Chapter 10
We landed and headed to our rental apartment. I shared with two local girls while Adrian lived nearby. The adjustment period hit hard -academic pressure skyrocketed, and my cooking skills barely made things “edible.
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Fortunately, Adrian was a culinary genius. I felt guilty mooching meals at first, but the temptation won. Eventually I shamelessly showed up regularly, washing dishes to pay my debt.
But my roommates were nightmarish–one partied nightly with deafening music, the other had questionable hygiene, leaving chaos everywhere. Between sleepless nights and poor meals, I looked haggard within a week.
During a meal at Adrian’s, I casually complained.
He listened quietly, put down his fork, and adjusted his glasses. “Emily, want to move in? My roommate just left, there’s an empty. room.”
He paused, then added, “Meals would be convenient too.”
Faced with basic needs like food and sleep, I barely hesitated.
Adrian radiated an aura of “pure and ascetic” reliability that made living with him feel completely safe.
After moving in, my quality of life skyrocketed–finally sleeping peacefully and waking to breakfast.
He was almost obsessively clean, the house always spotless, leaving me virtually no chores.
After school, we’d research recipes and shop together–I’d prep vegetables while he cooked.
Life felt regular, peaceful, solid.
Except living with the opposite sex brought subtle awkwardness. Underwear hanging side by side on the balcony made me avert my eyes, though my peripheral vision always caught those dark fabric pieces… Intimate scenes during TV time would freeze the air with strange tension.
This was completely different from Blake–that overgrown kid who threw stuff everywhere, ordered takeout constantly, and left me handling all the housework.
Living with someone like Adrian, who had maxed–out life skills, left me momentarily disoriented.
I’d expected living with someone so cool and reserved to be boring. The opposite was true. We discovered endless shared interests, got heated debating academic topics until late at night. We seemed to have infinite conversations and thoughts to share.
Charter 10
