The man turns to her, an idea igniting in his eyes. “What if you just wear the tail and mittens, no mask?”
My neighbor’s eye twitches involuntarily. “Goodbye!”
I search for my keys so I can scurry into my place and away from whatever is happening out here, but I don’t find them in time.
“Men, am I right?” She huffs out a laugh.
I nod, giving her a disinterested smile. I am trying to get in bed, not make idle chit chat with someone I don’t know. Or anyone, really.
“I’m Aanya. You must be my new neighbor. I’ve gotta say, you already look leagues better than the last guy. I was starting to think I might need to call the letting agent, because I thought he could have died.” My body reacts with mild horror at the prospect of living in the abandoned flat of a deceased person. “But next thing I knew, he was moving out, and my problems were solved.” Her voice is too chipper for this conversation.
“Jade. Relieved to know I won’t have to worry about the spectral ghost of tenants past. And that the smell stuck to the carpet isn’t one of decay. If you’ll excuse me…” I move to go inside my place, ready to leave this conversation and the rest of the day behind me.
“You look like you could use a glass of wine. Let me go get a bottle!”
“Oh, no, really, that’s okay. I wouldn’t want to impose.” If I think she’ll take the hint for what it is—rejection—then she doesn’t let on and is totally undeterred.
“It’s no problem. I’ll be right back.” I can’t even argue before she’s left and returned with a bottle in hand. “Alright, let’s go. There’s girl talk to be had.”
The energy to fight an overly chatty neighbor who’s unable to read between the lines is nonexistent. And admittedly, a glass of wine does sound nice after the dayI’ve endured. Surely, I can hold on to my sanity for another fifteen minutes.
Unlocking my door and stepping inside, I usher her over the threshold and flick on the light.
“Fucking hell.” My body jolts at the sudden exclamation, and I look over at Aanya, who is taking in the state of my flat with horror on her face. “What the hell happened in here?”
Her cinnamon eyes bounce between the water damage that’s growing mold, peeling wallpaper, decades old carpet, and the errant roach skittering about.
I shift into the kitchen to scour for a bottle opener. “I rented the place sight unseen, and the landlord neglected to tell me the pictures on the listing were not entirely accurate.”
“Who rents a place sight unseen?” Her tone is jovial, but my hackles rise at the reproach.
I am not the type of person who jumps into things lightly. I think through my decisions, weigh lists of pros and cons, and run it past a team of advisors. My residence being a disaster isnotsomething I am coping with well, and the reminder I’ve also fucked this up grates.
“Someone whose assistant was handling the leasing and neglected to inform her when the original flat fell through before said assistant was found in bed with someone’s boyfriend.”
“Oh, fuck.” Aanya’s mouth drops open at my admission.
“Yeah.” I huff out a derisive breath. “I lost my assistant and got saddled with an expensive flat that needs to be fumigated. I’m having a great time.”
Aanya steps into the kitchen, grabbing the bottle opener from my hands. “Grab some glasses.”
Doing as she says, we pour two generous helpings of wine and move into the living room to sit on the makeshift couch made up of a few throw pillows and blankets.
“I’m assuming you sacked your assistant?”
“Most definitely. I can’t have someone I don’t trust around me that much.”
“And the boyfriend?” she asks, taking a sip of her drink.
“Haven’t spared him a second thought.” Detachment peppers my tone.
“Not together long?”
“Three years, actually.” I fidget.
“You don’t seem too out of sorts about it, or him,” she observes. She also seems to not care that this is probably too personal a conversation for the first time we’ve ever met.
I take a long pull of my drink. “To be honest, I don’t think I ever felt much for him. I was always too busy with work, and he was just…convenient.”
