“Come on in. I have plates. I mean, of course I have plates. I just meant,
yeah. We can eat inside. Of course we can do that too. Okay, I’ll just shut
up now.” Romi blushed, but turned quickly to hide it. She led the way up to
the second story and into her apartment.
Kiera felt better when she realized Romi was nervous too. She might
have been brave enough to extend the invitation, and intuitive enough to
realize that Kiera would likely accept it, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t
scared too.
Romi’s kitchen was so tiny that the small wooden table with the two
chairs barely fit in it, but she set out the plates and utensils quickly. She
took the bag of food and placed it on the counter, where she unpacked it.
“Sorry. I know it’s not that big. They call it a one bedroom, but I think
that it’s barely above a bachelor apartment. The landlord never fixes
anything here either. The appliances don’t work half the time,” she shot a
dirty look at the yellow fridge and the mismatched brown stove, “but it’s
affordable. I’m ashamed to say that my parents helped me pay for it when I
was going to school, since I was so certain that I wanted to live on my own.
They wanted me to live at home, but…” Romi shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s
just nice to have your own space too. Not that I didn’t like living with them.
Because I did. I loved it. I just thought…never mind. I’m talking about
nothing again.”
“It’s okay. I get it.”
Romi snatched her plate off the table and started heaping food onto it.
Kiera filled hers too, even though she wasn’t certain she’d do anything
more than pick at it. She sat down across from Romi at the table, but stared
at the small row of painted wood cabinets. They were brown, and the paint
drips were apparent in the corners, as were the chips around the handles.
Apparently, they’d once been painted a mustard yellow.
It was easier to focus on the cupboards, the sink, the yellow vinyl floor
with the brown squares, the ancient fridge which was buzzing loudly, than it