Apartment 4C

“Hey Alfie! Head on home boy, I’m not paying you overtime!”

Alfie laughed at his manager’s words, throwing a thumbs-up in his general direction. To be honest, he hadn’t even realised it was the end of his shift, he’d completely lost track of time thinking. Alfie had worked the lunch shift today and it had been quiet, allowing him to immerse himself in his thoughts. Thoughts about Jake.

Now that he’d finally met the cute laundry room guy properly, now that he finally had a name to put to that beautiful face, he couldn’t get him out of his head. And Alfie wasn’t even ashamed to admit it – life was too short to hide feelings like that.

“Wasn’t that busy today anyway,” Alfie mused, untying his half apron from his hips.

“Yeah, weather’s still not that great. Lunches will pick up by March though, don’t worry,” his manager chuckled.

“Good. Can’t have Charlie coming in with nothing to do because I’ve done all the set up for him,” Alfie grinned.

His manager just laughed again and nodded.

“How are you settling in to your new place?”

“Yeah it’s not so bad. Met a couple of nice people,” Alfie nodded.

“Any nice guys?” his manager teased.

Alfie just blushed. His sexuality wasn’t exactly a secret, but he wasn’t ashamed of it. Being gay wasn’t something to hide, he’d learnt that long ago.

“That’s none of your business,” Alfie mumbled.

Alfie walked out the back of the bar to even louder laughter from his boss. He loved his workplace, really he did, the people were so nice, but sometimes there were no boundaries.

Ah well. At least he wasn’t bored.

He hadn’t been in Chicago all that long, only 7-ish months. Then again, it was the longest he’d lived somewhere for the past few years. Alfie had attempted going to college after high school, but had dropped out at the beginning of Sophomore year. Studying just wasn’t his thing, not really, and he had no idea what he wanted to major in. Couldn’t make up his mind. So instead, he set off around the world, travelling everywhere from France, to Malaysia, to Scotland, to Australia, working odd jobs in bars, only staying somewhere long enough to earn enough money to move on to the next place, only owning what he could carry on his back. His parents had disapproved, obviously. They wanted him to settle down somewhere, get a real job, but Alfie just wasn’t like that.

He liked travelling, loved meeting new people, enjoyed learning about new cultures. He could hold a decent conversation in 6 different languages, he knew more about world religions and politics than most people he’d ever met. Alfie wasn’t stupid, far from it – he just didn’t suit studious college life. Alfie knew he got this attitude from his grandma. Everyone else in his family was fairly uptight, especially his parents, but his grandma, his dad’s mum, was just like him. It wasn’t that he didn’t get along with his parents, but he just didn’t have anything in common with them. There was no bad blood, no arguments, just nothing much to say. And as an only child, he didn’t even have any siblings to overshadow him so that wasn’t an excuse. He still phoned them every once in a while. They still sent birthday and Christmas cards. But there wasn’t really a family bond. His grandma, his dad’s mum, was awesome.

Was being the operative word.

After three years of travelling around the world, he had to return back to the US. His grandma was ill, seriously ill, and while she hadn’t wanted him to worry about her, Alfie decided to move in with her in her small Chicago apartment to take care of her. He fed her. He bathed her. He helped her go to the bathroom. He made sure she took all over her pills. All the things that no normal 23 year would do, but she was the only family member that didn’t think he was a waste of space. And 6 months later, just after he turned 24, his grandma passed away in her sleep, her heart finally failing her. She’d left him most of her savings and the lease to her apartment, and one of the last things she said to him was that she wanted him to find someone so he wouldn’t be alone.

Alone. Yeah, he really was alone in Chicago after that. But instead of moping, he’d decided to do her memory justice, decided to knuckle down for once. The shortness of her life made him realise how short his could be. Made him realise that while his life experiences were fantastic, he didn’t have anything solid to call his own. He’d travelled the world, made his memories there. Now it was time to make memories in somewhere to call home. Alfie sold his grandma’s apartment, the memories overwhelming without her being there, and sent nearly all of her possessions to his Dad. He’d decided to stay in Chicago though. He’d come to fall in love with the busy city, so he’d gotten himself a job at Rusty’s Smokehouse working behind the bar and moved into a new apartment. It was the scariest thing he’d ever done, but he knew he needed to. Working as a bartender may not have been where he’d seen himself when he was a kid, but he liked the public interaction. He liked that every shift was different, and even more so at this job where he worked a mix of day and night shifts thanks to the grill side of the place. He was happy.

But he knew he could be happier. And he really hoped Jake could be a part of that.

There was just something about Jake that made him smile – he was the cutest guy Alfie had seen in a long time. And it didn’t matter that he didn’t know how old Jake was. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know where he was from (because it was obvious by his slight accent that he wasn’t from Chicago). It didn’t matter that he didn’t know what he liked to do, what he hated to do. He just knew that Jake was a good change in his life, and he couldn’t wait to see how good a change it could be. He wanted to get to know the beautiful shy guy, wanted to see that enticing blush spread over his skin, wanted to be a part of his life. Alfie knew that Jake being part of his life could only be a good thing – how could someone that beautiful be bad?

So with a happy smile, Alfie grabbed his rucksack and threw his apron into the staff room laundry basket. His life was pretty damn good right now.

“See you tomorrow, Alfie!” his manager called.

“Yeah, see you,” Alfie grinned.

He could only hope that Jake felt the same.