Ruth’s POV

I press the tape gun directly over the crease of the cardboard box and slide it over until sealing it tightly and labeling it with a black marker, “Random Shit.” I lift the no-so-heavy box and stack it on top of one of the other boxes that sits around the naked bed in my room before hopping of top of it and taking a seat. I look around the almost barren room and take in the fact that I have to live alone now.

I’ve been living with Serena ever since I got out of college and when she finished her homeschooling and now I’m being kicked out. Lovely.

“You know, when we told you that you need to move out, we didn’t mean a week later,” Calum chuckles in the doorway to my room.

“Well, you did say that you wanted me out as soon as possible and I did just that.”

After leaving Ashton’s apartment on Thursday, I went straight over to the landlord’s office and talked to Jeff, the owner of the apartment complex, and asked to see if I could get a hold of the soon-to-be vacant room. Apparently, he had just finished putting it up on the market so I was literally first in line to jump at getting it. If that’s not luck then I don’t know what is.

All it took was a few signatures and putting down a deposit and the place was mine. During the weekend, the couple that lived there finished clearing everything out and the apartment was cleaned and prepped for my arrival.

“I’m beginning to rethink this whole ‘moving out’ thing,” Serena pops her head out from behind Calum before shoving him out of the way and dashing over to the boxes where she jumps onto the one next to me and takes a seat.

“Now that I’m all packed, you choose to rethink things,” I giggle at my pouting best friend as she kicks her legs back in forth in the air. I’ve always been by her side since we were little so to have to leave like this must be hurting her. At least I’m only going to be about fifteen minutes away, so when she needs to vent about Calum being stupid like she always does, I won’t be that far. “You know, you can always move in with me and we can just leave Cal here,” I suggest.

“I’d be all up for that except I have to marry his ass in like three months so I can’t really leave him right now,” she huffs. “Stupid commitment.”

“Love you too, Ser,” Calum teases, grinning so hard that the corners of his eyes are creasing. He’s so good for her. If it weren’t for my brother, they would have never met, and as I’ve watched them grow as a couple over the years, I don’t know how either of their lives would have turned out if they didn’t meet.

“You’ll be fine,” I pat her shoulder. “I’m not leaving the country, just down a few blocks. And Ashton and Michael are living in my complex so if anything happens to me you can blame them and hopefully get even more of a discount on your cake.”

“Wait, Ashton lives there too?” Oh crap. I forgot to tell her. She knows that Michael lives there, but I never mentioned Ashton being my neighbor. She still doesn’t know that I’ve been talking to him since last week either. Or that I’m getting free desserts from him. And the Bad Friend Award goes to…

“Yeah, he lives two doors down from my place,” I reveal and she only nods. Why does she have a problem with Michael, but not Ashton? She hounds me down and gets protective when Michael talked to me in the kitchen last week, but when I mention that Ashton is living down the hall from me, it doesn’t faze her. I don’t understand.

She hops off the boxes and straightens out her red dress. “Maybe you’ll learn a thing or two about baking now that you’ll be living near him,” she jokes, but there is a hint of seriousness in her tone.

“Just because I can neither bake nor cook, doesn’t mean you can tease me about it, woman.”

“How are you going to survive without Calum’s or my cooking?” she places her hand over her heart and acts distressed. “How are you going to feed yourself?”

“There’s this thing called microwavable food and take-out,” I simply reply. For years, I’ve been trying to avoid having to cook because once back in high school, I tried to make baked mac n’ cheese and I almost burned my house down; flames were literally spilling out of the oven. So, from that day forward, I vowed to never cook again.

“You’re going to be broke by the end of the month if you do that,” Calum lectures. When it comes to money, Cal knows how to handle it like a pro. I don’t know why he doesn’t become an accountant or something instead of working for an advertising company.

“I’ll be fine,” I wave him off even though I know he’s right. “I’ll work on the whole cooking thing and hopefully not burn down the entire apartment complex in the process.” But for now I’m sticking with my original plan until I go buy some pots and pans as well as everything else I need to fill my apartment with.

The couple looks to one another with skeptical expressions, hinting that they don’t believe me at all which I don’t blame them. “Alright,” they say simultaneously before breaking into a fit of laughter over the fact that they said something at the same time.

“Now can we go load up the car? I’d like to have everything unpacked by tonight so that I don’t have to sleep surrounded by boxes.” I hop off the box, pick it up and drop it in Calum’s arms.

“So pushy,” he complains before turning out of my bedroom and out of the apartment.

“Who’s going to help you unpack?” Serena gives me the guiltiest face because she and Cal can’t help me today since they are going to talk to the people who own the venue that they are considering to have the wedding at.

“Michael called me the other day and told me that he has today off and so does Ashton, so they’re going to help me get the boxes up to my floor. I don’t know if they’re going to help me unpack, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind,” I tell her.

Michael had to beg for my forgiveness after pulling that stunt last week. He loaded my phone up with text messages and when I didn’t reply to them out of pure amusement of his behavior, he began to call me over and over again and I can only stand my ringtone for so long before I snap. So, after about fifteen apologies and a promise to help me move in, I forgave him.

As for Ashton, he has only sent me one text after I left his place and that was just a quick ‘hey’. I haven’t had the chance to reply to him because somehow every time I try to, something gets in the way and distracts me from doing so. I feel bad that I haven’t talked to him seeing that he wasn’t much of an ass when he was giving me a tour of him place the other day, and because he really helped make the decision for me to move in.

I pull out my phone and find his text and begin writing a reply after seven days of having it sit in my inbox. “You ready for some physical labor, Irwin?” I send. Now that I think of it, that’s not really an appropriate response to ‘hey’, but there’s nothing I can do about it now.

“They better not or else they’ll have to deal with me,” she warns playfully. I find it cute how she tries to protect me even though I’m older than her.

“Right, Serena’s wrath; you don’t wanna mess with that,” I tease and lift up one of the boxes and hand it to her before grabbing one of my own and walking out of the room. “We should probably help Cal so that I can get out of here faster.”

Serena struggles behind me with the box as we exit the apartment and head down the stairs. “Eager to get away from me?”

“Oh, definitely,” I grin and place the box in the back seat of my car. Feeling the vibrations from my phone in my pocket, I pull it out, excited to see what Ashton’s reply is.

“That’s a wonderful greeting, Powell. And yes, I am most definitely ready because we have a surprise for you when you get here ;)”

____________

After a good half hour of packing everything in my car, securing my mattress to the top of it because I like to be a driving hazard, and calming down Serena after she broke into tears due to me leaving, I head off to my new apartment. I’m still curious as to what this ‘surprise’ is that Ashton is talking about in his text. The only thing that I can think of is a house warming gift, but I highly doubt it’s that.  

I park in my designated spot which isn’t too far from the building at all. And it has a little roof over it so when it rains, or if the weather is complete shit, my car will be safe. I send a text to both Michael and Ashton, letting them know I’m here before heading over to Jeff’s office to pick up my room key.

As I open the door, I hear quiet snores coming from inside the office which can only mean one of two things: Jeff is sleeping or he has some serious respiratory issues. I push open the door further to see that my first guess is right; he’s sleeping on his desk. His short brown hair is flying in different directions and I’m pretty sure that once I wake him up, the paper that is beneath his cheek will probably stick to it. I knock on his desk to try and wake him up, but that fails, so I resort to my usual way of waking people up which consists of me tugging at their hair until I get a response out of them.

I grasp onto his hair and quickly let go once he yelps in pain. I put my hands at my side and act as innocent as possible so that Jeff won’t know that I am the cause of his rude awakening. With a grin I ask, “Can I have my room key?”

Jeff is still groggy from waking up, so he only nods and digs around for the key in the box behind him with the spares for other rooms until finding mine and handing it to me.

“Thank you,” I say before skipping out of the office. A dirt cheap monthly rent and a passive landlord; sounds like a pretty good start to my new living arrangement.

I walk down the sidewalk, my boots clicking against the cement, over to the complex where both Michael and Ashton are standing outside in jeans and t-shirts with the sleeves ripped off. How they’re not cold is beyond me.

“Hey guys,” I greet, waving to them both.

Michael comes up and pulls me into a friendly hug, almost lifting my feet up off the ground in the process. “Hola señorita,” he says.

“I don’t speak French.”

“That was Spanish,” he corrects me.

“I don’t speak that either.”

He chuckles and lets me go. I turn over to Ashton who looks almost livid as he glares at Michael, but when he sees that I am staring at him, he stops and smiles.

“Good to see you again, Ruth,” he holds his arm open and we give each other a quick side hug which seems a bit too friendly on our level. I would have been fine with a nod or handshake.

“You too,” I grin. “So what’s this surprise you were talking about?”

Ashton turns to Michael with a devious smirk which Michael replicates and they both turn their heads back to me. “Close your eyes,” Ashton orders and I raise my eyebrow. I don’t trust guys when they tell me to close my eyes for the sake of some surprise. “Or don’t. That works too.” He places his hands on my shoulders and begins pushing me over to where the elevator sits.

My eyes trail the silver doors and when I reach the white sign that hangs center stage on the metal, I nearly lose my shit. I shake my head from side to side and Ashton and Michael snicker behind me as I throw a mini tantrum. “No, no, no, no. That can’t be right. I just used this elevator last week! Why the hell is it under maintenance now?” Then it hits me. No elevator means that we have to take the stairs. That’s six flights of stairs because the stupid architects thought it would be aesthetically pleasing to have two flights of stairs to get to each floor.

“Some kid decided to play in it the other day and got stuck in it after pushing all the buttons. I’m pretty sure he fried the generator and killed the power system,” Michael keeps his amused smirk plastered on his porcelain face.

“My surprise is the sudden realization that we have to take the stairs to bring my stuff up to my apartment?” I don’t care about the kid who got stuck in the elevator. It’s the little shit’s fault that I now have to climb up the stairs.

“Yup,” Ashton says quickly and if it weren’t for his dimple peeking out, I would be much angrier. I hate being a sucker for dimples.

“You both suck,” I groan and push back my hair that seems to be having the time of its life in this windy weather. I give up with trying to fix it and gather it all together before grabbing the black elastic around my wrist and tying it up into a ponytail.

“We never said that we were going to be the best of neighbors,” Michael laughs, placing his hand on my back. “But we do have something that will help motivate you,” he sings.

“Is it an elevator? Because right now that seems like the only thing that will give me enough motivation to climb up and down these stairs to get all my stuff up there.”

“If I was a mechanic, you’d have an elevator,” Ashton winks, “but I’m a baker so all you get is a banana cream pie.”

The curly-headed boy gives me a cheesy smile and tries to evoke any sort of reaction out of me. “You know, I beginning to believe that you think the only way to get me to do something is to bribe me with food.”

“You know the saying: ‘The way to a girl’s heart is through her stomach,’” he shrugs his shoulders and giggles at his own attempt at a joke.

I blink furiously at the blond standing before me, unable to think of a witty comeback. The sad truth is that his statement is actually true in my case—well, it may not be the way to my heart, but it’s damn close. With my sweet tooth, you can get me to do almost anything with some type of dessert. Almost anything. Example number one: I paid a little girl thirty dollars for Girl Scout cookies and then ate all the boxes within a week all because she persuaded me into buying the new flavors that they came out with. Example number two: Ashton and his proposition to change my view of him with free desserts as a bribe. Example number three: The fact that I am actually motivated now to climb these godforsaken stairs.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I gripe, trying my best to ignore his cheeky comment as I push past them. I take off in the direction of my parked car with the two boys trailing behind me; catching up quickly with their long strides.

They both suggest that I take the lighter boxes to prevent myself from falling backwards or stumbling as I climb up the stairs while they take the heavier ones. I’m not a fan of people who undermine me and think that I’m weak because of my size and structure. I may be a foot shorter than them, but geez. I have a good amount of upper body strength, at least enough to carry some of the heavier boxes, but I guess I shouldn’t really make a scene out of this; it’s a nice gesture for them to do this.

As I take the first box up the ridiculous amount of stairs, Ashton is the first to follow behind me and make smart ass remarks about how I’m so slow. Since I am too busy trying to keep myself balanced, I tell him to shut up and then proceed to hit him on the shoulder once we reach my apartment door.

He rubs his non-injured shoulder after placing the box down on the ground, waiting for me to open the door. “You know, I may just have to revoke your privilege of having some of that pie,” he teasingly threatens.

“I can live without it.” I put on my best poker face as I turn to face him once getting the key in the hole. He raises an eyebrow and gives me the ‘yeah, right’ look that slightly irritates me. “I can!” I am actually hoping that he’s not actually serious because if I don’t get that pie, all motivation will be lost.   

“Sure you can, sweetheart,” he doubts me, lacing each word that falls off his tongue with sarcasm. First the elevator and now he’s mocking me; what a great neighbor he is.

I roll my eyes and turn the key; unlocking the door to my new home and pushing it wide open with my foot as I carry the box in my arms inside the empty space. I take the familiar route that is similar to Ashton’s apartment down the entryway and just like he predicted, the layout is reversed compared to his. Instead of having the living room, dining room, and kitchen to the right of the entryway, they are to the left, and the bed and bathroom are to the right.

It’s so weird walking into a place that literally has no furniture. Everything is barren and it makes the space look bigger, not to mention echo-y; each step I take reverberates off the walls and fills the room with my movements. It’s a good thing that I brought my bed frame and mattress so that I at least have one piece of furniture until I can pick up the heavier pieces that I left back at Serena’s. However, even with those pieces, I’m still going to have to go shopping soon to make this place homier.

I guide myself over into the living room and set the light box down in the center of the room on the wood floor and Ashton copies my actions. “Time for round two,” I sigh, knowing that there is going to be more than two rounds to get everything that is stuffed in my car up here.

After stretching my back, I attempt to head back over to the entryway to get back to work, but Ashton holds his arm out in front of me, blocking my path and is dangerously close to touching my boobs. Watch it, Irwin.

“You stay here,” he commands. “Michael and I will get everything else. You just worry about figuring out where you want us to put everything.”

“Then why did you make me take a box up here if you guys were going to do all the work anyway?”

He drops his arm and walks past me, turning his head over his shoulder before reaching the entryway. “Because it’s fun messing with you,” he says with a straight face as if it is obvious before walking out the door.

He just changed from a cheeky asshole to a tolerable asshole in less than ten minutes. I’ll admit, his cocky attitude seems to have died down a bit, but it’s still there nonetheless. I do however, appreciate his generosity at letting me relax while they do all the work. Although, I hope I’ll still be getting pie after this.  

Michael comes in shortly after Ashton had left and I instruct him to place the box that he’s carrying in his arms next to the other two boxes that Ashton and I brought up. He asks me why I’m not downstairs helping them and I explain to him that I was told to stay here by the teasing baker—I didn’t really call him that, but I did in my mind.

He stares blankly at me, blinking a couple of times and then slightly lifting the corner of his mouth. “Okay,” he says, casually walking back out the door and leaving me to figure out how I want to arrange my new home.

After about four trips up and down the devil stairs and watching Michael and Ashton struggle to get my mattress up to the third floor while I yelled, “Pivot!”, the two boys walk into the apartment with the final two boxes from my car.

“Ruth,” Michael shouts from the entryway, “where do you want me to put the box labeled ‘random shit’?”

I giggle at the label of the box even though I’m the one who wrote it. “Can you put it in the bedroom?” I holler from the living room. He nods to me before heading to the opposite side of the apartment with Ashton following behind him, holding the box labeled ‘clothes and things’.

While they do as I say, I begin to open the box that I brought up and unpack the few items that go in the living room which literally consists of a lamp with no table to set it on and a few framed photographs that I bought at a flea market last year.

“That’s some living room you got there,” Ashton jokes, his eyes wandering around the furniture-less space.

“I know, even I’m baffled by it,” I sarcastically reply, earning a crooked smile from him. “I need to go furniture shopping.” I let Calum and Serena have the living room furniture back at my old apartment, so now I have to buy some of my own. I still have to go back and pick up my dresser and desk since I couldn’t fit it in my car, so I’m stuck pulling clothes out of a box and doing my work on the floor until then.

“Is this really all that you have?” Michael joins us.

“Pretty much,” I say. “I still have a couple things back at my old place, but they wouldn’t fit in my car so I’ll have to get them another day because I don’t feel like driving again. Today has been a long day of hard labor and I’m just too tired to do anything now,” I fake exhaustion and lie on my back on the cold wood floor.

“You didn’t do anything,” Michael laughs and I shush him.

Several knocks on my front door cause me to sit up straight and furrow my brows in confusion. I have no clue who would be knocking on my door seeing that the only two people who I know here are standing in the living room with me. I stand to my feet and amble over to the door with Michael and Ashton on my trail behind me and open it without looking through the peep hole to see who it is.

My jaw drops in surprise once I see who is behind the door. Standing before me, a familiar tall blond smiles widely at me with his arms open wide, ready for me to jump into them. It’s been three years since I’ve seen him and he hasn’t changed one bit. His hair is still pushed up in its usual style, making him look even taller than he already is and his wardrobe consisting of ripped black jeans, a t-shirt with holes in it and a black leather jacket still suit him nicely. The only new thing about him is the black lip ring adorning his bottom lip.  

“Luke!” I yell. A toothy smile spreads across my face, making my cheeks hurt. I leap into his open arms, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He catches me quickly and laughs while hugging me tightly. “What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too, Ruth.” His voice has gotten a little deeper than I remember. Skype chats and phone calls don’t compare to actually seeing him in person after so long. “Calum called me and said that you got a new apartment so I thought I would come and surprise you.”

I drop from his grasp and look up at Luke who still hasn’t let the smile fade from his face. Before I can say anything else to him, someone clearing their throat gains my attention and I turn to the confused and slightly irritated boys behind me.

“Oh, sorry!” I apologize to them. “Michael, Ashton, this is my brother, Luke.”

__________

A/N:

After so long, I have finally updated. This is a terrible filler and I hate it so much, but Luke is finally in the picture! Did any of you see this coming? Yes, Luke and Ruth are going to have different last names, but I’ll explain that in the next chapter.

I’m so sorry for the long wait for this chapter. I’ve been working on PYW and school is blah and I changed my major to journalism and I’m always busy studying. It sucks. But at least this chapter is a lot longer than my other ones!

Thank you guys for 1.4k reads! I really appreciate all your support and I hope even with these slow updates, you will continue to read! Please continue to vote, comment, share, follow and all that stuff! :)

I love you guys lots! –Rebecca xoxoxoxoxo