Chapter Text
Rose whistled as she walked through the door of her new apartment building. It had been a good day. After the usual first workday jitters had passed, she had fit right in. She enjoyed the work she was doing and she was pretty good at it, all her new co-workers had been surprised she had taken to it so well. They probably expected her to be inexperienced as this was her first real job out of law school, but Rose had been working as a paralegal all her summers and most of her weekends, so she knew what she was doing.
On top of her successful first day at work, the weather had been nice and sunny and not too hot. It was pretty much perfect. But it seemed not everyone was having a great day.
‘He’s doing this on purpose,' a brunette woman huffed as she stood on the very tips of her toes, trying to reach something at the back of her mailbox.
In the few days that Rose had lived in the building, she had never seen her before, she would have remembered. The woman was beautiful. Her long brown hair was kept out of her face by two small braids running down the side of her head. The dress she was wearing was light blue and offset her tanned skin beautifully. Afraid she was going to get caught staring, Rose dragged her eyes up to a more appropriate place and cleared her throat.
‘Sorry, can I help you with that?’ she said, pointing at the mailbox.
The brunette lowered down from her toes and turned around, just looking at Rose for a second before answering.
‘You’re new,' she said, it would have sounded almost accusatory if not for the warm smile she was also giving her. ‘Oh! You must belong to that moving truck from a few days ago. Hi, I’m Luisa. Alver,' she said, extending her hand.
‘Rose. Evans,' Rose said, subconsciously mimicking the brunette as she shook her hand, a tingle running up her spine as they touched. Luisa’s skin was warm and soft and they probably held hands longer than was entirely necessary. As Rose withdrew her hand, she smiled at Luisa. ‘I just moved into apartment 3a. Someone giving you trouble?’ she asked as she eyed the mailbox, the reason this conversation had started in the first place.
‘Yes, actually. Ever since I turned the mailman down for a date last month, he has been throwing my mail into the slot with so much force it lands all the way at the back and I can’t reach it,' Luisa sighed.
‘Can I?’ Rose asked as she took a step forwards, she guessed she was quite a bit taller than the petite brunette, and that was without the heels.
‘Yes, please,' Luisa smiled, taking a step back so Rose could get her mail.
Luisa’s mailbox, 5b, was all the way at the top. It was incredibly impractical for someone of her height. But it did mean she had the top apartment, which must have an incredible view of the city.
She took out the couple of envelopes and locked the mailbox. She didn’t really want Luisa to have to jump to retrieve her key.
‘Here you go,’ she smiled as she handed Luisa her stuff back, their hands touched briefly and the tingle on the back of her spine was still there.
‘Thank you. Is it sad that I am not tall enough to get my own mail?’ Luisa said, her deep brown eyes sparkling with amusement.
‘You’re not really that short, although you could benefit from a step-stool down here,' Rose said back, looking at Luisa as they climbed the stairs. Trying to match Luisa’s pace so she wouldn’t accidentally stare at her.
‘That might actually be a good idea,' Luisa grinned. ‘I can’t really keep relying on tall strangers to help me out.’
‘Have you thought about switching mailboxes?’ Rose asked as she halted in the middle of the stairs, they were almost at her floor and she didn’t want this conversation to end yet.
‘I tried, but no one wants to switch, and with the numbers out of order it will just confuse the mailman, and he already hates me. So I will probably never get my own mail.’
‘Well, the mailboxes are very impractically stacked,' Rose said as she followed Luisa up the stairs, her plan to make their conversation last a little longer not having worked to its fullest extent.
‘This is me,' Rose said as they reached the third floor landing.
‘Right, thank you for getting my mail and welcome to the building! I guess I’ll see you around,' Luisa said before she continued up the stairs.
As she closed the door behind her, Rose realized that she had forgotten to get her own mail. But it didn’t matter, she could add meeting Luisa to the list of things that made her day great.
Rose checked her watch as she unlocked the building’s front door, it was about the same time as she had gotten home yesterday. And she didn’t know why, but she hoped Luisa would be in the lobby as well. Today had been decidedly worse than yesterday, and seeing Luisa would probably make it a little more bearable. She had had one five minute conversation with Luisa, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. While unpacking boxes yesterday evening, she realized she knew absolutely nothing about her. And she found she really wanted to.
So here she was, hoping to have another run-in with Luisa.
She briefly checked her reflection in the window before stepping inside. The hallway was empty and Rose found she was actually disappointed that the very slim chance that Luisa would be there hadn’t panned out.
She sighed and took out her mailbox key, she didn’t think she would have any mail yet, but she hadn’t checked yesterday either, thanks to Luisa.
As expected, she didn’t have any mail, and just as she was about to start climbing the stairs, she heard the front door unlock.
She turned around and she couldn’t keep the smile off her face; it was Luisa.
‘Hey!’ she greeted, moving to help Luisa with the door. The brunette was carrying a bunch of files and the door refused to open all the way.
‘You have great timing, you know?’ Luisa smiled gratefully.
‘Just luck,’ Rose shrugged, feeling pretty damn lucky herself. ‘Can I help you with that?’ She motioned to the stack of files that was swaying precariously in Luisa’s arms.
‘No, I got them. But if you want to help, could you please get my mail for me?’ Luisa asked, cradling the files in one hand as held out her keys to Rose. ‘It’s the small one,' she clarified as Rose took the keys and opened her mailbox for her.
There was another stack of envelopes all the way at the back, and she could see why Luisa would have trouble reaching them.
‘Here you go,’ she said as locked the mailbox.
‘Thank you, just put them on top of the stack,' Luisa said as she lifted them a little higher. So Rose did.
As they walked up the stairs together, Rose was itching to ask Luisa questions, but she worried it might be weird, they were just neighbors walking up the stairs together, not really a great time to play twenty questions.
Just as Rose found the nerve to ask a question, Luisa asked her one at the same time.
‘So…’
‘Are…’
And they both laughed. ‘You first,’ Rose said, looking down at her feet as they continued to climb the stairs.
‘Are you getting settled in alright?’ Luisa asked, with that bright smile that made Rose’s heart beat a little faster, and it wasn’t from the physical exertion of climbing the stairs.
‘Yeah, I like it here, great building and neighborhood, too bad the elevator doesn’t work.’
‘Good, I’m glad you like it here. And the elevator has never worked, and I’ve lived here for five years. By now, I am pretty sure there isn’t an actual elevator and they just painted that wall to look like there is one.’
Rose laughed. ‘Maybe, that would explain why the super won’t take my calls about it.’
‘Oh, the super is part of the conspiracy too,’ Luisa said, one corner of her mouth curled up into a smile. ‘What were you going to say before I so rudely interrupted you?’
‘I was going to ask you what the files were for, there is quite a lot of them.’
‘Oh, these are just for work. I dropped them today and I need to sort them out. All the patient information got screwed up.’
‘So you’re a doctor?’ Rose asked, before she could think better of it. There were plenty of other professions with patients, and she didn’t want to insult Luisa in any way.
‘Yes, I’m an OB/GYN. And what do you do when you are not getting my mail for me?’ Luisa joked.
‘I’m a lawyer, criminal defense. That’s why I moved to the city actually, I got offered a great job here.’
‘Rose,' Luisa started as Rose was about to climb the next flight of stairs. ‘This is your floor.’
Rose looked around and noticed that she had indeed passed her front door already. ‘Right,’ Rose said, feeling a blush creep up her neck. ‘I could have sworn there were more stairs last time I climbed them,' she said sheepishly.
‘Wait until you try to get up these stairs in a hurry, there suddenly appear to be much more of them. But I’ll see you around,’ Luisa waved as she continued up the stairs alone.
Rose bit her lip as she turned the key in her front door. That had been more awkward then she would have liked. But still, the few minutes of polite small talk with Luisa while they walked up the stairs together had been better than the terrible hour she spent with her colleagues at lunch that day. One of her co-workers, Leon, had spent the entire lunch making inappropriate jokes and incessantly hitting on her. She tried to tell him she was not interested and would never be. But he hadn’t taken the hint, guys never seemed to get the hint. She had briefly debated just telling him she was gay, hopefully he would back off then. But if she told her colleagues on the second day of work, it would become a ‘thing’. They would only see her as the lesbian and not as a lawyer, which was what she was trying to prevent. So best to deal with Leon’s flirting for a while before slowly breaking the news to her colleagues.
She sighed and leant back against the front door. While trying to ignore Leon and his advances, she had to sort her feelings for Luisa out as well. She was obviously attracted to the brunette, who wouldn’t be, but she was fairly certain Luisa wouldn’t be interested in that. Because the only women she was interested in were either permanently unavailable or straight. And as she was pretty sure Luisa lived alone, she would most likely be straight.
The rest of the week passed much the same; Leon would hit on her, she would turn him down, she would go home and run into Luisa. Sometimes Rose would be earlier and she would find reasons to linger in the hallway to wait for Luisa. Sometimes she would find Luisa already there, checking her phone, standing on the tips of her toes to get her mail which Rose would always get for her. But somehow they always ran into each other, and it always made Rose’s day that much better.
The talks they had during their short climb up the stairs hadn’t yet offered any insight in Luisa sexuality or general interest in relationships, and they had only made Rose like Luisa more and more. She was smart and funny and always managed to make Rose smile no matter how bad her day had been. That Friday she had wanted to invite Luisa in for a cup of coffee or basically anything to spend more time with her. But then she remembered her apartment was filled with unpacked boxes and mountains of paperwork and that Luisa would probably not want to anyway.
Rose woke up Saturday morning with the realization that she would probably not see Luisa today, and it really bothered her. Luisa obviously didn’t have to work on Saturdays, so there would be no reason for her to be in the hallway at five thirty tonight.
She let out a loud sigh before swinging her legs over the side of the bed. It was still early and not too hot, so maybe a run would clear her head of thoughts about a certain upstairs neighbor.
When she came through the front door an hour or so later. Guess who was also there, wearing a yellow sundress and her dark curls tumbling effortlessly around her shoulders?
‘Hi Rose,' Luisa smiled. ‘Have a nice run?’
‘Yeah,' Rose said, still panting, sweat dripping down her forehead and her face was probably red with exertion, not a great look when meeting your crush.
Luisa ran her eyes up her body and Rose expected her to recoil in disgust, but she just smiled.
‘I was thinking,’ Luisa said, ‘would you like to get lunch today? As a thank you for me using you as my personal step-stool.’
Rose was suddenly grateful that her face was already red, because there was no way she could hide her blush that the mental image of Luisa using her as a step-stool had brought up otherwise.
‘You don’t have to. It is nothing really,' Rose said, tucking a strand of hair that had escaped from her ponytail behind her ear. Why was she making excuses? She would love to spend some more time with Luisa.
‘Come on, it will be fun. Have you been anywhere that isn’t work or the supermarket since you moved here?’
‘No, not really,' Rose admitted.
‘Then let me take you to my favorite restaurant. Unless you have plans of course,’ Luisa said, and her smile did strange things to Rose’s willpower to say no, not that there had been much of that to begin with. Going to lunch with Luisa seemed like a bad idea. She would probably embarrass or out herself and that would probably mean the end of this budding friendship they had formed. In her experience, straight women didn’t generally take well to learning she had a crush on them. And she just really liked Luisa and wasn’t looking forward to having to awkwardly shuffle around her for the rest of her stay in the building.
‘No, no plans.’
‘Great! So you’re coming then?’ Luisa said and her smile was so cute and hopeful Rose really couldn’t say no.
‘Yeah, I’ll just take a shower first,' Rose said.
‘That sounds like a great plan,' Luisa smiled and Rose could feel her cheeks getting hotter and looked down.
‘So I’ll see you down here in about an hour?’ Luisa said, completely unaware of Rose’s inner turmoil.
‘Yes, sure. An hour is fine,' Rose said. ‘See you then,' she said as she practically sprinted past Luisa and up the stairs.
An hour later, her hair still damp from the shower, Rose walked down the stairs. Having convinced herself she could do a friendly lunch between two neighbors who were just getting to know each other. But to make up for the fact that Luisa had seen her all gross and sweaty in her sports bra and shorts, she had dressed up the tiniest bit. She was wearing a red dress, that was probably too dressy for a casual lunch, but she liked how it looked on her.
‘Wow. You look beautiful,' Luisa said as she pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning against. Rose tried to not read into that comment; women always told each other they looked good. It meant nothing. It certainly didn’t mean what she wanted it to mean.
‘Thank you, you too,' Rose smiled back. ‘So where are we going?’
‘A small restaurant around the corner, it has delicious sea food. I hope that is okay?’
‘Yeah, that’s fine. I love sea food,’ Rose said.
The restaurant Luisa took her to was lovely and the seafood was delicious. They had opted for a table on the terrace as the weather was warm but not too humid and there was a nice, cool breeze. Rose hated how beautiful Luisa looked when the wind softly played with her hair. They talked about work, their families, just non-descript things they had briefly touched upon when they walked up the stairs together.
‘So, I knew you are new in the city, but are you seeing anyone?’ Luisa asked casually as she sipped her water.
‘No, no I’m not. I’m not really the dating person. There is this guy at work who keeps hitting on me though,’ Rose could have sworn she saw Luisa’s face cloud at the news, but only for a second, then her smile was firmly back in place. Rose convincing herself she must have imagined it.
‘And?’ Luisa asked, leaning further over the table, giving Rose a tantalizing view of the tops of her breasts in the low-cut yellow dress she was still wearing.
‘I am not really interested in dating anyone from work, it will be too awkward when we break up,' Rose said, dragging her eyes back up to a more appropriate height. ‘And I told him that, but he just won’t stop.’
‘I hate it when that happens,' Luisa smiled sympathetically.
Rose found she really enjoyed her lunch with Luisa, being friends with the woman was enough. She could do that. If she could only stop noticing the way Luisa’s smile lit up her whole face. Luisa didn’t do things halfway, her smiles were wide, her laugh was loud and she was passionate about her job and her family and her home and unapologetic about the things she liked. Rose could probably listen to her talk for hours and never get bored. But eventually they were finished eating and drawing their time together out any longer would be weird. So they walked back home to their building, Luisa laughing the whole time as Rose told her about the stupidest things witnesses or A.D.A’s had said in the courtroom.
‘Rose, stop, you’re killing me,’ Luisa hiccupped, actual tears shining in her eyes. ‘It is impossible he actually said that.’
‘I will get you the court transcript, believe me, he said it.’
‘He asked the M.E. if the guy whose brain he had just removed might have possibly still been alive?’
‘You only have to pass the Bar to become a lawyer. Some idiots manage to do it every year.’
‘Did you win that case?’ Luisa asked as she unlocked the door and wordlessly handed Rose her keys.
‘I did. After that, the jury realized he was grasping at straws,' Rose said as she grabbed Luisa’s mail, locking the mailbox with a smile.
‘How did you possibly keep a straight face?’ Luisa smiled as Rose handed her her keys and mail.
‘I might have laughed, a little.’ Rose smiled back, ignoring the lingering warmth Luisa’s touch had left on her skin.
‘You make court sound so much funnier than it should.’
‘Well, it is usually quite boring, the jury barely pays attention, the judges are grumpy and somehow opposing council will either throw me death glares the whole time or ask me out during recess. My clients are mostly assholes too.’
‘Well, the stories are great,' Luisa said, putting her hand on Rose’s elbow as they reached her floor. ‘I had fun, we should do this again sometime,' Luisa smiled, and Rose hoped her cheeks weren’t as red as her dress.
‘Yeah, it was fun. When I finally get all my stuff unpacked, I might even invite you over for a homemade lunch,' Rose said before her brain could sensor her mouth.
‘You cook?’ Luisa said, her head tilted to the side questioningly, her eyes still sparkling warmly.
‘Yes,' Rose said, running a hand through her hair, not really knowing how to elaborate on that, and she was a lawyer, so that never happened.
‘Well, I look forward to it,' Luisa smiled. ‘See you around, Rose.’ And with that she turned around and walked up the stairs towards her own apartment.
Rose closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Just friends. She could do just friends.
Three weeks later, she and Luisa still ran into each other every night. Rose got Luisa’s mail for her and was always rewarded with a smile that made her heart beat faster, which was annoying, as she didn’t actually have a shot beyond friendship with the brunette.
At work Leon was still hitting on her, and the only person she could vent to about it, was Luisa. Who understood her completely but the light in her brown eyes always dimmed a little bit when she talked about Leon. So she tried not to bring it up too much.
On the Saturday that marked her first month in the building, Rose walked through the door carrying a full bag of groceries. Or more she tried to walk through the door but she couldn’t get her key into the lock. She groaned and was already halfway through the motion of putting the bag on the ground when someone said ‘Let me help you with that.’ and took the keys from her hand.
Rose felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she recognized the voice.
‘Leon, hi,' Rose said, walking through the door he held open for her, hoping despite everything that he wouldn’t follow her inside. But he did.
‘So this is where you live, huh?’ Leon said, tossing her keys in his hand. ‘Nice building.’
‘Yeah, I think so,’ Rose said. ‘Thanks for helping me with the door.’
‘Yeah, no problem. How high up do you live, I could carry your groceries for you,' Leon said, smarmy smile firmly in place. His blond hair was artfully tousled and Rose suspected he spent more time in front of a mirror than she did. He sure acted like it.
‘No, I got it, thanks,' Rose said, holding out her hand for her keys. ‘See you at work Monday.’ she said as he finally handed her the keys. Just as she was about to turn around and walk up the stairs, he grabbed her by the elbow.
‘Rose, let’s just go on one date. You’re beautiful, and you’re new in town. I could show you a good time. Believe me,’ Leon said, Rose wishing she had a way to wipe the sly smile of his face. She wanted to yell at him to leave her alone. But she worked with him, and the boss liked him. So if she wanted to keep her job, she would have to turn him down gently, which she had been doing for a whole month but he wouldn’t let it go.’
‘Leon, look…’ Rose started, not knowing what she could say that hadn’t already been said. They had this conversation almost every day. And every day she came closer to telling him she was a lesbian, but the more he hit on her, the less she thought he would be stopped by that. He would probably be one of those guys who found it a challenge to hit on lesbians.
And suddenly Luisa was at her side, she hadn’t heard her come down the stairs, but that didn’t surprise her as much as what Luisa did next. The brunette pushed herself up on her toes and kissed her on the cheek, slinging an arm around her middle in a way that was most definitely possessive.
‘Hi babe. What took you so long?’ Luisa said, resting her head on Rose’s shoulder as she stared at Leon, who had thankfully let go of Rose’s arm when Luisa arrived.
He was looking at the two in confusion, and Rose was feeling just as confused as he looked. Luckily Luisa seemed to have planned for that too.
‘And you are?’ Luisa said, her arm still loosely slung around Rose’s middle, her hand resting on her hipbone. Rose could feel the warmth of it through her dress.
‘Leon, I work with Rose,’ Leon said, his eyes narrowed as he looked Luisa up and down. ‘And you are?’
‘Oh, sorry, how rude of me. I’m Luisa, Rose’s girlfriend,' Luisa said with a smile, her arm tightening on Rose’s waist to tell her to play along.
Rose, who had been very confused up till this point, became even more confused when the word ‘girlfriend’ in combination with her name passed Luisa’s lips.
‘So you’re…’ Leon said, pointing at the two of them, his brain only now making the connection.
‘Gay? Yes, we are,' Luisa said, no hint of discomfort in her voice. ‘And if you’ll excuse us, we would like to get on with our day,' she finished, turning Rose around and leading her up the stairs, not letting go of her until they heard the door slam shut.
‘Sorry to ambush you like that. But you looked like you needed some help,’ Luisa said, smiling kindly at a still stunned Rose.
‘Thank you, for that,' Rose said, trying to get her thoughts on what had just happened in order.
‘I hope I didn’t make things more complicated for you, at work I mean. But he’s the asshole who’s been hitting on you non-stop, right?’ I thought I heard you say his name.’
Rose nodded, still feeling the pressure of Luisa’s lips on her cheek.
‘Well, I think he might stop now,' Luisa grinned. ‘After all, you have a kick-ass girlfriend now.’
‘Let’s hope he stops,’ Rose said sheepishly, Luisa referring to herself as her girlfriend was making her stomach do high-speed backflips.
‘Well, enjoy the rest of your Saturday,' Luisa said. ‘And if you ever need my help with that asshole again, you know where to find me.’ she smiled, continuing up the stairs like she had not just turned Rose’s whole world upside down.