-1Livvy and Sam - Summary and Chapter One

Summary: She's just moved to Long Beach to go to California State University. He's a native to the city. She's studying Fine & Performing Arts while he's living it up on his parents money. They've never met before. After a mix-up that leaves them residing in the same apartment, will they ever learn to get along?

Chapter One

Olivia could feel her nerves racking about in her stomach. On one hand, she was excited to be in such a beautiful city, not to mention far from her small town home, but on the other hand the city baffled her. How would she ever find her way around? What if something were to go wrong? She had no family here. What if she got mugged?

All of these things ran through her mind as she sat, staring out the side window in the backseat of the taxicab. As the driver maneuvered the car past homes, businesses and people she could feel herself getting lost. Not able to distinguish one intersection from another, her mind was a blur as she waited to arrive at her new apartment.

Her parents had offered to pay for her to go to college anywhere in the country as her graduation present, as long as Olivia agreed to find a job and pay her own rent, transportation, and food. Olivia had jumped on the opportunity to get out to 'Sunny California'. She had lusted after the warm weather for the 3 months between her graduation from high school and today, when she'd arrived via Delta Air Lines at Long Beach Airport just an hour earlier. The flight had been easy enough, save for some turbulence and no one had told her that California was going to be so beautiful from the air (once you got past the smog screen). Since it was an overcast day, she hadn't been able to see much of the area until their landing descent.

Finally, the cabby pulled over and parked in front of a beautiful redbrick building with large windows, 2 balconies, and 2 porches.

"This is it," he told Olivia over his shoulder, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Thank you," Olivia replied, handing the man enough cash to pay for the ride, plus a tip.

The driver got out first and started to pull her things from the trunk of the car. Olivia watched as he set the cases on the sidewalk, one by one, her brand new Louis Vuitton luggage, just waiting to be unpacked. As the driver got back into the car and drove off, Olivia stacked her cases onto the only one with wheels and took a deep breath before walking through the front doors of the building to the main lobby.

Once inside Olivia surveyed the room with a happy smile on her face, taking in the beautiful pictures of Long Beach hung sporadically throughout the room. An older woman, probably about 40 sat smiling behind a desk with 2 plush armchairs opposite her. The carpet was a sandy color, while the walls were off-white with a deep chocolate brown trim. A fig tree stood in the corner, whether or not it was real, Olivia couldn't tell. She strode across the small room to the desk and the smiling woman and noticed a small gold plated plaque sitting on the desk that read "Mrs. M. Davis." Olivia looked at Mrs. Davis and returned her warm smile before introducing herself.

"Hello, I'm Olivia White. I'm supposed to be moving into Apartment 1 today? And a furniture delivery should have come for the apartment earlier?"

"Oh yes, I'm Margaret Davis, but you can call me Margaret. The movers were in quite a hurry so you may have to do some rearranging once you get inside. May I see some form of identification please? It's just a formality because you never know who will try to just walk into someone else's apartment."

"Of course," Olivia replied, handing over her driver's license with a nod.

"Kentucky? Oh yes, I do believe I remember Rob telling me about you. Well, enjoy your new apartment Ms. White. Here are your keys. Oh and just so you know, there will be a new secretary in tomorrow because I'm going on vacation. Her name is Barbara and you can direct any questions that you may have to her."

Olivia smiled and thanked the woman before walking out the double doors facing the main doors and down the corridor to the left of the stairs as Margaret had directed her. At the end of the long hallway, there was a door with a shiny faux-gold "1" nailed to it. She smiled as she inserted the key into the doorknob and twisted it. Her anticipation began to build when she pulled the key from the knob and turned twisted it, taking her first steps into her new rental.

Upon entering, she took a long look around her. The paint and carpeting inside the apartment matched the office, all tan, off white, and brown. The front door entered into a long hallway which held the door to the bathroom the whole way at one end, and a doorway into the living room at the other end. The bedroom doors were side by side on the right as you walked towards the bathroom. The kitchen doorway was directly across from the front door so you saw the kitchen as soon as you came into the house. The dining room was between the kitchen and the living room and could be accessed from either of those rooms or the hallway. Walking from room to room, she noticed that the movers had at least put all of the pieces of furniture in the rooms where they belonged. There was a spare bedroom that she planned to use to store her computer, desk, and bookshelves. None of that would be getting here until later in the week though, so that room would have to stay empty for now. After placing a quick call to her mother, Olivia set straight to work.

Leaving her suitcases in the hall, she started on her bedroom. The furniture that her parents had ordered her was beautiful, all ornate walnut and wrought iron. She worked for about 4 hours before she stopped to take her first break and look at the clock that now hung on her living room wall. She had got her bedroom arranged and her bed made. The TV was set up and the living room furniture was all in place. The dining room table and chairs were positioned in the center of the room with her area rug underneath of them. She still had her own touches to add, but that would have to wait until the rest of her things came in.

A glance at the clock told her that it was already 11:30. She had to get to bed. She was in a new time zone and it was actually 2:30 AM, her time. She was exhausted, but put off going to bed long enough to take a shower. After all was said and done, she climbed into her new bed and pulled the comforter the whole way up to her chin and listened to the cars outside her window as she drifted off into a sound sleep.