Chapter Text
“Someone new moving in?” Owen questions Jamie as they approach her front door to see heaps of boxes stacked outside the neighbouring flat.
“Guess so, yeah,” Jamie responds, not very interested in the aspect of a new neighbour.
It wasn’t as though if said new neighbour asked her for some sugar she’d slam her door in their face, but she had no intent to go out of her way introducing herself. The pair enter Jamie’s flat, the same way they do most nights after working late in the bar. They could eat at work, but the smell formed by sweaty dancing bodies always seems to linger stiffly in the air, and was strong enough to make even the best of foods unappetising. Jamie plops their Chinese on the kitchen table, fetches for some cutlery and hands Owen a can of Coke.
They sit in a comfortable silence eating their dinner, and are about to start clearing up when they hear a loud crash come from the hallway. It makes them jump, and they’re still for a moment, but soon carry on with their business, until, another louder bang invades their sensitive eardrums for a second time. Jamie makes her way to her front door and then looks through the peephole to see a head of blonde hair hovering on her doorstep.
“What the-“ she opens the it, rather aggressively, and the alerting click of the door handle startles the woman outside, “can I help ya?”
“Oh, sorry, I just,” the blonde woman stutters, quite clearly not from around here, her accent telling Jamie so.
Jamie’s eyes follow the woman’s gaze and she sees the boxes, which were previously stacked neatly outside the door, are now scattered and open on the ground. Usually, she’d just grunt her condolences and get on with her evening, but the timid, unfamiliar woman was intriguing to her, so she stepped out of the flat to help.
“I didn’t wake you did I?” The blonde asks apologetically.
“Don’t know how it is where you’re from, but I don’t tend to go to bed with me shoes on,” Jamie laughs sarcastically.
“You look tired is all,” the blonde shrugs, there’s concern in her voice, an unusual amount of care to be coming from a stranger, Jamie thinks.
“Try working at an understaffed nightclub 6 nights a week,” Jamie grunts as she leans down to manoeuvre one of the boxes and turns it upright again.
Jamie hears a breathless laugh escape her new neighbour, and she glances up to look at her properly for the first time. She’s about to audibly gasp, but swallows down her shock, because she's completely taken aback by the beauty of the blonde standing before her. She’s wearing tight black jeans that hug her hips and arse perfectly, and her t-shirt hangs low as she bends to move the boxes allowing a small amount of cleavage to attract Jamie’s eye.
“Thanks,” the blonde smiles warmly, not noticing where Jamie’s gaze had previously been held, she reaches out her hand in a friendly manner, “I’m Dani.”
“Jamie,” she shakes her hand lightly.
The pair make their way back into their own homes and as soon as Jamie shuts the door behind her Owen is sat with a coy smirk on his face.
“What?” Jamie asks, defensive and abrupt.
“She’s your type,” Owen retorts, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as Jamie rolls her eyes.
“I’m not gonna fuck the neighbour, too many bloody strings,” Jamie jokes.
“You don’t think you’ll ever settle down, mate?” Owen asks, his voice is sorrowful and empathetic.
“I’m happy for you and Hannah n’all, commitment just ain’t for me, too much work,” she sighs.
On occasion, Jamie wishes she had someone to share the small moments with, someone to keep her warm on the colder night of winter, but for the most part, she much rather prefers being alone. She had never been able to trust anyone very much, her upbringing played havoc with her ability to do so, although she of course confounded in Hannah and Owen, that was different, they’d been friends for decades. One-night stands and short rendezvouses are more up to Jamie’s speed, settling down isn’t something she thinks she’ll ever desire.
“Fair enough,” Owen concedes, putting his cutlery in the sink and fishing for his coat, “what time you start tomorrow?”
“Five,” Jamie whines, the thought of doing another 8 hour shift tomorrow night aggravated her to infinity, but she needed the money, soon she’ll have enough to rent the shop she’s had her eye on ever since moving to this end of London. A flower shop, that’ll keep her occupied, not a pesky girlfriend.
Falling asleep that night proves difficult, the street light outside her window is flickering like crazy, there’s a dog barking on the street, and a gentle rhythmic tap at her bedroom wall has been getting increasingly rapid over the last ten minutes.
“Bit fucking late to be building furniture,” she says to herself, voice coated in fury and frustration.
It doesn’t stop, only gets louder. Dani was sweet and friendly when they met, but she must’ve found a reason to hate Jamie within the few hours since, as she seems to be making as much noise as she pleases at god knows what time in the morning. Jamie, getting ever-so irritable, is about to go outside and tell Dani to give it a rest when she hears a soft whimper travel through the wall.
That’s right, the bedroom to Dani’s flat shared a wall with Jamie’s, this thumping had been coming from Dani’s bedroom for the last half an hour. Jamie can’t stop herself from pushing her ear up against the wall, listening in on the racket Dani is making next door. The banging was accompanied by a quieter squeak, like that of a bed frame. Another whimper from Dani, then Jamie finally puts two and two together.
“Jesus Christ Dani,” she laughs, respecting Dani’s stamina and feeling slightly aroused.
Whoever is christening Dani’s first night in the flat with her is finds themselves lucky, the sounds escaping the blonde American were some of the most erotic things Jamie has ever heard.
—
Jamie feels as if she is living in a continuous loop consisting of sleeping, eating, and working. She’s almost unsure if she had gotten away from the nightclub yesterday, certain that she was only making an identical girl this drinks mere minutes ago - but no, she was 100% at home last night, Dani’s whimpers were still hovering provocatively in her mind.
It’s almost creepy how alike the girl at the bar looks to her neighbour, Jamie uses her rag to clear up the spillages on the bar top, and as she makes her way closer to the expected doppelgänger, she realises that is, in fact, Dani.
“Oh hey,” Dani smiles as she locks eyes with Jamie’s, “I didn’t know it was this club you worked at.”
Jamie nods, “yeah, you here with your boyfriend?” She asks, she’s not sure why, but she’s intrigued.
“Don’t have one,” Dani replies simply, taking a sip of her drink and holding eye contact with the brunette, Jamie has to look away, the stare too intense to be had in a room full of people, let alone at her workplace.
“Girlfriend then?” Jamie assumes.
“What makes you think I’m here with anyone?” Dani interrogates back, confused by Jamie’s urgent need to know of who’s company she’s in.
Jamie wants to say a sarcastic remark, something about hearing Dani going at it for almost an entire hour last night, but she doesn’t, they haven’t known each other long enough for that, “no reason,” she lies.
Dani raises her eyebrows, “I’m single, if that’s what you’re asking?”
The bar worker is somewhat shocked by the boldness and confidence of her neighbour, her attitude this evening juxtaposes dramatically with the shy and apologetic demeanour she had on display last night. It also takes her a few minutes to register what she’s being, unknowingly, told – Dani was alone last night. She was making herself make those sounds, it was Dani who was singlehandedly playing the harmonies of her squeaky bed frame and creating a steady rhythm through the collision of her headboard and bedroom wall. Jamie gives her a smug smile. Dani blinks back slowly.
“Mind telling me where you’re from, or do you have a witty comeback for that as well?” Jamie teases.
“Originally, Ohio. I moved to England two years ago, but I just came to London as I got offered a permanent teaching position here.”
Teacher, dominance, mischievous nights alone, Jamie was getting more and more aroused at the thought, “must have a lot of patience, to work with kids.”
“I bet drunks can be just as difficult,” Dani retorts, “I think someone wants your attention.”
Jamie follows Dani’s eyeline, and she sees a girl she spent the night with a couple weeks ago, tapping her nails on the bar-top whilst looking at Jamie with intent and mischief. Jamie grunts, annoyed, she doesn’t do two-time hook-ups, unless she’s on holiday, or was drunk the first time, or certain she’ll never see that person again. This girl keeps turning up at the club, gives Jamie these flirtatious looks as part of routine, and has asked her if she’s free for drinks on numerous occasions.
Dani sees the annoyance plastered on Jamie’s face, “want me to help you out?”
The club is fairly quiet, it’s still early and a lot of people pre-drink at the pub down the road to avoid going bankrupt as a consequence of splashing cash on overpriced spirits and cocktails sold shrewdly by Jamie. She looks at Dani, who’s a little closer than she was before, then glances back at the girl at the other end of the bar, who appears to still be waiting for Jamie’s attention.
Dani reaches her hand out to take the glass and towel from Jamie’s hands. The bartender feels Dani’s breath hot on her neck as she does so.
“This’ll make her fuck off,” Dani whispers in Jamie’s ear.
The brunette has no time to calculate Dani’s words because their lips are suddenly moving together like molasses. Jamie let’s a surprised, delighted, moan escape her mouth and enter their kiss. The blonde then lets her tongue slide over Jamie’s parted lips, she opens her eyes midway to see if the woman has left the bar, and she has, but Dani can’t bear herself to pull away, not yet. Jamie is breaking so many rules, a few health and safety precautions, and she knows that if her boss was to stumble upon her steamy make out session, she would most definitely be getting her third and final warning. Yet, she doesn’t find herself caring in the slightest, the way Dani is gripping with immense urgency at the back of her neck is a good enough reason to lose her job.
Reluctantly, Jamie pulls away. There’s a proud smirk invading Dani’s face, and the bartender would lean back over and dissolve it with a skilful tongue, but the bar is getting busier and her expertise is needed.
“See you later,” Dani taunts, disappearing into the crowd of people accumulating on the dancefloor.
The rest of Jamie’s shift that night consisted of many more smashed glasses than usual. Her mind was somewhere else, specifically running circles around the spontaneous kiss with the new, rather enchanting neighbour. Owen had picked up on Jamie’s bemused conduct, though it was only now, as they were closing, that he decided to interrogate her.
“Something on your mind?” He quirks up his browbone with expectance.
“Nope, just tired,” Jamie deflects.
“You slept in till 2pm mate.”
“Only because someone kept me up all night,” she murmurs, though it still reaches the ears of her colleague.
“You didn’t go home with anyone last night,” he states matter-of-factly, though he’s soon fabricating an answer to his own leading statement, “oh my god, it was the neighbour wasn’t it? She kept you up!”
“Yes,” Jamie gives him a stern look as she continues “but only because she was moaning till god knows when this morning, on the other side of the wall.”
“So, she’s moved in with someone else then?” Owen questions, feeling as if Jamie still has more to elaborate on.
“Not exactly,” she raises her eyebrows suggestively, the memory makes her blush so much that she can’t bring herself to share it.
“By herself?” Owen laughs, bewildered and amused as he catches up on what that means exactly, “bet you enjoyed that!”
“Give it a rest,” she snaps back before throwing her mop into the store cupboard to then make her way out of the building. She considers locking Owen in, he deserves it, but unfortunately he's her ride home, aggressive retaliations can wait for another night, this evening was way too cold for that.
The brunette feels as if she’s having DeJa'Vu. Here she is, lying in bed after a tiring night’s work, on the verge of escaping into a pleasant world of dreaming, when a growing rhythmic beat distracts her from a sleep deprived trance.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” her words fall out in unison with a strangled moan coming from the other side of the wall.
There’s no dog outside this time around, the atmosphere feels more tranquil than the night before - during their first go around at this new neighbourly tradition. Hence, Jamie can hear Dani’s noises strident, and the images of her – hand between bucked legs, mouth agape releasing moans as deft fingers work their way in and out of wet folds – become more and more vivid whilst the American’s moans become increasingly regular and desperate.
Beknown to Jamie, her hand makes its way underneath her sleep-shorts and, when they slowly drag across her already glistening centre and are brought to her attention, she gasps in solace.
Her two fingers tease her vaginal lips as sounds of her neighbour's bedframe slamming against the wall guides the pace of her actions. She too is now moaning, unapologetically; a sweet symphony forms as both women get themselves off on either side of the bedroom wall. She feels herself climax, and maybe she’s hallucinating, but as she falls off the metaphorical cliff of her orgasm, she hears Dani’s voice call out her name, “Jamie!”, the shout is released, as the brunette assumes, Dani does the same as Jamie and comes onto her fingers in a liberating release.
Tired out, spent, Jamie wipes her fingers onto bedsheets and collapses onto the disarray of blankets and pillows beneath her. She feels her walls, sensitive and still pulsating, and sighs with incredulity. Her mind wonders to envision what lies on the other side of the wall, Dani is quite possibly mirroring her actions, spreadeagle on her very own bedsheets, panting helplessly as she comes down from her high.
“Don’t fuck the neighbour Jamie,” she warns herself wearingly before drifting off into a much-needed sleep.