The Place We Call Ours
The apartment door swung open, and Randy Nevbanks stepped inside carrying two heavy boxes.
“Steph, I swear, if you packed bricks in these things, we’re gonna have a problem.”
Behind him, Steph Johnson laughed as she struggled through the doorway with a suitcase.
“They’re books, Randy.”
“Books?”
“Yes, books.”
Randy lowered the boxes onto the living room floor and straightened his back.
“Steph, we’re going to college. Don’t they have books there already?”
She gave him a look.
“You’re hilarious.”
“I try.”
Steph rolled her suitcase inside and closed the door behind her.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
The apartment smelled of fresh paint.
Afternoon sunlight spilled through the windows, stretching across the empty living room.
Cardboard boxes lined one wall, and somewhere outside, the sounds of Gainesville traffic mixed with students talking as they passed.
Two bedrooms.
A small kitchen.
A living room that currently had nowhere to sit.
And a whole new life waiting to begin.
Steph slowly turned in a circle.
“Oh, Randy.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
She smiled.
“We’re really here.”
Randy glanced around the apartment.
“Yeah.”
Steph walked toward the window and looked outside.
“No parents telling us to clean our rooms. No high school bells. No rushing home after practice.”
Randy grinned.
“No Mia stealing my snacks.”
Steph laughed.
“You know you’re going to miss that.”
“I already miss my snacks.”
She shook her head.
Then her expression softened.
“Randy, this is really ours.”
He watched her take another look around the room.
“This is it,” she whispered, her eyes wide.
“Not Raider Nation’s office. Not my parents’ house. Ours.”
Randy felt something settle in his chest.
For years, he’d imagined what life after high school might look like.
Football had taught him discipline.
Raider Nation had taught him leadership.
His mother had taught him responsibility.
And Steph had been beside him through so much of it.
But standing inside that apartment, surrounded by boxes and bare walls, he realized something.
This wasn’t another football season.
There wasn’t a scoreboard to tell him whether he was winning.
This was real life.
And for the first time, he and Steph would be figuring it out together.
Too Many Boxes
An hour later, the living room looked worse than it had when they arrived.
Randy stood in the middle of the floor, holding a roll of packing tape.
“Steph?”
“Yeah?”
“Why do we have six boxes marked ‘important’?”
Steph looked up from the suitcase she was unpacking.
“Because they’re important.”
“That doesn’t tell me what’s in them.”
“Things we need.”
Randy stared at her.
“That doesn’t help either.”
Steph laughed.
“Open one.”
Randy grabbed the nearest box and peeled back the tape.
Inside were picture frames, a blanket, notebooks, and a small stuffed animal.
He lifted the stuffed animal.
“Steph.”
She looked over.
“What?”
“Please tell me this thing isn’t going on our bed.”
She gasped.
“Put him down!”
Randy held it up.
“Him?”
“Yes, him!”
“This little guy has a name?”
“Of course he has a name.”
Randy examined it.
“Does he pay rent?”
Steph grabbed a pillow from the couch and tossed it at him.
“RANDY!”
He caught it, laughing.
“Okay! Okay!”
She took the stuffed animal from his hand.
“Some things have sentimental value, Nevbanks.”
Randy smiled.
“All right. He can stay.”
“Thank you.”
“But if he starts taking up my side of the bed, we’re having a conversation.”
Steph burst out laughing.
For a few minutes, the apartment didn’t feel quite so empty.
The Second Bedroom
Later that afternoon, Randy carried his duffel bag into their bedroom.
He unzipped it and carefully removed his folded purple #19 jersey.
For a moment, he held it in his hands.
So many memories were attached to that number.
Friday nights.
Bright stadium lights.
The roar of the crowd.
His teammates.
The people who had believed in him.
Steph appeared in the doorway.
“Thinking about the old days?”
Randy looked up.
“A little.”
She walked over.
“That jersey’s been through a lot.”
“Yeah.”
He smiled.
“So have we.”
Steph gently touched the folded fabric.
“And look where we ended up.”
Randy placed the jersey on the dresser.
“University of Florida.”
Steph grinned.
“Don’t forget it.”
He laughed.
Then he picked up his laptop and headed toward the second bedroom.
Steph followed.
Inside, the room was almost completely empty.
Randy set the laptop on a small desk and opened it.
The Raider Nation logo appeared on the screen.
He looked around, imagining what the room could become.
A corkboard filled with schedules.
A whiteboard covered in plans.
A place where they could stay connected to the organization they’d helped build.
Steph leaned against the doorway.
“Randy?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re already working on the office?”
He glanced back.
“Just getting things set up.”
She looked toward the hallway.
“Randy, we haven’t even unpacked our bedroom.”
“I know. I just wanted to make sure everything was ready.”
“For Raider Nation?”
“Yeah.”
Steph walked inside.
“Can I tell you something?”
Randy closed the laptop halfway.
“Of course.”
She looked around the empty room.
“I love Raider Nation. You know I do.”
“I know.”
“And I’m proud of everything we’ve built.”
Randy nodded.
“But…”
Steph smiled slightly.
“But I don’t want our whole life here to become another Raider Nation office.”
Randy studied her face.
She wasn’t angry.
She wasn’t complaining.
She was simply telling him something that mattered.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
Steph stepped closer.
“I mean, we’re finally here, Randy. We have our own apartment. We’re starting college. We’re going to have classes, studying, cheer practice, meetings, and probably a hundred things we haven’t even thought about yet.”
Randy smiled.
“Probably two hundred.”
“Exactly.”
She reached for his hand.
“I just want us to remember that this is our home first.”
Randy looked around the room again.
He hadn’t thought about it that way.
For so long, Raider Nation had been a major part of his life.
But Steph was right.
They weren’t moving into an office.
They were moving into a home.
He closed the laptop.
“You’re right.”
Steph blinked.
“Wait. What?”
Randy laughed.
“I said you’re right.”
She put a hand over her heart.
“Somebody write down the date.”
“Steph!”
“I’m serious. Randy Nevbanks admitted I was right without an argument.”
He shook his head, smiling.
“Don’t get used to it.”
She laughed.
Randy took another look at the desk.
“Raider Nation can wait until tomorrow.”
Steph smiled.
“Tomorrow?”
“Okay. Maybe the day after.”
“Now you’re talking.”
He slipped an arm around her shoulders.
“Come on. Let’s finish our bedroom.”
Steph grinned.
“Good. Because I have no idea where my toothbrush is.”
Randy stopped.
“Wait. You don’t know where your toothbrush is?”
“Nope.”
“Steph, you packed six boxes marked important!”
“Apparently, my toothbrush wasn’t important enough.”
They both burst out laughing.
Dinner for Two
By the time evening arrived, Randy and Steph were exhausted.
Their bedroom was mostly unpacked.
The kitchen cabinets had plates and glasses.
The bathroom had towels.
And the living room still looked like a cardboard warehouse.
Steph stood in front of the refrigerator.
“Randy?”
“Yeah?”
“We have a problem.”
He looked up from a box.
“What now?”
“There’s nothing to eat.”
Randy walked over and opened the refrigerator.
Inside sat two bottles of water and a small container of butter.
He stared.
“Well…”
Steph folded her arms.
“Well what?”
“We’re not going to starve.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Randy, unless you plan on making butter sandwiches, we need food.”
He laughed.
“Pizza?”
Steph smiled.
“Pizza.”
Twenty-five minutes later, they sat on the living room floor with a pizza box between them.
Randy took a bite.
“Now this is college living.”
Steph laughed.
“Pizza on the floor?”
“Absolutely.”
“No table?”
“Who needs one?”
“No couch?”
“We’ll get one.”
“No curtains?”
Randy glanced toward the window.
“Okay, that one might be important.”
Steph laughed and leaned against his shoulder.
For a while, they ate quietly.
Outside, the Gainesville evening settled over the neighborhood.
Cars passed.
Students walked along the sidewalk.
Somewhere nearby, music played through an open window.
Steph looked around the apartment.
“It’s strange.”
Randy glanced at her.
“What is?”
“This morning, I woke up knowing exactly where everything was.”
“Yeah?”
“Now I don’t even know which box has my pajamas.”
Randy grinned.
“Probably one marked important.”
She nudged him.
“Very funny.”
Then she grew quiet.
“Are you nervous?”
Randy stopped chewing.
“About what?”
“All of it.”
He looked around.
“The apartment?”
“College. Classes. Being on our own. Everything.”
Randy thought for a moment.
“A little.”
Steph turned toward him.
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
She smiled.
“Good.”
Randy laughed.
“Good?”
“I thought I was the only one.”
He shook his head.
“Nope.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Randy said, “You know what’s different about this?”
Steph looked at him.
“What?”
“Back in high school, we always had somebody telling us what came next. Teachers, coaches, our parents.”
Steph nodded.
“And now?”
Randy glanced at the scattered boxes.
“Now we have to figure some of it out ourselves.”
Steph smiled.
“That’s kind of scary.”
“Yeah.”
“But exciting too.”
Randy nodded.
“Definitely exciting.”
Steph reached for another slice of pizza.
“So what’s our first big grown-up decision?”
Randy looked thoughtful.
“Buying groceries.”
She laughed.
“That’s not very exciting.”
“Trust me, Steph. With this refrigerator, it’s an emergency.”
A New Beginning
Later that night, the apartment was finally quiet.
Steph stood by the living room window, looking at the campus lights in the distance.
Randy walked up beside her.
“Tired?”
“Very.”
“Ready for bed?”
“In a minute.”
He stood beside her.
Steph looked around the apartment one more time.
There were still boxes to unpack.
Furniture to arrange.
Classes to prepare for.
And responsibilities waiting for both of them.
They would make mistakes.
They would disagree.
They would have days when everything seemed harder than they’d expected.
But tonight, none of that had happened yet.
Tonight, they had taken their first step into a new life.
Steph turned toward Randy.
“Do you think we’re ready for this?”
He thought about her question.
Then he smiled.
“I think we’re going to find out.”
Steph laughed softly.
“That’s not exactly reassuring.”
Randy took her hand.
“Steph, I can’t promise we’re going to get everything right.”
“I know.”
“And I can’t promise college is going to be easy.”
“I know that too.”
“But I can promise something else.”
She looked at him.
“What?”
“When things get hard, we talk. When one of us makes a mistake, we work through it. And when something good happens, we celebrate together.”
Steph smiled.
“I like that promise.”
Randy looked around their new apartment.
Then he turned back to her, his voice steady but full of awe.
“Next chapter. And we’re writing it together.”
Steph squeezed his hand.
“Together.”
Outside, the campus lights flickered on.
Inside, two young adults stood in their first home together, surrounded by unfinished work and possibilities neither could fully imagine.
For years, they’d helped build something special with Raider Nation.
Now they were beginning something just as important.
A life of their own.