"What about the one near the train tracks?" Jane asked as she pulled the edge of her sleeves down over her palms to keep warm.
"Too noisy." Sadie said, briefly crinkling her nose at the thought, "I would never be able to concentrate and neither would you." she took a sip of her tea and glanced out the window for a moment. Across from the small cafe they were in was nothing more than grey stone buildings. The street was relatively vacant, except for a cab sitting idly as two men jumped inside.
Sadie stared back at her blond friend across from her, thinking of a place where they could stay. They were both in London for school, Sadie had managed to convince the University to let them live away from the other students. She had claimed that they would be able to better understand the world in which they lived and would have a better chance of getting an education that way. While the real reason was that Sadie wasn't very good at working with others and Jane simply didn't want to leave her only friend.
When many people first meet the two they think they're a bit of an unlikely friendship. Sadie is strong, smart, and has even been described as a psycho, while Jane on the other hand is reserved, kind, and understanding. There had been others who had said that Sadie wasn't exactly the best person to go running off with, but Jane never listened to a word. After all, they only had each other.
"What?" Jane asked sarcastically, Sadie hadn't stopped staring at her for almost five minutes now.
"What?" Sadie asked, snapping out of her thoughts. Her blue eyes suddenly seemed to have woken up from their dead trance when she looked down at her empty cup of tea.
"You were staring at me, again." she said softer, and without any sense of sarcasm.
Now it was Jane's turn to stare. Sometimes Sadie was so hard to read, at a glance she seemed ordinary enough. Her dark brown wavy hair forced the eyes to stare at her pale face and sparkling blue eyes. No, she wasn't ordinary; she was a beautiful woman with a body to match. Yet, when anyone got close to her she would push them away. Making friends wasn't the problem for her, it was keeping them. Everyone she ever loved or cared for left her alone. Jane glanced down at the sapphire and diamond ring hanging from an old chain around Sadie's neck. That was the ring that seemed to be the worst of her sadness. Sadie's ex-boyfriend had given that to her as an early engagement ring after high school, before he left to join the army. After that he never came back or even sent a letter. No one knew what happened to him, but Sadie was convinced that he was just another person to have left her standing alone.
"I was thinking." Sadie finally answered as she leaned back into her chair, "I was thinking about where we should stay. Let's just check this street before we go back to the campus." without waiting, Sadie stood up and walked out of the cafe.
"And how exactly are we going to know which flats are up for rent and which aren't?" Jane asked skeptically when she caught up to Sadie.
Sadie buttoned the front of her blue peacoat and flipped up the collar to protect her a bit more from the cold; Sadie glanced at her friend and smiled.
"We simply check the tags on the doors." without another word Sadie crossed the street and began to look at the names written under each door buzzer. Before an hour had passed they had made almost a complete round on the street.
"Why do we even bother? None of the others had an empty tag. Why would this one?" Jane complained as they approached the last building next to the cafe they just exited.
Sadie looked at the tags, then back at Jane and smiled devilishly, "'Why bother?' Well look." she pointed at the last tag on the door frame: empty.
"Oh my god. Really? Really?! Out of all the buildings! It was the one right next to the cafe?" Jane threw her arms down and looked up toward the sky as if God was going to tell her why her luck was running so short.
"Sh." Sadie hushed her before knocking on the door. Barely a moment later had an older woman answered.
"Hello, can I help you?" she asked staring down at Jane and Sadie. The woman seemed to have been in the middle of baking, there was a smudge of flour on the middle seam of her purple dress and a light layer of sweat had formed around her hairline.
"Hello, ma'am. We were just wondering if you had any other flats available. I noticed that the last tag here seems to be empty." Sadie said, briefly pointing at the last name tag.
"Well yes, but it needs fixed up and its rather dingy," the woman at the door made a face when she said dingy, "but I can still show it to you if you'd like." The woman smiled warmly and gestured the ladies inside.
"Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you." Sadie said as she took a step in. Something about the space felt rather off, as if there was construction being done or something had just been demolished.
"My name is Mrs. Hudson," she introduced herself; "the last flat available is in the basement. Follow me."
The space that Mrs. Hudson had showed them was barely big enough for one person. Let alone two. Still, it seemed appealing and was just a walking distance from the University. All the room really needed was another coat of paint and a good dusting (or scrubbing), and the window let in enough natural sunlight to keep them satisfied.
"When would we be allowed to move in?" Sadie asked casually as they walked back trhough the narrow hallway.
"Well, it would be best if the flat was properly cleaned and then you ladies could move in when you like."
"Would this weekend be alright with you?" Jane suddenly piped in.
"That's only a few days away." Mrs. Hudson said, looking a bit shocked.
"That's alright, Mrs. Hudson. I don't have class tomorrow so I can come in to help clean." Sadie offered. Hoping that would get them into their flat and away from the University campus faster.
"Oh, well. I guess that would be alright. I'll have your name on the door by Friday." She smiled warmly at them, "Oh, before you go would either of you like to have some tea or a biscuit?"
"No thank you ma'am. We really should get going." Sadie answered as she started to step out the door and back into the cold London air.
"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow, and for heaven's sakes, quit calling me ma'am it's too formal." She called as Jane and Sadie began to walk back toward the campus.
"I wonder who else lives there with us." Jane pondered aloud only a few blocks from Baker Street.
"Mrs. Hudson. As well as two individuals by the names of Holmes and Watson." Sadie said not even glancing toward her friend.
"How do you know that? Mrs. Hudson didn't even tell us." Jane asked
"I read the tags." Sadie smirked as they reached the University campus, "I wonder if my playing the piano will be a bother any of them." Sadie thought aloud. After all, they were new; she didn't want to be the annoying neighbor.
Im going to keep this short, it probably wont be longer than 5 chapters.
But comments would still be nice. I want to know if it seems interesting enough.