III

Amy scrubbed her hair dry with her favorite towel. It was peach, and it had a small monogram of her initials in the corner. She stood in her bathroom, fresh from a morning's shower going through all the things she would need to get done on this, her day off. Her bath robe covered her adequetly, but she knew Christine wouldn't be able to manage covering an eight hour shift at the pet shop, so she planned to swing by there, and help out a bit. She resolved that she would not be talked into staying for more than an hour, however, as everyone needs their days off, and on top of that, Amy had lots of cleaning and rehearsing to do.

The skillet sizzled as Amy released an egg from it's shell. She looked aside at her stack of mail from the last few days.

"Bills, bills. Wonderful." she said, grinding her teeth. "Well, hello hello". She said this not to Simon, but to her new neighbor as she caught a glimpse of him through the window. She was able to see him because her apartment ran east and west, and his ran north and south. Their apartments formed an inner corner, a right angle of the large three sided square that was their apartment complex.

Chino had set up a home gym in his living room, and was pumping away. He wore only navy blue basketball shorts. His hair was neater, combed back, yet still long and flowing. She must have watched him do a full set of pectoral flies before she realized she was staring. And none too soon, as she heard Simon lumbering nearby. Amy cursed as she realized the eggs were overdone.

"Hey there Sugar Buns. Whoa. You need any help?" Simon said, sauntering in. He leaned in to kiss her, but she could smell his morning breath a mile away.

"Simon, please. The breath?"

"Oh, right. How's breakfast comin'?"

"It's comin." she said. As Simon lumbered out of the kitchen Amy scampered over to the window like a young exuberant child sneaking to a Christmas Tree before anyone was awake to stop her.

"... and it's hot." Amy grinned, curling her tongue against her teeth.

Amy would go about her day. She would tolerate Simon's frequent inconsideration, such as refusing to help her with any housework (though she knew he would riposte "Babe, it's not like I live here. You do your work, I do mine"... though it was almost as if he lived there with how much he ate, how often he wanted to sleepover), his roundabout way of insinuating that he was the main draw of Soldered Angel, and his grotesque sense of humor. She would dutifully help out at the pet shop that she loved and had worked for on and off for over five years. She would clean her bathroom, change the sheets, dust, pay her bills, kick her own ass with a few hard cross-country miles, read a bit of Anne Rice, and return phone calls and e-mail. And between much of that, she would sneak in glimpses at those windows across the way. She was not infatuated. He wasn't anything special to her, just something nice to look at. Something new and different. However, the one time he was there after breakfast, he quickly caught her looking at him, and returned a sly yet humble grin. As if to say "Hey, I'm flattered". Amy was embarassed for only a moment, but she didn't let it pre-occupy her. It was getting late, and she had alot to do for tomorrow's gig