Page 28 of Some Things Never Change

I let out a laugh as he scoffed, pretending to be offended. I shook my head at him.

“Come on, Andy. What’s wrong with me driving and you being the passenger? You can just sit there and look dashing, pretty boy.” He grumbled, and I laughed again. “Think about it! I’d drop you off at work in the morning, then go to my project sites, and come back later in the day to pick you up. Isn’t that a great idea?”

“How about I drive? I drive to work and back on the days you’re driving all over the city. You’ll be tired by the time you come and pick me up at the end of the day. Meanwhile, I’ve only been at work in my cubicle.”

“If that’s the case, why don’t we get on the same car insurance policy then? Isn’t it cheaper to get multiple cars on one policy instead of paying for separate policies anyway?”

“That’s actually not a bad idea. And we’ll both be covered in case anything happens while we’re driving each other’s cars.”

We discussed the logistics of that and agreed I can cancel my policy once my term was up with my insurer since mine was ending in a month. After we were done with dinner, Andy helped wash the dishes. He was soon back in his office, finishing up some work while I talked to Shoua and Anthony in my room. I was putting together a few day’s worth of work outfits in advance for my first week.

“Are you excited to flip that thirty-dollar dresser you got from the thrift store?” asked Shoua.

She was on speaker as my phone sat on the new mattress and bed frame I bought since moving here two weeks ago. Most of my things were still in boxes in a corner of this spacious, empty room. The most unpacking I had done so far was digging up some of my work clothes from the suitcases to hang them in the closet.

After being motivated by Andy to start up my old hobby again, I’d been hanging out at the thrift stores these past few days to find a nightstand I could flip for my room. That was really all I needed for now. It took a lot of sweat and arm power over several long hours, but I was eventually able to strip the black paint off of the dresser we got.

I was excited to finally see it in its wooden frame. All I needed to do now was sand it down. But even that would be its own feat. I didn’t want to sand the entire thing manually, since my arms were already too sore from all the paint I scraped off. Especially not when I could get an electric sander to get the job done in less time.

“Yeah, but I don’t think I’d be able to do much since I still need to get an electric sander first,” I said.

“WAIT, Julie! Don’t spend money on one. I can just send you my older one!” yelled Anthony from the background.

He lived next door to Shoua in the duplex they bought together and they were always together. My cousin was the same age as the twins. Because of this, she was in the same grade with them and often stuck in the same classes from grade school through high school. This naturally made the three of them close.

Anthony and Shoua have always been a bit closer than she and Andy. I know she cared about Andy, but Anthony was clearly her favorite for as long as the three of them had known each other. In fact, the two of them have started to be joined at the hip since last year.

Andy, Jonathan, and I thought they were already secretly together and were trying to hide it from us this entire past year. It turned out we were completely wrong. It turned out Shoua was harboring a crush on Anthony lately and confessed to us about it. We didn’t know that while Shoua fell first, Anthony hadn’t.

“Anthony, are you sure?” I asked.

I stared into the big, wooden full-length mirror in front of me, which I had also thrifted.

“Yeah! Remember how Andy got me a new one for Christmas? I don’t have much use for my older one anymore, so I can just ship it to you,” he answered quickly.

“Sure, if you don’t mind,” I said.

“I’ll send it out tomorrow morning before heading to work. Can’t wait to see what you do with that dresser! How’s it been living with my older brother? Seems like he really did convince you to start flipping furniture again, huh?”

Living with Andy was great so far. Even though we had only been living together for two weeks, our daily routines easily fell into each other’s patterns. We eventually came up with rules and signed an agreement on how much I would pay for my room. But even then, Andy was super lenient on that. I doubted we would even fight about chores since we always helped one another out either with dishes or with things around the house anyway.

Since we agreed it was just best to share groceries, we often did the shopping together. We tried to split the bill down the middle, but Andy would always grab something from my stash to pay for and I would chide him for that in the car ride home. We even agreed to have a set schedule on who cooks dinner for the day so neither of us would unfairly cook more than the other.

We flowed well with one another at home. As much as I loved both my previous roommates, Cindy and Lily, we still had our differences when it came to our lives at home when we lived together. Same with an ex-boyfriend I lived with before. But with Andy, we just balanced one another out somehow.

When I was eating too much junk, Andy would always make something with plenty of protein and vegetables for dinner. Or, when one of us cooked, the other always helped clean and put the dishes away after putting them through the dishwasher. Then, after dinner, we would wind down in front of the TV and build a bit of whatever Lego project Andy had on hand together.

It was easy and almost domestic living with him.

Chapter

Twelve

“I love living with Andy. He’s probably the best roommate I’ve ever had. But it did take him a little while to persuade me to start flipping furniture again. I honestly haven’t done much though, besides spending several days stripping paint off of that dresser.”

“At least he’s a good roommate with you, because he was annoying as hell as when we were kids.” Anthony snorted. “I’m glad he convinced you to get back on your hobby. You were talented at it, too.”

“Thanks, Anthony.”

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