4 Apartment

The time is 1996, mid winter, January.

The location is Pasadena, Los Angeles, West Coast of United States.

It didn't take long for Chris to help her find a small studio apartment in Pasadena. The apartment was not very big with only one bedroom, one bathroom, an open kitchen and a small living room, but she was very satisfied with it. For someone like her, who doesn't have much money and is not even of age, a small apartment like it was the best choice. She paid the three months rent in advance from the money she had on her herself.

On the day Amelia came to visit the apartment, it was raining lightly. Chris didn't came with her as he went with the crew for filming.

In past few days of living together, she has learned a lot about Chris, his family and career. They watched his most famous movie till now, 'Empire of the Sun' together just a few days ago. And the first words that came out of her mouth after watching the movie were: "You were so cute as a kid."

Of course, what happened after that was clear, Chris showed her how innocent and cute he really was, and that too in bed.

The relationship between her and Chris has progressed a lot in past few days, but they are not offical, and maybe they never will. The problem is not Chris, but she herself. Chris has a different kind of importance in her heart, and its at least much different than that of between lovers. It's like a kind of dependence. The only reason she can think for such attraction might be that, Chris was the first and only person she has connected with since she crossed over. He really took a lot of care of her, and makes her kind of feel safe.

Coming out of her thoughts, the first thing she did when she checked in her apartment, was to go to shopping. The apartment provides basic furniture: a bed, few cabinets, curtains, several chairs, a table and few sheets, but its all used one.

Amelia felt that she would vomit if she used the things provided by the apartment. Who knows for how long they have been put there, and how many people must've used them. Therefore, she decided to go for a round of shopping, even if it meant exhausting the last of the savings she had. Of course, the savings she is taking about are also not earned by her, its the money she got from selling jewelry and other expensive things she took from the New Year party.

She bought a large bed, a sofa, a table and few chairs. She didn't go for the expensive ones, and only looked at the things which could be bought in her budget. Anyway, she can buy more when she has more money.

After finishing with the shopping for the apartment, she started a shopping spree for herself. She doesn't have much clothes, and the only clothes she have are two pairs of jeans and crops she bought through Chris.

She spent several afternoons shopping, ranging from popular T-shirts and jeans to Chanel's knee-length dress to wear on formal occasions; from schoolboy sneakers to 9cm tall shoes; from half-cup lace underwear to silk suspender nightgowns. New clothes are hung all over the wardrobe, the shoe cabinet is full of shoes, toiletries are on the bathroom shelves, and fluffy and soft bath towels and cut velvet towels of various uses are hung in the bathroom.

After shopping, Amelia did some calculations and found that except for the small channel dress and other clothing items, the total cost was less than 2,000 dollars. This was a little more than half of her original budget -- Dollar was really valuable at this time.

She had a total of 4000 dollars. 1000 dollars were spent on rent, 1000 on furniture, and 1000 dollars more were spent on shopping for herself. In the end, she has only thousand left, which is more than enough for the next three months expenses. But after that, she has to find a job.

She has no idea what she can do to earn money legally. She isn't legally adult yet, and finding a proper job would be very difficult. As for finding one without using Id card, that option doesn't even need to be considered. No sane person would hire a girl who looks so young, and doesn't even show her identity. They will immediately conclude that either she is a minor or a criminal. No matter what the outcome might be, both situations are unfavourable for her.

Its not like she hadn't thought about going to school like a regular person, but from the information she got from the admission office is that, one needs to have his or her guardian with her or at least their signature, to get admission in the school. Therefore, the option of going to school was also cut. After all, she isn't a fool to go to that abusive man to ask him to sign for her admission form. If that was what she wanted, then she wouldn't have run from the home.

________

P.S. I also like Leonardo DiCaprio a lot, but I think there are a lot of fictions with him out there. Therefore, I am confused about whether to include him in the story or not. After all, 90s without Leonardo can't even be called a decade.