Chapter One: The Big Apple (Part 1)

Taylor

The buildings here are so tall! And yeah, she knew that already, academically, but it’s another thing to see them in person. At least Willa seems just as awed as she is as the cab takes them from the airport to their apartment. They’re a bit early, orientation isn’t for another week, but since they’re staying off campus they can move up whenever they want. Taylor’s mom wanted them to live with some locals so they don’t get dumped into city life on their own, and as part of that she gave her one of the apartments she’s had floating around her real estate portfolio since she was last living in New York, sometime in the late 1800s. The cab drops them up out front, and they head up.

Huh. It’s kinda cramped. She knew apartments in the city are supposed to be kinda small, but even though the ceilings are pretty high there’s just nowhere near as much floorspace as even Eddie’s house back home. It’s split across two floors, with the building staircase opening into the dining room, with an archway leading to the kitchen and doors to four bedrooms and a bathroom. In the corner is a spiral staircase leading upstairs to a room on the roof, furnished as a living room and clearly a later addition, with a glass wall looking over a rooftop terrace. The place clearly shows its age, while the kitchen and bathrooms were clearly renovated at some point in the past decade, and the upstairs living room was clearly built and furnished in the 80s, the furnishings and wallpaper elsewhere are all antique.

It’s gorgeous though. The furniture and accents are all made from some kind of dark wood, with a lacquer that almost seems to glow in a way that the house in San Diego never seemed to, with its simple walls and white painted trim. She pokes her head into each of the bedrooms as she goes past, they each have a bay window with thick curtains befitting a vampire’s sensitivity to the sun, though having grown up in southern California Taylor doesn’t have as much to worry about on that front.

But that’s enough wandering around. She hauls her suitcases into one of the rooms overlooking the street, Willa, interestingly, chooses one facing the building’s yard, and sends a text to their new roommates.

Max

Holy shit this place is huge! Taylor’s family must be rich as hell to afford a place like this, it’s a bit smaller than his old house out in Queens, but this is an apartment in Manhattan, not a townhouse in Queens. Taylor came down to let him and Avery in and take them upstairs. It’s a good thing the place is already furnished, because hauling anything heavy up here is going to be a pain even with Avery’s help.

It’s kinda a dump though. Sure, everything is clean and well maintained, but the decor feels like it hasn’t been updated in nearly a century. Tiffany Lamps? Really? The upstairs (this apartment has an upstairs! And a terrace!) is a bit newer looking, but not by much.

The girl that let them in is showing them around, and she’s about what he expected for a girl from California. Tanned and blond, she reminds him of Avery, kind of. They look pretty different, but she’s got the same build, strong yet flexible, and she’s got the same expression on her face that Avery does when she’s excited about something. It’s cute, on both of them.

“Me and Willa already claimed bedrooms, so you’ll have to pick between those two,” she’s saying, pointing at two of the doors, then moving to knock on a third, “Willa come out and meet our roommates!”

Avery

Willa is not what she expected. She’s absolutely tiny, with hair so red there’s no way it’s not dyed, and she’s got the same vaguely athletic build Taylor does. The same build Max has, now that she thinks about it.

She’s also really cute.

Like really cute. A lot of the other girls in gymnastics look like this, and Avery’s always been enthralled by them. She knows she’s staring, but she can’t help it.

And if she’s not mistaken Willa seems to be looking at her in the same way.