Alright, kiddos! Here's the second chapter! I want to thank all of you who followed, favourited, read, and reviewed! I love you all and I hope you guys like this chapter as well! Please, please, PLEASE review! Respectful critiquing is welcome as well~!
Enjoy!
Chapter Two: Bittersweet
She can't fucking believe this.
Somewhere between Liz attempting to tear the information from her and Justin munching away at his fucking food, Hiro had successfully managed to get a hold of and delete Soul's number from her phone. The fucking snake. And now she knows why today was fucked.
She's walking home, pissed beyond belief, and wants to cry. For real this time. Very rarely does she meet stupidly perfect men who give her their number, and now he's going to assume that she's not interested. Fuuuck. She was wrong in thinking that nothing could ruin her day because Hiro can easily devastate anything at any goddamn given moment. She moves Hiro to number one on her hit list, right above Kilik. She hates him.
Sulking, she walks into her apartment building, glares at the 'looks-twenty-two-but-is-really-who-fucking-knows' receptionist, and makes her way to the elevator. She goes up to the fourth floor and unlocks her apartment door, nearly slamming it behind her. It's now almost 12:30 and Maka still has homework to finish, but first, she must change. She needs comfortable sweats and ice cream. God, is she pathetic.
After taking a quick shower, changing, and eating her sorrows, she gets out her homework and opens her laptop to find several emails in response to her Craigslist ad. Sighing, she begins to skim through them, instantly deleting most of them because - no. One, in particular, catches her eye, however, and it seems promising.
It reads: "Dear Maka, Hello! I am very interested in the apartment. I am in need of a place asap and can meet all of your requirements. Please let me know when you are available to meet!"
Liking this response the best in comparison to the "Does the bedroom come fully furnished?" and "Will have sex for free rent", Maka decides to give it a shot and writes a quick email back that she can meet the next day between noon and 3. She's surprised to get a reply within the next forty minutes of her doing her homework.
"Wonderful. I can meet you anytime after 1. Do you know of Marie's?"
"That's a perfect place to meet.! I'll see you there at 2?"
"Splendid. Sounds like a plan!"
Maka sets a reminder on her phone to go to work early to meet her possible new roommate -how convenient - and continues on with her homework until it's finished. Finally done at 4-fucking a.m., she prepares her things and sets her alarms, allowing herself a whopping thirty more minutes of sleep, and thinks of ways to run into 'gallant hotty' again. Closing her eyes, sleep finds her swiftly and her dreams are filled with a particularly large coffee full of sugar and cream, a lot of cream.
Praise Jesus, hallelujah, her morning class is canceled, which means she gets to sleep a whole two and a half more hours, tapping out at 5 and a half hours of pure and utter bliss. It's been quite awhile since she's gotten to sleep in. She'll have to remember to thank that prof for being incredibly lazy.
She has time to go for a quick workout before she has to get ready for her one and only class of the day, so excluding the unhappy happenings of last night, her day is going well. It's already Friday and she has tomorrow off work, so all is good. She stops in her tracks. Maybe, if she's really lucky, she could bump into Soul at the coffee shop instead? She's biting her lip in contemplation. Would that be too needy? Probably.
Sighing in an attempt to let the building frustration out, she shakes her head and goes to the gym on the ground level. She'll just have to go all out on a punching bag.
After an hour workout, she's feeling a little more at ease, though punching Hiro instead of a designated bag would have possibly made her the most fucking peaceful person on the entire planet. Oh, well. It will just have to do.
Maka speeds to shower and pretty herself up to get to class on time. She decides to wear a black and white striped, long sleeved shirt under a thin, form fitting leather jacket, paired with high-waisted double button up dark red jeans and black leather high heeled boots. She curls and braids her hair to the side, letting her bangs fall where they may. Her makeup is simple; popping red lipstick, a perfect cat eye, and dark mascara draw attention away from any imperfections that she doesn't have time to hide.
She grabs her bag because she packed it earlier that morning, quadruple checking to make sure she has everything, and walks out the door. She's feeling refreshed and depressed at the same time, but the day is still young and she uncharacteristically has high hopes.
She hasn't called. Why hasn't she called? She still hasn't called, in case it hasn't been made clear, and it's annoying him a little. Soul rarely, if ever, willingly gives someone his number, but he had been inexplicably drawn to Maka. He should've gotten her contact information instead. Shit. He's so vexed that he can't focus. He groans out an overly frustrated sigh as he slides out from under his current fix, car grease smearing his chin.
"Dude, who fucked your mom?" Soul's head lifelessly falls to his right as he glares up at his co-worker and roommate, Blake.
"Obviously, my dad," Soul retorts. "Thanks for that, by the way, I really needed that image in my head."
"I meant, 'what's wrong with you?', asshole. You've been checking your phone incessantly and sighing like the goddamn world's about to end." Blake replies as he begins to work on a broken windshield.
Soul gives him an odd look before questioning, "Incessantly?"
"My apologies, I failed to recall that my superior vocabulary is too much for your infirm mind to handle. I'll dumb it down for ya. Now, what's eatin' ya, Evans?"
"You're too kind," Soul states, unamused. Sighing once again, he continues, "There's this girl…"
"Fucking finally! Goddamn!" Blake turns to give Soul his full attention at the mention of female. "Sorry, please …" he gestures for him to carry on.
"I met her yesterday at that coffee shop that you hate and she's fucking insanely gorgeous and witty and snarky as all hell."
"So? What's the problem, other than you met her at that horrid café?"
"Don't diss Res, dude. It's my only joy in life."
"I thought your bike, Beulah, was your only joy in life?"
"Okay, I have a few joys," he concedes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "and this girl could very possibly be one of them if I hadn't fucked up so royally."
"Did your dick get in the way?" Blake begins to go back to work, hinting that the manager is nearing. Soul slides back under the car, pretending to do the manly stuff that mechanics do, and waits for the smelly feet that belong to their creepy overlord, Mr., sorry, Dr. Stein, to pass by.
After he sees the bottom of the office door close, Soul rolls back out to finish his story, completely disregarding his friend's last nonsensical question.
"Okay, so I think I did pretty well considering my ineptitude in handling the female species. We sat together and had a …" he pauses, grasping for the proper word. "an entertaining conversation, and I ended up driving her to her class afterward."
"Wait, so where's the part in which you obtained her number?" Blake asks, leaning back against the car as he wipes his hands with a cloth.
"Well … that's where I fucked up."
"Dude... so you came across a super hot chick who I assume also enjoyed your company, seeing as she gave you the time of day," Uncalled for. "and there was no exchanging of contact info? You mad, bro?"
Soul sighs for the millionth time that day before stating, "I gave her my number and told her to call me."
Blake begins to laugh then, hitting his thigh as an extra outlet for his amusement. "Way to play it cool!" he barks out. "You say this happened yesterday?" Soul nods in response. "Dude, you're fine. She'll call. Girls wait way longer than guys. Something about not wanting to seem desperate or whatever. Plus, if you can't wait, you know where one of her classes is and that she enjoys death by coffee, so just casually stalk her if push comes to shove." Blake shrugs his shoulders before going back to setting the new window.
Soul finds himself smirking at the realization. Blake is right. He most definitely could 'bump into her'.
"Thanks, man." He mutters before sliding back under the car to actually do what he gets paid to do.
"No problem, dickhead."
It's now 1 o'clock in the afternoon and Maka is sitting at her kitchen island, doing homework and finishing her lunch. She has a whole hour to kill before she has to go to work to meet who she hopes to be her new roommate, giving her the time to daydream about a certain ruggedly handsome, white-haired gentleman. She will murder Hiro. She swears it.
After she completes her meal and puts away her homework for the weekend, Maka decides to clean up in case the candidate wants to come see the place in person. Soon, it's time to go, so she changes out of her comfy 'I don't give a fuck' clothing and into her work outfit, which is comprised of a black shirt, dark blue jeans, and black tennis shoes. With ten minutes to spare, she's walking out of the door a bit nervous to meet what could very possibly be another 'Craigslist crazy'.
Maka enters Marie's and scans her surroundings. She doesn't know what they look like, so the swift sweep does nothing for her.
"Maka?" a gentle voice asks from her right. Turning, she finds a gorgeous young woman with long black hair and absurdly perfect curves. Her eyes are somewhat violet and her skin is like porcelain, her soft smile is so sweet it could very well induce cavities.
"Yes?" Maka asks.
"Oh, good. My name is Tsubaki, but you can call me Tsu. I'm here to meet with you about the apartment."
"Oh! Good! It's nice to finally meet you." She steps forward, bringing her hand up to shake the hand of the enchanting beauty before her.
"You as well!" Tsubaki stands to return the gesture before they both sit down to get to know each other. Surprisingly, it becomes a comfortable conversation for both of them, which is something Maka isn't used to. They talk about their jobs and school, nothing too personal. They find that they go to the same college, but because of the difference in majors, they've never once seen the other. Finally, after all of the formalities, they come to the topic of the apartment.
"I really need a place closer to campus and my job." Tsubaki states. "I waste so much money on transportation that food is scarce. Not to mention that I live alone, so the rent is all on me."
"Well, for once, I'm glad I posted the ad on Craigslist. It sounds like we need each other. When can you move in?"
"As soon as humanly possible." Tsu beams. "Does that mean that we'll soon be roommates?"
"I hope so." Maka smiles back at her and quickly checks the time. "Unfortunately, I have to work in about five minutes, but do you have any questions for me before I go?"
"Oh! Yes, I just wanted to quickly go over everything that was on your ad." Tsubaki opens her phone and goes to said ad to check the facts, making sure that the price, utilities, etcetera, were all correct.
"Oh, there is one thing that I forgot to mention." Maka states. "I own a cat named Blair, but she's mostly outside, wandering about until she gets hungry. Is that a problem?"
"Oh, no, that's perfectly fine. I love animals."
"Awesome. I'll have to excuse myself for the time being. My shift starts …" Maka checks the time again. "well, right now. I'll talk to you later?"
"Of course! My apologies for the trouble. I'll text you. When do you get off?"
"Not until 9, which is really 9:30." Maka giggles. "Why?"
"I was going to ask if you'd like to get dinner, but perhaps that's a bit too late."
"What about tomorrow? You can come see the apartment in person and we can get dinner afterward?"
"Splendid! I work tomorrow until 3:30, I can meet you around 4? 4:30?" Tsubaki states.
"Sounds like a plan!"
"Wonderful. I should go now. Thank you so much for meeting with me. I hope work goes well!" Maka and Tsubaki give each other a quick hug before going their separate ways.
Maka works her shift, thanking the heavens that Hiro isn't here tonight. The lucky bastard. Liz is though, and she obviously feels bad about what happened because she's quiet and reserved for once. Good. She should feel bad, the traitor.
The time flies faster than usual, her waitressing duties keeping her busy enough not to notice her stint coming to an end. She gets let go early, which she's thankful for because the weight of the past two days is beginning to take its toll. Thank God it's Friday. And she's already finished her homework. Fuck yes.
Once she gets home, she takes a nice, long bath - followed by a shower because stewing in her own filth isn't clean - and catches up on her favourite show with a tub of ice cream and a face mask. She falls asleep on the couch at about 11:00, her body in dire need of rest. Sleep is a blessing and she accepts it earnestly.
She wakes up twelve hours later, exceedingly happy with the amount of sleep that she's managed to acquire, and eats a late breakfast. She takes her time today - because she can - in getting ready, setting out food for Blair, cleaning, and watching Netflix on her laptop because Kilik is an asshat. Soon, it's time to start getting ready to meet Tsubaki. They agree that getting to know each other a bit before moving in together is a smart idea, though Maka already knows that Tsu will be a much, much, better roommate than her last.
Maka decides to wear jean shorts with a flowy mango coloured shirt, flip flops and ankle bracelets. She finishes with putting her hair in a sock bun, bangs straight, and minimal makeup. As she sits at the counter, Soul creeps back into her mind, which is something she's become accustomed to in the last fifty-something hours. It sucks balls that his number was deleted and she needs to find a way to get in contact with him, but she's a little scared if she's being honest. Maka hasn't dated since high school. Kidd had been a good boyfriend and continues to be a good platonic friend to this day, but he had broken her heart when he ended things. It's depressing, now that she thinks about it; how she's been keeping herself at a distance from others for the longest time. She blames being lonely on her full schedule, but if she really wants human companionship outside of group projects for school and work, she is more than capable of doing so. Soul, though, has been one of very few people she has ever met that she craves. He's her kind of intellectual, her kind of humorous, her ideal someone. It sounds crazy, she's only met him once, but once is all it can take to want to see someone again.
She's startled from her thoughts when she hears the doorbell ring. She looks quickly to the time and finds that it's already 4:21, which means that it's probably Tsubaki.
"C-coming!" she yells out. Maka stands and takes a deep breath, not from nervousness but in an attempt to let go of the musings still tracing the passageways of her brain. She goes and opens the door to reveal who she assumes it to be, Tsu.
"Hey! I'm not late … are you alright?" Tsubaki's expression goes from smiling shyness to concern in a mere moment, leaving Maka slightly taken aback.
"Hey, uh … I, um, guess I'm just a little out of it," she laughs, as if she doesn't feel like throwing up. It's frightening, the realization of how closed off she is to the world, to people … sometimes to herself. "I was spacing out at a wall before you got here." Smiling, she tries to convince her guest of the same thing she's trying to persuade herself, that she's fine.
"Are you sure? You look a little pale." Shit. Shit.
"Really, I'm fine. I'm just over rested. You know how too much sleep can make you even more tired." Maka gestures for her to come in as she sees a neighbor glaring at them making noise in the hallway.
"Oh, I've had that happen once or twice. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help." She's so nice and Maka can't help but internally cringe at herself. She feels like such a fake.
"Yeah. It sucks." Maka takes in a slow, deep breath and gulps down the frustration she's feeling. "So, anyway. Welcome to the glorious apartment. Let me give you the quick tour. This is the entry way." Tsubaki looks around, admiring the spacious hallway. A long, thin table sits to the right of the hall, a large mirror hovering over it on the wall. To the left is a wide closet with sliding doors which Maka opens to reveal a few pairs of shoes, coats, umbrellas, and such. As they walk down the short hall, they come to meet an open concept shared space, the kitchen to the right and dining room to the left as the living room is straight ahead.
"Oh, my! The kitchen is marvelous!" Tsubaki states as she steps forward. It's an exceptionally sizeable kitchen considering it was only an apartment. The countertops were made of a light coloured granite, matched with grey cabinets and silver appliances. The dining area is small but adorns a round, glass table big enough to seat four to six people, though it only holds two chairs currently. They walk past the large peninsula into the living space, a white L shaped couch sits with a glass top coffee table, and one could see out onto the porch.
"No T.V.?" Tsu turns to Maka who then pouts like a child.
"My last roommate took it. I hate him." She doesn't mean to say it, but it slips, making her new friend laugh.
"Oh, goodness, was it his?"
"We bought it together recently, he disappeared with it and several other items we both paid for during our time together. No idea where he is now, and his number no longer works."
"Wow. What a jerk. Not to worry, I have a 64-inch smart T.V." Tsu winks at her before being glomped as they laugh. She's a saint and Maka doesn't hate Craigslist as much anymore.
They spend the rest of the evening talking, getting to know each other more, and go out to eat at a fast food restaurant to be back by 7:30. After a few glasses of wine, Tsubaki decides it's the perfect moment to bring up relationships and boys.
"So, do you have a boyfriend or anyone you currently are interested in?" Maka looks over at her as they sit out on the terrace, sipping her second glass.
"Not really, well, there is this one guy that I met a few days ago, but … a jealous co-worker of mine deleted his number from my phone, and I haven't a clue as to how to contact him." She's sighing again at the thought. It makes her so upset to think that she might never see him again.
"Oh, that's so sad! Your co-worker must be in a ditch somewhere."
"He would be if it wasn't illegal." They both giggle. "What about you?" Maka asks.
"Many have shown a remarkable interest ... in my body, but not a whole lot in my brain or personality, so no one at the moment."
"It's quite saddening to think about, how most dream of romance in college, wanting to grow up as fast as possible, but how many cases end in nothing more than heartbreak or bad timing."
"That's a little dark."
"Love and life truly aren't fair." A quiet comes over them briefly as they settle into the thought, letting the breeze play with their tresses, street noise filling the silence.
"Does this have to do with Kilik?" Tsubaki asks tenderly.
"Somewhat," Maka answers honestly. "But he's apart of the life part, he had nothing to do with romance."
"Could this possibly be connecting back to your demeanor from when I arrived earlier?"
Sighing, Maka prepares herself to open up a bit to her future roommate. It's been decided and she doesn't want to change her mind, she likes Tsu. Who knows, Maka probably needs to have this talk with someone, so she lets some of it out, but ends up word vomiting. She tells Tsubaki about how her parents had divorced when she was quite young, that all these years she's blamed her father for her mother leaving because he's always been a flirt, only to find out that it was her mother who had been the one to truly be unfaithful. He had been keeping it from her to protect the image she had held of her mother in her head all this time, letting his own crumble and rot. She went on to tell her about Kidd, how they had been childhood friends, then lovers, and how he had broken her heart to be with someone else. And now, how she shuts people out and that's probably why Kilik left, though how he left is unjustifiable, and why she's still single with very few whom she can call friends. She's crying now, and she just realizes it. She hates crying. Tsubaki is holding her, hushing her as she rubs her back softly in their embrace. Maka silently thanks Craigslist because this - this - is what she needs, and though Tsu is only a year or so older than her, she's like the mother figure she yearned for so desperately during her teenage years. She's so nice.
Eventually, Maka's crying ceases and they talk a bit more before Tsubaki leaves for the night, planning on beginning the move the next day. She locks up and gets ready for bed, feeling a little too vulnerable for comfort, and goes to bed for the night, not actually sleeping for quite some time.
"I still can't believe that you're a welder." Maka helps unpack the box on Tsubaki's floor, putting the clothes into their allotted drawers.
"I get that a lot," Tsu giggles while hanging a picture. "It's a family thing, but I'm completely in love with it. We have a family business."
"Does that mean you'll be working for you father after you graduate?"
"Most likely, though I have a deal with him. I'm a double major right now, so if I can succeed in both, I can do both."
"What is your other major?"
"Biomedical engineering."
Maka stares on in complete awe, making Tsubaki blush and attempt in removing herself as the main topic of conversation.
"And you, Maka? You said you're an English literature major?"
She nods. "Yup. Nothing too exciting, but I'm also a double major, though not nearly as inspiring. I also have a passion for science. I'm taking a few chem and bio classes."
"I'm surprised we haven't run into each other then. Who do you have?"
"Oh, I'm just taking some of the freshman classes. I only started my double major last semester."
"Oh, yeah, the beginning classes are on the other side of campus, for some ridiculous reason."
The two continue to talk about their dreams and aspirations as they unpack the older girl's things. Maka is feeling more and more blessed by the minute as she spends time with Tsu. She wishes she had met her sooner.
It's been a week since she met Soul and she's at the coffee shop, large black coffee in hand, as she sits in an attempt to run into him, though she's running out of time. Her class starts in 25 minutes and it takes 12 to 15 to walk back. Sighing, she takes out a small piece of paper and writes a brief note for him and takes out enough to pay for another cup of that steaming life bringing blackness. She grabs her things and goes up to the counter.
"Excuse me," she calls to the barista. The same girl from last week comes up to her.
"Can I help you?"
"I hope so. I was wondering if that guy from last week frequents this place."
"I'm sorry ma'am, I am not at liberty to discuss such things with you. Customer service and privacy policy."
"Of course, well I, I'm trying to get in contact with him because I lost his number, and I know this sounds ridiculous, but would you mind giving this to him if he comes in?"
The girl looks to the note and money in her hand and back to her face before taking it.
"What does he look like?" she asks, obviously not remembering them from the week before.
"He's extremely tall and ruggedly handsome, white hair and red eyes?"
"Oh, him! Yeah, I can give this to him for you." She smiles somewhat scarily, sending an uncomfortable feeling through Maka that she decidedly ignores.
"Thanks so much, I really appreciate it."
"No problem. I remember you two now. From last week, right? He took your coffee without a word and you made the funniest face. You guys are cute. I'll definitely play matchmaker." The girl wriggles her eyebrows at Maka, receiving a slight blush in return.
Maka excuses herself so she can make it to class on time, floating on cloud nine a bit. It's gonna be a good weekend.
Soul walks into Res quite a bit later than usual that Thursday afternoon. He woke up late and regrets everything because he can barely recall most of his noon class, even if he did take notes.
"Hey, you're later than normal. What can I get for you?" The barista has a weird smile on today, as though she's planning something sinister, and he almost wants to turn around and walk right back out the door. It's creeping him the fuck out.
"Hey, yeah. Woke up late. Um, could I get a …" he looks over the menu a moment, contemplating whether he's in the mood for something creamy or if his spirit needs lifting.
"Large black?" she asks, startling him slightly. He knows he's a regular, but his orders can sometimes differ and it's a little concerning.
He nods anyway, about to pull out his wallet before she puts a note out on the counter.
"Your drink is already paid for." She walks away to make his brew, leaving Soul to stare blankly at the small piece of paper before grabbing it and reading it greedily. He can't believe it, it's from Maka, but it wasn't what he'd hoped for. Crumbling it up, he shoves it in his pocket before going to the next counter for his drink, his eyebrows scrunched together.
"Here's your poison. You okay?" she asks, a disconcerting worry sprinkling her obnoxious voice.
"Yeah. Fan-fucking-tastic. Thanks." Soul grabs his to go cup and walks back out to his bike, driving off quickly. He's done with his classes for the day, thank God, and he really needs something stronger than coffee, but can't and won't fall low enough to drink on a weekday when he has a test to study for. He's a little pissed, more embarrassed he supposes, and he needs to blow off some steam.
The barista watches in mock concern as he drives off, her expression becoming smug as soon as he's gone. Mind games are fun, wouldn't one think?
I figured I had made you all wait long enough for this update and I hope you enjoyed it!
Please let me know your thoughts and critiques! Much Love!
K.T.
