Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The new neighbor was very particular. Before she brought her belongings inside, Cassie watched through the peephole as she put on a mask, some nitrile gloves, and disposable shoe covers. After two hours of intense vacuuming, the woman and her son spent the rest of the day bringing in a few dozen boxes. Each was labeled with a surprisingly detailed list of their contents. It looked like a checklist was involved too.

Last time Cassie had moved, she threw everything into a few duffle bags the night before. She only went out to buy cleaning supplies when she had to throw her socks away (after realizing that they were covered in a layer of mysterious floor dirt from the previous owner.)

The new neighbor was also gorgeous.

It was late June, so she was wearing a loose white camisole and some linen shorts. The amount of skin on display was short-circuiting Cassie’s heat-riddled brain. The woman’s hair was tied up, but some stray curls framed her face. If Cassie was being honest with herself, she had started making up excuses to catch another glimpse of the woman’s toned arms. Watching her strain slightly when lifting a particularly heavy box was… well Cassie hadn’t been with anyone in a while. But how many times could she “go for a walk” in the middle of a hot day?

Cassie was sitting on the couch, staring at the front door again. She was lazily petting their cat, a scraggly orange tabby that showed up a few months earlier. (The cat’s name was Paul, which was short for pauldron. It was Harrison’s idea. He was turning into a bit of a nerd. She had argued that it wasn’t very fitting to call a girl cat Paul. In return, Harrison joked that she had “regressive ideas about gender.” They had both laughed about it for a while, and the name stuck.) Harrison had been in his room for most of the day after his eventful meeting with the new neighbors that morning.

Cassie sighed deeply, rolling her neck. She tried to think of any other reason she might need to go outside. She hadn’t even spoken with the other woman yet.

Too sweaty to get up, she turned towards the hallway where her son’s room was located. “Hey Harrison!” she projected, “I’ve got a question.”

After a moment of disgruntled shuffling, her son appeared in the doorway of his bedroom, Nintendo Switch in hand.

“Did you get their names?” Cassie asked, nodding towards the front door.

“Oh yeah…” He trailed off, taking a moment to energetically push some buttons on the console. “Naseem is the kid and Baran is the mom.”

Hmm. Was there anything else she needed to know? She thought for a moment longer. “Did they say anything about food preferences or allergies? For dinner.”

“No, I didn’t ask,” Harrison replied without looking up from his game.

“Perfect!” Cassie shouted. She jumped up from the couch, startling Paul the cat. Harrison looked confused for a split second before shrugging and retreating to his room.

Cassie headed to take another peek through the peephole. Nobody was directly outside, but the door across the hall was open. She could probably call out to them. Right?

In her excitement, she forgot to check where Paul was before opening the door. The cat, who had a habit of escaping, slipped out and darted straight into the other apartment. Cassie dropped her head into her hands, smiling at her own stupidity.

“Well shit.”

She didn’t hear any screaming, so she figured there was a chance that Paul hadn’t even been noticed yet. She took a few steps towards the new neighbor’s doorway, peering inside. Boxes were neatly stacked in various corners of the living room and kitchen area. A cozy-looking couch and a fancy dining table were the only pieces of furniture visible. From what she could tell, the layout of the space directly mirrored her own apartment.

“Hello?” Cassie called out. She wasn’t entirely comfortable stepping inside without an invitation. “I’m so sorry… but I think my cat got in here.” She stood anxiously at the precipice of the doorway, trying to spot any signs of the mischievous tabby. “This is your neighbor, by the way… welcome to the building!”

After a moment, the new neighbor appeared from the hall. Her hair was down. Jesus christ.

“Uhh hi?” The woman stared at Cassie, clearly confused by the sudden appearance of a stranger at her doorstep. “You said something about a cat?”

“Yeah, we got her a few months ago and I haven’t had the time to train her not to escape when we open the door.” Cassie rubbed the back of her neck, embarrassed by her own unreliability. “Her name is Paul.”

The woman—Baran, Cassie remembered— quirked an eyebrow. “Alright… close the door and take your shoes off.”

Cassie did as she was told, clumsily bending down to pull off her shoes. “She likes food if you have anything smelly. Like tuna or something?”

Baran smiled, “Ah, we haven't even been to the grocery store yet.”

Oh. Right.

“Luckily we don’t have much furniture set up for her to hide behind either,” Baran offered, scanning the room. “Did you see where she went?”

Cassie sighed, shaking her head. “Nope, she was too fast for me. Mind if I check the bathroom?”

“Go ahead! I’ll look in the bedrooms,” Baran said, disappearing into the hallway.

Cassie scrambled to the guest bathroom, her socks slipping slightly on the well-cleaned wooden floors. She checked behind the toilet. No cat. A nosy part of her wanted to look inside the cabinets, even though there was no way Paul could’ve opened them. She wanted to know more about Baran, but she didn’t think that snooping was the best way to go about it. She was already on thin ice with this troublesome cat business. Forcefully barging inside her new neighbor’s apartment was not the suave first impression she was hoping for. Cassie turned and pulled the shower curtain back dramatically. Still no cat. Damn.

As she was leaving the bathroom to look elsewhere, Baran called out, “Found her!”

What a relief. Cassie moved to the bedroom where she had heard Baran’s voice coming from. In her own apartment, the room in this spot was Harrison’s.

“Well, Naseem found her,” Baran said, smiling fondly at her curly-haired son. The boy was probably somewhere between 7 and 10 years old. He sat criss-cross applesauce style on a large whale-shaped rug. Paul was lying on his lap, enjoying some gentle petting. She was already purring. Cassie had to suppress her urge to audibly “aww” at the sight.

She had seen Harrison and Naseem speaking with each other in the hallway that morning. The two seemed to get along right away. Despite her faults, she was unbelievably proud that she had raised Harrison to be such a kind human being. He was sometimes shy around kids his own age, but he was confident enough to introduce himself to well-meaning strangers. Watching him talk to the younger boy reminded Cassie that there was still a small part of her that worried he would be lonely as an only child. It looked like Naseem didn’t have any siblings either.

“I really need to get around to training her,” Cassie said, crouching down to sit next to Naseem and scratch behind Paul’s ears. “Now that she knows that someone friendly lives next door, she’ll probably try to get out more often.”

Naseem smiled. “I wouldn’t mind that. I’ve never had a pet,” the boy said. He watched in awe as Paul yawned and rolled over.

“Maybe we can share her,” Cassie suggested jokingly. She turned to the cat, furrowing her eyebrows in an attempt to look serious. “What do you think, Paul?”

“Meow,” Paul replied. Naseem looked delighted at her response.

Cassie smiled, scooping the cat up. “For now, I’ll take her back to our place across the hall.” She turned, looking apologetically at Baran. “I’m sorry about this whole mess.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Baran said, dismissing the concern with a wave of her hands. “I needed a break from unpacking anyway.” Her eyes darted between Naseem and the cat in Cassie’s arms. There was something complicated happening behind her dark brown eyes.

Cassie stood and started walking back to the front door. “I was actually trying to come over and ask about what food you’d like for dinner on Wednesday—before Paul interrupted.” She took a disapproving look at the kitty, who was still purring, completely unaware of the chaos she had caused.

“Ah, I see,” Baran said. She was staring at Paul, smiling. “We aren’t too picky. I try to avoid meat as often as possible though.”

Cassie nodded, trying to shove her feet back into her shoes without dropping the cat. She thought of what she and Harrison could make. They’d probably have to go grocery shopping. She remembered her ill-fitted attempt to suggest entrapping Paul with tuna earlier. She cringed. “Sorry again that she got in here. Moving is always so stressful, even without your crazy neighbors interrupting.”

Baran laughed, tucking a curl behind her ear. “It’s really fine,” she said, opening the front door. She genuinely seemed unbothered by the disturbance, so Cassie tried to get over her own embarrassment. As she was heading out, Baran took a long look at her. “Harrison introduced himself but he didn’t tell me your name.”

The intensity of her new neighbor’s gaze was unexpected. She flushed. “Oh. It’s Cassie… McKay…” Before she could say anything stupid, she rushed across the hallway and clumsily attempted to open her door with an increasingly irritated cat in her arms. It didn’t work.

Baran laughed and slipped on her shoes to walk over and open it for her. “See you soon, Cassie.”

The moment Baran closed the door, Paul leapt from Cassie’s arms and ran beneath the couch. She kicked off her shoes and fell against the door, sighing. Harrison was sitting on a barstool at the kitchen island. He set his game down and gave her a knowing look.

“What?” she asked, trying to steady her expression.

“Nothing,” he muttered. “We have to train Paul.”

“Probably,” Cassie said, shrugging. She thought back to how happy Naseem looked with the cat in his arms. Paul’s misconduct kind of turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

–

As she was leaving for work the next day, Cassie found a note taped to her door. It read:

I don’t think we ever discussed a time for dinner. Text me?

A phone number was scrawled beneath the message. Cassie bit her lip and stuffed the note into her bag. For the rest of the day, when she had a spare moment at work, she thought back to it.