The alarm blared and Musa rolled over to look at the small clock on her nightstand blink with seven am. Five hours of sleep was not enough. But it certainly wasn't enough when she found out that her new neighbor was the jerk from the bar. The man who had touched her inappropriately and had been so forward with his comments towards her. Maybe it was all a horrible dream. A nightmare. He really wasn't next door and the apartment was still vacant as it had been for the past few months.
Musa shut off the alarm and rolled out of bed, her body sore from the long day that she had and the small amount of sleep that she had gotten. Why did Klaus think that Sunday was a good night to start this alcohol night? She would have to talk to him about moving the date.
She made her way over to her closet and pulled out a pair of red slacks and a crisp white shirt. While Musa usually liked to dress casually, Flora had made a point to tell Musa that while she was at the office, she couldn't wear her ripped jeans and crop top. Who cared what a music therapist looked like anyways?
Placing her clothes on the edge of her bed, she made her way to the small bathroom of her apartment and stripped from her pajamas and turned on the water or the shower. Steam filled the small room and she felt the soreness of her body begin to dissipate. She would have Jared give her a massage later. Or maybe Andy as a punishment for drinking the night before.
Musa stepped into the shower and felt the warm water hit her aching body. The smell of her shampoo and body wash relaxed her even further as she cleaned the long day and night off of her body. Cleaning the interaction with the man from the bar away from her body and from her mind. It all just had to be a dream.
It just had to be.
A few moments later, Musa shut off the water and stepped out from the shower. She looked down at her phone on the bathroom counter and looked at the time. Too late to dry her hair. Flora would give her shit for it but she would rather hear that her hair was wet than the lecture that she would get if she were late. Throwing her wet hair up into a bun, Musa made her way back into her room, phone in hand, and began to get dressed.
Heading out the door, Musa grabbed her bag and her keys. Once out of the door Musa turned to shut the door behind her and placed her key into the small lock, locking the door to her apartment. It was then that she heard the door behind her opening and the realization of that the night before not being a dream hit her like a speeding bus.
"I'll see you again sometime?" a feminine voice, dripping with a sickly sweet tone came flooding into the hallway. It was then that Musa remembered what happened after she discovered that the man from the bar was her neighbor.
"Well, hello there, Nothing."
Musa turned her head and glared at the man who was standing outside of the apartment next door. But she was silent, still in shock.
"Just my luck that we would be neighbors." the man smiled as he crossed his arms. Musa just wanted to smack the smug look from his face. But soon, his smile dropped and a look of exasperation crossed his face.
"Are you really still mad about what happened earlier?" He groaned as he ran a hand through his maroon hair. "I was honestly just trying to get by and I didn't feel like yelling at you to move given the noise level."
Musa remained quiet, her glare still fixed onto the man in the hallway.
"If it makes you feel any better," the man whispered, "I have someone coming over so you can relax. It's not like I was just going after you. So you ain't special, sweetheart."
"I never thought that a woman would be that desperate."
"Oh so she does speak."
"When she wants to." Musa cocked her head smoothly to the slide.
"Have we met before? I know that I just moved back to the city after a few years but I am just wondering."
"Why do you ask that? I am pretty sure that I would remember an ass like you."
"Because," the man took a step closer to her, "I don't see how I could have warranted this attitude from you."
"Attitude?" Musa stepped back with a gasp.
"Yeah, I wouldn't think that one incident at the bar would be cause for you to be such a bitch towards me."
Musa's eyes widened and she turned away from the man in the hallway. Turning the key in the lock, she opened the door and hurriedly walked in, slamming the door behind her. That night she fell asleep to the sound of muffled moans and groans from her new next door neighbor.
"I don't know, Marcy." the man responded to the woman.
"Darcy." the woman corrected him, causing Musa to roll her eyes. God, what an asshole.
"I will keep you posted." the man said nonchalantly, not acknowledging or apologizing for calling the woman by the wrong name.
"You have my number." Darcy placed a kiss on the man's cheek. Musa heard a light slap and a yelp from the woman as the man's hand connected to her ass. "Riven!" the woman exclaimed with a giggle.
So his name was Riven? A jerk name for a jerk guy. How appropriate.
Riven.
The woman left down the hallway and made her way down the stairs. Musa put her keys into her work bag and adjusted it on her shoulder. She had to get to work and now that the woman was gone, she could be on her way.
"Well well well, sweetheart." Riven called out stopping Musa in her tracks, "Where are you off to?"
Musa kept walking, she wasn't going to dignify his words with a response.
"Still mad?"
She kept walking. Her heels clicked along the carpeted floor. As she made her way down the hall and away from Riven, she heard him speak under his breath.
"Whatever."
Maybe now he will leave her alone. She heard his door shut and the hallway was now quiet. Opening the door to the stairwell, she made her way down the floors of her apartment building and to the busy streets of Magix; ready to take on the rest of the day.
Musa walked into the small office building and right away, her nose was filled with the earthy smell of tea. The mark that Flora, her boss and "cousin-in-law", was already here. Musa looked down at her phone and saw that she was late.
"Damn." Musa cursed to herself. Then her mind went to the small scene outside of her apartment and she once again became angry at her new neighbor.
"You're late, Musa." Flora remarked as she walked into the main lobby, a large pink mug in her hands filled with hot tea. Her green eyes looked Musa up and down as she took a sip of her hot tea.
"Sorry, there was an..."Musa tried to think of the words, "issue outside of my apartment this morning."
"Oh," Flora's face softened, "I hope that everything is alright."
Musa sighed, "Everything's fine. Just some trouble with the new neighbor."
"They finally leased that apartment?" Flora asked as she went to the receptionist's desk and grabbed the stack of files that Miele, Flora's sister and intern, had pulled out for her. She looked at the top sheet of paper, a schedule for her day.
"Yeah..." Musa tried her best to hold a groan.
"I take it that you have met your new neighbor and you are not very excited."
"That's an understatement." Musa murmured under her breath.
"What do you mean by that, Musa?" Flora asked, an eyebrow arching up in question.
Musa narrowed her eyes as she looked at Flora's face, "Oh don't you start getting all therapist on me."
The pair began walking through the office building as they made their ways to their individual offices.
"Well now I am definitely interested given your response." Flora smiled as she took another sip of tea, "I am surprised that someone has made such an impression."
Musa pulled out the key to her office and unlocked the door. Flicking up the lightswitch, the lights came on and filled the room with light. She made her way over to the small closet in the corner and put away her bag and jacket before closing the door.
The room was filled with various instruments for people of different ages and abilities. There was a stand that held copious amounts of CDs and a small laptop was placed on a small table next to it. There were beanbags, large leather chairs, and music stands. Musa didn't believe in desks, they have no place in music. She wanted to show her clients that she was no better than they were and music was meant to make people move. A desk was too restrictive.
Musa looked up at the small clock on the back wall of the office and she began to rearrange her room for her first Monday appointment. It was a small boy with autism who thrived on music and she was thankful that he was the first client that she saw during her work week. Little Liam was a breath of fresh air after busy weekends with the band.
"He's just an ass." Musa groaned as she began to move the instruments in her office around.
"Is he really? He really must be to make you think that of him in just your first moment of meeting him."
Musa pulled the upright piano from its place against the wall.
"I met him at the Frutti Music Bar last night and let's just say he definitely needs a lesson in manners."
"That bad, huh?"
"Terrible." Musa looked over towards Flora, "He touched me to get to the bar and he made lewd comments about my body."
"He does sound like a piece of work."
"And when I got back to my apartment after Jared dropped me off, he was there. The same stupid look on his face. And he was being an ass to another woman this morning. And they kept me up with their marathon fucking." Musa huffed as she blew a piece of hair from her face. "Of all the people who could move into the apartment next to mine...were all of the other apartments in Magix taken?"
"Maybe you could just convince Jared to move in next to you and then force your new neighbor to move?" Flora shrugged as the corner of her lips turned up into a smile.
Musa threw her head back and let out a small laugh, "You are evil, Flora."
"Just a suggestion."
"You know that Jared and I are not at that point in our relationship." Musa sighed as she grabbed Liam's file from the metal cabinet in the corner.
"Haven't you two been dating for what, a million years?" Flora giggled.
"It's been three and you know that." Musa shot a look towards Flora.
"My point still stands. Helia and I-"
"Jared and I are not you and my cousin. Not everyone gets married after a few years of knowing someone. And not everyone gets knocked up a few days after the wedding." Musa pointed to Flora's protruding stomach.
Flora rolled her eyes, "Well, you and Jared need to start figuring out what you are doing and stop dicking around."
"Flora," Musa opened her mouth in feigned surprise, "language. I will not have my goddaughter be around such foul language."
Flora put the mug up to her lips and took another sip of tea, "I said what I said, Musa. I know that it is natural to feel apprehensive when it comes to pushing a relationship further but I think that you do need to start thinking about what is next."
"Flora," Musa sighed, "Jared and I are happy where we are at and we will move on when the time is right."
"You will never know if it is the right time until you move on. Relationships are supposed to be natural and you shouldn't have to analyze it too much. Either you grow with Jared or you don't. I just don't want you to see that you are staying with Jared just because you are comfortable."
Musa's mouth fell into a frown and her eyes became solemn.
"While I appreciate the advice, Flora, I think that Jared and I will be just fine."
Flora clutched her files to her chest and nodded her head, "Whatever you say, Musa."
Musa watched as Flora left the room and Musa resumed getting ready before her first appointment of the day.
There was a knock on Musa's door and Musa put on a smile before opening the door to reveal a small eleven year old child.
"Well hello, Liam. How are you today?" Musa looked around, "Where is your mama?"
There was no response, like usual, and the boy bounded into the office. He ran past Musa and made a beeline for the piano. He began to bang on the keys and Musa shut the door and made her way over to the small boy on the bench.
"Hey, Liam. How about we move on over to the carpet and then we can play on the piano later?"
Musa slowly and softly grabbed Liam's hand before leading him over to the large carpet in the middle of the office. He kept pulling away, trying to escape Musa's grasp, desperate to be back at the piano.
"I know that it is hard when we cannot do the things that we want but we have our schedule. Do you remember it?" Musa sat down and pulled Liam gently down with her to the carpeted floor. He thrashed a bit and Musa began to stroke the side of his face, a motion that soothed him when he would come in.
"Listen. Relax. Games. Play." Liam said in a monotone like a mantra.
Musa smiled and nodded her head as Liam repeated the order of their session.
"Good job, Liam. So what are we doing now?" Musa reached into Liam's file and pulled out the colorful schedule that they had made with a cutout figure of Liam on a brick road, the stops being the different phases of the session. She pointed to the Liam on the schedule and looked at the Liam in front of her.
"Listen."
"That's right, Liam. We are going to listen to some music so that we can get our bodies ready for our time together."
Liam began to move his body in an excited manner and Musa decided to move with him, to show that she was just as excited to work with him. When she saw Liam, all thoughts of her jerk ass neighbor Riven flew out of her head.
Musa stood up and made her way over to her laptop where she already had Liam's music set up for the session. She pressed play and as if by automation, Liam relaxed. Musa made her way back to the center of the room and pulled Liam close to her where she faced him and began to massage his forearms.
"So are you excited to go to school later today?" Musa asked as she rubbed his arms. She tried to focus his mind on something simple.
"School." Liam replied with a smile. "I love school." His response came out in a staccato cadence.
"That's good, Liam. I am glad that you love school." Musa smiled. "Who brings you to school?"
"Mommy."
"Who brought you in today?"
"Brother."
That's odd, Musa thought. She could have sworn that Liam was an only child.
"I didn't know that you had a brother, Liam."
"Brother."
It wouldn't be the first time that Liam had told her something that wasn't exactly true. Musa would play along and as his mother later what he meant by brother. She never heard Linda talking about a brother either. But for now, Musa focused her energy onto Liam.
The session ended in a clash of noise as Liam "played" the piano. The notes smashing together, the cacophony of noise filling the air.
"Alright, Liam." Musa stood up as the clock striked ten o'clock. "It's time to end our time together."
Musa walked over to the jar filled with stickers on top of the stack of CDs. She pulled it down and immediately Liam hopped down from the bench and ran over to Musa. He reached inside and grabbed a handful of stickers.
"One, Liam. I need some for the rest of my friends." Musa pulled back the sticker jar after Liam put a few back. Well, three stickers was better than a whole handful.
Grabbing his hand in hers, Musa led Liam out of the office and to the lobby where she saw Linda, Liam's mother, sitting in one of the chairs. Seeing his mother, Liam escaped Musa's grasp and ran up to his mother. Linda wrapped her arms around Liam and smiled up at Musa as she rose up to her feet.
"So how was Liam this morning?" Linda asked.
"He was great but he kept going on about some sort of brother. What was that all about?" Musa asked with a chuckle.
"Oh," Linda rolled her eyes, "Liam used to be part of a best buddies program when he was in elementary school. His old "big brother" offered to take him today. Liam really loves him and had missed him when he was away."
"I see," Musa smiled down at Liam, "I am just glad that I wasn't getting introduced to a new imaginary friend. There are too many to keep track of."
"Agreed." Linda exhaled, "Lately Martin has been hanging around."
"What happened to Lucy? I liked her." Musa replied with a smirk.
"Oh you didn't hear? Girls are gross now." Linda laughed.
"But of course."
Linda calmed her laughter, "How was Melody? Did you meet with the music man?"
Musa couldn't help but to let out a small laugh as Linda referred to Jason as "the music man".
"Yes, Melody was great and Jason seemed to be receptive to our music."
"I really hope that you and your band really make it. But I am going to be sad when you leave us to travel the world. I don't think that Flora will be able to find anyone like you. Liam really loves you."
Musa looked down at Liam and smiled, a slight blush appearing across her pale cheeks, "Well nothing is set in stone yet."
"And what about Jared?" Linda probed.
Didn't she just have this talk with Flora?
"Jared and I are doing fine."
"You don't sound too confident, dear." Linda smirked.
"And what about you and Charles?" Musa countered.
"Charles knows I can't stand him but that comes with age. I do love him though. Marriage is odd, my dear."
Musa rolled her eyes as she folded her arms across her chest.
Liam began pulling on the hem of Linda's shirt, "Well, I guess we better get going."
"Will I see you next week?" Musa asked.
"We will be here. Liam loves coming here." Linda answered as she ran her fingers through Liam's short, sandy brown hair.
"I am glad. He certainly is the best part of my Monday mornings." Musa smiled. "I will see you next week, Liam."
Liam let out a small grunt in affirmation before he grabbed his mother's hand and led her out of the small therapy office.
Musa waved goodbye before she turned and made her way back to her office, ready to set up for her next client.
Yeah, so not too much happened in this chapter but it's definitely a set up for...something. Any guesses? Stay tuned for the next chapter!