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Chapter 17




After Katie got dressed, She joined AJ in her studio. They managed to get everything packed up in the room. Then, they moved on to the living room. They packed all of the small stuff in smaller boxes. All of the big stuff, they were going to leave out so they had something to do when they weren’t packing. All the time they were packing, they were laughing and joking. Katie couldn’t remember the last time that she was this happy with anyone. They decided that they would go through her closet and pack up all of her clothes that she would be wearing the next two days. Anything that she didn’t want, AJ put in bags to take to the Salvation Army. Next, came the boxes full of jewelry and her little knick-knacks around her room. After they did that, it was about four in the morning.
They decided that it was time to sleep. After much pleading, AJ got to sleep in her bed with her. She told him that he had to have clothes on, and they would not sleep with each other.


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Katie woke up with arms around her waist. She immediately panicked and jumped out of bed. The sudden movement had woken AJ up and now he looked at her with wide eyes.


“ What’s wrong?” he asked rubbing the sleep from his eyes.


“ N.. Nothing. I just thought you…you were so…someone else. Th… that’s all.” She said visibly shaking.


AJ got out of bed and walked over to where she now stood trying to calm herself down. AJ embraced her until she stopped shaking.


“ It’s okay, Kate. I’m not going to hurt you.”


“ I.. I know. It’s just…I don’t what came over me. It’s been so long since I’ve woken up with someone by my side. It’s been six months.” She said relaxing a little at his touch.


“ It’s okay. I’m sorry I scared you. Do you want to get some breakfast before we get to work again?” He asked guiding her to the kitchen.


“ Sure.” She said as she sat down letting AJ do all of the work.


After they had their breakfast, they split up. AJ was putting all of the kitchen utensils in boxes to be taking to the Salvation Army. She didn’t really need any kitchen supplies at his house. He pretty much had everything that they needed. While AJ was doing that, Katie was packing up some of the stuff that she had saved from her brother. AJ knew that she would eventually have to do it, so he gave her space. Every so often he would go and check on her. He would just peek in the doorway to see if she was all right. She shed a couple tears, but overall she did well. Then, they moved on to the living room. They packed up everything that they could take with them. Everything else, they would leave for the next people. They took everything from the bathroom and packed that up and put the boxes by the door next to all of the other boxes.


After they finished putting the boxes by the door, they looked around.


AJ said, “ So, I guess the only other thing we need to do is pack up the rest of your room.”


“ But, where are we going to sleep?”


“ We’ll sleep on the couch or something. We really need to get everything pack so tomorrow all we have to do is ship the boxes, and take the food to the shelter down the street.”


“ Okay.”


They moved on to her room. While AJ was dismantling the bed, Katie was taking down the pictures off of her wall and putting them in a box filled with peanuts. She took down the last picture, and she started crying. It was one of her favorite pictures of her and Matt. AJ stopped what he was doing and looked up to see what was going on. He walked over to her and looked at the picture that she was holding in her hands.


He said, “ Oh, Kate. This picture is beautiful. Who took it?”


“ Matt’s girlfriend. It was at his 25th birthday party. It’s my favorite picture of Matt and I.”


“ I can see why. You two look like twins.”


“ Yeah. Everyone always told us that we should have been twins. I miss him Aje. I miss him a lot.” She said finally taking her eyes away from the picture.


AJ hugged her and said, “ I know you do babe. I know you do. It’ll get better. I promise.”


She pulled away from him and said, “ Thank you, Alex. Thank you so much.”


He smiled and said, “ You’re welcome. Now, come on. We’re almost done. After we move the boxes, we’ll go to the movies, alright?”


“ Yay. We’re going to the movies.” She said acting like a little kid.


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The next day, they woke up really early. Since their flight was at 10 o’clock, they had to wake up at 7 to get everything done. After they packed up the food from the fridge, they put some of the boxes in the Explorer. The rest, they put in the U-Haul that they had rented to take them to the Fed-Ex place. After they dropped off the boxes and the food, they stopped back at the apartment to get their stuff.


Katie took one look around to make sure that they hadn’t forgotten anything. AJ was out of the door, so she could lock it on her way out.


After they were well on their way to the airport, she said, “ I’m going to miss this place.”


“ You’re going to miss the traffic, and all of the people, and the smog, and the crime? I’m not going to miss it.”


“ No, I’m going to miss the parks, the nice people, the city environment, and the feeling that you’re never alone in the world.”


“ Aren’t you going to miss your apartment?” He asked.


“ Yes. Don’t even get me started on that. I loved that apartment. I decorated it all by myself.”


“ I’ll tell you what. You can decorate my house for me. I can’t do it, and I don’t really want to pay someone else to do it.”


“ Why?”


“ I don’t really like the idea of a strange person in my house when I’m not there. You know what I mean?”


“ Yeah. I get your drift. I don’t know if I can save your house though.”


“ What do you mean? What’s wrong with it?”


“ Nothing. Just the fact that you’ve been living in it. It’ll be hell trying to clean everything up.”


“ Hey! My house isn’t that bad.”


“ Oh, Yeah? I bet you can’t even see the floor in your closet.”


“ Well, that’s the only place it’s a mess. Everything else is clean.”


“ Okay. I’ll take your word for it.”


A few minutes later, they arrived at the airport. They checked in and waited for their flight. Once they boarded, they were off to Orlando.


Katie looked at AJ and said, “ This is officially the beginning of my new life.”


“ Yes it is.”