the fork into the toaster, you'll be fine," Noah shouts.

"I'm dead serious guys, get your asses out."

Noah flops onto his back and curses Percy. I lean across and kiss the end of his nose.

"If I'm not back in five, begin the rescue mission." I smile.

"I've changed my mind. Can we please throw him out?"

I pat his stomach and shake my head.

"Wish me luck."

Before Noah can throw me back on the bed, I hurry into the living room. My mouth drops and I scream with excitement. Noah flies out of the bedroom and laughs.

"I thought you were being murdered." Noah places his hand on his chest.

"I'm sorry." I bite my lip. 

"Since you're living by the beach, I thought I should personally return your favourite board."

"Thank you." I sniffle.

Maddison puts her things down and I tackle her in a tight hug. She squeezes me back just as hard and I appreciate it. It's one of those comfort hugs that makes you believe everything is actually going to be okay.

"How long are you here for?"

"Just a week because I figured it's enough time to catch up, ride some killer waves, and not annoy you guys."

"You could never annoy me!" I gasp.

"If I can just steal your attention for a moment, I have menus for the local takeout places. We need to work through them so that when college hits, we know where the good food is."

"I'm good with whatever you pick," I comment.

"Just don't pick Chinese, I had that the other night," Maddison comments.

"Okay." Percy nods.

"Whilst you two decide, let me give you the apartment tour." I grin.

"Hell yes." Maddison nods.

I hook her arm through mine and lead her down the hallway. I open the first door on the right and we walk inside.

"This is our bedroom, still needs a lot of work. I thought unpacking the kitchen would be a good idea, but it's like a black hole in there."

"You just need a pretty picture to hang up and it'll feel more homely." She nods.

To the right, there's a door that leads to the bathroom. The bed is against the far wall with side tables on either side. Noah and I decided to keep his bedroom set because it made more sense given that I can store mine at Dad's place.

"To the next room." I grin.

The last room on the right is the laundry and cupboard space. So far, it's become a magnet for storing things we have nowhere else to put.

"Nice laundry."

"Yeah, it's all a bit boring at the moment."

I take her across the hallway and into the study. Percy's desk is still in a box while Noah set mine up. We've also got a bookshelf to share which allows us to store our college books. I think Noah will make more use out of the desk since I love laying in bed and reading.

"Now to the bathroom."

Both bathrooms have a white tile with silver accessories. There's a bench and sink to the right, a shower on the left and a bathtub at the end of the room. It's a bit bigger than our bathroom due to the fact it's a shared bathroom.

"And the last room is Percy's. Want to see it?"

"Sure." She nods.

I open the door and smirk in Percy's direction.

Maddison pokes her head into the room and pouts.

"Aw, do you need help unpacking."

"Yes." Percy nods.

His large bed takes more of the space but it just works. It's pressed in the corner which allows him to have one side table and a set of tall drawers and a standing mirror. I close the door and we return to my bedroom.

"What do you think?"

"It's cute! It's big enough for what you need and a great layout."

"It's no mansion, but it'll do."

"At least you won't spend your life cleaning."

"Damn, that's true." I nod.

I leap onto the bed and she lays beside me.

"What's been happening? We've been so busy, I feel like I've missed heaps. How was graduation, do people know about you two now?"

"Graduation was awesome! Dad knows but we didn't announce it to anyone. We figured we'd give it some time."

"You should have kissed him the second those graduation caps were tossed." She laughs.

"In my dreams, yes, but in reality." I shiver at the thought because I know what Samantha wouldn't be happy and I'd like to avoid that for as long as I can.

"Anything else."

"Oh." My eyes widen.

"What?" She grins.

"When I was packing Noah's room, I found a ring box. He said he's not ready to propose yet, but still, he's purchased a ring and it's somewhere in here."

 "What?" She gasps. "If I were you, I wouldn't let him walks around like a free chicken. There are vultures in the world that would scoop him up."

"It's a good thing he's not a chicken then." I laugh.

"You're missing the point."

"I know what you're saying, but Noah isn't that kind of person."

"Girl, come on! Embrace the future you have with that sexy man. Mrs. East sounds pretty awesome to me."

"You're right."

However, I blush at the thought of being called Mrs. East.

"I'm going to have some words with Noah."

"No, you can't do that." I gasp.

"I'll just investigate, see what's up." She winks.

"I'm serious, don't say anything!"

Maddison pouts and we wander into the living room. She sits beside and helps Percy pick out dishes from a Mexican store around the corner. I stand beside Noah and he smiles at me. I would marry this man in a heartbeat, but I also like the pace we're traveling at.