Grabbing your backpack, you follow Karen off of the bus. The driver pulls your two suitcases from the storage under the bus, and Karen picks one up before smiling at you.
"Let's go inside, Greg should be waiting for us by now."
Greg is Karen's, and now your, apartment-mate. He's the only one of you three with a car, and he offered to drive you both back to the mansion.
Dragging your suitcase behind you, you let Karen lead you into the waiting room, where Greg sat waiting. He stands up and hugs Karen before walking over and offering you his hand to shake.
Greg is slim and tall, maybe about bit over 6 feet, with long arms and legs, a dark mop of messy hair on his head and a few stray hairs on his chin. He reminds you a bit of Shaggy, from Scooby-doo, especially his posture, except for his darker hair and thin glasses. Heck, Greg was even wearing a plain, light-teal t-shirt and dark jeans, just like Shaggy. Maybe he did it on purpose...
You reach out and shake his hand, smiling, and he shoots a friendly smile back, "You must be . I'm Greg," he says. He has a friendly voice, but sounds a bit shy, not at all what you imagined.
"If you're all set now, we can get going," Greg says. He adds, "It's only a couple of minutes, but I'm sure you'll want time to explore a little bit and unpack once we get there. I don't know what Karen's told you, but I'm sure you'll love the place. It's quirky, there's a lot to love."
"She's told me," you reply as Greg puts the suitcases into the back of his car, "I can't wait."
...
As the car pull into a parking space on the street in front of the mansion, you get out and look around. The school is only a few blocks away, but it's too far to see or hear anything there. The house in front of you is a big, blue-painted mansion with a wooden, two-level front porch. It looks somewhat like a bigger version of your house at home, except, oddly, the porch has an outside stairway on the left side. There's other, similar houses across the street and to either side, but there's a lot of room between them.
"This used to be a little town that people used for summer vacations," Karen explains, "but since the college opened, the houses have been converted into apartments. Ours is the upstairs apartment, hence the stairway. Our neighbors all graduated last semester, so I don't even know if we'll have anyone living downstairs this year yet..."
Karen's rambling a bit, like she does sometimes, but you're too interested in the house to be concerned with it. Greg starts carrying one suitcase up the stairs and waves for you to follow him. You do, the suitcase clunking against the steps as you drag it over them. When Greg gets the door open, he pulls both suitcases over the step in puts them inside before turning to you and Karen on the porch.
"I'm pretty hungry, so I'm probably going to go for some dinner. If you guys want, you can come with and we can eat at the Mushroom House," Greg offers. "Or I guess I can bring something back if you wanna just get settled."
"The Mushroom House," Karen clarifies, "is a pretty popular bar and restaurant with the students here. It's good, it's cheap, and it serves beer. That's really all you need to know," she laughs.
"It's up to you. I know those long bus rides can be tiring, so would you rather stay here and get settled or go out and get some food now?"
You think to yourself for a minute, as you admire the view from the porch. What'll it be? |