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Vi shoves her apartment door open with her shoulder, then hisses at the twinge. She rotates it and kicks her door closed, cursing at the atrocious construction of her building.
She tosses her keys into a bowl and mutters, “Stupid new development bullshit. ‘Luxury apartments’ my ass,” She beelines to the fridge and starts digging around for a snack.
“Finally! You’re home.”
Vi jolts so hard she knocks her head on the top of the fridge. “Fuck!” She stands and whirls around. “Powder? When the hell—”
Powder pops her head up from the couch and blows a raspberry, “I’ve been here for like. Three hours, doofus, didn’t you check your phone?”
“I was at work, Pow, I didn’t bring my phone,” Vi rolls her eyes. “You want juice?”
“You didn’t fuckin’— Ugh, you’re so old. Yes, gimme juice.”
Vi blindly tosses a box of apple juice to the couch and after a moment of hesitation, grabs one for herself as well.
“What’re you doin’ here?” Vi asks around her straw, flopping onto the couch so hard it launches Powder into the air a bit. “You stayin’ for dinner— hey, woah,” Vi’s is cut off by Powder clutching onto her wrist and staring pleadingly into her eyes.
“If I have to do another proof I’m going to kill everyone in my discrete maths class and then myself. Please, please, please, help me with my homework, Vi, please,” Powder flops dramatically onto her sister’s lap, throwing an arm over her eyes and feigning death.
“Oh, jeez,” Vi grimaces. “I hated that shit when I took it, lemme see.”
Powder just groans and kicks a foot out towards her backpack resting in the corner of the couch.
Vi clicks her tongue and reaches for it. She digs out a sticker-laden laptop and boots it up.
“Password?”
“Fishbones,” Comes the muffled reply.
Vi types it in, smiling. “Aw, like that stuffed shark you used to have?”
“I’ve still got him,” Powder sits up and rubs her eyes a bit. “You in? I have the page bookmarked.”
“Mhm, found it,” Vi brings a hand to her mouth and leans on it, squinting at the math problems on the screen. “So what are you hung up on?”
Powder scoots closer and starts explaining her confusions with the occasional complaint about her professor’s teaching methods and deadline enforcement. The two sisters work away at the math problems until Powder feels confident enough to do them on her own. When that happens, Vi gets up to start making dinner.
“Pantry-cleaner pasta?” Vi asks as she rounds the kitchen island. She gets a thumbs up in response.
The sounds of typing and utensils clattering fill the apartment, along with music playing softly from Powder’s laptop speakers. Vi throws a kitchen towel over her shoulder as she drains a pot of pasta into a colander and lets it rest in the sink. She sets a butter container on the counter, grabs half a bulb of garlic, and digs around in her pantry until she finds a can of crushed tomatoes and starts to throw together a sauce. In a separate pan, she seasons a portion of ground beef and sets it on medium-high to brown.
“Bro, what’s that sound?” Powder pauses her music.
Pulled out of focus, Vi glances back at Powder and asks, “What sound?” She lowers the heat on the sauce and grabs the colander from the sink, tapping it a few times to make sure it didn’t drip.
“It’s like….” Powder screws her face up. “Music? Pop music?”
Vi tosses the pasta in the sauce, combines it with the browned beef, and drops a few tablespoons of butter to melt in the residual heat. “Probably the neighbor,” She says. “The walls are paper freaking thin.”
“Ugh,” Powder flops onto the couch cushions. “It’s killing the vibe, I don’t wanna work anymore.”
“How much do you have left?” Vi walks up to the back of the couch and peers over her sister’s shoulder.
“…One question,” Powder mumbles.
Vi laughs. “Finish your homework, Pow-Pow. Hand me that bowl, I’ll wash it while you do.”
Powder sighs. “Fine.”
After giving the bowl a rinse, Vi returns to the pasta. She adds a healthy sprinkle of parmesan cheese and seasons it with salt and pepper. She’s spooning the pasta into bowls when Powder joins her at the island. She glances up and pushes a bowl toward Powder.
“Done?”
“Yeah, thank fuck. Thanks for helping,” Powder settles on a barstool.
Vi grabs two forks and hands one to Powder. “Of course.”
At that moment a slightly muffled ringtone pierces the air. Powder looks at Vi in question, mouth stuffed with pasta. Listening over her shoulder, Vi deduces that the ringing isn’t from her phone, tucked somewhere on the nightstand in her room. She shakes her head at Powder and takes a drink of water.
“Neighbor,” Vi says from one side of her mouth.
Powder finishes her bite and spears a few more pieces of pasta on her fork. “Dude, you pay way too much rent to have walls this thin.”
“Tell me about it,” Vi scoffs. “If it's not the walls, it’s stupid little misalignments in the frame. There’s a dip in the floor in the hallway,” She points her fork in that direction. “I feel like I’m gonna fall through every single time I walk over it.”
“When’s your lease up?” Powder asks.
“Six months,” Vi groans and runs a hand down her face.
Powder makes a face. “Yikes. You gonna move back home after?”
Vi sighs. “Yeah. By then, I won’t have to go into the office as much. I won’t have to live so close.”
Powder pumps her fist. “Lets fuckin’ go.”
Vi smirks. “What, you miss me or something?”
“Honestly?” Powder takes a deep breath. “Yeah, dude. I miss you like hell.”
Vi stalls. “Oh,” She blinks. “I miss you too,” She clears her throat. “I’ll, uh, I’ll come by more often. On the weekends.”
“You better,” Powder mumbles into a forkful of pasta.
Vi smiles. “I will,” She downs the last of her water. “Finish up. I’ll drive you home.”
“Yes, chef!”
.
.
.
Caitlyn toes off her heels and shuts the door behind her, frowning in frustration when it just bounces off the frame. She shoves at it harder and winces when the sound echoes through her empty apartment. She closes her eyes and breathes through her nose. Six more months.
She tells herself that it’s a learning experience. That she knows better now. Knows what to check for in the next one. It was a miracle that her parents had acquiesced to her moving out because the neighborhood was ‘nice enough’. She thanked her lucky stars that none of her neighbors seemed to be home whenever her parents dropped by, lest they hear the sounds leaking through the walls and throw a fit.
It’s fine. One of the drawers in the kitchen doesn’t fully open, so she bought a utensil holder for the counter. It’s fine. Sure, she can hear it every time one of her neighbors so much as breathed too hard, but a pair of noise canceling headphones and Seraphine's entire discography on loop and everything is just fine.
Caitlyn moves first to her bedroom to change out of the stiff business professional that her work requires. Once she was draped in an old university t-shirt and a pair of shorts, she wanders to the kitchen and peels an orange to snack on while perusing a food delivery app for dinner.
She’s clicking through the menu of a Thai restaurant when she registers a rhythmic thumping coming from the wall in the living room.
Neighbor’s home early, She checks the time. It’s well before quiet hours and that neighbor has never given her much grief before, so she just shrugs and places an order of pad thai for delivery.
Thirty minutes later, Caitlyn’s set up on her couch, a takeout container balances on her knees, and a nature documentary plays over the thud, thud, thud of…well she doesn’t spare the mind to ponder what the noise could be.
Caitlyn only notices that something’s happened when panicked grey eyes meet hers. One moment she’s ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the wonders of nature, and the next she’s blinking down at pieces of drywall in her pad thai. She looks to her right and— yep, there’s the rest of her wall. All over her couch. Also in pieces.
“Are you okay!” A woman with bright pink hair withdraws her wrapped fist from the hole in Caitlyn’s wall. “I’m so sorry!” The woman continues. “I got distracted, I didn’t realize how close I’d gotten to the wall— Ma’am?”
Caitlyn shakes her head and blinks out of her stupor. “Yes! Oh, my goodness. I’m quite alright, yes. Are you— your hand?” She puts her food down on the coffee table and turns, kneeling on her couch to properly face her neighbor.
“I’m good,” The woman assures. She looks down at her hand and flexes it. “The wall was stupid easy to punch through,” She looks back up at Caitlyn and startles. “Um,” She sticks her hand through the wall again. “I’m Vi. It’s…nice to meet you?” She chuckles and smiles sheepishly.
Caitlyn laughs at the absurdity of it all and takes the woman's hand. “Caitlyn.”
“Caitlyn. I’m, uh, really sorry about…all this,” Vi’s eyes dart around the mess on Caitlyn’s couch. “I can come over to help you clean up?” She spots the ruined food and winces. “I can cook, too. I mean, I was going to make dinner soon. Chicken parm. If you would like to have some.”
Caitlyn bites her lip. “That sounds wonderful,” She responds. “I’ll meet you at the door.”
“Great, yeah,” Vi grins, backing away from the wall and undoing her hand wraps.
Taking that as her cue, Caitlyn makes her way to the door. She opens it and leans against the frame. Moments later Vi appears in the hallway. She mutters a soft ‘hey’ to Caitlyn before looping her pinky through a key-laden carabiner and pulling her door closed.
The muscles in Vi’s arm strain with the force used against her uncooperative door. Caitlyn tells herself that she doesn’t stare. She’s just observing. Politely. She clears her throat and points with her chin.
“You too?” Caitlyn asks, gesturing at Vi’s door. “Mine always gives me trouble.”
“No kidding?”
Caitlyn nods, moving aside to lead Vi into her apartment. “Sometimes I leave in a rush and when I come home, I realize that it had never closed.”
“Same! Gosh, this building sucks,” Vi shakes her head and runs a hand through her hair.
The action draws Caitlyn’s eyes to the tattoos running up Vi’s arm, disappearing around her shoulder and reappearing on the side of her neck.
“Yeah,” Caitlyn says. Definitely not staring.
“Where do you keep your vacuum?” Vi asks. “And your trash bags.”
“I’ll grab them,” Caitlyn answers. “You can start gathering the larger pieces of the wall.”
“Alright,” Vi nods and gets to work, humming quietly to herself.
It’s refreshingly efficient, the way they work together. In no time, most of the broken drywall is secured in a trash bag, and the dust cleaned off with one of the vaccuum’s attachments.
They’ve moved to Vi’s apartment, which Caitlyn notes is a mirror of hers. Vi moves fluidly on the other side of the kitchen island. She stirs a sauce while breaded chicken sizzles away in a shallow fry. Caitlyn rests her chin on her hand and observes, gaze drifting idly from Vi, to the decorations around the living room, to the heavy bag next to the hole in their joint wall that somehow doesn’t seem all too pressing at the moment.
“So how long have you been in the building?” Vi’s soft, slightly raspy voice pulls Caitlyn’s attention back to her new companion.
Vi, spooning a ladle of sauce each onto the now-fried chicken, glances back at Caitlyn with a smile before returning to her task.
“Just over half a year,” Caitlyn says, breathing in the smell of a homemade dinner. “I moved in about two weeks into January.”
“Oh? I moved in the first week,” Vi places the ladle back into the saucepan and grabs a plate of sliced mozzarella and begins layering them on top of the chicken. “But I was back home, helping my sister move into her dorm at university. I must’ve just missed you. It’s a shame.”
“A shame?” Caitlyn raises a brow. “How so?”
Vi places the chicken into the oven, straightening to press the ‘broil’ button. She turns and lends her hip against the stove. “I’d have liked to meet you sooner,” She crosses her arms and shrugs. “You seem nice.”
“Hm. Just nice?”
“Pretty too,” Vi tilts her head.
“Just pretty?”
Vi’s eyes glint, challenging. “You want something from me, Cupcake?”
“Cupcake?” Caitlyn furrows her brow.
Vi chuckles. “Your shorts.”
Caitlyn blinks down at her shorts.
Vi continues. “They have little cupcakes all over them.”
Caitlyn registers the fact and buries her face in her hands and groans. “I completely forgot I was wearing these.”
“It’s cute!” Vi’s eyes are bright, mirthful.
“It’s silly,” Caitlyn shoots back. “I’m horribly embarrassed.”
“Don’t be,” Vi says. “I’m charmed.”
Caitlyn peeked through her fingers to find Vi giving her an assuring smile. “More like charming,” She corrects.
Vi nods and shrugs her shoulders, accepting. “I have my moments.”
“Like offering to cook dinner for a woman you’ve just met.”
Vi raises an eyebrow. The scarred one. Not that Caitlyn’s paying any particular attention to Vi’s eyebrows. Or face. Or—
“I punched through your wall.”
“Our wall. Technically,” Caitlyn counters, holding up a finger. “We share it.”
“Well,” Vi concedes. “I also got our wall all over your dinner. So,” She gestures with her hands like ‘there you go’. “It’s the least I could do.”
“Hm,” Caitlyn leans forward. “I think I quite like you, Vi.”
Vi laughs, open mouthed and startled. Caitlyn catches a glint of a pearly white canine.
The oven dings, setting Vi into motion. “Well, are you going to do something about it?” She asks, opening a cupboard and pulling out two plates.
Caitlyn shrugs. “I’d ask you to dinner, but it seems you’ve beat me to it.”
Vi pulls the chicken from the oven and plates them both, setting them on the island before moving back to the cupboards. “Don’t let that dissuade you. What’s the other option?”
Caitlyn nods her head back and forth. “Drinks, I suppose?”
Vi tuts and pulls out two wine glasses. “Oh for two, Cupcake,” She shakes her head in faux disappointment. She sets the glasses down and produces a bottle. “Can you believe that we have wine fridges, but our door frames are misaligned?”
“A modern day horror,” Caitlyn squints. “Is that going to be a thing? Cupcake?”
“Don’t stop on my account,” Vi smirks, dodging the question. “Third time’s the charm,” She opens the bottle of wine and fills their glasses. “What else you got?”
Caitlyn huffs and thinks. “Dessert? I’d walk you home, of course, and use the cold as an excuse to hold your hand,” She eyes the fridge. “Don’t tell me you have something tucked away in there.”
Vi shakes her head. “You got me,” She wraps two sets of utensils in napkins and rounds the island, slipping into the barstool next to Caitlyn, arranging the plates in front of them.
Caitlyn puts a hand to her wine glass, toying with the stem.
Vi follows, picking up her own glass and swirling the wine within. “Go on then,” Her eyes glimmer. “What will you treat me to?” A smirk. “For dessert?”
Caitlyn bites her lip, watching how Vi’s eyes flicker down to them briefly before returning her gaze. “I was thinking…” She works her jaw a bit before taking a sip of wine, peering at Vi over the rim of her glass. “A cupcake,” She licks her lips. “If you’re amenable.”
Vi’s smirk melts as her lips part in surprise before stretching into a smile. “I am very, very, amenable.”
“It’s settled then,” Caitlyn says, smiling. She raises her glass, holds it out toward Vi.
“Cheers.”
“Cheers,” Vi knocks her glass against Caitlyn’s and the delicate ring seals their deal.