fall bliss

Ophelia rolled her neck as she stumbled out of the parking lot. The ten hour drive had not been kind to her muscles. But it was well worth the trip, here she was, back in the city she loved, ready to pick up her keys and move in to her first studio apartment.

She squinted as she approached the front door of the apartment building. There was a boy smoking a cigarette next to the ashtray she'd spent many hours perched against in the past. He looked familiar, but it couldn't be...

"I hear you need some help moving in." he said with an adorable smirk.

Ophelia's face stretched itself into a smile. Oliver.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind it." she said, giving him a hug.

He wrapped his arms around her; and she felt safe for the first time in months.

They let go and he pushed the end of his Marlboro smooth cigarette through the slot of the ashtray.

"After you." he said, motioning towards the door.

He took her hand as they walked into the lobby.

Ophelia retrieved her key and a packet of information from the front desk.

"Have a good day." Melissa, the receptionist from her hometown, smiled.

"Thanks. I will." Ophelia said, leading Oliver back outside. There was no way she couldn't, now.

"I have to figure out what my parents' plan is." she explained.

"Fair enough." Oliver nodded.

They walked back towards the parking lot.

Her family, (mother, father, and three younger siblings) crowded around their mini van and her uncles leaned against the truck that held the majority of her belongings.

"Okay, what's the deal?" she asked when they approached the group.

She saw her mother's eyebrows knit in question over the boy whose hand was twined with her daughter's.

"Well, we need to get your stuff upstairs, obviously." one of her uncles said.

Ophelia nodded.

"Why don't you take the kids down to the park or something?" she suggested to her mother, "it's straight down 8th street, once you cross Michigan, you're in Grant Park. There isn't enough room for everybody upstairs... The guys and I can handle
the moving stuff. Or, if we unload the van first, you and daddy and the kids can go to Target. It's down State, then right at Roosevelt."

"That sounds good."

"Okay."

Ophelia opened the back of the van and began pulling out her suitcases.

"Got enough stuff, babe?" Oliver asked.

"Nope."

"Girls." he sighed, picking up the bags.

Her father followed suit, and between five of them (Ophelia, Oliver, her father and her two uncles), they managed to empty the car.

"I guess we'll take this stuff up." Ophelia said.

She led the way, Oliver following closely behind.

They rode the elevator up the twenty floors and Ophelia opened the door of the apartment.

"Where do you want this stuff?" Her father asked.

"I guess all this can go in the bedroom for now, that way we can put all the boxes in the living room."

When everyone had put down their burdens, they headed for the door. She let her father and uncles go first, stopping Oliver after their exit.

"What's up?" he said.

She kissed him.

"I couldn't wait any more." she sighed.

He smiled back.

"I missed you too."

They headed out the door after the others. It was a good day.

****

Several trips later, all of Ophelia's belongings were in her apartment and the group headed for the lobby one last time.

"You're back!" her favorite security guard, Rosie, exclaimed.

Ophelia laughed.

"Of course I"m back."

"And look at you, with all these men."

"Aw, Rosie, you know me, just the usual. Besides, this is my dad, those two are my uncles and this is..." she paused. How did she describe Oliver?

"I'm her boyfriend." Oliver supplied.

"You are?" Ophelia said, turning to face him.

"Yep."

Ophelia smiled again.

"And this is my boyfriend, Oliver, so you'll be seeing a lot of him."

"Good for you, girl."

"I'm a lucky one alright." she grinned.

Her father and uncles had left them in the lobby sometime during the exchange, so Ophelia leaned up and kissed Oliver.

"Boyfriend?" she asked, as they walked outside.

"Well, I was going to ask, but this worked out, so why not?"

"Good plan."

She squeezed his hand.

This year was off to a perfect start.