"Well, this is home now" Beverly said as soon as she walked into her apartment. She looked at the boxes that the movers had kept around her place. It was a mess, she thought about how to get everything sorted out and she began to regret not letting Payton come with her.
"Ughhhhhh, Payton would have helped me with this shit! How the fuck am I supposed to sort all these myself? And when the fuck did I get all these stuff?" She yelled in frustration.
She was still very tired and the sight of these boxes made her more tired. Then she felt her stomach growl. She rolled her eyes and went to check her phone that was in her purse, she wanted to see what time it was and if she could go and quickly get lunch.
It was 3:30pm.
She checked her phone to see if she could get a food delivery service in the city, it was easy to find one and she ordered some food and when it was time to add the address, she just called Ernesto to get the official address to their building. After sorting food, she went to her room to sort out her bed because she was too tired and it was soon going to be nighttime—it might just get harder to sort out her bed at night. So, she took off her clothes and wore a short and a tank top, it was easier to work in those.
About twenty minutes later, she was done with the bed and her phone rang from her living room, it was the food delivery service. She just flung a long lounge jacket over her her short and tank top and went to pick her food downstairs. Apparently, all delivery service people were supposed to wait at the reception area till the person comes to pick up their order, nobody could deliver anything upstairs.
As she got downstairs, she saw the delivery guy standing by Felix's desk, as soon as Felix saw her, he said, "Miss Charles, sorry we don't let anyone up unless it's an emergency, for the privacy of other residents."
"Uh huh, okay" She got the food and then when she was about to leave Felix called her back to do a contact registration for her apartment so that he could could reach her directly if there was anyone waiting for her and then he gave her a key to her mailbox. She thanked him and was about to leave when an elderly woman whom Beverly presumed was in her early, or mid sixties coming through the door trying to put in her key card with her hands full with her grocery bags.
"Is she in this building?" Beverly asked Felix. He nodded so she dropped her food bah on his desk and went to help the woman open the door.
"Thank you sweetie" the woman said in the sweetest voice. She turned to Felix and said, "This door might be the death of me one day."
Felix laughed and said, "I hope that day never comes, Mrs Potts."
Beverly raised a brow of realization. So this is the famous Mrs Potts, she looks nice and warm, She thought. Then she said, "Uh, what floor are you, let me help you"
Mrs Potts smiled and said, "Oh, I don't want to bother you"
Beverly smiled and said, "It's no trouble at all, I don't mind at all"
Relief flooded Mrs Potts face, "Well then, I'm on the second floor, apartment 17"
"Yeah? I'm just beside you, I'm in 16"
Mrs Potts' brows creased and then she asked, "Are you with Loiu?"
Beverly looked at Felix, then back at Mrs Potts and asked, "Who is Loiu?"
"Mrs Potts, Miss Charles just moved into that apartment."
"Ohhh, that's nice " Mrs Potts took a longer look at Beverly. It was like she was trying to see if Beverly was going to be anything like the former tenant that lived in her apartment. "Hopefully, you are nothing like him" she added and made her way to the elevator after politely nodding at Felix.
Beverly frowned, she wondered what she meant by that. Maybe she could ask her about it another time, she was too tired to hold any conversation with anyone.
Mrs Potts entered the elevator before Beverly and then she noticed the food takeout bag that Beverly held.
"Oh poor child, you must be so hungry. How about joining us for dinner later?"
"Uh..."
"Come on, I cannot see you eating takeout for dinner, you deserve a good meal, and I insist. I know how stressful it is to move into a new place."
"Um, okay, sure, thank you"
"Is this your first time in this city?"
"Yeah, I just moved here for the first time"
The elevator opened and as they stepped out, Mrs Potts said, "It's a beautiful city, you will enjoy it. What do you think about it so far?"
"I'll rate it a seven out of ten"
Mrs Potts looked at her in disbelief and said, "A seven?! Why seven?"
She shrugged and said, "Well, I always rate big cities a seven out of ten."
They got to apartment 17 and then Mrs Potts dropped the grocery bag in her hand on the floor and then brought out her purse to get the key to her apartment. As soon as they got into the room, Beverly felt like she had just walked into her grandparents apartment. She saw pictures of Mrs Potts and a teenager. They walked into her kitchen and then set the bags on the counter. The counter had lots of fresh fruits and other things. The furnitures in the apartment had a flowery pattern woven scarf on them. The apartment was very tidy but organised in a typical "white grandparent" fashion.
What's with grandparents and flowery pattern things? She thought to herself.
"Have an apple or an orange, or both" She offered.
Beverly was about to refuse but she said, "I already know that your bag of fast food does not have any fruits in them."
Beverly smiled and took an apple and orange. "This place looks really nice and homely. Ugh! I miss my grandparents"
"Why's that?"
"They are in this city with me"
"Aw, when was the last time you spoke to them?"
Beverly suspected that Mrs Potts would be the kind of grandparent that would like a grandchild that reached out every other day, she did not want to say that she spoke to her grandparents three years ago—even if that was the truth, so she said, "Yesterday...morning"
Her grandparents were forbidden by her parents to contact her after they cut her off because of her ex boyfriend and since they never tried to teach out, she reciprocated the gesture by changing her contacts and living like all her relatives were dead because that was how they acted.
"That's sweet. You know, grandkids are every grandparent's joy. I don't know what I would have done without my Haley. She will be back any minute now, she is probably on her way from school." She went to her counter and took a photo frame from the three that was on it and said, "This is my Haley, isn't she the prettiest?" She excitedly showed off her granddaughter.
Beverly took the photo frame and said, "She is lovely."
"Yeah, She's 15", she is a junior at high school" She looked so proud of Haley.
"Aww. What about her...your child"
"My Beatrice is a military nurse so she is almost never available. Haley has been loving with me since she was seven, after her father passed. My life has been a bliss since then"
Beverly could see the love Mrs Potts had for her granddaughter, she wished her own grandparents would have had the same or at least something similar for her.
"I'm sure she loves you too"
Mrs Potts smiled and walked to her kitchen, "Oh, I know she does. You know, I've been hearing about teenagers and their rebellious stage, Haley doesn't have those."
"It just shows you raised her very well"
Mrs Potts flustered and said, "Oh come on, with Haley, I don't even have to do anything. I can't take credits alone for how well she has turned out. She is a good kid by nature."
Beverly walked to the kitchen and then dropped the photo frame on the counter, then Mrs Potts gave her a serious stare and asked, "Do you have any allergies?"
She was taking the foodstuff out of the grocery bags and had began to sort them into, the one she'd use for dinner and the ones she store in the refrigerator.
Beverly shook her head and said, "No"
"Good, because I wanted to start prepping things for dinner"
She stared at the foodstuff Mrs Potts had laid out on the counter and asked, "Mrs Potts, do you need me to help you out?"
"What? No. Besides, you look like you need to rest."
Beverly chuckled softly and said, "I do, I really do. Thanks for the fruit, Mrs Potts. You just completed my diet this afternoon."
Mrs Potts chuckled, "You're welcome, sweetie. Is that enough, do you need more?"
She shook her head, "No, these are fine"
"See you by seven then."
"Alright" then she made her way to the door but Mrs Potts called out, "What's your name sweetie?"
"Beverly "
"It's a lovely name" She called out again.
Beverly smiled, turned the door knob and called back, "Thank you"
As she walked back into her own apartment, she heard the door of the apartment opposite hers open. She smelt his perfume and took a deep breathe to suck it in, she loved it but cannot let him know that...yet. She did not turn around, instead she closed her door and walked off to her room with her meal.
She checked her phone and noticed she had gotten some texts from Payton so she just called her. Payton was worried that she was asleep because she had been sleeping all day. She told her about Mrs Potts and all she had heard about her family. Payton told her to let her know if she should come over to help her sort her stuff, she just laughed it off. It was crazy expecting Payton to move between state just to help her arrange her furnitures. She showed her the apartment because they switched to facetime. Their conversation took a while and soon she was tired and needed to sleep.
....
Beverly woke up to the buzzing sound that rang around the entire apartment, it was the sound of the doorbell.
"Fuck!!! Go away!!!" She murmured as she tossed and turned. She was so pissed at whoever was ringing the doorbell continuously.