Christin

Apartment B303 would never be the same after that awkward first meeting with myself, Jen and Pat.

Although I was still feeling things out with Jen and Pat, we all began to spend a lot of time together. That very first day, all four of us, Alphonso, Jen, Pat and myself ran a few errands and went to the mall. I felt like I was in the “cool” crowd. They all were a little older than me with more life experience. Jen and Pat appeared to have their stuff together, something that I desperately wanted.

However, over the next few weeks I would learn that everything is not always as it seems to be.

I learned that Pat was having relationship issues with his on and off again girlfriend. He was very open about the situation and seemed to be dealing with it better than most. Although I did notice that he was a big drinker.

Jen was a little different. I had learned bits and pieces of what she was going through but had to piece it all together myself. I learned that she had 2 boys and had recently left an abusive relationship. I ran across a picture one day, it must have been taken after one of the incidents with her ex. She had bruises on her. At this moment, my heart broke for her. I don’t think I fully understood the implications of her situation at that time. However, there would be a time in the future that Alphonso and I would be pivotal to helping her in a way that was beyond the scope of all our imaginations.

Slowly, over the weeks I began to open up to Jen and Pat. Although I am sure Alphonso had already filled them in on all the details, I was still reeling from the slow demise of my long distance relationship. They were all a good distraction from my situation and I am sure they all felt the same way.

The next weeks were spent with the four of us going to lunch or hanging out at the mall. The 2nd time I had ever been to the bar was with this crew. I remember being so nervous while all of us were getting ready to go. Little did they know that I had been exactly 1 time before. I’m not sure why I was nervous, most likely because I didn’t know what to expect.

So we went to this little bar down the street from our apartment. It was a cute little bar, it actually reminded me of the bar on “Cheers”. So there we were playing pool, drinking and having a good time. Something that would be repeated many times over the next few weeks.

Everyone at work began to talk about our roommate situation. Somebody always had some opinion about what was going on in apartment B303. Some good, some bad and some just ridiculous. It didn’t matter to us, we knew what the truth was and up to that point we all had each other’s back.

As I said before, things are not always what they seem to be. There was something that was going on behind the scenes that would shake things up a bit.