Warning:  This post is a bit long...

By the time Bratty returned home from her winter break at the end of 2016, I had already moved into my new place.  There was a lot to do to get myself settled in – unpacking, getting new furniture (this place was way bigger than my condo and my old furniture was too small).  SO was preparing to move the week after New Year’s.  He picked up Bratty from the airport and we made time again for a few outings – movies, dinners, etc.  Nothing significant to note, except I had asked SO to work in integrating me into the conversations more.  He said he would work on it and although improved, it still felt a bit awkward. 

Bratty had some exciting plans for her spring semester – she was going to study abroad in Amsterdam.  Her program schedule had her returning to school shortly after New Year’s (and shortly after moving out of SO’s apartment and into my place) for orientation and then jetting off to Amsterdam for the semester abroad.  She was excited and seemed to be looking forward to it. 

For Christmas that year, I flew to spend the holiday with my parents.  SO and Bratty were going to spend a quiet Christmas at his place.  We had exchanged presents prior to leaving for our trips.  I got Bratty a travel guide for Amsterdam and SO some nice Bluetooth noise cancelling headphones (he travelled on long flights for work).  Bratty (shockingly) did get me a gift that year – a throw rug.  It was also one of the few times she actually acknowledged my gift with a ‘thank you’.  Of course she didn’t really have a choice since we were opening them right in front of SO.

On Christmas Day, we video chatted.  Bratty decided they should make – wait for it – lasagna for Christmas.  But not just any lasagna!  A veggie tri-color lasagna with zucchini noodles instead of regular lasagna noodles.  I chuckled to myself and wished them luck with their culinary adventures (but pretty much guessed it would be a disaster, and according to SO it was). 

After returning home, SO was fully in the packing swing of things.  His place had boxes everywhere except for one room – Bratty’s bedroom.  Bratty would make excuses about being tired, etc, and hadn’t packed a thing.  It would be helpful to note that Bratty is an uber-procrastinator but it was SO’s problem anyway so I let him deal with it.

On moving day, SO had rented a truck for the day and I went over to help them load everything that morning.  When I showed up that morning, he said Bratty had been up all night packing and was in the shower.  SO and I start moving some of the big items down to the truck (his apartment was on the 2nd floor).  Bratty finally emerges after an hour or so and is sitting at the table eating breakfast, not a care in the world.  SO asks her if she finished all her packing yet and she said well no I still have a few things to pack.  We look in her room and there was actually quite a bit of stuff left to pack.  He tells her to work on that quickly and we keep loading the truck. 

After another hour or so he comes back and most of Bratty’s stuff is finally boxed up.  We load those final items along with her furniture into the truck.  We’re almost ready to roll out and Bratty tells him she’ll come over separately later because she needs some ‘me time’ that day.  SO tells her the truck has to be returned by a certain time but she can take an hour or so and then meet us to help us unload the truck (note that I’m sitting there exhausted from loading their stuff into the truck which Bratty didn’t really help with and am thinking wtf – just tell her there is no ‘me time’ on moving day lol). 

SO and I drove the truck to my place (Bratty had his car to come over later).  We start unloading and after an hour SO gets a text from Bratty.  ‘Do you guys have the unloading done – some high school friends are getting together for dinner near here and I don’t want to drive all the way there just to have to come back’.  SO told her she had to come and help unload regardless and she finally showed up a half hour later to help unload the last pieces of furniture and boxes (which were her stuff).  Bratty changed clothes to head back to meet her high school friends.  I offer her a key to the house so she can come in and out as needed even though she was flying out in a couple of days for her study abroad program.

That night Bratty never came home.  She texted SO and said she was ‘tired’ after dinner and didn’t feel up to driving a half hour and would therefore stay at their old (most empty) apartment and sleep on the old sofa that was left there (it was going to be picked up by Salvation Army in a few days).  SO said fine and I asked him if he thought Bratty was struggling with us moving in together.  SO shrugged and said he didn’t know.

The next day, Bratty was out ‘running errands’ all day.  It felt like she was really avoiding having to come to the new place at all.  Finally later that evening I get a text from Bratty directly saying thank you for letting me live with you (which was actually really nice of Bratty).  I showed SO and then responded and said of course and I was looking forward to it.  She came home that evening and started packing up for her semester abroad.  It seemed like things had ended well and I had assumed SO and Bratty would have more conversations about us all living together.  Little did I know at the time that would probably be classified as parenting and SO doesn’t really do that.

As we begin 2017, Bratty is setting off for her study abroad program, leaving SO and I to settle into our domestic life together.  In our next chapter, we’ll cover Bratty’s international adventures which come with (of course) more drama and a new antagonist for Bratty:  the academic program director who wouldn’t tolerate Bratty’s antics.  Fun stuff ahead!