All six of them stood in the small lobby area of Josh’s former apartment building holding flattened moving boxes. The place was clean and maintained but in a haphazard kind of way. Old fixtures, hinges, and doors had been moved, removed, and replaced. Josh checked his mailbox for any last mail that might have been sent to the address after he submitted the change of address form, there was always something. He put Paul’s mail back in the box and locked it.
“I’m not sure we need this many people. I don’t have that much,” Josh said.
“You’re my roommate now,” Spencer said.
“I said I’d help when you told me you had to move out,” Triston replied.
“And see I know that Spencer doesn’t lift anything heavier than his cell phone at the gym,” Darrell said.
“I was told we were going drinking,” Bobby said.
There was a pause.
“I didn’t have anything better to do.”
They looked to Walter.
“What?”
Josh coughed and stepped between the men to the stairs where he led them up three flights and down a hallway.
“See this is why we brought extra people,” Darrell said to Bobby who walked beside him running a finger along the wall.
Walter was the last. He walked with one hand in the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt wary of getting too close to the banister that seemed too short, to bent to be of any good to a person.
Josh opened his apartment door slowly to be greeted by the wet nose of Paul’s dog but he knew the dog was friendly and ushered the guys inside to the living room where they stopped just a few inches away from each other.
Right there in the kitchen was Paul. He was leaned back against the counter with his arms crossed, an intense and serious look on his face. On the counter was a partially made sandwich with carrot and celery sticks on the side, an open beer beside the plate.
“Hello,” Paul said.
The men muttered a response but only Darrell and Triston looked to him directly. Bobby found himself trying to politely ward the dog away from his crotch. And Spencer tried to stop himself from grinding his teeth and making a fist with his hand.
“Hi Paul,” Josh said.
They looked across the space to each other but neither of them moved. Finally Josh broke the stare and the silence.
“I don’t have much in the living room, my game system, all the games, and controllers. I don’t have anything in the kitchen but I should take you into my room. It’s where I kept all my stuff from my first apartment.”
He led them down the hall to his bedroom door. He opened it to a stale, cold feeling of a room that had not been used in weeks. They peeked inside to see they had plenty of work to do. There was a bed on it’s side with a frame nearby, bookshelves full of movies, books, and CD’s, exercise equipment and a collection of small weights, poster tubes, a tall black dresser, and a small collection of dry cleaned shirts in the closet.
“If you guys want to start on this,” Josh said.
“I’ll get the video game stuff,” Walter said.
“I’ll help him,” Bobby said.
“And I need to get a few things from Paul’s room,” Josh said.
He stepped away from them to the other door and opened it. There was a familiar sound and the smell of vanilla incense. He looked to the empty and made bed with tight corners and no lines. He thought of the times they spent watching television and cuddling in the early morning before work. He thought about his first morning there and how they felt like adventurers when they raided the refrigerator and had a picnic on the bed.
“Are you okay?” Triston asked.
Josh looked to him and winced. Triston looked back down the hall, worried that Paul would try to join them, maybe ingratiate himself somehow, or worse start complaining about possession and moving out.
“Need a hug?”
They hugged each other.
In Josh’s former bedroom Darrell worked like a machine to load the DVD’s and books into separate boxes. He had moved many times in his life and felt that there was a way to do it so nothing got broken.
Spencer had assembled two boxes and opened a dresser drawer to find a collection of underwear. He looked them over. There was nothing racy but many of them were old, mostly briefs, a few boxers, straps of a jock. He felt himself redden just at the sight of them. He looked to Darrell who was occupied and back inside the drawer. The waistband on the underwear was small, smaller than his own and he had always been proud of his 34 inch waist. He shook all thought away, cleared his throat and shoveled them one handful at a time into the box before he moved on to the next drawer.
It wasn’t long before Darrell and Spencer had stacked boxes, Bobby and Walter had collected all the video game items in boxes by the door, and Josh emptied his few drawers in Paul’s room, took down his necklace from the mirror, and double checked the bathroom. They moved the mattress first.
After they had finished in the living room Paul went in there with his dog to sit and eat. He was methodical and they were quick.
Finally the last of the boxes were being carried downstairs. Josh and Triston stood by the front door of the apartment mentally double checking everything. Triston knew that normally in situations like this the most commonly forgotten things were identification documents but they had already talked it over and Josh’s documents were safely locked in a safety deposit box at a bank.
“Well,” Josh said.
“Well,” Triston replied.
Josh stepped to the archway and looked into the living room. He wanted to pet the dog. He wanted to hug and kiss Paul but he knew it was over. It felt as if the weeks apart had allowed him to form a thin shell around his skin that could break if they touched.
“I’m leaving,” Josh said.
Paul got to his feet and walked to the two men. He put his hands on his hips.
“Goodbye,” he said.
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