"Honey, please take good re of yourself and call us if anything happens and by anything I mean anything, we will try to reach there as soon as possible," my mom repeated once again.
"Don't worry mom, I will be fine, Mia and Ryan are with me," I reassured her.
"Take care of yourself, Mel, we will miss you," Dad said with a sad smile on his face. I gave my parents one last hug, trying really hard to restrain the tears brimming in the corner of my eyes. I finally boarded the train with a heavy heart, full of grief, the grief of living behind my parents.
I walked down the aisle, searching for Ryan and Mia and I spotted them after a few minutes of wandering.
"Can you believe it? We are finally going to begin a whole new phase in our life. Gosh, I'm so excited!" Mia exclaimed in pure excitement.
"Yeah, I can see that," Ryan answered sarcastically, referring to Mia's overly excited expression.
"What about you Mel, aren't you excited like our bubbly Mia over here?" Ryan asked, with a mischievous smile playing on his lips.
I sighed deeply and said, "I'm just glad that we are in the same university."
" Yeah me too," Mia replied.
"Me too." Ryan joined in.
Slowly the train pulled out of the station and our journey began. I relaxed in my seat and closed my eyes and pretty soon I slipped into a deep slumber.
******
"Wake up sleepy head, you don't wanna be left behind now do ya, tiger," Ryan said while shaking me.
"I'm up, I'm up," I said and mumbled some incoherent words. The train has stopped and we have arrived in New York. I can't believe we are finally here. We grabbed our luggage and walked out of the station. I bid farewell to Ryan and Mia as they will be going to stay inside the campus and whereas I with the other 5 students have been allocated a two-bedroom flat from the company. I hailed a cab to my desired destination. It took us approximately 30 minutes to reach there. As soon as I stepped out of the cab I was totally awestruck by the gigantic sleek building situated in front of me.
BLACKFORD TOWERS was written in big bold block letters.
Blackford Tower.
I walked in through the automatic sensor-type sliding doors. A lady was sitting behind a desk which showed a placard saying reception. I nervously approached her.
"May I help you?" She asked with a sweet smile.
"Hi, I'm Melissa Davis, one of the honor students," I said.
"Oh, wait let me just check." She said.
She started to look for something on her computer and a look of amusement appeared on her face.
"Looks like your one lucky gal hun." She said with her thick southern accent. "Pardon me?" I asked being confused by her reply.
"You're on the same floor as the owner." She said.
"Norman Blackford?"I asked. She nodded in response. "But how does that make me lucky?" I asked.
"Honey, he's got one fine piece of ass and if I were in your place I would have jumped his bones anytime nadir anywhere." She said giving me a wink.
"Ew.. gross. I would definitely say that Miss.....
"Kate Wilson." She said.
"Yeah, Miss Wilson, from the description that you have given me it completely indicates the fact that you are attracted to him but I would say that I definitely don't wanna get involved with Mr. Hot shot and I have three main reasons to avoid him.
1st I'm too young for this. 2nd I'm here to build my future not get laid and 3rd he must be a person who only goes out with supermodels or actresses." I replied confidently.
"Whatever you say hun but here's your key and I will drop by your place some time as I live on the 10th floor. So friends?" She asked me while extending her hand towards me to shake. "Friends," I said while shaking her hands.
"And by the way, your flat is on the 50th floor and all of your friends are on the 49th floor." She said.
I stepped into the elevator once it arrived and pressed the 50th floor. Wow, the elevator's all glass and I can see the city from here. The cars and the people walking on the streets appeared to get smaller and smaller as the elevator went higher.
I saw a man standing in the middle of the hallway talking on his phone, yelling something in another language. Italian maybe or it's Spanish I don't know. From where I stood only his back was visible to me and he was adorned in a sexy grey-colored suit. I ignored his presence and made my way towards apartment 50A dragging my luggage behind me. I was informed that all the apartments will be fully furnished and we just have to bring our personal belongings with us. I inserted the key into the keyhole and twisted it but for some reason, the door was not opening. I continued to struggle with the door, silently praying for it to get open. As I continued to struggle I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I gulped and slowly turned, only to come face to face with the one and only Norman Blackford.