Your Colorful World vs. My Black and White World

It was seven o’clock in the morning but Zacky was wide-awake. He had been awake since four o’clock after he had a strange dream. In his dream, he was a woman and was a stripper at some run down strip club that only had a bald man as the customer.

Ever since Zacky woke up from that dream, he couldn’t go back to sleep no matter what he did. Since he was having a case of insomnia, he decided to drag one of his friends down with him. Who was the oh so lucky person? Yep, Matthew Sanders was the winner!

Zacky found it amusing when he called Matt so early that morning. The man was barely able to recite coherent words; Zacky was surprised Matt was able to stay up the three hours.

In their conversation, Zacky decided that he was going to move out of his parent’s house. He was a 25-year-old bachelor and it was an embarrassing thing to tell girls that he still lived with his parents. That would make him seem like a big loser.

Matt agreed with Zacky, promising him that he would look for places that were for rent as long as he was able to get some sleep in before he passed out on his friend. Zacky agreed, laughing along the way. It was always fun to mess with Matt.

At the strike of noon, Zacky descended the spiral staircase, down to the living room where he found his family watching a talk show about Hawaii. Zacky remembered going there for a venue once. There was plenty of beach for him to have fun in.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he cleared his throat, whilst leaning against the doorway to the living room. Everyone turned their attention to him.

“I think I should get my own apartment,” he said with a firm tone and stiff upper lip. He expected his mom to begin to cry and plead that he stay with the family so she wouldn’t miss him as much. In actuality, his mother pulled out a newspaper from the coffee table and told him she’d be happy to help him look for places. Not expecting his mother to want to get rid of him so easily, Zacky’s mouth hung open in shock.

For the past two weeks, the Baker family traveled to various parts of California, trying to find the perfect place for Zacky. Nothing seemed to fit his description unfortunately. His mind pictured a bachelor pad that wasn’t too small, wasn’t too big, had a nice view of the beach, and wasn’t far from the shops but wasn’t too close either.

Least to say, Mrs. Baker couldn’t deal with his difficult wants. She complained to Adeline, who was helping her bake chocolate chip cookies. After disappearing for almost a month, Adeline finally returned to the Baker’s, spending time with each individual family member, except for Zacky.

She was welcomed into their home with welcome arms and whines of her never leaving them again or they would cry hysterically until she returned. She apologized excessively, telling them all that she had to go to her grandparents’ home for a month to care for them.

That was in fact, a lie. The truth was she did not want to have an uncomfortable moment with Zacky at the house. He had been rude to her the very first time they met, but that wasn’t the reason why she stayed away. She didn’t want to see him because she figured out who he was. She was not star struck. She didn’t want to become acquainted with a person such as him. She was sure he was a very loyal fan of alcohol and the party life, something that she could never like.

Because of that, she had avoided the Baker house for that long. She preoccupied herself with working at the animal shelter that her parents owned. Adeline wasn’t a very big fan of animals and on occasion, the different animals at the shelter still startled her, but she got used to them. Most of them were tame whenever they noticed her presence.

While washing the mixing bowl, Adeline thought of one person whom she knew could help Zacky find an apartment, or in this case, a house that would suit his personality.

Even then, she took the information of what Zacky wanted in, thinking of one particular beach house that had been on the market for months but no one wanted it for some strange reason. She reported to Mrs. Baker about the house after she finished washing the mixing bowl.

Mrs. Baker jumped out of her seat in glee and gathered all her family members together, pushing them into the family car. She even pulled Zacky into the car, who Adeline noticed had just gotten out of bed. He had a regular black t-shirt that stated he loved...a weird shaped V that was an opened pocketknife, she assumed rather than the letter, and a U. She wondered what that meant. With his t-shirt, Zacky wore a pair of basketball shorts and beat up Vans shoes.

Adeline wouldn’t have minded going to the house with the Bakers, but she had to sit right next to Zacky in the middle seat. She cursed her unfortunate luck as she told Mr. Baker the directions to get to the house.

Once they reached their destination, Adeline called her friend, Jose, who was the realtor of the house. They did need to get inside and inspect the house after all. He claimed he would arrive in less than five minutes time.

Everyone loved the house the instant their eyes saw it. The view of the beach was very exotic and beautiful. The streets weren’t bustling and busy with traffic, and there were quaint shops all around.

Zacky was the only skeptical person. He thought the whole location of the house was flimsy and “too old.” He would have preferred to live in a place that was close to a bar or club. That way, he could walk home with any girls he scored.

Jose arrived three minutes later, practically running to the Baker family and Adeline with a hop in his step. He waved hello to the Bakers and gave Adeline a hug and peck on the cheek before opening the house to them.

The family, Adeline, and Jose stepped inside to see the house. They seemed to love it, voicing their opinions loudly. Zacky was the only silent one of the group.

Adeline walked around the first floor until she saw the view of the beach from the living room. Her eyes bulged and she sighed in awe. The view was absolutely amazing. If she could, she would’ve bought this house for herself. Too bad she didn’t have the money for it.

Zacky walked up the stairs to the master bedroom where there was a balcony. There he found that the balcony faced the side of the beach. He looked down to find a sand dune there. He liked the idea of the balcony towering over the sand. He would be able to spend nights alone, thinking and working on his music whenever he needed peace and tranquility.

Jose stood in the kitchen, busily sending a text to one of his clients. Although Jose was very new to this realtor career, he was good at his job. He would honestly tell his clients the good qualities as well as the flaws of each house.

He was only 22 years of age, the same age as Adeline. Being of Puerto Rican descent, Jose was proud to say that he didn’t fall into the stereotypical story everyone had of Puerto Rican people. Many believed all of them would have children while in their teens, leave their family for a better woman, and waste their life away drinking and partying. That was why Jose was so proud that he didn’t fit into that description. He was hard-working, earned money for himself and also his mother and father who were elderly and ill.

Mr. and Mrs. Baker, and Matt barely stayed at the house for half an hour before announcing they had important errands to run. All three shuffled out of the house before Zacky or Adeline could object. Zacky did however, run to the front door to find it already slammed in his face. He sighed, rubbing the side of his neck. At least he wasn’t alone with that girl Adeline.

Suddenly, Jose had to leave as well. He had to attend a house search with another client of his. He said goodbye to Adeline, giving her the key to the house because he trusted her so much and gave Zacky his business card just in case he decided on the house.

All was silent in the house except for Zacky’s shallow breathing.