{5}

She drove around to her side of the building and told me that there were actually quite a few other military personnel who lived in this apartment building. Not all though. It wasn’t on base, and it wasn’t one that the military set up for us, usually. But when the normal apartments weren’t available, this was the go-to. “I’m on the top floor. But there is an elevator, so it’s not bad. There are 5 floors, and I think the only apartment available, is also on the top floor, but it is the one of the last apartments on the floor. It might be yours. There is the apartment, at the very end, the open one, and then the one on the other side of. I know 2 guys live in the very last apartment and guys live on the other side of the open apartment. So, if it is yours, then you are sandwiched in between 4 guys. Good luck.” She laughed at me. My reaction was not the most pleasant. I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Lovely” I stated thick with sarcasm.

Her apartment was halfway down the hall from the elevators, and stairs, and she pointed the direction down the hall to her right, where the open apartment was. I tried to lean over to count the number of doors, from her apartment to what potentially would be or could be mine. 6. 6 doors down. Not too shabby. “They are all 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartments in this building. The master has an en suite. There is a balcony.” She tried to sell me on the apartment building as she unlocked her door. I smiled and noticed the doorbell on the side of her door. I thought of being a jerk and ringing it, even though she was standing right there. Oh, if I do live in the apartment down the hall, I can only imagine ringing her doorbell, every time I walked past her door. I chuckled to myself. Yep. I would do it.

Walking into the apartment, first it’s a decent sized kitchen, with a small laundry room off of it and a small coat closet. Then it opens to a dining room and living room, to one side of the living room was a bedroom and a bathroom, and to the opposite side, I was sure was the master bedroom. Straight ahead, where the living room was, there was double glass doors, I am assuming was the balcony. “This is cute. I like the setup.” I told Katie and she nodded. “It’s not bad, but it’s home away from home.” Katie is a country girl. From Oregon. She grew up on a cattle ranch, in eastern Oregon, and I know she misses it. She misses her horses and dogs. I got to go with her for a weekend to her ranch, back when we were stationed together the last time. I loved it. I loved everything about the ranch. From the goats to the dogs, to the horses. When she took me, I got to ride the horses, and she even taught me how to round up cattle. The only thing I didn’t like was the rattle snakes. I watched her use a metal shovel and sever its head from its body. That was an experience for me. I am a city girl. But she thinks I fit in well at the ranch. I rode horses a lot before, so I knew that part of it.

I sat on her couch and waited while she showered and got ready for the day. She still hadn’t told me what we were going to do. So, while I was waiting, I was flipping through the tv channels, and ended up on a rerun of Real World on MTV. Man, I haven’t watched this show since high school. It was great. I loved the drama on it. I wasn’t usually one for drama and reality tv, but something about this show made it worth the cringe. Katie came into the living room, dressed in short denim shorts and a teal tank top and flip flops. She had her long light brown hair, braided, and pulled over her shoulder. She didn’t put on any makeup and grabbed her keys and wallet. “Let’s go, you are gonna love today, I promise.” She grinned. Oh, this could be trouble. I turned off her tv and stood up. I grabbed my phone and wallet off her table, and we headed out of her apartment.