Kingly

In the freezing cold winter morning before I left the creaky old two bedroom apartment I (embarrassingly) shared with my brother, we had one of our usual four-hour long midnight conversations shared over boxes of freshly chilled 6-packs. It’s kind of a ritual we followed whenever we’re too much of a chicken to talk about something sober. I took a sip of my third can, and mumbled to myself;

“Is this really what I want”

“Grow a pair, we have to do things that we don’t want” He replied nonchalantly. He was lazily lounging in a run-down armchair left by the previous tenant, acting like he owns most of the place. It creaked annoyingly as he shifted to straighten his back.  

“I’m pretty sure I have them already, my manager’s already grabbing me by them” I sighed heavily.
 

He swiftly downed the remaining of his 4th supposedly last drink. “At least you know what to expect in this one-“

“Same ty schedule, same ty food , same ty co-workers” I recalled flawlessly.
 

He sets down his empty can with a thunk on the makeshift coffee table made from wooden crates. He plucks another one from the case immediately. “and same 9-digit pay, little sis. You can’t really deny those numbers.”

We both sighed.

 “If you come back again here, I’ll knock you out before you even take a step inside. Get yourself a nice apartment once you get out, okay?”  He says. He tried to sound indifferent but that little crack in the end gave him away.

“..Right.” I brushed it off. Acknowledging it might make it awkward for the two of us.

He recovers easily from the break. “Here’s to a new beginning..” He said with a sarcastic tone. We clanked beers together.
 

“ ..and to your newfound privacy with that Mr. just-a-friend in the bedroom” 

“Shut it.”
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Since it was two o’clock in the morning, the employee elevators were still not in operation. If this is this company’s way of showing me its ready to shove my life into a grinder this early of a time, then them, I’m not about to take their . I hauled my two suitcases upstairs to the employee dorms, making sure to scratch the flawless walls with the wheels.  I chucked them to the floor in front of room 516 as soon as I arrived.

My hands were snaking around my jeans for the keys when the door opened by itself to reveal a girl with a confused look on her face. She had this classic little sister look; Big clueless eyes with green contacts plastered on them, small stature framed by pink silky pajamas. Looks like she was in the middle of putting on make-up judging by the hair band holding her locks away from her round baby face.

“You must be our roommate” She said in a voice clear as glass.

“Our?” I asked in my contrastingly husky voice.

“The other one’s not here right now but her suitcases are.” She pried the door open wider to show the absolute horror the person left. Her collection of laced thongs, bras and silks, were sprawled out and hung over her side of the room. It looked like the aftermath of a bachelor's party. 

“…Yeah.” I held up my keys for her to take a look.

She nodded in acknowledgement. “May I ask for your name?”

We exchanged names, pleasantries and ages (kid’s a newly turned legal, God). I sticking the names to the right faces so I decided to nickname her Jade since her contacts and voice reminded me of the rock. She showed me around the room, though it didnt take that much time since it was basically a prison if not for the huge pane window that took up most of the back wall. The wallpaper and two double-deck frames are in a sad Gray, the sheets are blandly white and I can see myself slipping on the newly mopped tiled floors anytime soon. Because I'm  older,  she relinquished hold of the top bunk even though it was obvious she had settled herself in there cozily. Nice girl. 

“..and lastly , we have all have to be on the set near building Egyptian before 4 am every day so that alarm clock there is set to ring around that time. But for today, we have to be there before 3 to welcome the trainees in.” She said while grabbing hold of her things from the bed. 

‘.”

Jade chuckled. She then bowed out of the blue towards my direction, still holding her possesions. “I will be under your care and ask for you guidance during the course of my internship.”

I nodded hopelessly. “I can’t even take of myself properly , let alone you.”

She beamed.  “Then, let’s take care of each other then.”

The affectionate statement caught me off-guard for a second, but what left  me more suprised after that is the fact i unconciously  returned the smile. “Sure. Drop the honorifics, alright?”