[apartment C]

there was me. there was you. there was us. pressing the buzzer, an unlocked door, three flights up to apartment C. an opened door, a shirtless boy. no matter how early, late, or on time i was you always seemed to be surprised that i was there. time always managed to get away from you. "i'll see you in an hour" usually translated into sometime the following week with you. a beer on the couch while channel surfing. that couch became a second home of sorts to me. catching up, finishing a beer or two, and then back down the three flights to the sidewalk below. it was usually dark. it was almost always cold. i remember that one time you let me drive your car across the street in the rain. i swore i was better at driving stick prior to that night. but stalling twice wasn't so bad i guess. usually we'd walk to our favorite bar. the cute girl with the long curly dark hair and lisa loeb glasses would greet us with a smile. she'd be at our table with our beers of choice before we would. the dark bar, the slight noise of the crowd. one of my favorite juke boxes ever. and we'd sit. and we'd talk for hours. beer after beer. laugh after laugh. we'd venture to the other two bars in our rotation as well, but they didn't really compare. but it was tradition, and it was something that we did to pass the night away. i think you once had a theory that walking from bar to bar would help sober us up a bit. 3am would creep up on us out of nowhere and we'd stumble back across the street to the third floor, apartment C. laughing the entire way up the stairs. i took that wreath off your neighbor's door that one night. it was ugly, i was doing them a favor. i remember the night you left your keys sitting on the other side of the locked door as we stood outside trying to figure out what to do. we'd finish the evening off on your couch, playing playstation. two drunk fools stumbling our way through. then you'd make your way to bed and i'd make my way to moonlighting on bravo. i'd wake up the next morning to the cool fall breeze blowing in through the cracked window. there hasn't been a place on earth since, mine or yours, that seemed as right as that apartment did. waking up in the morning, looking around, always feeling like i was right where i belonged. i don't know if it was because i spent so much of my time with you. maybe it was because it all happened during the fall, major life moments always seem to happen for me in the fall. maybe it was that apartment. i'm not sure. what i do know is that nothing made me happier than showing up at your door, thursday nights, three flights up, at apartment C.