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“Alright, let’s get this started. You already got everything covered out here?” Amanda asked as she tied a bandana around her head.
“Yeah, I do,” Olivia rounded the corner with two more cans of paint and met Amanda in the center of the empty living room. She was in a well-loved pair of overalls streaked with off-white colors, likely from her last paint job. “There’s purple and pink, take your pick.”
Amanda nodded and gathered her half of the supplies—hot pink paint, a fresh tray, and a paint roller. “So… why these?”
“I was tired of white walls. I’ve had this apartment for ages,” Olivia said with a shrug, “I figured it would be nice to… brighten things up a little.”
Amanda smiled in agreement and set to work on her designated wall. “I remember the first time I ever came in here; I thought you were rich.”
Olivia laughed as she poured the purple paint in the tray and dipped the roller in. “No, I just got a good deal. You get to know people when you’ve lived here your whole life.”
Amanda sighed. “At this rate, I’m not gonna have a place like this ‘til I’m retired,” she joked. Olivia’s laughter rang through the room again—a sound Amanda loved more than she’d care to admit.
They soon settled into an easy, steady rhythm, working in silence on the first coat until they neared the ceiling. “I’ve only got the one ladder, and I’m not risking standing on a chair,” Olivia declared, holding out a hand in protest.
Amanda chuckled and nodded. “You want me to order pizza or something? I think this could be a while.”
“I think that would be just fine.” Olivia looked thoughtful for a moment. “Do you mind supreme?”
“No, that’s perfect,” Amanda smiled and pulled her phone from her pocket, swiping through to her contacts.
Olivia’s face lit up. “Great; Noah’s not big on vegetables on pizza just yet.”
When the pizza arrived, Olivia came back down to earth as she hungrily eyed the box in Amanda’s hands. “I’ve got some beers in the fridge. You want one?”
“Sure, sure,” Amanda followed after Olivia into the kitchen, watching her wipe her hands on her overalls, adding streaks of purple to the color palette at her hips.
They both sat on the floor, using the box lid as a coaster for their bottles as they pulled their respective slices off the whole pie. Amanda turned to Olivia. “Are you gonna, uh, change much of the decor?” she asked between bites.
Olivia broke into a smile, and the slightest blush rose to her cheeks. “Well, I got this cute little… wire wall hanging?” she said, attempting to show the size of it with clumsy gestures, “It says ‘love is love.’”
“Oh.” Amanda’s heart fluttered in her chest. “Is that a… personal philosophy?” She bit her tongue, knowing that her ears were likely just as pink as the wall behind her.
It felt like a rift had split the center of the room, and Amanda’s stomach pitched forward in freefall. A moment passed, and Olivia spoke. “You could say that. Um, I’ve always believed that.”
Amanda nodded slowly, wiping at the corners of her mouth with a paper towel for a napkin. “Y’know, funny enough, so have I.”
Olivia visibly relaxed; a tension was suddenly released from her shoulders. “I would’ve never guessed,” she said, her voice low as she glanced away.
They finished half of the pizza before stashing in the fridge. “You ready for that second coat?” Olivia asked as she returned from the kitchen.
Amanda stood from the floor and dusted the crumbs off her lap. “I’d say so.”
They worked their way through the rest of the drinks as they continued work on their respective walls, eventually talking more freely between one another. As Olivia finished her second coat, she sighed, taking a break for a moment. “Amanda, could I have the—”
She was interrupted by the wet smack of Amanda’s hand on her leg, leaving a bright pink handprint on the back of her shin with an infectious giggle. “Your overalls were lookin’ kinda boring.”
Olivia whirled around in fake-rage, then dipped a hand into her paint tray. “Friendly fire, huh?”
Paint and laughter filled the air; their clothes and skin were covered in multicolored splatters, some pink, some purple, and some mixing into a cool magenta tone. Olivia managed to land a dot of purple on the tip of Amanda’s nose while Amanda had smeared some pink on Olivia’s arms. “Alright, alright, I give. Truce?” Olivia offered her hand for a shake.
Amanda chuckled and took Olivia’s hand, shaking on it. “I swear I won’t make you a Jackson Pollock painting.”
“Little late for that,” Olivia sighed.
“God, I did a number on you,” Amanda raised an eyebrow as she gestured to the splatters and handprints on Olivia’s overalls.
“I could say the same to you.” Olivia squinted and shook her head, “I can’t let you go home like that. You want a shower?”
Amanda’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “If it’s not too much trouble, Liv, I mean…”
“No trouble!” Olivia rushed to speak, then gestured down the hall. “Just through—” she rolled her eyes and stopped herself, “you know where it is.”
Amanda hummed along to the music playing from her phone as she scrubbed at the purple paint on her skin, eventually breaking into song. “Heartbreaker, you’ve got the best of me, but I just keep on coming back incessantly, oh why—”
Olivia cracked the door open, allowing some steam to escape. “Hey, I’ve got towels.”
A yelp was heard from within the shower as the music played on. “Liv—oh, thank you.”
“No problem, Mariah Carey!” Olivia quipped, closing the door behind her with a trail of giggles following her.
Amanda shook her head and sighed—she’d been busted. She rinsed off the last of the soap before she stepped out and wrapped the towels around herself. They were plush and warm; Olivia must’ve tossed them in the dryer beforehand. She opened the door and peeked out to find a shirt and sweatpants on the bed—Olivia was always the type to plan ahead.
When Amanda returned to the kitchen, Olivia smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t know you sang in the shower.”
Amanda ran a hand down her face with a groan. “Don’t you dare tell anyone.”
“I promise,” Olivia said as she crossed her arms. “I won’t tell a soul.”
Amanda paused, then locked eyes with Olivia. “Not even Fin!”
Olivia snickered and shook her head. “That I can’t promise.”
“Oh, c’mon, Fin won’t let me hear the end of it!” Amanda whined. “Please, Liv? Just between us.”
Olivia pursed her lips and looked back at Amanda, her eyes twinkling. “Yeah. Just between us.”