Seize the Day

I had to force myself to concentrate on packing up all of my belongings. By Monday morning, I had just about everything except what I was going to need through the next week boxed up and stacked neatly along the wall. From work on Monday, I talked to Maryanne at The Collective about the moving expenses Matt had mentioned to me. She fully agreed that if I was moving across the country to become an employee, that they would cover the move. We made arrangements for a truck to come pick up all of my things, including my car, the following Monday, as I was flying out myself on Saturday. Unfortunately, I still didn’t have anywhere to move the stuff to. I voiced this concern to Maryanne, who said we could definitely handle that later. I also mentioned to her ahead of time about the long weekend I’d be flying back to Kentucky for my convention. I’m pretty sure she thought I was nuts, but agreed.

Maybe 15 minutes after I finished talking to her, Matt called me. “It’s still pretty early there, isn’t it?” I asked as I picked up the phone. It was just after 11am in Kentucky, meaning it was barely 8am in California.

“Yeah, it is, actually,” he said. “But I wanted to tell you what I found as soon as I could.”

“I appreciate that, I suppose, but whatever it was, I’m sure it could have waited until you woke up normally!” I laughed.

“Probably, yes. Eh, I wasn’t sleeping well anyway.”

“Ok, fine. What is it?”

“Last night, I found you an apartment!”

“Great! Where is it?”

“Actually, it’s just a couple of streets over from my place.”

Ha, I should have known, I thought. I laughed into the receiver. “How much? How many bedrooms? Details please?”

“Well, it’s the same range as the list you girls put together, it’s 3 bedrooms, a nice neighborhood, and it’s close to me. What else do you want?” He was laughing again.

“As long as it’s not over-priced, I’m good with everything else,” I said. “Wait, what the Sam-hell do I need three bedrooms for?”

“I don’t guess you do, but that’s what it’s got, and it was the same rent as a two bedroom in some other places. So I figured it would work.”

“Fair enough,” I said. “I guess I should call them and finalize everything.”

“Uh, I don’t guess that’s necessary.”

“You’re kidding me, right?” I shot. “You already told them I’d take it?”

“Calm down, I just got them to hold it until you get here over the weekend. We’ll go look at it, and if you like it, you can sign the lease. But you do realize that you’ll have to stay with me at least for the weekend, until your stuff gets here, right?”

“Yeah, I was thinking about that. I don’t have to stay with you, I could always get a hotel room,” I said. Let’s see how this works out, I thought.

“Ha. No, not even happening,” he laughed.

“Ok, fine,” I sighed. I'm going to have to get used to him doing things for me, it looks like.

“I really hope you get over your aversion to being helped sometime in the very near future,” he said, amused.

How does he do that? I asked myself. I swear he reads my mind sometimes! “You’re creepy sometimes, do you know that, babe?” I asked him, feeling out his response to calling him pet names like he had done to me the last time we talked.

I could hear the grin as he answered. “How am I creepy?”

“I was just thinking to myself that it looked like I was going to have to get used to you doing favors for me. It’s like you can read my mind sometimes. And it’s really creepy.” I giggled a little.

“I see. What’s that they say? Great minds think alike? Maybe that’s what it is.”

“Maybe,” I said laughing. “Whatever works. Just so long as you can’t read everything that goes on inside my head. You’d probably never want to see me again!”

“Oh really? What kind of weird, twisted things go on inside there?”

“Don’t you wish you knew!” It was hard not to enjoy myself when talking to him. “I really should get off the phone and try to get some work done, you know. You’re pretty distracting.”

“Oh, sorry. I forgot you were at work.”

“It’s ok. Thanks for looking into apartments for me. Maybe I should have had you do it from the start!”

“Talk to you later, gorgeous.”

I nearly shivered. “Bye, babe.”

He laughed again. “Bye.”

I texted Sara immediately, since I told her I’d let her know as soon as I found a place to live.

-- Matt found me an apt. Close to him. 3BR - You can crash! Can’t wait til Saturday! --

A little later in the day, when she was up and around and getting ready for work, she replied.

-- Of course it’s close to him, duh. Can’t wait either. Mr. Perfect picking you up from LAX? --

I couldn’t help but giggle.

-- Don’t know, haven’t discussed it yet. He probably already knows my flight itinerary though, he’s a creeper mind-reader. You can fight him for it. --

-- IS a little creeper-ish, huh? j/k. Let me know if you need a ride. Just hurry up and get here, bitch! --

-- Working on it. 4 & 1/2 days of work left. Getting antsy. Call you later. --

I trudged through the rest of the week, finishing out my time at all three jobs, cleaning my apartment, and getting everything else ready to be moved. I packed what I’d need for a week or so in my large suitcase, just in case something happened with moving my stuff to California. Of course, I talked to Matt at least once a day during the week. He usually called me before I had a chance to even think about calling him, between working 80 hours, and trying to clean and pack in what little free time that left.

Saturday, I had a friend take me to the airport, leaving my car and apartment keys with her, so that Monday when the moving crew came to load up my stuff, she could let them in. I checked my bags, boarded my plane for my 12:15pm flight, snuggled up in my seat with my iPod, and said my goodbyes to Kentucky.

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Of course, Matt was the one picking me up at the airport. The second I was within sight, he lunged over to me and wrapped me up in his arms, nearly crushing me.

“Um, you know, you make it really hard to breathe, and I mean that very, very literally, not in the ‘take my breath away’ sense,” I mumbled into his chest. Although you do that, too, I added in my head, not really bothering to try to push him away.

“Oh, sorry, what was that?” he asked, stepping away slightly, but keeping his arms around me.

“Never mind,” I said, grinning. “I’m baaa-aack!” I said, mocking another movie quote, this time the little girl in Poltergeist. I pulled him close to me again, and kissed him before he had a chance to respond.

“Hey,” he breathed.

“Hey you,” I replied. “Uh, how’s it going?”

“Better now,” he said, hugging me tightly again. “I missed you,” he whispered.

“I missed you too,” I said. “But for right now, I’m hungry. And I don’t want a repeat of the last time I flew to California. You know, the one where you didn’t feed me for like three days?” I quickly pecked his lips again, and tried to wiggle out of his grasp.

“Fine,” he sighed over-dramatically, chuckling just a tiny bit, and let me go. He didn’t let me go far though, keeping one muscular arm snaked around my waist.

We stood at the baggage claim carousel, waiting for my luggage to appear on the magical conveyor belt. I was silently praying to any deity that may hear me that all of my belongings managed to make it onto each of my planes as I changed, and that everything would end up right here, very soon. Finally, I recognized the plain black canvas bags with the easily identifiable hot pink luggage tags with rhinestone skulls. I hate all things pink and rhinestoned, but they were on clearance at one of the stores I work in, and I figured they’d be pretty distinguishable, so I got them anyway. Everything seemed to be ok, so we made our exit from the airport. Not without a couple of ogling fans, but I was trying very hard to tune them out.

On the way to his house (in the BMW again, I might add) we talked about the last couple of weeks, about Scarefest and how excited I was they were coming with me, and about my new living and employment arrangements. We drove to the apartment in question before we went on to his house.

“Um, whoa,” I said as he pointed out the property.

“What?” He had a very puzzled look on his face.

“Well, this may be an apartment to you, but this is bigger than the house that my seven person family lived in when I was a kid!” It wasn’t far from the truth. The duplex building was enormous.

The cul-de-sac held five such light buttery-yellow buildings, each split in half into two separate dwellings. In the center of the street was a crystal blue fountain with some gorgeous landscaping work. We parked in the drive of the unit with a “For Lease” sign in front of it, and got out of the car.

Matt walked up the front walk, and entered in a code on the key box hanging from the doorknob. “I came in yesterday,” he said, noticing that I was reciprocating the puzzled look he had just a few moments ago. “I think you’ll like it.”

I hadn’t been kidding about the fact that the unit was bigger than my parents’ house. The living room in this particular place could have held the kitchen, dining room, and living room back home. “What in the world am I going to need all this space for?” I wailed. “It’s just me. I don’t have that much stuff!”

“You don’t like it?” he asked, confused again.

“Are you kidding? I love it!” I shrieked. “But it’s humongous! I have no use for this much space.”

“Baby, you’re in California now. We do everything big here,” he chuckled, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me. “This is the smallest place I could find that wasn’t in a shitty neighborhood. Besides, I saw the places you girls had picked out of those magazines. This is actually smaller than a couple of those.”

I sighed. It was partially because I knew he was right, and partially because I would be absolutely content staying locked in his arms like this for the rest of eternity. “Fine,” I said, snuggling backwards into him. “I guess I’ll take it.”

“Good,” he said tightening his grip, in what I now know was a defensive move. “They’re delivering your stuff here Tuesday.”

“What?” I exclaimed, struggling against his arms. “You told me they were just holding it!”

“So I lied,” he cooed, still holding me tight enough that I couldn’t fight back. He kissed my temple, then continued. “I knew you’d like it, so I went ahead and took care of it. Maryanne and The Collective fronted the deposit and first month’s rent as your relocation expenses.” He turned me around to face him.

“Thank you,” I said. “Really, really thank you.”

“No, thank you,” he replied.

“You just secured an apartment, money included, for me. You deserve to be thanked. What the fuck did I do?”

He kissed the top of my head. “You came back.”

“Yes, I came back. Because you found me a job. You’re still the one who gets thanked,” I grinned.

“For coming to California in the first place?” he asked.

“Nope.” I shook my head violently. “That’s Sara. She begged. See? I had nothing to do with any of this. Nothing worth a ‘thank you,’” I said.

“I’ve got it.” He smiled at me, and I melted into a puddle of mush. He let my arms go, taking my head between his palms, leaned down and kissed me hard. “Thank you,” he whispered when we finally came up for air, “for letting me do that.”

“Oh,” I breathed. He was still holding my face in his hands, and was managing to take every thought out of my head and every word out of my mouth. I could barely think. “Well, for that, you’re welcome.”

“Wanna see the rest of the house?” he asked, eventually breaking his gaze and taking hold of my hand.

“Sure,” I sighed. If we have to, but we can totally stay here and make out some more, if you want, I answered in my head. Instead, we wandered through the amazingly huge duplex or townhome or apartment or whatever it was actually called. It was gorgeous and well-built, on top of being gargantuan in size. The living room was separated from the dining area by a bar, complete with ceiling-mounted cabinets for glasses, liquor, and other miscellany. The kitchen was a larger-than-standard open corner kitchen, with more than ample storage and plenty of space to move around while preparing food. It was bordered on two sides with counterspace, as well as a middle island that contained the dishwasher and more cabinets. The stairs were situated in the middle of the house, with an extra-large half-bathroom in the space underneath the stairs, alongside more closet space than I’ve ever had. This left the kitchen and living room connected in a round, so that the bottom floor was mostly one huge room, with the staircase enclosure in the middle.

Upstairs were two decently sized bedrooms, a full bathroom, and two more hall closets, as well as the master suite. The bedroom was nearly as large as the living room downstairs on it’s own. The bathroom was divided into two parts, a dressing area with a large vanity and double sink with ivory textured ceramic tile, and then the main bathroom area. A large jacuzzi tub sat in the corner and a tiled shower stall stood between it and the toilet. All in all, the bathroom itself was larger than most master bedrooms I’d ever seen.

I spent the tour of the house mostly quiet, other than a couple of “holy shit”s and “oh my god”s here and there. “This is so totally not my style,” I said, talking to myself more than to Matt. “Sara, however, is going to freak out.”

He chuckled. “So anyway, they’ll have your stuff here Tuesday. The guys have all already volunteered to come over and help unload and set up and shit, but only if we can chill here afterward.”

“Um, really?” I asked, only half sarcastically. “You want me to open up my brand new house for an Avenged Sevenfold house party? Just how crazy do you think I am?”

“It’s not like we’re gonna tear the place up, or anything!” he pouted. “Besides, what better way to welcome you into your new home than a housewarming party, right?” He was beaming.

“Please stop that,” I said, exaggerating how I looked away from his face, using my hand as a shield. “Besides, won’t people get suspicious if I have a big rockstar party the first night I live here? And it’ll just be a house full of boxes of shit. No good for a party!”

He burst into laughter. “It’s not going to be a big deal. Just hanging out. And I just said we’d all help get everything set. Deal, right?”

“Fine,” I agreed, crossing my arms. “But if anything gets broken, I’ll be mega fucking pissed.”

“Fine,” he replied, pulling me through the kitchen to the back door. “This is my favorite part,” he said, still grinning hugely.

As he opened the back door, I could see that it led out onto a backyard that I hadn’t yet noticed. The brick patio just outside the door that spanned almost half the yard was partially shaded by an open lattice cover, painted in a faint but rich terra cotta orange. The yard itself was split by a brick fence, running along the dividing line of the house, separating even the outside space, out to a wooden fence that crossed the back boundary and up the other side. Near the edge of the patio, there was a built-in fire pit, dug about a foot deep and about four feet across. Against the exterior wall of the house stood another bar, with ample space for more entertaining supplies. The yard was more than big enough for anything I could imagine needing to happen, including the upcoming housewarming party. Basically, this backyard area was literally everything I’d ever wanted in a backyard patio, except a pool.

“Wow,” I said finally, after taking it all in. “Who needs a house with a backyard like this?”

“Good, you like it.” He was standing on the patio with his arms crossed, leaning against the brick wall, just watching me wander aimlessly around the backyard.

“Of course I like it!” I giggled. “It could hardly be better if I planned it myself from scratch!” I walked back over to him and held out my hands. “Did you really think I was going to hate it and not want to live here?”

“No, I didn’t,” he told me as I pulled him to the grassy part of the lawn. “I knew you would. That’s why I already fuckin’ took care of everything, remember?”

I sat down on the lush grass, and patted a spot next to me. “Right. You knew I’d love it. How did you know that, anyway? It’s not like we’d had any majorly in-depth conversations about the type of housing I enjoyed.”

He sat next to me, leaning back on his hands with his legs outstretched. I laid my head in his lap as we continued talking. “No, we didn’t. But I saw the places you picked out of the papers and flyers, and I guess I just assumed the rest. I liked it, so I hoped you would too.”

“Well, I do. Thanks.” The sun was getting ready to set as we sat in what was now my backyard. “Wait a second.” I sat up quickly.

“What?” he asked, shocked.

“Don’t you have a house on the fucking beach?” I pointed at the sun as he nodded slowly, still a little confused. “Then why are we trying to watch the sunset in my fenced in yard?” I grinned.

“That,” he said, “is a very good question. Let’s go.”