Chapter 1

One

Jacob

"Hey man, could you give me a hand with this?" Jacob said. He was in his 3 rd -floor apartment, carrying the first of many heavy boxes out to his roommate Freddie's truck. "I'm helping you pack up your shit, the least you could do is help," Jacob laughed, raising his eyebrows at Freddie.

"Come on Reitner, you know you're gonna miss me when I'm gone!" Freddie said, "You've got a whole ‘nother week here all on your own, I can tell you right now it is going to be boring as hell." Freddie was the last of Jacob's three roommates to leave their shared apartment, headed elsewhere after college graduation. Jacob was staying one more week until the end of the lease, on his own.

Jacob never actually thought he'd be sad about graduating from college. People had always told him it would be the best time of his life, but he was more interested in what came after college – "real life," whatever that might mean.

So here it was, the end of school, and he felt disappointed somehow. But it wasn't really that he wished he could stay in college. Definitely not. Instead, he felt a creeping feeling of directionlessness, of oh shit, I call the shots now . In school he had been on the soccer team, in the business club. He had the structure of classes and the challenge of my business and computer science classes. And now, that structure would all evaporate.

"I'll be fine on my own here, Freddie," he responded. "Finally I'll get some peace and quiet with you guys gone," he said, the two of them loading the box into the truck outside.

Jacob had gotten a job offer across the country, in San Diego. He was born, raised and had gone to college in the hilly, tree-lined woods of upstate New York, so heading toward the beaches of California was going to be a big change. In New York, it felt like everyone knew him – even some kids he had known since elementary school had gone to his college. He desperately needed a clean slate, a fresh start. He had always been athletic, but hadn't exactly fit in with the other jock types on his soccer team – he was always a little more reserved, a little more nerdy on the inside, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

After loading the first big cardboard box into Freddie's truck, he turned and headed back into the house. It was swelteringly hot outside, especially hot for only being the beginning of June. He stepped into the shade of the porch, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead.

"One down, only about 20 more to go," he said, looking back at Freddie and then heading up the stairs back to the apartment.

As he rounded the stairs and walked back into the living room of the apartment, he heard Freddie's cell phone ringing. He recognized the familiar annoying rap song ringtone that had filled the apartment many times before. Won't have to hear that anymore after today , he thought, both relieved and a little sad to see Freddie go.

"Hey! Your phone's going off," he called down the stairs.

"Grab it for me! I'll be right up," Freddie yelled up.

The caller ID flashed a name, saying "Will (art class)." Jacob pressed the screen and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey! Uh, is this Freddie…?"

"Oh, no. Sorry man. This is his roommate. He's coming upstairs now," Jacob said, feeling kind of stupid. Why hadn't he just let it go to voicemail?

"Oh, okay. Well hello, then," came the response from the phone, and Jacob heard the guy laugh a little.

Jacob heard Freddie bounding up the staircase and finally he appeared at the top, dripping sweat.

"Jesus, it is hot out there. Thanks, man, I'll take that," he said, grabbing the phone. Jacob happily passed it to him and got back to moving boxes down to Freddie's truck. As he walked to the next room to pick up the second box, he overheard Freddie talking into his phone.

"Oh, hey Will! How's it going?... Yeah, we're packing everything up now. I'm out of here later tonight. …Oh shit, are you serious? That fucking sucks dude. Wow, brutal. Hey! If you have nowhere to stay for a few days, our place here has three empty bedrooms now. …Yeah, one of my roommates is still here until the lease runs out next week. …Oh, he wouldn't give a shit. Here. Let me go ask him."

Jacob heard the sound of Freddie walking over to him, and could piece together what Freddie was about to ask him.

"Hey, Jacob," Freddie whispered to him, holding his hand over the microphone of his cell phone, "My buddy Will from my sculpture class is getting kicked out of his place tomorrow. His landlord went crazy on him and said he needs to get out now because some stupid new, high paying tenant is coming in from London or something. I told him we'd have plenty of space here for him to stay for a few days before he flies home. Is that cool man?"

Jacob took a deep breath, giving Freddie an exasperated look and raising his eyebrows at him. He was not pleased with the sudden change of plans and had really been looking forward to a few days of peace and quiet on his own. But there were three empty bedrooms, and if this guy really didn't have anywhere else to stay, Jacob thought he couldn't exactly say no.

"How well do you know this guy? He'll just keep to himself for a few days?" Jacob asked, showing his annoyance to Freddie.

"I swear, he is the nicest guy ever. He's like an art major or whatever. I'm sure he won't even be in the house much, he'll just sleep here for a few nights and be out of your way. Please, dude, I really owe one to this kid, he basically covered for me every Monday when I'd skip class," Freddie said, pleading.

"Fine," Jacob said. It didn't really matter. In a week, he'd be long gone, driving to San Diego. It wouldn't matter if some guy needed to use an empty bedroom for a few nights before he left.

"Thank you so much dude. Seriously, he won't bug you at all," Freddie said.

Jacob sighed, shaking his head a little, and picked up another box. He heard Freddie telling the good news to his friend – Will, his name was. He tried to put it out of his mind and started down the stairwell, carrying the second slouching, heavy cardboard box out into the heat.