Chapter one - moving day

Riley and Sharon just landed at Miami international airport. They just moved from Hertfordshire, England looking for a fresh start in life. After going through a lot of family issues, they needed a new leaf to turn over and they weren't looking back at all. Not after what they went through back home. They definitely needed to go somewhere new and need a change of scenery.

Once exiting the airport at the front and main entrance, Riley waves for a cab in front of the taxi stand as Sharon follows behind. A taxi arrives as soon as the driver spots them, parks the car in front of them and gets out to take their bags from them and put in the boot. The drive from the airport wasn't too long as they were headed towards their new home: 2980 Rose Boulevard. It's a spacious penthouse apartment inside one of the new, elite and luxurious apartment buildings that were all recently built and refurbished.

20 minutes later

The driver stops right in front of the apartment building. He opens the boot from the inside before getting out and placing their bags on the pavement beside the cab. Riley goes ahead and takes the bags as Sharon pays for the cab ride to their new home.

Sharon closely follows behind Riley towards the extra large lobby of the modern building. A doorman spots Riley struggling with the bags and called for someone before opening the door for him and his mum, Sharon. She quickly runs after him and takes one from him. "Let me take one to ease the heavy load off you, eh?" Riley begins to protest but Sharon gives him a stern look that says 'hand it over or else'. Riley gives in and sighs as he gives her the large sports bag and walks towards the main reception desk with both four wheeled suitcases and his backpack on his back.

"Apartment 2980?" Sharon inquires as she looks up from her phone for a few seconds taking a glance at the receptionist who suddenly looks up. "Yes, Mr and Mrs Richards?" The receptionist asks beaming with a huge grin on her face. "Yes, that's us." Riley responds and the receptionist beams lightly before taking two pairs of keys from in front of her and handing it to both of them. "Here, both keys are for the same penthouse apartment." Both Riley and Sharon take a key each. "One is the original and the other is a copy. I gave you the copy to you Ms Richards." Sharon nods and says a small thank you to the receptionists before she speaks up again, "The lift area is this way Mr and Ms Richards." She gestures towards the left with her right arm as their eyes follow to the same direction.

"Thank you, Ms...." Riley pushes as he checks her name tag. He smiles once he spots her name on her uniform. "Ms Clarke." She returns the same delightful smile and gives Riley and Sharon a courteous nod. They both head towards the lifts and Sharon presses the up button before taking a step back and waiting patiently with Riley.

As soon as the lift doors open, a girl stood there inside using her phone. She hasn't yet looked up, Riley gets in the lift with the suitcases hoping the noise the wheels were making would make her jump a little. The mysterious girl finally looks up with a surprised look at Riley. She quickly recovers and gives an apologetic look. She takes her hand out to shoe Riley's hand, "Sorry, for being in your way. I'm Ranae."

"It's fine. No problem at all. I'm Riley, it's really nice to meet you." Riley eagerly takes her hand and shakes it quickly as he gushes shyly at the girl. Riley's cheeks turn a bright red as he lets go of her hand and Ranae takes it back. His mum enters the lift with the rest of the bags. "And this is my mum, Sharon Richards." Riley and Ranae both glance over to Sharon as Riley introduces her. "Hi, I'm Sharon. Nice to meet you." Sharon and Ranae shake hands and Ranae returns a small "Hey." After a good handshake.

"It's really nice meeting you guys. I got to go. See you." She quickly responds realising the lift is about to close and she clicks the open button. She gives Riley a small shy wave as her cheeks turns a deep crimson red while looking in his direction. "Bye Ms Richards. Till next time." Sharon waves at Ranae as she is exiting the lift and waving them both goodbye at the same time.

The lift closes behind Ranae and Riley presses the second floor before placing his keys in his jacket pocket.

5 minutes later

"Wow, our penthouse looks a lot more fancier in person than I thought." Riley looks around and gushes at the modern and spacious penthouse. "Yeah you're right. It does look fancier. It's very stylish too." Sharon comments slightly surprised herself. She rolls a suitcase and carries the sports bag on her shoulder as she entered the penthouse behind Riley and closes the door behind her.

Riley and Sharon both leave their bags at the front door as well as placing their keys in the bowl on the cabinet near the front door. They take a look around the penthouse suite giving themselves a tour around all the rooms. There's a living space with an open kitchen (which they've just walked into), two bedrooms and a family bathroom down the hall. The master suite has a toilet attached to it and both rooms have walk in closets.

The penthouse suite came fully furnished just like in the pictures they saw. Everything matched the pictures online of the penthouse. From the colour of the walls to the sofas, coffee table and the balcony attached to the living space across from the front door. Just to the left of the front door, there is a huge flatscreen tv hanging on the wall just above the table with two real plants, placed one on each side. The open kitchen is to the right with a small entrance to it from the hall, which is right next to it. There are three doors further down be hall besides the kitchen on the right to the front door. Right in front of them is an oak coffee table with three white sofas surrounding the table. There is a small bouquet of white roses in the middle of the table.

After their self tour around the house, Riley and Sharon sit on the sofas in the living room. "Mum, have you taken your meds today, at all?" Sharon nods saying "Yes, I have. This morning after having breakfast at that cafe at  Heathrow, remember?" Riley gives a courteous nod as she explains, "Yes, I remember. You need to take your meds soon again anyway. Don't forget, okay?" Riley says with a concerned look on his face. Sharon has a habit of forgetting to take her medication sometimes. "You're right. It's been a long day today and it's already 7pm already. And I promise I won't forget." Riley nods once she gives a firm promise she wouldn't forget.

Sharon noticed the remote on the oak coffee table and grabs it to turn on the television. CNN news comes on straight away on blasting high volume. Sharon turns down the volume to much lower as the news reporter speaks through the screen. Sharon takes interest in the tv as Riley gets up and goes into the kitchen to grab two wine glasses from one of the upper  cabinet. He goes to the modern and sleek silver fridge to see a sticky note. It reads, 'There's some complimentary wine and non alcoholic wine in here, as a gift. Enjoy. From your land lady, Stacey Doberman, X'. Riley takes the sticky note and turns around to show it to his mum. "Mum, look! A note." Sharon looks up from the tv and turns to Riley. "What's it day?" She asks curiously with a wry smile. "There's some complimentary wine and non alcoholic wine in the fridge as a gift from the landlady." Riley responds with a huge smile on his face. A few seconds later he proceeds to ask, "Want a glass of the non alcoholic?" Sharon nods and smiles at him before turning back to the tv again.

Riley opens the fridge and takes out the non alcoholic wine. He pours the wine in the two glasses. He places the wine back in the fridge again before returning to the main living area where Sharon was engrossed into the tv. "Mum, here." Sharon takes her eyes off the tv for a second only to see Riley standing above her as she is on the couch, gesturing for her to take the wine glass. Sharon takes the glass from him and gets comfortable on the couch once again.

Riley takes a seat on the opposite sofa with his glass in hand and taking small sips as he watches the tv with his mum. After a few moments of silence, Sharon takes her focus off the tv and speaks up. "Hey riles, want to order takeout?" He shrugs his shoulders with a laidback look on his face. ''Sure, why not? Don't mind a pizza or two.'' He says casually as he takes the remote from the table to change the channel. Sharon gets up and grabs her phone from her handbag on top of one of her suitcases by the door. ''I'll order us a Pepporoni and a Magherita pizza?'' Sharon asks looking at Riley as she dials a number on her phone and he gives her a nod yes. 

30 minutes later 

As soon as dinner was over with, Sharon went to take her medication (because of her mental illness) out of her handbag and strolls towards the kitchen. She downs her medication with some tap water before putting it all away again. 

After a while, they both decided it was a good idea to turn in and head off to sleep due to the jet lag and the travelling.