It was two in the afternoon when Addison left, and Callie busied herself with unpacking, not wanting to stop and be left alone, because then she was sure she'd get homesick and she really couldn't trust herself not to just call home and say this was all a mistake, which is wasn't.
Her record player sat nicely beside the TV, long past its days of collection dust in her grandmother's living room as it now sat in hers. She'd always loved the things, even though everybody else thought it was a tad unnecessary. The fact that they were still making vinyl records must have said something, though, because the damned thing was gorgeous and there was just something so satisfying about the scratch of needle on record when a song finished.
She ate ramen noodles under lamplight and fiddled with her 3G USB until she has internet, and spent her evening as such; not even remembering to go outside and check for nightlife before she had fallen asleep on the sofa with her laptop clutched to her chest and a satisfied feeling about her gut.
It was warmer the next day, but still a little chilly, so she opted for a short-sleeved shirt but long pants, tying her hair back in to a ponytail so that is didn't get in her face while she went back about her business of unpacking, sorting clothes in to drawers and closets and lining her perfume bottles up along her dresser. It wasn't until that afternoon that she remembered her very pretty neighbor, because, though her open window, she heard the familiar satisfying scratch of a record player's needle jumping to life and then her favorite song started.
She'd loved beautiful, by Meshell Ndegeocello, ever since hearing it for the first time, and owned it. For the briefest of moments she worried that the apartment was haunted and some spirits were messing with her music, but then she turned around and found that it was coming from out the window.
She lent her head out, breeze instantly blowing her hair out of place. The music became louder once her head was out the window, and then she saw her, the neighbor again, this time seated on the ledge of her open window, a huge book in lap as she nodded her head along to the song.
She didn't look up and meet Callie's eye until the song had reached its chorus, and when she did her eyes were wide and not really surprised but not neutral either, but there was something there. Callie smirked like she had yesterday, and then an idea struck, and she held up a finger that meant wait.
After a few moment of fiddling around she managed to get her copy of the song to the same point as her neighbor's, and returned to the window, with a real smile now. The girls whole dace lit up, excitement setting blue fire ablaze, and her lips looked very pink and very soft. Callie considered simply shouting out 'I love you', but the whole idea of that seemed a little rash and unthoughtful, so she settled for climbing through her window to sit on the ledge like the girl was doing. Neither talking as they stared respectively until the song was finished. Both records scratched and a silence fell, and they stared for a few moments longer before the blonde girl stood, waved a hand goodbye and disappeared in to the apartment.
Callie was almost certain that she was in love.