his clothing had changed, his hair was less scraggly, and he had seemingly abandoned the "sultry-and-mysterious" expression he wore in neon, but he was ultimately the same person. and he looked at her, and she seemed relaxed. happy. god, was that a sight for sore eyes.
he shook off the uneasiness. they're just two people who have met before. no biggie.
"i believe we've met before, miss hunt. how are you doing?"
She unruffled her figurative feathers and smiled slightly. "Amory. Fancy seeing you here. I've actually done quite well, thanks. How about you?" Simple and casual. Just two old buddies bumping into each other.
"things are going nicely. what brings you around here?" he leaned his shoulder on the doorway, a painfully familiar habit.
She hooked a finger behind her towards her apartment. "Moving. Quit my night job and got kicked out, so I'm living a surprisingly honest and simple life. Wanted to find a new life here."
"i'm assuming you took a certain someone's suggestion." he teased lightly, briefly checking out the apartment behind her.
"I may have taken up a suggestion, yes." She smiled at him. "This place is too nice to pass up." Her apartment was simple and still relatively empty. She had plans to spruce it up a bit, though. Once she had the money.
he smiled right back. "indeed it is. well i'll see you around, hopefully. we are neighbors." he left with a wink, heading to exit the building. he had a good while to get to work, but didn't really know how to continue that conversation.
She offered a small wave as he left, a little disappointed the conversation had ended. But it was awkward, and she knew it. No point in making it worse.
She checked her phone and cursed. She was late for an interview.
he arrived early to the studio, getting changed and waiting for the kids to show up. teaching kids to fling themselves into the air while distracted, always a good combo. damn.
after the shift was over, he emerged from the building, still in the tight clothes. they needed to be washed anyway, might as well just wear them home.
Tessa waited as patiently as she could for the guy to call her name. She was at a local dance studio that she had heard was a big deal 'round here. Sure, she had experience. A lot, actually. But she didn't exactly look like a typical dancer. Maybe that is what was taking him so damn long. She might as well book it before being humiliated in front of a ton of other more mature and slim women. Damn, they all looked like models.
he flopped down on his bed, pretty much exhausted. hard work, that is. nik vaguely remembered one day where he had picked up some sort of oil for tessa after a dance thing. was she still doing dance?
i really need to stop thinking of her. it's been two years, stop being a hooked baby.
After an agonizing wait, the guy had shooed away the women and demanded that Tessa stay. Apparently, he had been on the phone with her previous employer/teacher. Discussing her. He said that he was a fan of her style and looked forward to seeing her more often.
She came back home with a bounce in her step, completely overjoyed. Now she had a fulltime job at a bigtime dance studio, a new home, and no mental baggage. Life was great so far.
But once she saw the door on the other side of the hall, her smile and preppy walk faltered. Nik…
he heard footsteps, mind immediately wandering from the twitter post he was reading and back onto tessa. fuck, she's home, isn't she? did she change her number? he could send her a text, a… neighborly move, just for if she needs anything.
Tessa forced herself to fish out her keys and unlock her apartment, the back of her mind nagging at her to see if Nik was home. It wanted to pick up what she had thrown away. Wanted to ask him if he was up for a cup of coffee or something. She shook her head and pushed her door open, flicking the light switch on and heading inside. Out of habit once again, her door was slightly ajar.
well okay dumbass, here goes. at least be casual about it
nik figured he'd go get dinner, not having energy to cook. but on his way out, he left a sticky note on tessa's door.
you're going to get robbed one day, keeping your door open like this. stay safe!
- your favorite
Tessa opened a cup of ramen, putting it in the microwave. She grabbed some Hershey Kisses while she waited for it to heat up, popping them in her mouth and turning on her music. She jammed to it, bouncing around the kitchen and occasionally singing the words that she knew by heart. She didn't notice the sticky note on her door.
he heard singing as he reached the end of the hallway, and smiled to himself. look how happy she is.
Her microwave beeped, and she ignored it as the rap verse came up. She had this part memorized to the T. She grinned to herself as she easily kept up with the artist, hands flying around as she did the rap.
he flung open the door to the restaurant, knowing it was usually abandoned around this time. he made his way up to the person at the register, giving his usual hello and having a bit of back-and-forth before giving his order. he walked back to his apartment with the bag of food swinging from one hand, a pep in his walk that had been present since he moved.
her door was still ajar when he looked. she hadn't shut it yet, nor seen the note. huh.
She was now on the floor in the middle of her living room, laying on her stomach with her bare feet in the air. A piece of paper was in front of her, and she tapped a pencil against the carpeted floor in a sort of rhythm. She had been told to write a song before the end of the week. Her new boss wanted to get a taste of her musical capabilities.
Tessa wasn't sure what songwriting had to do with dance, but she wasn't complaining. It had been forever since she sat down and wrote a song. As for producing music… well, she'd be lucky if she knew what buttons and switches did what.
nik somehow ended up sitting on his kitchen counter, food in his lap.
((do you want to timeskip to when they interact again? how do you think they should end up talking))
(hmm, maybe Tessa works up the courage to go to Nik's place and ask for an opinion on her song once she's done writing it?)
((yeah that works! do you want me to start?))
(Sure)
two days later, nik was writing down some points for a story when there was a knock at his door. "huh. who'd be here?" he murmured to himself, getting up to go to the door.
he cracked it before fully opening it to reveal tessa, a sheet of paper in her hand. "oh! hey, there."