Taking The Chance

My alarm goes off at 6:30 am as I get up out of my bed for the final time for the foreseeable future with my big move to Harrington Cove just hours away. I get up out of bed and look around at my room as I get up and start to head downstairs. I wander down and Mum has cooked a smorgasbord breakfast for me and the whole family who are already here bright and early. “MUM…. Why did you need to do this?”.

She smiles “Kyle, I’m not going to let you go right across the country without a proper breakfast”. I roll my eyes and sit at the table as she fills a plate full of food for me as she puts it down and everyone has to get their own food. I can see the hurt in Mum’s eyes knowing that It will be the last time that she cooks for me.

After we finish breakfast, I head upstairs and take a shower and change into a loose Black & White T-shirt and shorts to cope with the 6-hour flight across to Harrington Cove. I finish packing the last of my things and put them in the bag and walk downstairs. “I’m all packed, when’s the airport ride coming?” I ask Mum who has a smile on her face.

“Well… we all decided that we were going to take you to the airport because we thought it would be nice to have one more trip and see you off to Harrington Cove”. I look across at her and roll my eyes “I thought we weren’t going to have any big emotional send-offs at the airport?”.

Mum looks at me “I know that we promised that, but it’s the last time that I’ll get to hug you for months and you know I just want the last one…. Plus, Dad isn’t here at the moment and he wanted to see you go”. I nod “Yeah alright, I guess that’s only fair but make sure you don’t put on the waterworks ok?”.

I sit and watch TV for a bit before it’s time to go to the airport, I have a quick walk around the house taking everything in before we go down to the car and head to the airport. Mum doesn’t say a lot to me “Is everything, ok mum?”.

She sits there and looks at me “Yeah of course I am, just tough knowing that I’m not going to see my baby boy for months”. I nod and get where she’s coming from “But you still have the twins that will be around every night”. Mum laughs and rolls her eyes “Yeah, but it’s not quite the same you know”.

We get to the airport and wander towards the terminal, outside the airport doors I see my brothers standing next to my grandparents and Dad wandering over towards them “I thought it was going to be just the two of you” I say shaking my head about everyone making this such a big deal.

We all sit and have coffee as my grandparents give me a final present which they don’t want me to open until I get settled into my new place. The time flies by before it’s time for me to go to the gate, I hug everyone and stand there and wave back to them and walk through to the gate.

I get on the plane and go to start my new life, there is a weird sense of excitement, nervousness, and sadness thinking of how close my family is. On the plane, I scroll through the movies and watch a couple before the plane lands. I sit in my seat towards the end of disembarkation and wander out into the airport.

The airport in Harrington Cove is totally different from what I was expecting. As I’m leaving the gate, I see someone holding a sign with my name on it “I’m Kyle Nicholls?”. The guy smiles “I’m Tyler, Jeremy should’ve told you that I was coming by to pick you up”.

I nod “Yeah, he said someone would be waiting for me but I didn’t expect someone to be holding up a sign as soon as I got off the plane” I laugh as we start to walk out of the airport only stopping to get a coffee.

Tyler looks at me “How was the flight here? I know from experience that it’s quite a trip” he says “I come from Parkdale originally so have to fly to Diamond Valley to drive out to Parkdale. I smile and answer “Yeah, it wasn’t too bad I managed to watch a couple of movies and have a nap”.

The drive into Harrington Cove is an eye-opener for me, Diamond Valley is a region that is still very traditional, whilst there is modernisation going on, it’s still got an old-fashioned charm about it compared to Harrington Cove which is a city full of modern skyscrapers and glass buildings. I’m in awe about everything about the town especially as Tyler pulls into an underground carpark of one of the tallest buildings in the city we’ve passed so far.

“This is it, your new apartment building courtesy of Wiggler,” he says as we pull up into the car park and get out of the car. “Just leave your stuff here, we’re meeting the building manager to give you the details and the keys”.

We head into the elevator and head inside; I’m stunned by the building and expect inside to be on one of the lower floors of the building. We get in there and the building manager is there with paperwork and the keys. “Afternoon Tyler and you must be Kyle, good to meet you”, I smile as the building manager and I shake hands.

“Jeremy has sent through all the paperwork and you’ve signed that just the last few bits and pieces to sign” I sign some paperwork and read it through “Wait… does this say my apartment is on level 68?”.

The building manager nods his head “Yeah, is that going to be an issue?” both he and Tyler look at me like I’m going to say something wrong. “Uh definitely not at all, it’s just I don’t think I’ve ever been into a building that has 68 floors let alone live up the top” I laugh.

Once everything is signed, we head up to look around the apartment. I can’t believe the size of the fully furnished apartment, it’s modern, has amazing views of the city, and feels as big as my house at home. I take a moment to take everything in and decide on which bedroom I am going to use.

I come back downstairs and pick up my bags with Tyler’s help as we carry everything up to my new apartment. “Thanks, Tyler, I’d say can I get you anything but there wouldn’t be anything in the cupboards or fridge”. He smiles and says that it’s alright and that he needs to go anyways.

He leaves and I pick up my phone and turn it back on, the messages pile up as I turn it up with Mum messaging me over and over again, I read through a few:

“Hi Kyle, are you there yet, let me know when you are”, “Kyle, is everything ok haven’t heard from you yet”, “KYLE… I’m starting to get worried”.

I decide to ring Mum just to appease her worries “Hey Mum, I’m here and in the apartment, I only just turned my phone off flight mode”. I hear her take a deep breath and sigh “Oh Kyle, I was starting to get really worried something happened”.

I roll my eyes and talk to Mum and tell her about the apartment and she gets excited by all the details before finally letting me go.

I realise that there is no food in the cupboards or the fridge so I decide to take a walk around the area to find a store where I can buy some basics for food. I wander out and bump into a guy with his own groceries, only just able to catch them. “Sorry dude, that was my fault I didn’t look where I was going”. He just smiles with the greatest smile that I’ve ever seen “Nah not at all, I was looking for my keys and walked into you”.

I smile and help him with his stuff as he goes into the apartment next door to mine “I guess I’m your new neighbour Kyle” He smiles “Ah you’re Kyle, I’ve heard a bit about you, I’m Nathan we’ll be working together at Wiggler”. I put my hand out “Is everybody in this building working at Wiggler?” I say laughing at how many people there are.

Nathan smiles “As far as I know just me and you that’s all, the company owns both apartments on this floor”. I nod and take in his fit body and cute smile “Fair enough then, guess we’ll be seeing plenty of each other around the place then”.

I look around his apartment and see a few pictures of him standing next to another cute guy, we both start to speak at the same time “Did…. Oh sorry, you go” Nathan says to me.

“You go, you wanted to ask me something?” I say to him as he puts his groceries away “Did you want to stay for dinner if you’re not too tired or anything from flying in?”.

I smile and accept his offer “Ah yeah that would be nice actually, I don’t have anything in the cupboard or fridge so was just going to buy something”. Nathan smiles “Well now you don’t need to buy anything and just enjoy my cooking and I’ll introduce you to my husband Ethan”.

Standing there I think to myself “So Ethan must be the guy in the photos”. I smile and tell Nathan that I’ll come back at about 6ish after I’ve had time to go to the shop and clean up.