musings on a (not so) flat chested girl -- part eight

Before I left Los Angeles for Austin, I asked Garrick and Toby if it would be okay for me to stay with them for a yet-to-be determined amount of time. They said that would be fine but for me to keep in mind that their lease would be up during the time I planned to visit and the two of them were planning to part ways. I said that was okay as I was sure I'd figure something out. Perhaps because I don't really put much thought into any thing I do, or that I severely lack direction, purpose, or ambition in life, something as dire as not having a place to crash during an open-ended trip with no means to make money didn't affect me at all.

"Yeah, I'll figure something out."

As soon as that lowercase "t" fumbled out of my mouth I paid absolutely no mind to what that "something" would be. When I initially decided to return to Austin I flirted with the idea of getting a job so I could sustain myself there, but as soon as Dakota came into the picture that thought dissipated like the half and half in my morning coffee.

About three weeks into my trip, the time for Garrick and Toby to part ways had come. The fact that they would be vacating the apartment still hadn't sunk in for me, even as boxes were being packed and cleaning preparations had begun. I suppose I had been floating along for so long that I assumed I would just float on into another situation by some stroke of luck, divine hand, or happy accident. And so I did. Dakota became aware of the situation and offered to put me up in her place. She said she would be going away for a few days to visit family, and it would work out with me moving in as I would be able to look after her kittens while she was gone. Once again, the major implications of that arrangement didn't register with my brain at all. It was as if my thoughts were being processed by an Apple Newton. "Move in with someone I barely know?" became "Groove like a marshmallow!" Groove like a marshmallow? What's wrong with you, brain? I already apologized for the time I literally tried to smoke grass, okay? Get over it.

Over the next couple of days I helped Garrick and Toby move. Garrick moved in with a friend of his in San Marcos and Toby found his own one bedroom flat. After all was said and done, I packed up my 1970's aluminum Halliburton suitcase and Dakota drove me to her place. As we were walking towards her apartment, one of Dakota's neighbors commented on the stranger with the heavy suitcase. She asked if I was staying for while. Dakota said yes and that I would be taking care of the kittens while she was gone.

"This strange boy is gonna be looking after my place. What am I thinking?"

She said that facetiously, but it had a smattering of truth that should have served as a harbinger of things to come. I smiled and lugged the Halliburton up the staircase. There I was, a man who had never lived with a girl, a man who hadn't even been able to call someone a girlfriend in eight years, about to walk into the home of a woman I barely knew and into an uncharted living situation fraught with potential disaster at every turn. Did I remember my toothbrush?