Aria Striker strolled down the street, scraping her heels against the pavement.
She looked at her watch which said that the time was five o' clock but Aria knew that she left the house at half past ten and she had only been walking for five minutes.
"Great, I'll have to add 'new watch' to the list of things that I can't afford to buy." she grumbled to herself.
She stopped walking when she reached 221B Baker Street and knocked the door.
When it opened Aria was met by a friendly faced old lady. "Hello dear, you must be Aria. I'm Mrs Hudson." the woman smiles then led Aria upstairs.
"John!" Mrs Hudson called. "Your girlfriend is here!"
John rises from his seat and kisses Aria on the cheek then turns to Sherlock who is playing violin in the corner of the room.
"Alcalanto number one?" Aria wonders out loud and Sherlock suddenly stops playing.
"John never said you were a violinist." Sherlock smirked.
"I'm not." Aria folded her arms.
"Oh really?" Sherlock grinned, getting into his deduction mode.
"Sherlock, no." John warned.
"The angle of your fingers tells me otherwise." Sherlock sighed, trying not to scare away another of John's girlfriends.
"It does?" Aria scoffed. "Well then I'm sure my posture would tell you that I am in fact a cellist. Not a violinist."
Sherlock raised an eyebrow and the atmosphere between the two becomes competitive.
"You've been playing for seventeen years."
"Eighteen."
"Although you don't practice much these days."
"I don't need to."
"Eh, should we go Aria?" John interrupted.
"Of course." Aria nodded and swung the door open before running down the stairs.
"I like her, John. She's not boring like your other girlfriends have been." Sherlock smiled in approval.
"Well I've never actually seen her act like that before. Maybe it's her way of coping with intimidation." John replied, giving his roommate a stern look.
"Goodbye John." Sherlock went back to playing his violin and John walked down the stairs to where Aria was waiting.
"Shall we go?" John asked her.
She nodded and tucked a lock of her ebony hair behind her ear.
As they wandered down the street, Aria started to act in the way that John was used to again.
"How about in there?"John pointed to a quaint cafe on the street corner.
"I told you John. I'll go anywhere, I'm not fussy." Aria knew that she was in fact very fussy and particular about where she goes and what she eats, but this mild-mannered and sweet persona was the one she was presenting to the world.
There was just something about Sherlock's arrogant smirk and smart arse attitude that made Aria determined to prove him wrong.
John led Aria into the cafe and they sat down and a small table.
A sour faced woman in a black apron came over and asked to take their orders.
"Just tea for me." John replied.
"Coffee, two sugars. Please." Aria murmured, her voice only just loud enough for the impatient waitress to hear.
"Be right with you." she stomped off.
"I never thought of you as a coffee person, Aria." John stated, in his feeble attempt to make conversation with the quiet woman sitting opposite him.
"I couldn't live without it." Aria grinned. "I'm very much a night owl, but I couldn't handle staying up without caffeine."
The waitress returned to the table after about ten minutes and placed two mugs down on the table.
"Thank you." Aria nodded to the woman before taking a sip of her coffee.
She sighed in relief as the hot liquid slid down her throat. It had been way too long since she'd had coffee and she was starting to get withdrawal symptoms.
John payed the waitress and she walked away.
"You didn't have to do that John. I would have payed." Aria frowned.
"No, Aria. Money's tight enough for you as it is and I never get the chance to help you out." John shook his head.
"Well, thank you." Aria blushed. She didn't know how John had figured out about her money problems, but in a way she was glad he did. She had never liked pretending everything was fine for her and she finally had somebody she could talk to about it. Although she was never good at talking.
The pair finished up their drinks and left the cafe into the pouring rain outside.
Aria was only wearing a light coat over jeans and blouse and her flat pumps had very thin soles.
"Should we make a run for it?" she giggled as John rushed to put his coat on.
"I think that's a fantastic idea." John laughed and they ran up the street together until they reached Aria's small house.
"Shall I come in?" John asked, still unsure of where he stood in their fairly new relationship.
"Eh, no." Aria stammered.
John tried to not look offended. "Oh, okay. Fine. I get it."
"No, no. Not like that, it's just my house isn't exactly in the best state."
"Oh, well I'm sure it's not that bad."
"Please John. Give me a couple of days to make the place look less poverty stricken, then I'll invite you round for tea, yeah?"
"Okay, okay. I'll see you in a couple days then Aria." he kissed her on the cheek again.
"Goodbye John." Aria called. "Ring my mobile if you need me, I couldn't pay off the house phone."
John nodded and sauntered down the path, then Aria unlocked her house and stepped inside.
"Time to clean up in here." She said to herself.
It didn't take a lot of time to clean up her living room as the only mess was random canvases and paints from Aria's attempts at art.
She had always wanted to be a painter and at this moment she wished that she had the same confidence that she did when she was a child.
She knew that she was good and she had been told that she was good but her self esteem was low so she had never pursued the career.
Maybe if she had she wouldn't have been in the mess that she was.
Although she had now cleaned up all the mess, she still didn't want anybody in her house.
The paint was cracked and the carpet had stains in it that she had failed at getting out.
Aria turned in a circle, taking in every flaw in the room and then crumbled into a ball on the floor.