Page 26 of Some Things Never Change

“Well—” I started, thinking about the ones I could remember off the top of my head.

“Exactly. I think it’s for the best that I don’t date. Speaking of dating, how about you? Are you planning to start dating now that you moved to a new city?”

“Nope, I’m good. I think I’m going to focus on myself for a little while before jumping back into that. Besides, we have each other if we get a little lonely. Right?”

Andy’s lips upturned into a small smile. “Sure. That’s what you say until you get yourself a boyfriend.”

I feigned a sad face with a fake pout and sad puppy eyes. “Aw, are you worried I’m going to get a boyfriend and forget about you, Andy? You know I would never do that to my best friend.”

He snorted with the playful roll of his eyes. “No, but I’m glad to hear you’re perfectly content with just being with me.”

After brunch, we hit up the thrift stores. I tried not to have any expectations in mind. Thrifting furniture is hard in the sense that you don’t know what will be available to you. Since everything is also secondhand, the condition of the pieces may vary as well. Some furniture has been well kept, but others, not so much.

I used to have the magic touch when it came to flipping furniture, so I wasn’t worried about not being able to salvage the furniture. If I wanted to, I could salvage anything, as long as I put the time, dedication, and love into it.

But I did worry about how long it had been since doing this. It wasn’t about whether I could do it or not. It was about if I could still turn these forgotten furnishings into the beauties I used to flip them into years ago.

“What’s wrong?” asked Andy, as he came up to my side.

The two of us were in a vast warehouse full of secondhand nightstands and drawers. Nothing stuck out for the mid-century modern bedroom I wanted. What I saw was either too simple or a bit too glamorous. I glanced at him to catch his hazel green eyes intently on me. I pulled my eyes away and stared down at a simple white drawer in front of me.

“Nothing,” I answered.

“No, something’s bothering you. I can tell. Are you worried you’re not going to find anything you like?”

“No, it’s not that.” I sighed.

“You sure?”

I shrugged. This was the fourth thrift store we had been to today, and it was late in the day already. It had the biggest furniture selection of the thrift stores here had offered so far. But there was nothing I liked. Even though I had no expectations of finding anything, I was still disappointed nonetheless.

“I mean, it is a little frustrating. This is the fourth thrift store we’ve been to so far, and I can’t find anything I like.”

“Actually, I think there’s something I found that you might like.”

My ears immediately perked up as I turned to Andy. I showed him some pictures I took inspiration from for my room earlier. I wanted him to be a second pair of eyes that could be on the lookout for me.

There was a big grin on his lips as he quickly led me over to a spot I missed during the rounds I made. I immediately saw what Andy was referring to in the distance. There stood a large double drawer coated in black paint with rounded frameworks.

It had black metal hardware still intact on some drawers, while others were missing it. The cute splayed legs added to the finishing touch, making the dresser look contemporary, despite all the surface level scratches and dents on it.

“I love it,” I said, smiling at Andy. “Thank you for noticing this dresser.”

“Of course.” He smiled back.

I leaned in to observe the dents on the side, which wasn’t enough to deter me from wanting it. I ran my fingers over what looked and felt like thick coats of black paint over the dresser, which was a shame. This was an amazing dresser, but the paint job was poorly done. As I checked the price tag, my jaw dropped.

“What the hell? The store marked this down to thirty dollars? Get it, Tink!”

I didn’t even hesitate as I hunted down a worker to help us move the dresser to the registers in the front. Thankfully, the rain already stopped pouring hours ago, but it was still overcast as we stepped outside. I tried to do my fair share of the heavy lifting, helping Andy put the dresser into the back of his SUV.

“What do you plan to do with it?” he asked as he started the car.

I couldn’t help grinning. Even though I had my doubts about how well I was going to do with my newly found project, it thrilled me to do this again.

“I’m going to strip that black paint down to the wooden frame and I’m going to stain it into a warm caramel brown.” I bounced in my seat a bit. “The only problem is that there seems to be a lot of paint, so it may take me a little while to strip it and sand everything down properly. Oh, right! Before I forget, can we please stop by the hardware store for supplies?”

Andy replied with a half ”yes” and half laugh as I started listing all the tools and things I needed. “You’re so adorable when you get excited.”

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