Seventeen and Invincible

I hung my head tiredly, pushing the door open. The apartment was nicer than I'd expected. It was neat, nearly immaculate, and nicely decorated. It all seemed too organized for Garrett, but then again, they'd just gotten home and he hadn't had time to mess it up.

I dropped one bag by the door and slid off my gold colored flip flops. I dragged myself across the living room with my two other bags in search of my room. I could only assume that the room sans clothes on the floor was mine. If it had never been lived in, then it couldn’t be dirty already—at least I hoped it couldn’t be.

As I dropped my remaining two bags on the floor, I was further convinced that this was my room because things that I’d left behind had been placed in various spots in the room. Some of my old furniture had managed to find its way into the room and I was kind of surprised that Garrett would have done all of this for me.

I wandered into the kitchen, deciding that coffee was a must if I was going to get through unpacking. I only hoped that I could figure out how to use whatever coffee pot or coffee maker he had…and that I could find a mug.

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It had been a good forty-five minutes since I’d made my coffee and returned to my room to unpack when the door clicked open. I was in the middle of unpacking and folding clothes—still from the first bag—when I heard a shriek that was undeniably female.

“Oh my god, Garebear, your door is unlocked. Someone broke in.” I stifled a laugh and heard Garrett clear his throat. I could imagine him rolling his eyes at whoever this girl was.

“Robbers don’t usually break in and leave luggage and sandals. And they definitely don’t make coffee, Michelle.” I heard him open the kitchen cabinet and place two coffee mugs on the counter.

“Well, then who does this stuff belong to?” I laughed and walked to the door leaning against the door frame.

“It’s mine,” I said tiredly. I crossed my ankles and moved one hand off of my coffee mug topush my hair out of my face.

“And you are?” I rolled my eyes internally and took a sip of the lukewarm liquid.

“Anika. I should ask you the same thing.” Garrett turned around quickly and I swear his jaw hit the floor.

“I thought you weren’t coming back until December? What happened?” I shrugged, taking another sip of coffee. The girl, whoever she was, seemed pissed, to say the least.

“Molly let me come back. I’m starting college here. No more Munich, no more U-Bahn and S-Bahn in and around Munich. No more Germany. I’m back.” He smiled weakly and put his coffee mug down on the counter. “You’re not mad, right?”

His eyes, for a split second seemed to say yes, but they changed quickly. “Of course not, why would I be mad. I mean I’m glad you’re back, but you never told me.” I shrugged, not thinking much of it. “And how’d you get in here?”

“Mia told me where the spare key was. And I didn’t tell you because I wanted to surprise you.” I could tell that somehow this would end in a fight.

“So that makes it okay for you to just break in?” the girl, Michelle, asked from Garrett’s side.

“It isn’t breaking in if you use a key,” I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Well, why are you here?”

“I live here?” She rolled her eyes and glanced at Garrett quickly, painting a bitchy and fake smile onto her face.

“Sorry hon, but you don’t live here. I’ve been living here and you don’t live here.” I rolled my eyes. Garrett shrugged sympathetically in response to Michelle's statement. “If you lived here I’d know.”

“I just got back from Germany. You wouldn’t have seen me before.” Her arms wound around Garrett and he pecked her on the cheek.

“I’m sorry, Ani, but you can’t stay here right now. Kenny lives down the hall, maybe he’d let you stay there for a few days? Y’know, just until we get this all straightened out.” I shook my head, trying to hold back my tears.

“I’ll just go to Mia’s.” I turned, going back into my room, throwing my things into my bags and walking back into the living room.

Garrett smiled sympathetically as I walked past him, grabbing my shoes and my last bag. “Bye,” Michelle smiled. I rolled my eyes and stepped into the hallway. “Bitch,” she muttered under her breath.

I turned slowly, unsure of what to say. “You’re just jealous,” I responded quietly.

“Of what?” she scoffed. “Of what, your fake hair, or your flat chest? You’re pale skin or overall plain appearance?”

“My hair isn’t fake and at least I don’t have implants and I don’t fake and bake. I’m sure you were flatter than me and I’m sure without all of the tanning beds and makeup, you’d look paler and plainer than me. But who knows.” I walked out the door, hearing her start to yell and curse and bitch about me and I finally let the tears escape my eyes.

I had a problem. I didn’t have a phone or a car and I didn’t know where Kennedy’s apartment was. I pulled the piece of paper from Mia out of my bag, hoping that maybe Kenny’s apartment number was written on there too. It wasn’t.

“Anika?” I looked up when I heard my name. “Why are you sitting out here?” John was standing in front of me, but I couldn’t manage to say anything to him. “Did you and Garrett get into a fight?” I shrugged in response since I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened.

“I don’t know. Which apartment is Kenny’s? He told me to see if I could stay there. There was some girl and I don’t know what happened. Please?” John nodded, taking two of my bags and walking to the end of the hallway.

“Did this girl happen to be Michelle?” I nodded and stood quietly as John knocked on the door of Kennedy’s apartment. The door swung open and I didn’t want to hear their conversation so I snuck in under Kenny’s arm.

“Anika?” he yelled as I scurried across the floor and into the living room, taking a seat on the couch.

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When the door finally closed and Kenny walked toward me, I stayed quiet. “Please don’t tell me I can’t stay,” I whispered when he was directly in front of me. He nodded and I thanked him quietly. As great as it was to be home, this kind of sucked.