Lead me into temptation

Lilja watched the man with a bit of curiosity. It wasn’t every day she saw someone moving around in a big box like that. She smiled a bit when he elaborated, saying his video games were in there. “That is a big box for just video games.” She said with a bit of a soft chuckle.

Caleb nodded his head, then pointed towards two similar boxes. “Those had some games in them too.” He had all the consoles, endless amounts of games. He wasn’t ashamed. He was a gamer. “I don’t think you are the type of girl to be impressed with my video game collections.” He laughed. 

Andrew slowly nodded. “That’s awesome, man. I can’t even imagine. There are times when I feel like smart phones defeat me. Let alone medical equipment.” Caleb couldn’t be too much older than Andrew, so really, that was impressive itself. Having his own business like that. Something that substantial. The medical field was one that would never die; just continue to advance. Technology, too. “In that case, I guess I’m a little late then. Missed out on all the box fort fun.” He smiled. 

Caleb laughed. “There are times where I could take my phone and smash it into a million pieces. Thankfully the software I work with I designed. I know the in’s and out’s. I will admit, in the beginning I did want to kill myself when working with it. I have all the kinks worked out. Plus, I had my brother’s help.” There were times he wondered how he ended up where he did, especially after what happened in New York. “You did miss out on the box fun.” He chuckled. “I was thinking about getting a beer, want to come?”

“Uhh…no? Hulk is mine and always has been.” Truth be told, he probably had stolen it from his brother somewhere along the line but he’d always liked Hogan and he’d grown fond of it as part of his collection so ensured that that was the box he himself went to pick up. “Aaaaanyway” He stated changing the subject, pleased to see that his brother had finally put in an appearance “You’ve come down to help me get the rest of this stuff in?” It wasn’t as much of a question as it may have seemed. “Either that or I bet you thought I finished unpacking hours ago and it was safe to show your face now without being asked to help.” Ben joked, the two brothers had a good relationship. They were close which naturally meant the majority of the time they were more than happy to make fun of the other in jest. “You can start with that one” Ben grinned emphatically as he pointed to one just by Caleb’s foot. “Doors open.Thanks” he said, before his brother had the chance to say no. 

Caleb deadpan before a snort erupted. “We both know that is bullshit.” He turned the toy upside down and showed his brother the foot where he had craved in his initials. “Did’t know your initials were CP.” He wiggled his brows at his younger brother. “If I remember correctly, it was I who introduced you to the Hulk.” He wasn’t surprised with his brother’s next actions. He was beginning to wonder what other wrestling figures he had that were his. “I should help you unpack that box later.” He offered more assistance. “Of course I came to help you.” Truth, he was hoping to run into his brother once he was all moved in. “You can believe what you like.” He reached down to grab the box before following Benny boy into his apartment. “How was the move here? Did mom and dad give you the same hard time they gave me?”

“Huh?” Ben turned quickly, caught off guard as he heard the voice behind him. He’d been so engrossed in getting all his stuff into his new apartment as fast as he could that he’d paid no attention to his surroundings. “Sorry. I’m not always this messy. I promise” He laughed and began kicking some of the boxes to the side to clear a pathway. “How’s that? Oh! don’t..” He was about to say ‘look in there’ referring to the one box that had popped itself open but it was too late, his usually secretive collection of toy wrestling figures were already on display.

Caleb knew when Benjamin was moving in. He was more than thrilled his brother decided to move to Denver. Glad to have the help to start up the company here. Ben had a brilliant mind, not that he would ever admit it; it was some older brother code to make sure he knocked his brother down a few notches. “This is tame compared to what you can do.” He chuckled, his eyes glancing down at the box. It was the first wrestler he saw on top. “Hey, isn’t that mine.” He walked over and scooped it up. “Why do you have my Hulk Hogan?”

“I feel like I throw myself to the demons of the dungeon every time I come back battered and bruised from the pesky place too. But it’s a necessity. Especially with the way I eat,” she said with a shrug. She loved lifting weights, but hated that her entire body ached afterwards, though knew that if she still wanted to indulge in pizza and tacos, she really had no choice in the matter. “Well see, at least you know how to put it out. This girl looked like a character from the Sims game, just waving her hands around. I felt bad for the girl, I really did,” the brunette recalled. “You claim you don’t want me to feel bad about myself, but all I’m hearing is that you don’t want to get beat by a girl,” she teased back, then decided to take him up on his offer. “I’ll pick the pizza, you pick the film?”

“I love a good Chow Mein, or some sweet and sour pork. I also like a huge deluxe pizza. Or I could go for a big fat juicy burger.” The more he talked about food, he found himself growing hungry. Caleb had a routine at the gym he would follow. Sometimes he would change it up. The gym wasn’t a hobby, it was something that needed to be done at least four times a week. “I a saving you from being embarrassed by me. Trust me, I don’t want to see you cry.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I am in the mood for some action flick.” 

Lakyn couldn’t help but smile at his childlike behaviors, it was actually pretty refreshing to her to see someone doing something that wasn’t completely serious or ‘adultish’. “well you should save up your boxes from moving and do that again, make a big ole fort and then watch some kiddy movie in the fort with various flavors of popcorn and candy.” The girl shook her head slightly, taking a small step toward him “no i mean, i wasn’t judging in a bad way, that didn’t come out right. honestly if i could crawl into a box and hide right now, i would” she said with a small shrug, as she tried to fix what she’d said she realized she was just kind of making it worse “well, welcome to the building! what apartment are you in? maybe we’re neighbors”

Caleb raised a brow at the brunette. “If I do save up all these boxes and build a fort, does that mean you are going to help me?” Half the fun was building it with someone. “All depends on what type of candy you like.” He was picky with certain candy, and this was a good way to learn about someone. “If you were to crawl into a box, what would you do?” He was intrigued by this conversation. “I’m in 201. What about you?”

“Right?” Andrew smiled. He’d definitely heard the expression before and it took him a while before he ever found out the place actually existed. Listening to Caleb’s brief explanation, Andrew nodded along. “What kind of business do you have?” When Andrew offered to help, he hadn’t realized the way it came out, the fact that he gestured to the empty box. “I gotcha. Thought maybe you were still moving things in or something. I’d lend a hand.” 

At least he wasn’t the only one who had heard this expression, possibly even threatened with it. “I own Philips Advanced Software Technology. I do software programs for medical equipment.” Something he started to develop the last couple years. “I moved in about a week ago. Bringing down some empty boxes.”

Lilja settled a bit when the man seemed to be fine. Once she got over her initial concern, confusion seemed to set in as she wondered just what he’d been doing, especially as he mentioned missing something. “Miss something? You were in there looking for something?” She glanced over at the box then back at him. “Are you moving into the building?”

Caleb raised a brow at the brunette. He could tell she was more relaxed than before. His eyes glanced over at the box. “I think I got everything out of there.” He nodded his head. “It was all my video games.”

“Flat rate shipping. And yet they charge so much for airfare…” Andrew smiled. If it was possible to get away with only paying so much to basically be shuttled around to different states, it’d be great. “Yeah? I’m originally from California too. The San Fernando area but I sorta migrated to the Los Angeles area for a good while. Fill in the gaps with some other details and then I’m here in Colorado. No complaints. I like it here. Denver, and these apartments.” Motioning back towards the box, Andrew figured he’d offer: “Did you need any help with anything?”

“There goes trying to mail myself to Timbuktu. Always wanted to see if there was a place and not something my mom would threaten me with.” To be honest, he was tempted a couple times to try it out. “Lived in LA for the last few years. Getting my business on track. Brought a branch out this way.” He would have to give it some time before she formed an opinion on the city.” Caleb shook his head, glancing over at the empty box. “I don’t think there is anything in there. I wanted to make sure.”

Caleb was still getting used to the whole apartment thing. His property before was a house. He thought about taking the time to explore, not entirely sure what he would find. He was intrigued that there was a pool, yet, it was the clubhouse that had him going that way. He saw the door open and a blonde step out of the room. He had to do a double take to make sure he was seeing properly. “Neslyn?” His brows furrowed. He hadn’t seen her....well, since a funeral. “You live in Denver?”

“Eh. We’re all going to die eventually anyway. Might as well be happy when you go,” she shrugged. Her eyebrow rose at his confession of almost burning down kitchens, but she had to laugh at the irony of it. “My last roommate was attempting to cook steaks once. First time I met her, actually, and she had the smoke detectors going off. Whole apartment was filled with smoke. I was convinced that she was trying to burn the place down. But if it’s that bad, just leave the cooking to me. I got this.” His last statement resulted in a snort of her own. “Can’t hate a girl for trying. If you’d like, I can help you get situated and maybe we can play Mario Kart together, and see who the real champion is here?”

“See that is my point exactly.” He might actual like this woman. “I still push myself to go to the gym. I hate being there, but I know it’s good for me.” He added. Caleb couldn’t help but laugh when the other spoke about their roommate. “That would be me. I have started a pan fire before. At least I know how to take care of them. I was banned from the stove after that. Give me a week and I will have all the take-out places close by on speed dial. They will all know my name and when I call, they will know what I want.” He had a set up like this in LA. “I think it’s best you do the cooking.” He would never turn down food. “See, the last thing I want to do is to make you feel bad about yourself.” He teased. “I’m always down for pizza and a film.”

“Like a cat?” he queried, a smirk pulling onto his lips. “I mean, you have bouncy castles for that. Or is the thrill of being able to fit into a box exhilarating? 

“Sure, like a cat. They have a thing for boxes.” Caleb wasn’t really an animal person. “I could always get a bouncy castle. I have no place to put it thought.” He sighed. “You should really give it a try.”

“Food is food,” she reminded him. “As long as it’s edible, I’m happy.” Her lips curled into a small smile as she watched his features, almost laughing when his smug grinned turned into a pout. “It’s always a possibility. Oh love, you can only make that promise, because you know I’d be the one kicking your butt, always. You’re looking at the Gold Cup Champion in all races, at all CC levels. Come on now,” she bragged. “Ah well, welcome! I’m sure you’ll find the apartments a little more cozy than the hotel. Though unfortunately, I don’t think we have room service. Unless you count the times when you’re going to deliver me food at 4am.” she teased with a bright grin.

“See, at least you see it that way.” He nodded his head. “Most would talk about the MSG and how it will kill me. Even recommend that I take some cooking classes. I’ve almost burnt down a couple kitchens. Not my fault. I warned them.” He snorted. “Right, see, that I find hard to believe. You can live in your little bubble if it will please you.” He added. “I don’t know how I feel about this whole unpacking thing, but at least it’s done.” He raised a brow. “Yeah, me bring you food at 4am is like wishing to win the lottery.”

“True. It would be a bit claustrophobic in there.” It was a relief he was able to go along with his humor. Granted, he was the one who just climbed out of a box. Andrew offered his hand in return with a smile. “Yeah, hey. Nice to meet you, and welcome. All that fun stuff. I’m Andrew.” After shaking his hand in greeting, he lightly folded his arms across his chest. “You from Denver?”

“It would. I’m a big guy too. I would need a bigger box for sure.” Now the idea popped into his head. He would have to give up on the urge. Caleb shook the others hand. “Nice to meet you Andrew.” He shook his head. “Originally San Francisco. You?”