Chapter Text
She’s not used to this. Any of this. Not NYC, not being alone with Alexis, not being in Alexis’s apartment, a guest in her own right and not just as someone hanging off of David.
It’s really fucking weird.
She feels like she’s practically about to vibrate out of her own skin, seated with her legs down on the tiny grey couch in the middle of the open space, socked feet nervously rubbing up against one another and hands resting in her own lap as Alexis hums something in the kitchen.
She’s grateful for the place to crash, she really is. Alexis’s place is well lit, spacious as a studio loft can be and – despite the fact that it’s Alexis’s – pretty neat, when it comes down to it. It smells like something she’s convinced David and Patrick sell at the apothecary, warm with a hint of spice and something citrusy. There are bright blue sheets on the double bed to her right, right next to a single wooden night stool that Alexis has put a photo of herself and David on.
It’s nice. Stevie should love it. She’s grateful for it. If only it wasn’t so fucking awkward.
Alexis steps back from her kitchen counter and does this… weird… shimmy… thing (??) while she brings up two mugs and scuttles over to the couch, standing over Stevie’s head with an expectant cock of the head when she gets there.
“Did you want me to move?” Stevie asks, and Alexis’s smile just widens. It’s so much like David’s and somehow so entirely different, unreadable in the way David’s never been. When Alexis says nothing more, standing still with two cups in her hand and smiling a little too sweetly at Stevie, she takes it as a cue to scooch a little bit towards the other, empty seat. The move seems to satisfy Alexis, who immediately hops onto the couch where Stevie had just been, tucking her legs under herself and extending a mug for Stevie to grab.
“I made us mint tea,” she says. “Patrick told me you got into it recently so I went and like, bought a whole bunch this morning. You don’t have to thank me,” she adds after a beat, shaking her head, “I’m just being hospitable.”
“Thank you,” Stevie says anyway, and Alexis’s grin widens.
“Anything for you!”
The conversation dies down immediately, the silence between them hanging thick in the air in the small apartment despite the years they’ve known each other, and Stevie shouldn’t care, hasn’t ever cared before, but it nags at her over and over like a tick or a bug or some other pesky thing, the fact that she doesn’t know how to be with one of her only friends without David between them. She thinks of a thousand things she could say to start a conversation. She could compliment the tea, or Alexis’s clothes. She could ask about her job? She could bring up David – they both love to make fun of David, right? Or she could tell Alexis about Twyla’s new redecorating misadventure, she’s sure she’d appreciate it. None of it feels quite right, though, all of it a little too much into unfamiliar territory with Alexis, so it stays caught in her head. Another silent second passes. Alexis takes a sip of her cup. Another. Another. Another.
“We never like, hung out, just me and you,” Alexis says over her mug, avoiding eye contact as she breaks the silence. “We’re friends, but we’ve never just, been out, you and me? On our own?”
“No, I… guess not.”
Alexis puts her mug down on the ground by the couch’s leg and turns over, facing Stevie fully.
“Let’s go out today.”
“What?”
“It’s overdue! We should do like a girl’s day, or something. Me and you. Go for coffee, walk in the park, make fun of strangers’ outfits at the mall.”
“You want to hang out. All day. With me?”
Alexis nods, eyes widening as though the answer should be obvious, like Stevie should know what Alexis means, like they do this all the time.
“I- I mean, okay? Yeah? We can hang out.”
Alexis does something that’s either a squeal or a yelp, Stevie’s not quite sure, and then she’s practically throwing herself into Stevie’s arms, wrapping her arms around her shoulders real tight for just a fraction of a second before pulling back, hands lingering by her biceps as Alexis grins at her. Some of Stevie’s tea has definitely spilled, though luckily not on either of them, but Alexis doesn’t seem to care, or even notice, really.
“It’s going to be so much fun. I’ve like, always felt like you and I would have great energy together, but we’re never alone, you know? David’s always there and he’s always nagging or we were always doing stuff for Cabaret and it’s just, this is not how women bond, Stevie.” She squeezes Stevie’s biceps a fraction. “This could be so good for us.”
She breaks off into talk about plans for the day and bonding with friends or women or something, Stevie doesn’t know, but one of Alexis’s hands is still on her arm and the cup of tea she’d given her is still warm in her hand and she can still feel the squeeze of her arms around her shoulders and maybe Alexis is right. Maybe this could be good for them. Maybe they could have whatever energy Alexis is convinced exists between them. Maybe.