I parked my white Nissan Rogue outside of her house. I chose the spot right in front of the hydrant. It would only be a few minutes. I had to drop off some groceries. It was a dead-end street. I assumed no cops would be coming by. She led me to the front door. It was white with a glass frame in the middle. Upon entering the home, I could smell Tide laundry detergent in the laundry room. It was the first room when you enter the two-family house. The sound of the dryer was just going off. Ding, ding. The blue light shut off when the dry cycle was over. She leads me to another door. The real entrance to their part of the home. There’s a corkboard when family photos all over it. Alex when she was 5 with cake smeared in hair. Her sister graduating from college. Her dad starting his home improvement business. Their floors were light wood. You could hear the dogs feet pattering against it when they walked. Alex’s room was the best I ever have seen. She had a whole floor to herself. Walking through the kitchen to her room, you can smell spaghetti cooking. We walked down the carpeted steps to her room in the basement. The carpet is beige and it covers the stairs and her entire room. The room was so big she even had a chocolate-colored couch in there for herself. Her sheets were lavender and her duvet was freshly washed. She had 4 white decorative pillows. One of them was shimmery. Her tv was sitting atop of a long table. Next to her tv was her collection of funko pops she had acquired through the years. Her vanity closet was sort of old. The wood was chipping and its paint was faded. Her lesson planner lay on the floor next to it. The morning rush was evident. Her hairbrush on the floor, the hairdryer still plugged in, and work shoes strewn across the papers. She had a walk-in closet. The clothes and shoes were labeled for the season. She hid her favorite food in there under a black bin. The room made me jealous. She had all this space for herself to herself. It was what I dreamed of having someday. We walked back upstairs and I . could still smell the Tide.

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