Chapter 3: Gods & Monsters
1667 Words
Chapter 3
Gods & Monsters
Valentina
Moscow, Russia - October 1st, 2020
“I want to move to New York for this university year.”
My father looks up from his breakfast. It’s Sunday morning, and classes start tomorrow. Based on the email, it’s going to be online, at least in October. The thought of having to attend classes (even if it’s online) and live in the same place as my parents did not sound like the college experience to me.
I need my independence back; I want to make my own schedule without having to think about anyone else.
“Isn’t it online?” Adrik butts in. He already knows that I plan on staying in his extra room until I find a place, and he doesn’t like the idea.
“You can’t suggest that! Dad is going to put us both in my apartment!” he had told me when I expressed my idea of moving to New York.
My dorm room contract had expired in August, and I didn’t pay the advance by the time it was due – neither did Isabella, who is now stuck in Palermo until further notice.
I told Adrik to relax because I also didn’t want to move into his guest room or whatever it was.
I want a girl apartment, where the sun shines through the windows and I can see trees and nature. I want to hear people and barking dogs and children playing. It’s been silence ever since we moved out of Moscow and into this house. And I can’t listen to the same songs anymore either.
I need a change in my life
“Why do you want to go to New York?”
“I want to be in an environment where I can only focus on college, first of all.” It’s not a lie, really, I just can’t focus on being responsible if my parents always joke about it. “Second, I have a mandatory internship that I need to do for credits. I had one lined up when I was living on campus before Covid, I told you about it?”
He looks at me like he faintly remembers.
“The financial advisor internship? Anyway, that doesn’t matter now. But I need to be in the city if I want to find an internship right now.”
He looks at mom for a second, but I know she’s on my side with this.
“Where will you find an internship if everything is online?” he asks, still not convinced.
“Give me a month, I’ll find something.”
“Kyril, why don’t you help her find something?” mom asks him.
Adrik’s face falls. I also didn’t think about him being able to help him. To this day, I’m still not sure what he does exactly. It’s been a little fishy since last summer.
“You said you had an internship to be a financial advisor, right?” he asks, and I can see his brain getting to work.
Oh wow, he’s going to help me.
It’s going way better than expected, and Adrik looks like he’s going to be sick.
“I think I can find something for you, depending on where you find an apartment.”
Maybe asking for a car isn’t the best thing to do right now.
“Yes, I can walk or take the subway.”
Adrik snorts in an obnoxious way but I don’t comment because he’s kind of right. I’ll do anything to avoid being uncomfortable when I travel somewhere. He never takes an Uber in New York, and I never take anything else.
“Fine. Find something and send me a link.”
“I need to visit them though.”
I turn my head to look at Adrik. “I have an idea of where I can stay.”
New York, United States – October 8th, 2020
The room had been turned into a game room at some point because I slept on a mattress by the desk on the first night.
I help him carry his computers and consoles into the living room, only leaving the desk and the chair for me to study at. Now that I look around the room without all of Adrik’s stuff in it, it looks incredible.
We’re on the fourteenth floor and the wall facing East River is made entirely out of walls. I would love to live here if it wasn’t so high of the ground.
The bed gets delivered in the afternoon, and by the time the sun goes down, I’ve sort of settled in.
It feels strange to be in a new place that I get to call home for a while, even though I know I will be living out of my suitcase.
Isabella and I Facetime when I get into bed, and she tells me that she wants her birthday to be like last year.
“I want there to be lots of people and I want everybody to have fun. Who do I even talk-I know, never mind.”
“What?”
“I’ll ask Matteo again; he’ll know for sure.”
“I saw him at that charity thing a week ago.”
“Yeah, he’s in New York now, working for his father.”
“Is he doing the mandatory internship?”
Isabella laughs. “I don’t think he is.”
True. Now that I think about it, I don’t think being a security guard or whatever he was doing at that event qualifies as Economics-related internship.
“Well, if you need a place to stay, you can always stay at my new place.”
“Ugh, I want to go apartment hunting with you so bad.”
“I’ll just take Adrik, I guess.”
“And I’ll definitely take you up on the offer to come to New York and stay with you.”
***
New York, United States – October 23rd, 2020
I’ve been living in Adrik’s spare room for over two weeks now, and it has started to feel like home. I know I can’t start getting comfortable though, because I’m going to have to pick something next week.
It’s definitely not silent anymore; the traffic in Lower Manhattan is the worst early in the morning and then again around the time people leave for work. The city that never sleeps lives up to its reputation; there’s always lights on somewhere in the other buildings.
Adrik lives on the Lower East Side, close to a bridge. He says he’s two stops away from his campus, but it’s just too much ‘city’ for me.
“Have you chosen yet?” he asks me that Friday evening.
I’m on the couch on my phone, a random tv show playing on the TV in the living room.
“No.”
“There’s two. Pick one. It’s not that hard.”
He drops down on the couch next to me and takes my phone. He opens dad’s real estate company website, which had been bookmarked over a month ago.
I have a list of apartments I liked, and he looks through the two remaining ones.
There were two; one in Battery Park and one in Tribeca.
The one in Battery Park is in a high rise building, on the second to last floor. It’s huge, and my father keeps pushing it for some reason. I like the one in Tribeca though; it’s on the second floor of a four-story building. There’s high ceilings and long windows, and the sun shines through the trees which makes it feel safe. They’re both two-bedroom apartments, but I plan on turning one room into a study room.
“Just pick the cheaper one in Tribeca even if dad doesn’t approve. He won’t say no.”
“You’re right.”
Isabella is planning on coming in a week, and I need to be moved in by then.
I walk around the apartment as I talk to my dad on the phone, listing all the reasons I don’t want the one in Battery Park.
“Why do you want me to live there?” I ask.
“Because it’s safer.”
“The other one is fine too. It’s a quiet neighborhood, it’s one of the safest in New York, I googled it.”
He sighs. “Fine. I’ll talk to the agent tomorrow, and we’ll probably start paying rent at the start of next month.”
I stop by the bathroom and go inside to look at myself in the mirror. I feel like I’ve gained a little weight since I’ve been here; all Adrik eats is takeout food, and I’m too lazy to bother with groceries right now.
“What about the internship?” I ask, because he hasn’t mentioned it since then.
“You’ll also start at the beginning of November.”
“Doing what?”
“You’ll be a financial advisor trainee at the investment company. I already talked to the manager, he’ll make you his assistant.”
I don’t follow up with questions about the details; my head can’t process them right now.
“Where is it located?”
“Near Wall Street.”
That’s not that far from where I’ll be living.
“When do you want to move in?”
“I mean…is tomorrow an option?”
My eyes fall on the pink hair tie in one of the drawers. What is this doing here?
“I don’t know if tomorrow is an option, Valentina. Maybe sometime next week.”
“Can it be before Friday?”
“Why?”
“Isabella wants to come over.”
He huffs something about the pandemic under his breath before talking to someone off the phone.
“I can maybe make Wednesday happen.”
“What date is that?”
“October 28th.”
“Perfect.”
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The next part will be up Friday (I hope!).
Let me know what you think :)
xoxo,
Ronnie
- Writer
