You Mustn't Give Your Heart To A Wild Thing

It took two new friends, two days to pack two years, into two dozen boxes.
It took one minute and one sentence, to make me think this was one huge mistake.

"Bro, I told you the elevator was broken" Samantha smirked, skipping two steps at a time as she rushed from her building to join me. "I did not expect that reaction"

I shot her a glare and nodded toward the open trunk of my Mustang; and the boxes spilling from it. My right foot was still clutched tightly in my left hand and the offending box remained upturned at my side. "I'm not built for carrying. These, weren't designed for heavy lifting" I mumbled, flexing my arms.

"And I'm the fucking hulk am I?" She chuckled, moving around me to peer into the car. "Is this everything?"

"I dropped the 'toss' boxes into goodwill on my way here" Sam grinned proudly at me and I swore she was a moment away from patting me on the back. "There really was no need for so many 'ironic' sweaters and plaid shirts"

"There rarely is method to madness" I rolled my eyes and cast a fleeting gaze back to my car; one that Sam caught and promptly called me out on. "Suck it up"

"Maybe I could leave everything in here until the lifts fixed?" I reasoned hopefully, drumming my fingers atop a box marked 'kitchen'; god only knows what was in there, I couldn't remember the last time I had cooked at Jesse and I's, I couldn't even recall the decor or layout of our kitchen without really having to think about it. "I don't necessarily need my..."

"Verity Ann, it's an elevator, e-l-e-v-a-t-o-r" She teased, resting against the trunk for a moment and folding her arms across her chest. "and it's been busted pretty much since I..."

"When did ye move in?"I groaned. The widening of her smirk confirmed I'd do better not to ask and caused a long, loud sigh to pass my lips. "Guess it's the stairs then?"

"There's no guessing about it Palmer" She giggled, bending down to retrieve the box that I had dropped onto my foot just moments before. "This isn't even heavy Verity"

"The height and the velocity with which it..." I huffed, letting my words trail as she began to laugh raucously. "It's not worth trying to excuse is it?"
She shook her head no and held the box high in the air, as to show me how light it really was.

"That must be my box of scarves"

"You have enough scarves to fill an entire box?"

"You don't?"

Her eyes rolled once again and she took a minute or two to peruse the rest of the boxes; freshly labelled, in the back of my trunk. "How can you not afford to pay your rent, yet you have enough accessories to warrant a U-Haul box for each season?" She asked as 'Summer accessories' caught her eye.

"I struggle with my priorities" I shrugged without hesitation. "Ye've surely realised that by now?" The small grunt that escaped her lips told me she knew only too well; or at least was beginning to realise. "Besides, Jesse is a silversmith, so most of my jewellery is his trials and errors. It's not quite the crisis situation ye imagining"

"You've got a box, for scarves" Sam enthused, "It's way past what I could possibly imagine"

I shrugged, a little embarassed and leant further into my trunk, running my hands over the cardboard boxes slowly. The only excuses I had were 'emotional spending' and the notion of a little retail therapy, neither of which I imagined to fly well with Samantha. "Once we've got everything inside I'll have another clean out" I lied, deciding on a box marked 'shorts and skirts'; the smaller the item, the lighter; or so I figured. "And I'll drop another bunch of stuff off at goodwill"

"Drop it by my room first" I gave her a small smirk and her cheeks flushed briefly, "You shouldn't spoil them, you should never spoil. It gives people an excuse to take advantage and before you know it you'll be picking your boyfriend up from some house party at four in the morning without so much as a..."

"Sam" I interupted quickly, wary over her flaring nostrils and the startling pitch her voice had risen to. "This sounds like an 'ice cream and fine wine' accompanied chat, not a..."

"More a pistol and a silencer really"

Her cheeks flushed briefly as I glanced up to meet her eyes and she fidgeted awkwardly on the spot, tugging at the hem of her light blue sundress. I hadn't seen her like this before, her cheeks rosey, her bottom lip caught beneath her teeth as she chewed on it gently. I had assumed she was 'together'; it was an assumption that came naturally, my thoughts on most people when I was so completely torn apart, but she wasn't. And furthermore, I was beginning to wonder whether she had an Oliver of her own.

"I don't mean to sound crazy" She mumbled, startling me from the silence we seemed to have fallen into. "For a start, I wouldn't even know where to get such a weapon" Her laugh was hollow and seemed to have been forced, unwillingly, past her lips. "Let alone..."

"Ye don't sound crazy at all" I interupted, only too aware that this wasn't a conversation she would want to have, recognising the change in the pitch of her voice and the darting around of her eyes "Ye sound like a girl whos..."

My words trailed off slowly and she nodded in agreement without my finishing of the sentence. "We should probably get some of this upstairs"

"Ye think?" I smirked awkwardly. Tugging my hair into a messy bun atop my head and rolling the sleeves of my plaid shirt up past my elbows. Samantha rolled her eyes as I lunged forward toward the boxes enthusiastically and stumbled backward as the weight of 'shorts and skirt's overwhelmed me.

"Slow down there bro" She chuckled, "Maybe you should take the scarves" It was more of a statement than a question and she had swapped our boxes before I'd even blinked.

"I'm not a child you know" I huffed,

"I'm not saying you are, but you're sure as hell built like one, so please..." I watched as she turned sharply on her heel and crossed the pavement back towards her building.

"Ye could rule the world if you had the chance aye?"

"If I can get you back on track bro, I can do anything"

&&

Samanthas fall had been spectacular and in my head; whilst we sat in the emergency room, it was still playing on a loop. I was as yet undecided as to what it was more like; a silent comedy from the thirties or that moment when Wiley Coyote realises he's stepped off of the edge of the cliff. This certainly wasn't what I had expected of my first evening in my new apartment and from the looks of things, it wasn't exactly the evening our neighbour had planned either.

"You didn't need to do this" She mumbled, her cheeks still flushed a deep scarlet as she played with the tassles of her mocassin led in her lap. "Verity's more than capable of driving and I really don't think I've done too much damage"

"I can't drive stick shift"

"You could've driven Sally"

"With all my shit in the back, nu-uh"

"You could've tried the stick shift?"

"Why risk killing us all when Danny here was more than welcome to drive Spankimus, aye?"

He chuckled softly and took a small sip of his water, glancing at me before resting his eyes back on Samanthas bowed head. "Spankimus? I'm not even gonna ask. And sweetie, you fell into my apartment. Would you prefer I'd just left you there, legs in the air, skirt up by your..."

"Bro! Do we really have to..." I couldn't help a short, shrill giggle escaping my lips as her voice cracked and her cheeks turned an even darker shade of red. "You're childish, the pair of you" She scolded.

"Uhm who fell down the stairs whilst doing a congratulatory 'I built this chest of drawers with my two bare hands' dance?"

"Uhm, who should learn when to shuthefucku..."

"Ladies"

The pair of us turned to face Samanthas knight in shining armour, the evenings saving grace, our neighbour Daniel Kurily. And he flashed us a broad, insanely bright grin. "I just wanted to check that you're okay. My buddy's coming to pick me up anyway, I just thought I should..."

"Thank You" I had to do a double take. It sounded like Samanthas voice, it came from Samanthas direction.

"You're welcome"

I felt like Screech, toZack and Kelly. I felt like Seth, to Ryan and Marissa.

"Dude, wheres the party?"

My head snapped up and my brow furrowed at a tall guy striding toward the three of us. His arms; lanky and almost thinner than my own, outrstretched at either side, his eyes scanning the room from behind a mess of light brown hair. "You said there were hot girls here man, you said to come down to the emergency room for some hot pieces of..."

He stopped dead in his tracks a foot or so from me, his arms dropping heavily to his sides, his jaw doing the same to the floor. A smirk tugged at the corners of his lips and I fidgeted under his gaze as he looked me up and down, my bottom lip getting caught between my teeth as his dark brown eyes settled on my own.

"Samantha,Verity...this is Alex" Danny smirked, "Alex this is Sam and Ver..."

"Verity" Alex interupted with a nod of his head, "Verity will be the death of me" he sang.