“I can’t believe you haven’t seen my new place yet,” Tina said as she slides her key into the lock and gives it a twist.

“We’ve both been busy,” Kayla shrugs, following her friend inside. “Besides, you and John just had to move to as far from me as possible.”

“Yeah yeah, I get that enough from my mom. Nevermind the fact that I’m only 25 minutes away. Anyway, this is the place,” Tina spreads out her arms with a wide grin, “it’s a bit bigger than the dorm you and I got crammed in.” They chuckle at the thought of the tiny, smelly dorm that had been the beginning of their friendship.

In the middle of a brief tour Tina’s phone rings. “Ugh, it’s work. Sorry, make yourself at home, I’ll be a few minutes.” And she dashes up the stairs, answering the phone with faux cheer, “Hi you’ve reached Tina...”

Not one to stay still for long, Kayla decides to make them tea. The kettle was on the stove so she wouldn’t need to poke around too much. With the water on its way to boiling, she begins to wander.

The first this she notices is...chickens. Roosters? There are three rustic pictures on the walls of the kitchen, and each picture features a handdrawn, fat chicken. Knowing that Tina’s idea of art leaned toward obscure, abstract pictures, it seems like such a far cry from what she expected that she laughs out loud. That’s when she sees the red rooster spoon rest next to the stove. And as she moves closer she also sees that the drying mat has an odd collage of chickens displayed. Stumped as to why in the world there were so many chickens taking over the kitchen, she made her way into the living room.

With the intention of browsing the bookcase, Kayla is instead confused once more. Instead of the books she expected to find, the bookcase holds an astounding amount of board games. They are all neatly stacked and slotted together like books would be, and also like a stranger’s bookcase, Kayla only recognizes a handful of titles. Most of the games looked big and complicated - not a “Sorry!” or “Clue” in sight. The only games she recognizes were the few that Tina had made her play back in college. But there were dozens more.

The tea kettle whistling brings her out of her reverie even as she hears Tina head down the stairs. They met up in the kitchen and Tina showed her where the mugs were (Kayla was surprised to see over a dozen mismatched mugs) and they picked out tea. At least the fact that her friend liked tea hadn’t changed.

“So how did John get to make so many decisions about this place anyhow?” Kayla asks as they settle onto the couch.

“What do you mean?” Tina looks genuinely confused.

“C’mon Tina, this place looks nothing like our dorm did or like your last apartment for that matter. I mean, look,” and Kayla grabs a handful of the decorative throw blanket that featured the logo of some sports team or another.

“I like this stuff,” Tina shrugs, “John and I picked out all this stuff together.”

“You picked out...chickens?”

Tina choked on her tea as she guffaws. “Oh god the chickens,” she laughs, “Don’t get me wrong, the chickens took some getting used to...but I don’t know. This place doesn’t look just like my last one, but it’s not like John’s last apartment either. It’s very...ours I guess. Once you get to know John a bit more you’ll see it too.”

Looking around, Kayla tries to see what Tina did. And slowly she starts to see Tina’s personality shine through the style. She was right though, it wasn’t just Tina that she was seeing, it was her intertwined with a whole other personality.

She saw Tina’s movie collection featured by the TV, but placed in a cabinet with some video games. She saw Tina’s organization in how the board games were set up. The tapestry hanging in the dining room has colors that fit Tina, even if the design was more angular than she would have picked out.

“As long as I don’t have to play any of those board games to do it, I can’t wait to start seeing John some more. Maybe then I’ll understand the chickens.”

With a laugh Tina says “deal” and the women clink together their mismatched tea mugs.