The Road Ahead of Us

The following day Isabelle awoke bright and early with a smile quickly coming to her face. Today was the day that her and Kara went out and searched for an apartment.

Isabelle quickly got out of bed and ventured into the bathroom, taking a quick shower before blowdrying and straightening her hair. She applied her simple makeup, black eye liner and some mascara. She ventured back into her bedroom to throw an an outfit. Today she chose a tank top, shorts, striped hoodie and some Nike's. Just as she was putting in her heart earrings there was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" She called as she slipped some bracelets on her wrists. Kara appeared in her doorway.

"Hey! You almost ready?" She asked her, Kara herself being dressed in a somewhat similar outfit to Isabelle, though her tank top said 'I prefer the drummer' which made Isabelle laugh.

"Yeah, I"m ready." She told her, grabbing her messenger bag and throwing it over her shoulder. "Nice shirt by the way." She told Kara, who laughed.

"Thanks. It is true. We should find you one that says 'I prefer the singer.'" The two friends joked, referring to the band that their boyfriends were in.

"It's the truth." They laughed as they ventured down the hallway. "So, any ideas as to where we may find an apartment?" Isabelle asked Kara as they grabbed their phones and keys before leaving the apartment.

"Well.. I asked around a little the past few days and found a few so I figured we could go check them out. If we don't find anything we can look online or something." Kara told her. Isabelle nodded. They reached Kara's car and got in, Kara quickly zooming off in the direction of the first apartment complex she had heard about.

When they pulled up both of them were frowning. The building looked very run down, the paint on the building was chipped away to almost nothing, and the front door of the complex stood wide open, it even seemed to be hanging off the hinges a little.

"How about we check some where else?" Isabelle offered, making Kara quickly nod before backing out of the parking lot. The next place they pulled up to seemed to be nice so they ventured inside. They talked with the landlord, finding that they did in fact have an available two bedroom apartment. They were led up to the top of the building where the landlord unlocked the door, allowing the two girls to step in before her.

Kara and Isabelle looked around the apartment finding that it wasn't awful, it was actually pretty nice, the only problem was that it was extremely small, and had the feint scent of kitty litter and cigarettes. It was still an option but they would keep looking, hoping to find something a little nice.

The next apartment was nice but the landlord was a straight creep. He was missing half his teeth, all his hair, and seemed to not know how to dress himself. His button up shirt was not only buttoned wrong, but also inside out. His jeans had numerous stains on it and he kept grinning at Kara and Isabelle like they were a piece of meat. It was a downright shame, as the apartment was exactly what they were looking for but they simply did not feel comfortable enough with this man having a key to where they slept and agreed that this was not the place for them.

It was nearing 2 in the afternoon when they decided to stop for lunch. They pulled up at a Panda Express and ordered their food before sitting down in a corner to eat and talk.

"How many more places do you know of?" Isabelle asked her, chewing on her bite of broccoli beef.

"I know of one more place, one of my friends from college used to stay here before her and her boyfriend got a house together. It's pretty nice so hopefully they will have something available. Just as they were finishing lunch, Isabelle's phone rang. "Probably Alex." Kara muttered, smiling at Isabelle who rolled her eyes, seeing that sure enough it was Alex calling her.

"Hey, babe." She greeted when she answered. Kara laughed and gathered up their garbage, going to throw it away.

"Hey!" Alex responded, the smile obvious on his voice. "How's apartment hunting?" He asked. Isabelle filled him in on all the apartments, making him laugh about the creepy guy. "So you have one place left to look at?"

"Yeah, Kara said this one should be pretty nice, so we'll see." Kara returned and gestured for Isabelle that they were leaving. Isabelle grabbed her purse and followed Kara from the restaurant.

"Well if you don't find a place, you can always still come stay with me, my house is nice and cozy and the only creepy guy who will put moves on you is me." Alex told her, making her laugh.

"Oh god, you are even creepier than the other dude, so no thanks." Alex gasped, pretending to be hurt.

"That hurts me, baby, that hurts." Isabelle did nothing but giggle. "Besides, you know you want my sexy body, what with you being sex deprived and all." Isabelle groaned at his words.

"Don't remind me. Four years, Alex. Four years." Kara laughed in the drivers seat beside Isabelle as she started to drive towards the next apartment.

"I know, babe." Alex spoke sympathetically. Alex could never imagine going four years without sex, it would drive him insane. Even as it was, it being about three weeks since the last time he'd had sex he was going a little crazy. His hand just wasn't cutting it. "Speaking of that, I have a surprise for you." He told her.

"Oh yeah? If it goes with our previous conversation I can only guess it's either some kind of sex toy or a box of condoms, seeing as those were the kind of surprises you had for me back in high school." Isabelle said, making Alex laugh, both of them were remembering the time that he got her a pair of fuzzy handcuffs for Valentines Day. He had of course also gotten her a diamond necklace, chocolate, and flowers, but the handcuffs were the pain part of their day, and enjoy them they did.

"Hey, you know you appreciated that, don't deny it!" Alex defended, making Isabelle laugh. "But no, nothing like that. I can't tell you what it is though, not yet at least."

"Why not?" Isabelle pouted.

"Then it wouldn't be much of a surprise, now would it?" Alex told her, making her sigh.

"When do I get to find out what it is?" She questioned right as Isabelle pulled up at the apartment. Isabelle looked up at it. It was a tall white building, looked pretty new, also expensive.

"This weekend, so tomorrow night. Can you come over to my house around... 6?" Alex asked her.

"Yeah, I'll be there." Isabelle told him as Kara parked the car, turning it off before sitting, waiting for Isabelle to finish her call.

"Good, dress sexy." Alex said, making Isabelle laugh.

"Alright, Alex, I will. I have to go now, we're at the last place. I'll call you tonight, alright?"

"You better. Good luck on this place, hope it goes good. Oh, and Iz?"

"Yes, Alex?" She questioned as her and Kara started to get out of the car.

"I love you so much." All of the joking and humor was out of Alex's voice as he spoke these words. His voice made Isabelle's heart race and her cheeks warm up, turning a light shade of pink.

"I love you, too." She responded, unable to keep the smile from her face.

"Good. Bye, love." He told her, the smile evident in his voice.

"Bye." With that Isabelle hung up the phone and slipped into her bag, ignoring the grin that Kara was giving her. "So this place is nice." She said, trying to divert Kara away from mentioning anything from the phone call.

"Yeah, it really is. It looks super expensive but it's really not as much as you'd think." Kara assured her, knowing that Isabelle would worry about the price. They went inside and talked with the landlord, who showed them a few apartments that were available. Both of them were very nice and within their price range. "I so say we take this one. It's bigger than the other one but only about $200 more." Kara said as they stood in the large bathroom of the second apartment. The landlord was down the hall in the kitchen, letting them have privacy to talk.

"I agree. I can really see us making this place home, at least for a little while before you and Rian run off and move in together." Isabelle joked, making Kara blush and shake her head.

"Come on, let's go get our apartment." Isabelle nodded and together they left the room, going to tell the landlord that they wanted the place.

______

Alex sat on his couch, his best friends lounging around him as they wall watched TV together.

"I'm bored.... Why do we only ever have fun when the girls are here?" Jack questioned, making everyone shrug but realize that they were right.

"Let's go practice, I could use some music playin'" Alex offered. They all agreed so they went down to his basement and began to get their instruments ready. When everyone was in place and tuned up, they ran straight into their songs, playing their hearts out. They were just finishing their third song when they heard a door slam above them before there were foot steps and then yelling.

"Alex!!" He heard a female voice yell. They all looked at each other and frowned. Alex took his guitar off, setting it on its stand before making his way toward the stairs, right as the basement door open and whoever it was yelling for him ran down the stairs, jumping straight onto him, their arms going around his neck, their legs around his waist. By instinct his arms went around the girls waist as she hugged him tightly. As soon as Alex felt her body, smelled her sweet perfume and shampoo, he knew it was her.

"Izzy, you scared the shit out of me." He told her, making her pull back and grin at him. He couldn't help but smile back at her, seeing her this happy. "What's got you so happy?" He asked right as Kara came walking down the stairs, a bottle of water in her hands.

"We got an apartment, that's what!" Kara answered for Isabelle while making her way over to Rian who still sat behind his drum set.

"That's great, babe!" Alex said, looking back at his grinning girlfriend. She smiled and nodded, giggling happily as he leaned forward to press his lips to hers. She brought her hands up to wind through his long brown hair as their lips moved together.

"Excuse me." Jack said, clearing his throat, making the couple pull apart and laugh. "I love you guys and all but... keep it G rated, 'kay?" He told them, making them nod. Isabelle giggled before jumping out of Alex's arms, going over to the couch to put her bag down, as well as take her hoodie off, placing it beside it.

"Sorry to have interrupted your practice." She said, making them all shake their head. Zack and Jack still stood with their bass and guitar on, Rian still sat behind his drum set but he had put his sticks down and had pulled Kara into his lap, taking her water bottle to take a large drink. Kara had actually brought the water down for him, knowing he never brought water to practice for him, though he always ended up needing some.

"No worries, love." Alex assured Isabelle, going to pick his guitar up again. "So when do you two move in to your new place?"

"Next Thursday is when we get the keys, they still have some little touch ups and cleaning to do." Kara explained, making Isabelle nod in agreement.

"You excited?" Alex asked them both, strumming his guitar absentmindedly.

"So excited. It's exciting, moving in with your best friend." Kara said, grinning at Isabelle, making Isabelle giggle. "We've already decided that we are going to have a house warming party next weekend."

"Party!!!!!" Jack suddenly yelled, making them all jump but laugh none the less.