Chapter Text
Beatrice sighed. She had no idea what the professor was going on about. The professor was going in circles and none of it was making any sense, which meant Beatrice probably had to stay up late that night to go through additional reading material if she wanted to make sense of anything, and that was only the second week of school.
A violent kick jerked her last remaining ounce of attention away from the professor. She turned to glare at the perpetrator but came face to face with an expression with equal frustration painted on their face.
“Do you know what the fuck she’s talking about?” The girl who kicked her chair asked.
Beatrice frowned, “no?”
The girl just tutted (the annoyance directed more at the professor droning on and on in front of them, and not at Beatrice) and sat back, “what the fuck are we even paying our tuition fees for.”
Beatrice hummed and was about to try and tune back into mindless mumbling but the girl caught her attention again, “I’m Lilith, by the way.”
“Beatrice.”
“Want to study together after? I figured it’ll be easier to make sense of whatever this is,” Lilith gestured vaguely to the professor in front, “with two heads instead of one.”
“Sounds good.”
Their friendship blossomed from a mildly unconventional interaction into one that most people could only dream of. It was the sort where Beatrice knew that Lilith would do anything for her despite not being verbal about it, and despite the non-verbal affection, Lilith knew when to push Beatrice out of her comfort zone without making it confrontational. It’s a delicate balance; knowing when to offer silent support and when to give Beatrice a little nudge.
Lilith also wasn’t blind to how Beatrice sometimes stopped breathing when an attractive girl talked to her at the bar or at the club when they spent the night out. So when Beatrice showed up in a turtleneck for one of their lectures in their first year, Lilith raised an eyebrow but reserved her comments. Curious, but she allowed Beatrice to decide when she would want to open up about certain personal topics.
Beatrice extended the same courtesy to Lilith. When the taller girl showed up in class with shades, looking a little worse for wear after a night of partying, Beatrice would wordlessly share her notes with her at the end of the lecture. She offered objective advice when Llith talked to her about her relationship but Beatrice thought Lilith was fishing. Lilith was trying to make Beatrice open up about her relationship (or the lack thereof) but Beatrice had nothing to share. Not because she was trying to evade the question but she truly had nothing in her life worth sharing. Every encounter she had were flings or one night stands that never stuck around for long.
It was only the first year of school, Beatrice thought. They had plenty more time to meet people and if something or someone came along then she’d take the chance but the amount of work she had was enough of a deterrent.
“I don’t even have time for myself most days,” Beatrice complained.
Lilith just sighed and agreed. School sucked.
Beatrice declined Mary’s invitation to a night out in their third year of school. She told Mary and Lilith that she was going to try being a food delivery rider, which earned her bewildered looks from them.
They knew Beatrice didn’t actually need the money. So Beatrice explained that she was trying to implement more active hours into her sedentary life as a student.
“Don’t you train twice a week at the gym?”
Beatrice gave a vague explanation of how she has stopped attending classes and shrugged it off as her being interested in another hobby.
Lilith took it at face value and dropped the topic. She reminded Beatrice to be careful because motorists in the city were mostly douchebags and to wear a helmet. If Mary had doubts, she said nothing and reminded Beatrice of the same, to stay safe as well.
“You know where to find us if you change your mind.”
“Of course,” Beatrice answered before excusing herself.
Her phone chimed shortly after going online on the food delivery app. It told her that the kitchen (McDonald’s) was preparing her order and stated that the food would be ready in 10 minutes..
Beatrice picked up the order and did a quick check before leaving the fast-food restaurant. 3 orders of 20 pieces of McNugget, 3 veggie dippers and 3 chicken selects - enough to feed a small party. She tucked the paper bag into the thermal bag sitting on the back of her bicycle and kicked off the stand before taking off.
The city was alive, bustling. Cars honked and bicycle bells chimed. It smelled like coffee mixed into pollution. People were rushing towards the train stations in an attempt to get home as early as they could. Beatrice meandered through the streets with ease, following the GPS on her phone that was routing her to one ‘Ava Silva’.
It took her fifteen minutes to reach her destination. She took a moment to tuck her bicycle safely away from the passageway before grabbing the McDonald’s from her thermal bag and took the stairs up to the third floor.
Loud music leaked out as she neared the door of the unit number shown on her food delivery app. The door swung open just as Beatrice raised her fist to knock on the door, leaving her hand frozen in midair as she got hit by the full volume of music playing in the apartment.
She flinched. How no one in the apartment building made a noise complaint, nobody knew.
“Hey!”
Beatrice was greeted with dishevelled hair, low tank top and one of the most disarming smiles she had ever seen. She had no idea if the one standing before her was Ava Silva but she handed over the bag of food and retreated to the stairway before the girl could even thank her for the delivery.
It was just a delivery, Beatrice reminded herself as she tightened the strap of her helmet, and she would probably never see her again. Her phone lit up and she read from the notification that ‘Ava Silva’ had tipped her for the delivery.
Her phone chimed again before she had any time to let her mind wander, “New Order - T0937 Pick Up at Dishoom”.
The girl who received the McDonald’s delivery was definitely Ava Silva. Beatrice had made several more orders to the same apartment and the same girl greeted Beatrice (they started addressing each other on a first name basis) every single time.
So far Ava had ordered from the Breakfast Club, DanDan Noodle, Poppies Fish and Chips and Homeslice Pizza. Not that Beatrice was keeping track. The fact that Homeslice Pizza was one of her favourite pizza places was also unrelated.
She received quite a bit of tips from Ava. Beatrice justified it with her impeccable delivery speed and the perfect condition of the food. She never once spilled any of the items and was always earlier than expected.
It was a late, large delivery again today. Beatrice picked up the three large pizzas and stacked them carefully into her thermal bag before pushing away from the restaurant.
By then Beatrice had gotten familiar with the streets in her usual delivery area. Being a food delivery rider had its perks. The hours were flexible, Beatrice got to know the neighbourhood better and she got a workout out of it. So far, Beatrice found four more dinner spots and two coffee joints that she liked.
Beatrice started being aware of Ava’s schedule – well, at least the days Beatrice picked up her shifts as a food delivery rider. On alternative Fridays, there would be a party at Ava’s. The food order was usually massive and from a fast-food restaurant. On occasional Saturday mornings, the orders would call for coffee and pastries. Beatrice did not remember these on purpose at all. Definitely not.
She slowed to a stop at the familiar apartment building and took the same stairs she had taken for her past deliveries and followed the familiar thrumming of music.
The door swung open before Beatrice even made her way down the corridor to where the music was spilling out of the apartment. Ava poked her head out and waved at her as Beatrice made her way to the apartment.
“Hey!”
It got Beatrice to smile as well. It was hard to stop herself from reacting when Beatrice came face to face with a smile as contagious as Ava’s.
“Pizza for Ava Silva?”
“That’s me,” Ava took the carrier holding the pizzas together.
“Good week?” Beatrice asked. She should go. Another minute spent in front of Ava’s apartment meant a possibility of missing an incoming order.
“Even better now that you’re here,” Ava winked, “with the pizza.”
Beatrice blushed. She glanced at her watch. She really should be going, “glad to be of service. Have a good night, Ava.”
“Wait!” Ava held her hand out, “five seconds.”
She watched as Ava rushed into the flat and set the pizzas on the dining table, grabbed a can from a cooler and returned to the door. Some of Ava’s friends peeked over her shoulder and Beatrice tried her best to ignore their curious gazes.
“Since you can’t join the party, I’ll share a little of the party with you. But don’t drink and drive, that's a little unsafe.”
“I’m not driving.”
“You get what I mean.” Ava smiled.
And Beatrice laughed. Seemed like they had developed into the stage of sharing inside jokes with each other. She accepted the can and nodded at Ava before stepping away from the door. Beatrice also noticed that the sound of music only started fading when she started descending the stairs.
“Knock knock?”
“Who’s there?” Beatrice answered as she passed the pizza to Ava.
“Who.”
“Who who?”
“What are you, an owl?”
The twinkle in Ava’s eyes pulled at the thread slowly wrapping around Beatrice’s chest and tightened. It tugged some of the air out of her lungs.
Beatrice harrumphed, “goodbye, Ava.”
The joke was bad, execution was bad, and Beatrice was also down, bad. Very bad.
She turned and left without waiting for Ava to respond, shaking her head as she walked away. Ava’s laughter reverberated through the corridor and Beatrice carried the laughter with her for the rest of the evening.
Beatrice was en route to Ava Silva with bagels and she briefly wondered if Ava was hosting a morning party because the order called for 7 bagels and Beatrice doubted that Ava could eat 7 bagels by herself. Not because Beatrice thought that Ava was the perfect size to hug, nor was it related to her waist because Beatrice definitely did not ogle at Ava during her deliveries. It was the numerous crop tops Ava always wore. Always the crop tops. Maybe her flat mates could eat 4 bagels. Who else would know?
They built a budding friendship. A little unorthodox, built on a few sentences at each meeting, never past small talks. Ava always seemed genuinely happy to see Beatrice. Despite the fact that two other people lived with her, it was always Ava who greeted Beatrice at the door. Despite the fact that two other people lived with Ava, it was always Ava’s order she received. She was never assigned to JC or Chanel. And to no one’s surprise, the door to Ava’s apartment swung open right as Beatrice was poised to knock.
“Bagels for Ava Silva,” Beatrice greeted as she handed over the bag of food to Ava. She noticed the eyebags under Ava’s eyes and the poorly masked frown on her face, “rough night?”
Unlike the usual crop top which Beatrice was secretly fond of, Ava wore an oversized sweatshirt that was hanging off one shoulder. Beatrice thought it was endearing, but she was also concerned at how exhausted Ava looked.
“More like a rough semester. We were up all night trying to fix the error in our codes and it’s not working out very well,” Ava sighed. She took the food and rifled through the bag to pull out a chicken and egg bagel and held it out for Beatrice, “for you.”
Beatrice looked at the offered bagel and shook her head, “no, it’s your order. I can’t take it.”
“I ordered it for you. Chicken seems the safest. I’m not sure if you have any allergies or dietary restrictions but I hope this is alright.”
“That’s very nice of you. No, I do not have any dietary restrictions but I really can’t accept it. You ordered for 7.”
“Wrong,” Ava corrected her. The creases between her brow softened and she graced Beatrice with a soft smile, the one that Beatrice grew fond of, ”I ordered 7 bagels. But there’s less than 7 of us here. I ordered an extra for you.”
“How’d you know I would be delivering your food before you placed the order?” Beatrice acted as if she had not familiarised herself with Ava’s possible schedule, and arranged herself to be in the vicinity during the times Ava would most likely place an order on the app.
“A hunch,” Ava said as she grabbed Beatrice’s hand and forced the bagel into her palm, “and if it was someone else, I would keep the extra bagel and eat it for lunch.”
Beatrice felt her face heat up from the contact. She forced herself not to overthink the entire interaction and the fact that Ava actually ordered an extra bagel for her. It was unnecessary. People usually do not do that for their delivery riders.
“Besides, it’s 8am and you’re already out doing deliveries. You need the extra energy. Take it as a token of gratitude from all of us when you always deliver our food on time. We all appreciate hot food.”
“AVAAAAA! DID YOU GET OUR FOOD?” A tired voice called out.
Beatrice took a step back, “that’s my cue.” She raised the bagel and thanked Ava before retreating towards the stairs.
“Stop flirting with the delivery guy!”
“So,” Beatrice handed over the bag of food to Ava, “it seems to me that the system is faulty. I keep getting assigned to this one customer again and again.”
Ava laughed, and Beatrice looked away to avoid getting caught staring. It was getting increasingly difficult not to get pulled into Ava’s orbit because she was magnetizing and very charming when she wanted to be.
“Maybe because I cancelled the orders that didn’t get assigned to my favourite rider.”
Beatrice rolled her eyes, “that’s not how it works, and I’m pretty sure you can’t do that.”
JC walked by the door and waved at Beatrice who returned the gesture. The amount of doorway interaction with Ava had gotten so frequent that JC didn’t even blink or question it when Ava spent minutes at the door just picking up their order. Both Chanel and JC know Ava picked up a new weird habit and they teased her about it in private.
“It’s fate then,” said Ava. There was a playful glint in her eyes and Beatrice could’ve been mistaken but she swore she saw a brief quirk of Ava’s lips.
“Why don’t you cook? I’m sure that would be more economically sensible.” Beatrice ignored the statement. If she didn’t acknowledge it, maybe it would go away. ‘It’ being the sensation of her heart tripping whenever Ava said or did something cheesy.
“Us, cooking?” Ava gestured to JC, Chanel and herself, “more likely to burn the house down than you think. None of us know how to cook. We tried it once and it did not end well.”
Beatrice contemplated offering to teach Ava (and JC and Chanel) how to cook but they were not technically friends so it seemed like a weird idea. “How about getting a large order from maybe Chipotle and then portioning out so that you get several servings out of one order?” She suggests.
“How would I get the chance to talk to my favourite rider if I did that, hm?”
It was the flirting again. They had interacted sufficient times to be considered acquaintances but Beatrice wasn’t quite sure if they considered each other friends. Were they? She shrugged off Ava’s comments as playful flirting - a few people had done it so it was not unique to Beatrice, but only Ava’s words made her heart flutter.
“I wonder who,” Beatriced feigned ignorance.
She had let herself be led by honeyed words from women who had too much to drink and crashed into each other with the smell of cigarettes and whiskey lingering between their lips. But Ava wasn’t any other girl in a club seeking a warm body at night. Ava was an enigma.
For some reason, Beatrice did not want to fuck this up. She wanted to get to know Ava as a friend but she knew that if she was to make the first move, she would trip and fall face flat into a crush.
So she kept her distance but Ava kept pulling.
Instead of responding, Ava narrowed her eyes and gave her a questioning look. Beatriced tried but she couldn’t help caving.
“You could always ask for my number.” Beatrice chuckled.
“And extinguish this mysterious meetings between us? I could never.” Ava mocked as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and passed it to Beatrice.
Beatrice keyed her number into Ava’s phone and pressed ‘dial’. She hung up when she felt her own phone vibrate in her hand. It levelled the playing ground. Instead of letting Ava be the one to dictate when to reach out, Beatrice was in possession of her mobile number as well.
Play smart, not play hard, as Lilith had remarked.
Her phone went off. A new delivery order came in for Beatrice who accepted it before pocketing her phone. “Now you know how to reach me.”
“Now I know,” Ava echoed softly.
Beatrice’s phone chimed beside her textbook.
(Ava Silva)
‘Hi’
‘Hello.’
‘I have a question’
‘?’
‘Are we friends?’
‘I’m quite sure acquaintance is the word you’re going for in this situation.’
‘Acquaintance sounds.. Impersonal”
“Considering how we have only met a few times, it seems more appropriate.”
“Do you want to be friends?”
“I’ll consider.”
“BEATRICE”
"Probationary friendship."
"That doesn't even make sense!"