Chapter 2

"You don't have your key either?" Sora asked his friend as they stood outside their apartment.

Kairi shook her head. "I forgot to bring mine. I figured it wouldn't be a problem if you had yours." She shrugged, sitting against the wall with a tired sigh. "Xion said she'd be here in less than ten minutes."

Sora sighed, checking the time on his phone. This was all his fault. Had he remembered to bring his keys when he got out of the car, they'd be inside right now. "I really have to stop doing that." When Kairi looked at him quizzically, he explained, "When I lived with my mom, our car didn't have a remote. I got so used to locking the car with the door switch. Guess that habit is coming back to bite me."

"Hey, it happens," Kairi said. "We won't be out here long, anyway."

"Yeah, but the ice cream might melt!" Sora whined. Kairi laughed at him, making him smile in embarrassment. "What? I don't want it to go to waste. This is strawberry ice cream we're talking about, Kairi. If we don't freeze it soon, it just… it won't be the same."

The girl rolled her eyes, reminding herself of how dramatic Sora could get over food. It was something she learned quickly over the four months of rooming with him.

They waited quietly in the outdoor hallway, Kairi sitting patiently and Sora pacing back and forth. The day was particularly hot, redefining the idea of a summer day. The sun hanged high in the sky, mercilessly heating the area with no clouds to shield it. A blurry haze rested over many of the surfaces outside, giving a mirage-like appearance to objects that were, in fact, actually there. His car, with the keys locked inside, sat in the hot parking lot, taunting him when it came into sight. Despite that, he kept pacing. Sora was grateful that they were shaded from the sun, but he still worried about his groceries. Sweat began forming on his forehead, which he quickly wiped every couple seconds. His thoughts returned to his food. What if it was already melted? What about the other things? Would the milk go bad too? But then, what would Sora drink with his Oreos? Would he be forced to eat them without milk now too? There simply wasn't a substitute, and Sora could not, or would not, eat those wonderful treats without it's complement.

He panicked. Without a doubt, this was a crisis of epic proportions. There was no way he was going to let his ice cream go uneaten. He also paid three dollars for that milk, and being the cheapskate he was, consuming the two now was not outside his options.

"The spoons!" Sora shouted triumphantly. Kairi twitched from her place on the floor, startled by the loud statement. "We bought spoons!"

The redhead raised a brow at her friend. Had he snapped? "I don't think we have to worry about that melting," she said, watching Sora dig through the bags on the ground. "Sora, relax. Xion said she'd be here—"

"Found it!" He ignored Kairi, ripping open the bag of plastic spoons. Who knew that his laziness over washing dishes would lead him to buying spoons, which in turn would lead him to save his ice cream and enjoy it—

"Are you seriously going to eat your ice cream right now?" Kairi laughed, bringing a hand up to cover her shaking head. "You have a tendency to overreact when it comes to food."

"Say what you will, Kairi, but this is an emergency. Xion won't be here for another twenty minutes—"

"She actually said less than ten."

"— so desperate times call for desperate measures. I am not letting my strawberry ice cream go to waste, nor am I going to starve out here in this desert," he said with resolve.

Kairi covered her face in shame. Not only were they in a sandy wasteland, but now he was going to starve to death in the seven or so minutes it would take for Xion to arrive. She looked at Sora dig through the bags, raising a brow when he squealed upon finding his frozen treat. She sighed. He was a lost cause. "Sora?"

The boy in question whipped his head in the direction of his friend. "Yeah?"

Kairi held her hand out, not getting up from her spot on the floor. "Hand me a spoon too."

Sora grinned widely. He took one of the plastic spoons and placed it in her hand, and then proceeded to tear off the lid of his ice cream carton. "Quick, we have to save it!"

Kairi laughed as he hopped over to her, dropping quickly into a sitting position beside her. He held the carton the reverently she would have thought it had contained something a little more important. "If by saving it you mean consuming it," Kairi said as she took a small scoop, "then I will try my best."

Sora dug in shortly after, humming in delight after the first bite. The ice cream was perfect, especially on such a ridiculously hot day. "It's just comforting to know that I won't be dying from a heat stroke before Xion gets here." He said with a contented sigh. He noticed Kairi staring at him for a while before slowly nodding.

They ate in silence for a while, taking turns scooping from the strawberry reservoir. Kairi admitted to herself that the ice cream was certainly a relief from the heat. Despite the manner of how they arrived at this point, she was thankful that Sora freaked out just a tad. She stared at the door that mirrored theirs, a mere ten feet across the hall. In a typical cursive address, the black B-4 stuck out from the white door, just below the peephole.

Sora occasionally glanced at Kairi, noting how she stared passively as she ate. He turned his head in line with her eyes' trajectory, landing on the apartment number opposite theirs. "I wonder what happened to B-3."

Snapping out of her trance, Kairi looked over at her friend in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He grinned, swallowing another spoonful of ice cream. "You mean you didn't notice?" When Kairi shook her head, he continued: "Complex B doesn't have a third room. If you look at all the others, like Complex D, you'll see that there's a D-3. It's the same throughout. But Complex B, for some reason, skipped the third room. That," Sora said, "or they simply had a lapse in counting when they were assigning room numbers."

Kairi smiled, tapping her spoon against her lips. "Huh. That's pretty strange." She reached over to the carton sitting on Sora's lap and took more ice cream. "Pretty classy place we got here."

"Oh yes. Real classy." His sarcastic remark was followed by a loud thud against the door of Apartment B-4. He and Kairi immediately fell silent, fearing that they had been heard or had been disturbing someone. They glanced at each other quickly before staring at the door again, the person behind the door shuffling loudly on the other side.

To both of their surprise, the door didn't open.

"The front? Really, Roxas?" a muffled voice, belonging to a girl, asked breathily. Sora and Kairi looked at each other as soon as they heard, equally confused at what they heard.

"Naminé, you can't walk around in your underwear and expect me not to do anything," a masculine voice replied huskily. Kairi blushed madly next to Sora, who instead was gaping in amusement. He held a hand over his open mouth, nudging Kairi with his elbow.

There was another thump against the door, which by now Kairi and Sora assumed was a person slamming against the barrier. "I'm not standing the whole time." The girl's whisper came out strained. "I don't even think I can."

"Your pick this time."

"Kitchen table or couch?"

"Which one is closer?"

"Couch."

The presence behind the door disappeared and the hallway fell silent once again. The two roommates stared at each other, one with eyes widened in shock and the other snickering like a little boy who just caught two people kissing under the playground during recess. They stayed quiet for reasons they didn't really think about.

The brunet leaned closer to his roommate. "Did that really just happen?" he whispered with a laugh.

Kairi merely stared at Apartment B-4 with deer eyes. "I'd like to think it didn't, but I'd say we unofficially met the neighbors." She buried her face in her hands,

Sora chuckled in his place, smiling like a mad man. "That was real! Oh my gosh, that actually happened!" He threw his head back, leaning against the hard wall. "Roxas and Naminé, huh? Pretty interesting group of people."

"Oh gosh, that took longer than expected! Sorry, sorry!" Xion came bursting into the hall, gingerly running toward her friends. "How are you guys? Did you have to wait long?" She walked up to the door and immediately began unlocking it.

Sora stood up, holding a hand out for Kairi and helping her to her feet. His other hand securely held what was left of his strawberry ice cream. "Didn't feel like that long at all."

"Yeah, we…" Kairi shook her head, restarting her thought process. "We kept ourselves occupied. Sort of. Don't worry about the keys, Sora, I got it." The redhead zipped by, grabbing the spare key from a nearby drawer and exiting the apartment.

With a shrug, Sora took in all the bags of groceries and set them on the table. "Have you ever met the neighbors, Xion?" He looked over his shoulder when he asked.

"Not really. I've seen a blond guy going into that apartment before, but never really spoke to him. Why do you ask?" She poured herself a glass of water and took a long drink, sighing loudly after the gulp.

"They sound like interesting people. Kairi and I overheard them… talking while we waited. I think they're dating."

"Someone else lives that with that guy?"

"Yup. And the guy's name is Roxas. The girl is Naminé." Sora turned around, spreading his arms out with a smile. "The more you know."

"Huh. Feel free to invite them over then. I think it'd be nice if we made friends who lived nearby." Xion refilled her glass and closed the refrigerator. "Well, I need a shower. I have a long shift tonight and I need to feel fresh."

"All right. I'll remember to save some dinner for you when you get back!" Sora grinned, putting away most of the groceries. As Xion walked to her room, Kairi came back from the car, softly closing the door behind her. Sora watched her make her way to the fridge and pull out a bottled margarita. "Now that looks like a good idea." Sora nodded in approval.

Kairi nodded with a smile, bringing the bottle to her lips and taking a sip. "I feel stressed for some reason. Maybe this'll help."

"One can only hope. Besides, there's always alcohol in our fridge!" Sora declared with pride. Finishing with the last of the groceries, he pulled out his own drink— a hard lemonade— and dropped onto the couch next to Kairi. "So I was talking with Xion just now… and I have yet to ask Riku about any of this, but…"

"Yes?" Kairi asked in apprehension. She got the feeling that she should be dreading the question.

"What do you think of inviting our neighbors over for dinner this weekend?"


Redeeming Endeavor: Take care, and I'll see you around!