It had been a rather stressful day for Peridot, it was sweltering hot in Houston, Texas. Peridot is an intern astronautical engineer for NASA, a cashier at a local CVS, and a medical data analyst for the university. Ideally, she hopes to place her full focus on her engineering career that she spent six years getting a degree for. Today she had a shift at all three, the last leg of her day took a toll on her. She worked with hot metal and welding equipment as the day tapered off. Although the engines were inside, the heat seemed to carry through the garage. She could still feel the sweat drying from around her neck even though the sun had long since set.

She drives to the apartment building she has been residing in since her sophomore year of undergrad. This would be about 4 years ago, and she could now afford somewhere better, she made a mental note to search for a better living space once she had the time. She parks in her assigned parking space, being sure her resident pass was clearly visible, she'd gotten many wrongful tickets for forgetting that one small detail. She leaves her car quickly, going to her backseat collecting each of the bags she took to her multiple jobs, she pulls d her messenger bag out and slings it across her body. This had her lunch, laptop, and uniform from her cashier job. Her backpack came next, the weight of papers and blueprints and her own tools dig into her shoulders as exhaustion sets in. She pushes her glasses up before leaning down again. she moves a pile of energy drinks to the floor of her car, grabbing her briefcase and suit from her data analysis job, she has some take-home work for the weekend. It's Friday, she is looking forward to her time off.

She walks toward the door of the apartment building, setting her briefcase down and checking her mail upon entering, there was usually never anything in the small box but, she still checks her mail religiously, looking for pieces she is constantly ordering for her self-built PC. Today, however, was just a small letter, she grabs it and removes her key from the mailbox, lifting her briefcase from the ground walking toward the elevator when she stopped, there is a sign taped over the call button "OUT OF ORDER" she groans softly looking up at all eighteen floors she will have to ascend. She makes her way to the stairs breathing deeply.

The climb was exhausting and long. When she finally reaches her apartment door # 1823 she fumbles with her keys, finally finding the right one and pushing the door open flicking the lights on. She takes off all her bags sighing in relief, she places the letter on her desk for later. She unpacks each of her bags and microwaves a hot pocket collapsing at her desk to eat. She sorts through the papers in her briefcase first and then gets a good look at the letter that was in her mailbox, she realizes it is not a letter for her but a letter for one of her neighbors, addressed to someone by the name of Lapis Lazuli, she stops chewing momentarily glancing over at her clock, 10:30 p.m. it's far too late to be knocking on people's doors. She decided it could wait until the morning.

She worked on her take-home work, mindlessly. She finished her meal and ate up all of her work in about an hour, she played a few mass multiplayer games with her good friend Bismuth, a local construction worker Peridot had roomed with her freshman year of college. Bismuth dropped out to get certificates instead of a bachelor's degree, she was easy-going and enjoyed gaming almost as much as Peridot. They would often play until the wee hours of the morning. But Peridot was exhausted on this particular night, she signed off, showered, and headed to bed. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

—-

Lapis is a paleontologist by day and a server by night, still young in her field, she spends most days at the museum interning and gaining experience studying fossils, learning all of the information and secrets they hold, and today was no different. She switches from a relaxed 9-3 shift at the museum to a rather exhausting 4-8 dinner shift at a small diner she serves at on the weeknights. It is run by two older ladies, Ruby And Sapphire, Lapis is good friends with their daughter, Garnet.

Her shift went by quickly considering it was a Friday night, but it was no less exhausting. She drives back to her apartment building eager to see her cat, a calico named Pumpkin. She sighs sadly after checking her mail. Lapis has been expecting a letter from Steven, her younger brother who she hasn't seen since he graduated high school. That was 10 months ago, he was struggling with himself, so he took a gap year to find out what he wanted. This particular letter was important because it would tell her if he was coming to The University of Houston to live with her. Her mailbox was empty, she worries for her sibling, his letter being late was of no comfort. She notices the sign on the elevator "OUT OF ORDER" she turns on her heel toward the stairs and begins the slow descent up.

On floor 9 she sits on the step and takes a short break, before resuming the climb, she thinks to herself 'at least I won't have to go to the gym this week .' She stands and continues climbing. She reaches her door, #1832 she unlocks the door quickly, locking it behind her and immediately kneeling to greet her cat, petting her gently and scratching her underneath her chin. Finally standing, Lapis feeds her cat and then herself, chowing down on the meal the diner's chef, Amethyst had made for her upon leaving.

Amethyst does this often, leaving a to-go box for her under the heat lamp 20 minutes before closing. She never expects it of course, but it's a sweet gesture nonetheless. Sometimes even the general manager, Pearl, makes sure she doesn't forget the box. Everyone at the diner is so nice and caring, Lapis smiles warmly at the thought of them. She'll be sad to leave serving but she can't wait to dedicate her life to paleontology. She was always a sucker for history. Lapis climbs into her bed deciding that she will shower in the morning, she is far too exhausted for it now, she falls asleep in uniform.

Lapis wakes the next morning to Pumpkin pawing her nose wanting breakfast, Lapis gets up stretching and shuffling into the kitchen to open a new can of cat food for her furry friend, who meows and purrs happily as Lapis scoops the contents into a small dish, Lapis starts the coffee machine and goes to shower. She washes and conditions her hair, she has dye in these products, to keep her hair dyed a medium clean blue, and gets into some pajamas, not interested in dressing for the day. Turning on some music as she begins cleaning her apartment.

—-

Peridot wakes with a dry mouth, sore throat and a crick in her neck. She tends to always sleep fitfully and in the strangest positions. With her eyes closed, Peridot reaches for a bottle or a can or something to moisten her mouth once again, she takes a swig of some day-old Mountain Dew and immediately regrets it. She paws around again searching for her glasses knocking over several empty cans and bottles in the process, once she has her glasses on, she assesses her surroundings. Given the current state of her bedroom, She decides she needs to clean today to try to avoid the can hoarding situation from repeating itself. She stands up and sleepily brushes her teeth and brushes her hair collecting cans and bottles from each room she visits before noticing the letter on her desk. She freezes and contemplates if it is worth it to leave the comforts of her own mess today, she drops the cans and bottles, and against her better judgment, Peridot throws on a hoodie and slippers grabbing the letter before leaving, determined to return to cleaning before her motivation evaporates and she sinks back into gaming.

She walks down the hallway trying to find the correct door number. "Eighteen thirty-two...eighteen thirty-two, ah here it is," she grumbles to herself. It was nine doors to the right of hers. She knocks on the door and waits a few moments Peridot freezes in astonishment as the door opens, she stares agape at the girl before her, she is tall, with short deep blue hair and a smile, she wears grey sweatpants and a white v neck t-shirt. It feels like she was in one of those chick flick movies where people bump into each other and fall in love. Peridot notices that the girl seemed to be awaiting a greeting of some sort. She stumbles through sentences, "Hi, um... I'm Peridot. Are you Lapis?" she kicks herself for sounding so dumb.

"Yeah, you've got the right person," Lapis states nonchalantly, almost giggling. Peridot inhales sharply.

"Anyway… I live across the hall… our mail got mixed up… this is for you," Peridot looks away, handing the letter over.

"Peridot… yeah, I've seen you around," she takes the letter from Peridot's hand, their fingers brush together softly, Peridot pulls away quickly. "Would you like to come in for some coffee?" Lapis offers, before Peridot can speak, she is nodding and stepping into the door jamb as it opens invitingly. "Gimmie one second I just have to read this," Lapis closes the door behind Peridot before digging her thumb underneath the seal of the letter walking away quickly. Peridot looks around at her apartment, it was much cleaner and homey than hers, it has plants, posters, and a cat tree by the window. She had forgotten these were pet-friendly apartments. She scans the space for the little furball before locating it at her feet rubbing against her legs she giggles softly kneeling down.

"Hi there…" she pauses flipping over the name tag "Pumpkin," she giggles out. she strokes the cat's warm fur as it purrs like a motorboat headbutting back into Peridot's hand. Lapis returns quickly, even happier than before.

"Do you take cream and sugar?" Peridot jumps at the unexpected sound turning toward the source.

"Yes, but not very much," she responds standing up, giving the cat one last scratch behind the ear, and it trots off. "That's a nice cat you have there," Peridot says as Lapis hands a mug over.

"Oh, Pumpkin?" she laughs, "Yeah, she's pretty great. Would you like to sit down?" she motions toward the couch.

"Sure, that'd be nice," they move to sit down. Peridot sips the coffee, it was almost perfect, a tad bit too sweet, but she drank it anyway, the caffeine was helping the headache she seems to have acquired.

"Thanks for bringing that letter, it was important to me," Lapis said curling up to look at Peridot.

"Oh, it was no problem, thanks for the coffee." she lifts the mug slightly, motioning. Peridot sits on the edge of the cushion holding the mug tightly. The windows were open, and the sound of birdsongs fill the apartment.

"Oh, I always make way too much," she pauses and looks to the window smiling."Do you hear the birds? You can rarely hear them out here, that's a house sparrow." it flies to the windowsill, it was a brownish-red bird, a common sight in the United States. Peridot watches it as it flies in front of the window a few times. She smiles, she's always so busy, she never really notices them anymore.

"You like birds then?" Peridot asks taking another sip of the coffee looking back towards her host.

"Love them, they're so free. Sometimes I wish I could grow wings, and fly away, just like them," she watches the bird longingly as it flies away. Peridot didn't realize she was staring until Lapis made eye contact, Peridot's heart skips a beat, she was never one to feel attraction, or have crushes… until now. Peridot averts her eyes and looks back down to the mug in her hands before speaking again.

"Forgive my nosiness but what was the letter for? It seemed to put you in a great mood," Lapis giggles at the question, but answers comfortably

"It was from my younger brother, it made me happy because he's coming to live with me in the fall," she smiles once again sipping her beverage. They sit for a moment, awkwardly, Peridot quickly finishes the rest of her coffee.

"Well, thank you again for the coffee but I should really get going," Peridot stands, and Lapis follows suit. Peridot places the empty mug on the table and begins walking to the door.

"Thanks again for bringing the letter neighbor," Lapis winks attempting to be flirtatious, noticing how flustered she seemed to make Peridot, she is sorta cute after all. Peridot blushes as Lapis opens the door for her and Peridot leaves quickly not looking back, and goes into her apartment, without another word.

Lapis watches the small blonde closely, watching which door she goes into, before grabbing a piece of paper and an envelope writing her phone number, address and a small note down, 'A letter for a letter. Let's hang out again soon xx -Lapis' she walks to Peridot's and slips the envelope under the door, walking away before anyone sees her

—-