New Heights (ONGOING)

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"Oh my goodness this is so heavy" I grunted as I made my way up the stairs struggling to carry the last, but heaviest of the boxes to my newfound home. While the experience was completely new and enthralling, I was all too familiar and even accustomed to the weather here in the South being that my hometown isn't too far from here. This heat was only adding to my frustrations and I involuntarily dropped the box as I reached what I had now made a resting point at the top of the first set of stairs.

I stood up straight with my hands on my hips, looking down at the box trying to prepare my mind so that I could pick it back up and continue up the four flights that remained. Just as I was about to bend back down to retrieve my box of possessions I heard the patter of shoes against the floor, then a rough, deep voice sounded catching my attention.

"Lemme help you with that." I heard the voice say as he took the box, lifting it as if it weighed nothing. As he stood up straight my eyes, which had previously been trained on the box, followed his motions and I was finally able to see what he looked like and boy was I blessed to have this beautiful sight to see standing in front of me.

He stood at about 6'3, with a complexion that was warm and golden completely contrasting the black hair that graced his head and face making him look as if he were glowing. His eyebrows were thick, but naturally kept and shaped— no different from his hair. The low cut did nothing to disguise the luscious curls that looked so soft and had my fingers itching to be in them.

I quickly snapped back to my senses when I realized that I was staring and noticed his full, plump lips were turned up in a smirk showcasing his white teeth. I cleared my throat trying to fight off the warmth that was flooding to my cheeks.

After catching me in my act of admiration he stepped to the side.

"Where you taking these to?" He asked.

I took note of the slight accent he had in addition to the deep tone of his voice. I shyly smiled still feeling my cheeks burn before straightening up and answering.

"Uh to the fifth floor. Apartment 512"

He nodded and we both began to climb the sets of stairs that remained.

"You new here. Where you coming from?" He asked as we made the journey.

"I'm from Bama." I replied.

He released a quick chuckle "Oh so you already know about this crazy heat then huh?"

I laughed to myself at the irony since I'd just thought the same thing not too long ago.

"I am definitely accustomed to the heat and long summers. " I replied with a nod.

There was a pause as we both continued up the stairs soaking in the conversation. I decided to ask him a little about himself.

"So... you actually from here or you just here for school?"

He glanced at me saying "I wasn't born here, but I been in Georgia long enough. I definitely know my way around."

I nodded understanding what he was saying. We walked a little further in the silence seeing as I didn't really know what else to say, and I wasn't sure if he wanted to make conversation.
He distracted me from my thoughts when he spoke up.

"Why didn't you just take the elevator Ms..." He asked dragging out the "Ms." as if he was searching for something. I realized that I hadn't told him my name.

"Oh sorry, I'm Athena Kingman. And umm at the time it was full and I thought it wouldn't be so bad to take the stairs 'cause I need the workout anyway. But it proved to be a little harder than I thought since this is the heaviest box." I explained while thinking I should've just waited for the elevator. It would've been much better than climbing these stairs in this heat.

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, smirking then making a noise in his throat that came out as "Mhm".

I squinted my eyes "What?"
He just shook his head with that same smirk on his face.

"Wait, no why did you just look at me like that and mak-" I started to ask, curiosity getting to me, before he interrupted.

"This you, right?" He asked and I noticed that we'd made it up all the stairs. I looked at what he was gesturing to, to see that it was my apartment door.

"Uh yea this is me." I took out my key to unlock the door. "You can actually just drop it right there. I can drag it in myself. Thanks-" my voice began to die out as he walked through the now open door, and sat the box down next to the others. He stood up straight and looked around my partially furnished apartment nodding his head.

"Do you need help with anything else Ms. Athena?" He asked walking up closer to me looking me directly into my eyes. Once again I could feel my cheeks begin to burn. I looked up at him, sliding my hands into my back pockets. This man had thrown my thoughts off with just one look into my eyes. I need to get it together.

"Nah uhm I can take it from here. Thanks for your help though. Hope I didn't take you too far away from your plans."

"Nah you good. I was just going to get the mail." He replied.

I frowned a little bit "Wait so you live in this part of the complex too?"

He chuckled folding his arms "Something like that." he replied licking his lips.

"What does that mean?" I'm confused at this point.

"I live right across the hall. Apartment 511." I nodded slowly in realization.
"Ohhh.... So I guess we're neighbors. I'll have to bring something over later to thank you properly." I said, immediately frowning afterwards at how wrong that sounded. He noticed the look on my face and laughed.

"I got what you meant and don't worry bout it. I did it 'cause I wanted to." He said. I just rolled my eyes and smiled.

"That's cute, but I was taught to always give back to the people that help you. So you want brownies or cookies? Or are you a cupcake kind of guy?" I asked smirking with folded arms.

He shook his head with a small smile before answering my question " I like double fudge anything."

"Alright well I'll get started on those and bring them over later." We both began walking towards the door and once he was outside, he turned to me.
"I'm actually having a lil kickback tonight. You should come through." He stated looking down at me.

God this boy is so fine.

"Uhm I'm actually not much of a party person and as you can see I have a lot of work to get done here. Thanks for the invite, but imma probably just drop off your stuff and keep it moving." I replied already knowing that I would not be staying.

He nodded his head understandingly. "Alright well I'll see you then" he stated turning to leave.

"Wait what's your name?" I asked stopping him.

He turned with that same ghost of a smile on his face "Phoenix."

I nodded to myself liking the unique name. He continued his walk.

"Thanks again" I yelled after him as he made his way down the stairs.

I closed the door and turned to look at the semi organized apartment in front of me.

"Well. Might as well get started" I said to myself.

A/N xoxo
This chapter is just a teaser & I'm trying to gauge reactions to see if you guys want the other chapters I have written ... thanks for making it this far. I told you guys I was working on something new & this is it. Let me know what you think :)

XOXO