Arrival.

My newest short story and I believe the first one I post here.


The door fell shut behind me and I walked further into the room, still holding a bag in each hand as I looked around. There stood a desk, a chair, and a bed that seemed so much more comfortable than what I was used to from my life at home. My bags I threw at the wall, and my eyes closed as I let my body fall on the bed. It was sized for two people, but I would have it all to myself for the nights to come. After at least half an hour had come to pass, I put myself into motion to unpack my bags and get settled. Most of its contents, a few sets of clothes and other essentials, I put back and a stack of paper went into one of the desk’s drawers. Then my feet moved me back to the bed, where I took off the sheets and pillow just to throw them back on. In my mind’s eye that neglectable ’mess’ made the room feel like a new, better home that I got used to far too quickly. I must’ve stood there for a very long time, ‘cause the next time I looked at my phone I only had an hour left before she would arrive. I forced myself to move and raced out of my room, down the stairs and finally through the hallway ‘till I got outside. Once there, my hand reached for my lighter and pack of smokes in my left pocket. “Gotta love smoke free hotels.” I said to myself as I lit one up. While standing there and overlooking the street, I thought about how the hell I ended up so far from home. While giving everyone who passed by the same dirty look that I always have, I quickly finished my cigarette before racing back to my room.

The towel grinded over my body after I had taken a quick shower, before I slipped into a black boxer and started brushing my teeth. There wasn’t any time left to waste, for my dear friend would arrive anywhere between that moment and an hour later. After rinsing the toothbrush and putting it back in its place, I hurried back into the bedroom to put on a pair of grey-blue jeans and a black sleeveless shirt. The first sock was barely slid onto my foot when someone knocked on the door, and I knew for sure that it had to be her. Now I could’ve told her to hold on a moment as I finished tidying myself or I could’ve let her in and then finish up, but I didn’t. All my mind wanted me to do was to just stay there and wait for her to go away, I was that nervous. But it was such a great thing that my body refused to take orders for that single minute. My eyes focused on the door as my hand reached into a pot of gel, followed by me stumbling hopping through the room on one leg so I could put on the second sock and simultaneously do my hair. There was only one step left towards the door when I tripped, and gave the door a good old fashioned head butt. After getting up and cursing in my Dutch dialect I wiped the gel off my hand in the back pocket of my jeans. My hand rested on the doorknob and I paused for a second to brace myself, then I breathed in as deep as I could as if I was about to dive under water.

And that’s when my old friend, nervousness, struck me the hardest since we planned this meeting. A million thoughts raced through my mind at the same time, quickly blending into one another but all ever so clear.
What if she won’t like me in person, will we be friends afterwards? What the fucking hell are we going to do today, and what if we can‘t agree on an activity? On the other hand; What if I won’t like her in the flesh, would coming out here be a huge mistake? Should we have waited a while longer before doing this, should we even be doing this at all? Stop it, you fucking idiot, this’ll all go great and it’ll be great for you both. Yeah maybe, but what if it’s a little bit too great? You tend to mistake friendship with love easily, and it has cost you friends before. I know, but I swear I won’t, not this time. There’s no way that I’m allowing this to turn around on me, on us. Now open that door and have a great time.
I finally released my breath and then took a quick second one as I closed my eyes. Then as my breath turned back to its regular rhythm and I opened my eyes again, my hand slowly turned the knob and pulled the door open.