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Honestly, she needed this, Julie thought to herself as she settled into one of the chaise loungers her and Flynn had squeezed onto their tiny balcony. The view wasn’t much, their fourth floor apartment looked over the parking lot and pretty much ended where the other high rises popped up, effectively blocking their view. But it was alright, they had chosen the apartment for the cheap rent and the proximity to the university, both of those things more important than the fact that the door buzzers were unreliable at best and the elevators never seemed to be in service.
It had been a week and it was only Wednesday. Thank god the two friends had upheld their long-standing tradition of a midweek girls night (affectionately dubbed White Claw Wednesday when they both decided their tastes weren’t yet refined enough for wine in their freshman year). Come hell or high water they always made the time to gorge themselves on take-out, consume one too many hard seltzers and bitch about whatever assignment was causing them to lose sleep that week.
Julie looked over at her friend and smiled as she gratefully accepted the can she handed her, popping the tab and taking a long sip, “Ah, that’s better,” she sighed, “I think Harrison is trying to kill us, that unit plan assignment? Are you kidding me, everyone knows real teachers don’t actually make detailed lesson plans like that in real life.”
Flynn rolled her eyes as she took a sip from her own drink, “Tell me about it. My associate teacher showed me her lesson book during my last classroom placement and it was literally just scribbled notes about what she was covering and when. She said she hadn’t actually written a detailed lesson plan since she was in school herself!” she huffed out a breath, “It’s a good thing we love Harrison though, otherwise I don’t think I could do it.”
Julie hummed in agreement. Mrs. Harrison was awesome, probably the best professor in their program. She taught both the assessment elective both girls were taking and the music class for the second-year teacher candidates with the subject as their focus. “Ya, I love her, but if I have to plan one more lesson down to the minute I might drop out,” she groaned just as Flynn’s phone vibrated on the ground between them.
“Oh, that’s the pizza! I’ll be right back,” Flynn paused at the sliding door, “You grab plates and stuff, okay? Don’t forget the speaker!”
Julie grinned, “I gotchu, girl,” she said as Flynn headed towards the door. She took another sip of her drink before getting to her feet to gather the rest of the supplies they’d need for their night.
She was juggling the plates, napkins, fresh drinks and was just contemplating grabbing some blankets from the closet when she remembered about the speaker they’d need for their girls night playlist. Frowning, trying to figure out how to get all her supplies out to the balcony in one trip, she spotted the basket her Tia had used to deliver her latest culinary creation during her last visit. She unceremoniously dumped the items in her arms into the basket, added the speaker on top and draped two blankets over her arms while she carried the basket by the handle to the sliding doors. Just as she was getting settled back in her seat, Flynn came out with the pizza, the smell making Julie’s stomach grumble loudly.
Flynn laughed, “Hungry much?” She set the pizza down and then rummaged in her hoodie pocket for a second before pulling out a piece of paper and a can of mango White Claw.
“I didn’t know pizza delivery guys also delivered single cans of White Claw now,” Julie giggled, looking at her friend quizzically.
“Oh no, this isn’t from the pizza guy. This is from the blonde guy in the apartment below us, he was leaving it at our door when I came back with our pizza. Well, it’s from his roommate, technically. And it’s for you not me, read the note,” she said that last bit with a sparkle in her eye and a pointed eyebrow raise.
Julie furrowed her brow for a second, “Wait, what?” She grabbed for the note, unfolding it carefully and smoothing it on her lap.
My roommate thinks you’re cute
- Apt 305
Apartment 305, she didn’t even think she had met the people who lived in that apartment? Their building was big, it wasn’t like they met a lot of people who lived there, it had 20 floors for heaven's sake! That was the unit right below theirs…when had this guy even seen her to know she was cute?
Flynn could clearly sense her spiral as it was beginning because she cleared her throat, obviously trying to hide her glee at her friend’s perplexed expression, “Alex, that’s the blonde guys name, said they ran into you in the stairwell once. Well, they didn’t run into you, but one of his roommates did, like, literally run into you.”
It dawned on Julie then, it had happened about a month ago. She had just come home from a long day of classroom placement, the kids had been wild and her associate teacher had been absent and the substitute had been little help. She had been an exhausted mess, paint stains on her jeans and her mass of curls twisted into a haphazard bun on top of her head. She had been ascending the stairs, cursing the broken elevators, head down, as she turned the corner.
If she hadn’t been so in her own head about the botched lesson and how best to get finger-paint stains out of her favourite jeans she probably would have heard them coming, it wasn’t like they were being quiet. But she hadn’t and before she knew it her shoulder was being knocked by something solid, and warm and she had lost her balance for a moment before grabbing the railing to steady herself. Then someone was apologizing profusely while the others in the group loudly exclaimed about paying attention to your surroundings, man . She had barely looked up to register the shaggy mop of brown hair that was bouncing animatedly as he continued his apology, she had just mumbled something about a long day, and it being okay and continued to the fourth floor. She hadn’t run into any of them since, literally or otherwise, and the interaction had faded from her mind.
She came back to the present moment to Flynn still rambling, “...and he said that Luke has been driving them crazy talking about you so he, Alex, finally said that if he wasn’t going to make a move then he would do it for him and it turns out they’re having their own version of White Claw Wednesday and Luke was just tipsy enough that he couldn’t hold back both Reggie and Alex from going through with the plan and anyways, here we are,” she finishes, finally pausing long enough to take a breath and another sip of her drink.
Julie huffs out a laugh, “That was like a month ago, though! What, he’s been pining after me or something since he nearly ran me over on the stairs? Isn’t that creepy?”
Flynn, who was busy opening the pizza box and sliding pieces onto plates for the both of them, just wiggled her eyebrows, “What kind of friend do you think I am, Jules? I asked all the right questions, Alex just says he’s a little nervous when it comes to beautiful girls and he was convinced he could just leave it up to fate for another meet-cute moment. Plus, Alex showed me a picture and girl, he is eye-candy in the best way,” Julie just rolled her eyes, but that didn’t deter Flynn who pushed on, “So? What are you gonna do? I-,” but before she could continue they heard the tell-tale sign of a patio door opening below them and they both looked at each other wide eyed.
“Bro,” they could practically hear the whine in the guy's voice, “I can’t believe you guys did that to me, you’re supposed to be my friends,” he exclaimed, probably a little louder than he meant to.
Julie and Flynn stifled giggles as another voice joined in, “Man, we did it for your own good, if we had to listen to you talk about making a move instead of actually, you know, making a move, we were going to throw you off this balcony,” the voice sounded exasperated, but fond, and Flynn moved her hand away from her mouth just long enough to mouth “I think that’s Alex” at Julie before stifling more giggles.
Silently, Julie motioned to their open door, grabbing her empty can and her slice of pizza as they quietly made their way inside, “Okay, I’ve got an idea,” her eyes were gleaming as they met her roommates, “Grab me some paper? Do we have rope or anything?”
A few minutes later, supplies gathered, a set of fairy lights in hand because they apparently didn’t even own string, forget about rope, they made their way back out to the balcony. Flynn emptied out the basket that still held the fresh drinks and napkins and carefully placed a heaping pile of leftover Halloween candy in the bottom. Julie had just finished her note as Flynn carefully tied one end of the fairy lights around the basket handle and the other to the foot of her chair.
“What did you write?” Flynn whispered, well aware of the low voices that could still be heard drifting up from the apartment below them, not wanting to give away their position.
Julie tilted the paper towards her.
Tell your friend thank-you - for the compliment and the drink (mango is my favourite).
- Apartment 405
P.S. White Claw Wednesday is always better with snacks, enjoy ;)
Flynn snorted as Julie shot her a glare, nodding her head pointedly at the apartment below them, placing a finger over her lips. She folded the note and tucked it between the mini chocolate bars and packages of gummy candy. Carefully she picked up the basket and lowered it over the concrete ledge until she could feel it make contact with the railing below. Flynn stomped her feet forcefully on the floor and they heard a chair being pushed back before a soft, “What the…” floated up from below.
Julie chanced a quick peek over the edge, holding her breath as she saw the basket being tipped and a hand coming out to gather the candy and note.
“Oh Lu! Mail call!” She bit her lip to keep the giggle in as she recognized Alex’s voice from earlier. She left the basket to dangle by their makeshift rope, returning to her seat and opening up her gifted mango seltzer, wincing at the loud noise as she popped the tab.
“No way! These are all the best sweets and they’re peanut free for Alex!” a third, new voice, piped up.
It was quiet for a minute, barely discernible whispers and a hand smacking what sounded like it could have been the back of someone’s head the only sounds as the sun sank lower on the horizon. Julie was just starting to get nervous when she heard a few quick taps and saw the fairy lights jiggle as someone jostled the basket below. She gulped back more of her drink as Flynn reached over to bring the basket back up to their level.
Making grabby hands in Flynn’s direction she swallowed back a laugh when she spied two more seltzers in the basket, one mango and one lime, and a small tupperware of chocolate chip cookies - she wondered if they were homemade. Flynn winked and grabbed the lime seltzer, popping the top and taking a sip before opening the container and shoving a cookie in her mouth too. Julie took the note that had been tucked underneath, accepting a cookie from her friend (yep, definitely homemade, and delicious). Before she unfolded the paper, she listened for any noise coming from below, it was quiet and she chuckled to herself as she pictured the boys waiting in silent anticipation just as she and Flynn had been.
Her eyes widened as she took in the truly god-awful writing in front of her, clearly someone other than Alex had written this one
You’re welcome, it’s true :)
Thanks for the snacks, Alex sent his famous chocolate-chip cookies (peanut free!) and Reggie wants to know what your roomies favourite seltzer flavour is (he says lime is a safe bet in the meantime)
- Luke (1/3 of Apartment 305)
P.S. What’s your name?
After deciphering the message, Julie passed the note to Flynn who widened her eyes at the atrocious handwriting. Julie giggled again before holding her finger up and heading inside to grab more supplies. She finished the cookie as she rummaged through some papers on her desk before finally coming up with what she was looking for.
Returning to the balcony, she wiggled the papers under Flynn’s nose as her friend caught on and mouthed “genius” at her before grabbing the basket.
Flynn carefully arranged three of the “All About Me” worksheets that had been leftover from their first week in classroom placement in the bottom of the basket. They both got to work filling out their own sheets just as faint guitar chords drifted up from below. Julie’s eyes snapped to Flynn’s, “He plays guitar?” she hissed. Flynn just shrugged her shoulders as Julie tried to place the song, she didn’t recognize it, maybe it was an original - if it was, she was in trouble. Julie had never been able to resist a guitarist before, especially guitarists who wrote their own music.
She finished filling out her page, drawing a little doodle of herself holding a microphone in the spot that said “My Photo”. She turned over the paper and scrawled out a note quickly:
The cookies are amazing, thank you Alex!
Reggie - her favourite flavour is grapefruit (I know, I know, I judge her all the time too) but her second fave is lime, so good call!
Feel free to use these to tell us a little more about yourselves!
- Julie (1/2 of Apartment 405)
P.S. Your playing is beautiful, but your handwriting could use some work ;)
She put the page in the basket, note facing up and nodded at Flynn to send it back down. The playing stopped abruptly, and the string of fairy lights jiggled again as someone retrieved the papers in the basket.
There was a quiet chuckle and then, “Alex! I told you they’d love your cookies! Grapefruit, ugh, that’s so weird! Wait, what’s this, homework?” Julie couldn’t stifle the laughter that bubbled up at the incredulous tone from who she was guessing was Reggie.
“Reg man, shut up. Let me see that,” that sounded like Luke, she was beginning to realize he had a bit of an accent she couldn’t quite place, “I think it is homework, look under “when I grow up, I want to be” it says she’s studying to be a music teacher.”
“Uh-oh, Alex he’s swooning again! The neighbour girl - Julie, her name is Julie - does music!”
“Jesus Reggie, shut up,” she could hear the strain in his voice, “haven’t you guys embarrassed me enough? Get me a pen!”
“Oh no,” she could hear Alex say, his voice sounded muffled, like he was still standing inside instead of on the balcony itself, “Look, she said your handwriting is awful, which is true. Let me do it.”
She could hear the groan and the muttered “fine” as their footsteps retreated back inside, it seemed like they would have at least a few minutes before the next exchange happened.
“What are we doing?” she hissed at Flynn, her quiet giggles escaping now that she knew the boys weren’t quite in earshot.
“Well…I for one am being wildly entertained. You, on the other hand, I think you are flirting through notes and the exchange of junk food and alcoholic beverages,” she held her hands up in a shrug, “And don’t you even pretend you’re not enjoying yourself!” she interjected just as Julie started to protest.
Her shoulders deflated a little, “Fine, yes. This is fun, much better than poring over curriculum documents and planning hypothetical music lessons,” she rolled her eyes at her friend.
Flynn stood up, gathering the few empty cans and the now cold pizza, “Well, I think this calls for some ice cream,” she said as she ducked back into the apartment, just as someone jiggled the fairy light rope.
Julie squeaked and began to pull the basket up as Flynn reappeared with two pints of Ben & Jerry’s and spoons in hand. It was almost properly dark now, making it hard to read the paper in the dim light shining out from their living room window.
Julie grabbed the pages and retreated back inside to review them more thoroughly in the light. She spread them out on the coffee table, each boy had filled one out and where Julie had drawn her doodle in the “My Photo” section, the boys had actually snapped photos with one of those instant cameras and stuck them to the pages. She laughed at the expression on Alex’s face, someone had clearly caught him off guard. Reggie looked delighted, his cheeks rosy from the alcohol maybe and his eyes glimmering mischievously.
She just barely contained her gasp when her eyes made it to Luke’s photo, she really hadn’t looked at him properly that time in the stairwell. The mop of brown hair she recognized, although in this picture it was contained under an orange beanie, ends curling out over his ears. The wide smile, punctuated by a dimple on either side, and the slight nose scrunch was making her feel some type of way. She wondered what his friends had said to get that genuine reaction out of him. She paused when she realized she was wondering if she would be able to say something to get that reaction too.
Flynn had joined her at the table and was chuckling at Reggie’s answers (when I grow up I want to be a…cowboy), “Damn, Jules they are all eye candy, how did we not know who they were before now?”
“I don’t know Flynn,” she said, distracted by Luke’s answers (he wanted to be a rockstar, his favourite colour was blue) when she realized there was something written on the back of his page. Flipping it over, she saw it was written in his own handwriting, so Alex had taken pity on him for the “homework” but not for the note.
Hope this satisfies some of your curiosity, if you want to
know more you could always text me… 555-314-9812
- Luke
P.S. Thank you - @sunsetcurve_official (tell your friends!) :P
P.P.S. Do you sing? You’re holding a microphone in your photo…
Oh boy. She really was in trouble.
Flynn, who had been reading over her shoulder, saw the instagram handle and gasped, pulling out her phone and typing furiously. “Aha!” she exclaimed, triumphantly, having located their instagram page and finding a video post from a recent gig. She clicked the sound on and held it out for Julie to see.
There on the tiny screen were the three guys, rocking out to an original titled “Now or Never” according to the caption. They were good, Julie deduced, like really good. The energy was palpable, and you could sense their chemistry even through the screen. Plus, Luke looked like he belonged on that stage, the sleeveless band t-shirt that clung to his body didn’t hurt either. The video ended and just as Julie was trying to pick her jaw up off the floor, Flynn looked at her.
“My girl’s got a crush and his name is Luke,” she teased in a sing-song voice.
Julie did her best to clear her throat as she pushed her friend's shoulder, “Psh, no. That is not what this is,” but she didn’t sound very convincing to even herself, “Fine, maybe there’s a teeny, tiny crush happening. What do I do next?” she asked.
“Well…he did give you his number so things have clearly escalated and I think it’s safe to say the crush is mutual,” she wiggled her eyebrows, “Plus he asked if you sing which you do, and you already heard him play tonight…so maybe you showcase your talent?”
Julie glanced at the clock on the wall, “It’s 9:30 at night Flynn, I’m not going to serenade him from my balcony, the neighbours will hate me,” she bit her lip, wondering what to do, “Oh, I’ve got it!”
She pulled her phone from her back pocket, opening up her photos app and locating the file she was looking for. She hit the share button and typed the number scrawled on the page into the contact section. Biting her lip, she only hesitated for a second before she pressed the send button with her thumb. She immediately threw her phone at Flynn with a yelp and retreated back out to the balcony.
By the time Flynn had gotten over her shock and rejoined her outside, she had cracked open a fresh seltzer and downed half of it in a desperate attempt to regain some confidence in the form of liquid courage.
From below they could hear a “Holy shit, boys” before the audio from the video she sent floated out through the open patio door and into the night air. It was a video from one of the open mic nights she played at recently. She had covered Florence & the Machine and she could hear her vocals clearly as they turned the volume up downstairs. Then, abruptly, just before the song ended, the audio cut off and she could hear someone yell “Luke, what the hell!” She gulped. Oh god, he didn’t like it. He probably thought she was terrible and wanted nothing to do with her now. She looked up at Flynn, but before she could express her panic through more than a look, there was a rhythmic knock at the door.
Julie gulped audibly as Flynn widened her eyes and scrambled back into the apartment to get the door. “Oh shit,” she breathed as she did her best to straighten her curls and looked down at her attire. At least she had chosen a cute, cropped sweater to go with her cozy sweats for girls night.
She could hear Flynn open the door, and a nervous sounding male voice stuttering out a hello. She chanced a peek at the door, clocking the orange beanie and cut-off band shirt exposing toned biceps, she gulped. Just as she was debating whether to actually step back into the apartment or to hide on the balcony he must have caught sight of her because the next thing she knew he was lifting a hand in a shy wave, “Julie, hi.”
Flynn turned to her with a look in her eyes that clearly meant “get your butt over here” and Julie sighed inwardly as she stepped back inside and made her way to the door. “Hi, Luke,” she said with a tentative smile. Flynn hastily made her exit back out to the balcony, sliding the glass door shut behind her.
His hand drifted to the back of his head seemingly of its own accord, “It’s uh, it’s really nice to meet you, you know, face to face…I mean the basket and note thing was totally inspired but um wow this is so much better and uh I just wanted to say that you have a beautiful voice and I figured I should say that to you in person because compliments always mean more face to face and wow I’m rambling and should probably stop now…” he trailed off as a pink blush rose to his cheeks and he looked down at his scuffed vans, seemingly avoiding her eyes.
She couldn’t stop the grin that spread over her face as she took a half step towards him, her confidence returning ever so slightly in the face of his obvious nervousness, “Wow, two compliments in one night, a girl could get used to that,” he raised his head at that, meeting her eyes again and crap he had nice eyes, too . And there was that grin, not quite as wide and confident as in his polaroid, but just as good with a hint of softness to it. Her face warmed as a blush of her own spread across her cheeks.
“Well I’d hate to disappoint, especially when I’ve already set a precedent so early on in this…interesting little relationship,” the blush deepened to a dark red on his cheeks,”Would you like to get breakfast with me tomorrow? I could compliment you more then,” he looked up at her, a little bashful, but she could see the hope in his eyes.
She bit her lip, contemplating, “Well, since you’ve already set the precedent and all…plus I’m always in need of some greasy food the morning after White Claw Wednesday,” she looked up at him through her lashes.
His grin widened into a full blown smile and his eyes lit up, a brighter green than they had been before, if that was possible, “So it’s a date?” he asked, drawing his lip between his bottom teeth, “I’ll pick you up at 9?”
Her gaze was drawn away from where it had rested on his lips when he asked the question, “It’s a date, I have class at 11 so 9 is perfect.”
“Cool,” the smile hadn’t left his face, “I’ll see you then,” he backed out of the doorway, slowly.
She met his eyes again, “See you then,” she smiled, moving to close the door between them, “Good night, Luke.”
“Good night, Julie,” he lifted his hand to the back of his head again, “Sweet dreams.”
She closed the front door with a click and ran to the balcony with a barely contained squeal of delight. Just as Flynn slid open the patio door, she could hear the exclamation coming from the boys’ apartment, “She said yes! Thank you, Alex!”
Unable to stop themselves, both Flynn and Julie dissolved into laughter, not caring whether the boys would hear them or not.
“Oh shit! Reggie, close the patio door!”
Their laughter started anew again, as Julie set her alarm between fits of giggles so she could be sure to be on time for her breakfast date in the morning.