Chapter 72: Just A Neighbor… Right?
ROSE’S POV
"What?" Rose asked, her mind already searching for a response.
"You just said his name," Maya replied with a casual tone. "Pretty quickly."
"Did I?" Rose moved toward the sink and turned the tap on. "He stays in my apartment. We’ve run into each other a few times."
"A few times."
"Yes." Rose rinsed her hands and reached for the dish towel. "It’s a small building."
Maya’s mouth pressed together. Rose knew that look. It was the one Maya got when something had caught her attention and she was deciding whether it was worth asking about.
Rose hung the towel back without hurrying. She tried to keep her movements casual, though she had the uncomfortable feeling that she wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
She turned and looked at her sister properly. Maya was leaning in the doorframe now, arms loosely folded, and her eyes still fixed on her.
Rose felt herself tense again, but kept her posture relaxed.
"None of that is important right now." Rose said. "Boys don’t matter,"
Maya blinked. "What do you..."
"I haven’t seen you in almost a year. " Rose moved toward the living room. "Why are we standing around talking about a neighbor? We have almost a year of things to catch up on."
Well, considering they had both slept with the same "neighbor," and Rose was starting to—
Stop. She caught herself mid thought.
Rose waited. Then Maya smiled behind her. "You’re right."
Rose blinked, then smiled. "I’m... of course I am?"
She heard Maya laugh, low, and then the sound of her following.
"Are you staying the night?" Rose asked, already hoping the answer would be no.
Maya dropped down onto the cushions and kicked her shoes off like the question was already answered. "I don’t see the point in going back right now." She pulled her feet up. "Unless you’re kicking me out."
Well, shit.
Rose wasn’t kicking her out. She was also, briefly, thinking about how Adrian was taking the entire surprise encounter with his ex. She held her expression.
"You can stay," Rose said. Maya had already pulled out her phone, her thumbs moving across the screen. Apparently, the decision had already been made.
Rose sighed and then she went to change.
She pulled on a cream slip, thin straps, loose enough to sleep in, simple enough that she didn’t need to think about it. When she came back out, she heard Maya moving things around in the kitchen.
"You have popcorn."
Rose raised a brow. "What do you need pop corn for."
"What does anyone want pop corn for?" Maya replied as she tossed the popcorn into the microwave. "I wanna watch a movie. Don’t you?"
Rose hesitated then smiled again. "Of course I do."
The popcorn was ready, poured in a bowl, and then Maya reached to open up her cabinet. Her eyes dropped briefly to what Rose was wearing, and her expression changed entirely.
"Hmm," Maya said. "When did that happen?"
"When did what happen?"
She gestured at Rose like the question should be self-explanatory. "All of that."
Rose looked down at herself. "It’s comfortable."
"It’s very comfortable." Maya found the butter almost immediately and sprinkled it over the popcorn. "I’m just saying, you didn’t dress like this at home. You were more... nun-like."
"What?" Rose shaked her head, not sure if she should be offended. "What? I was never a nun."
"I’m just saying." She shook the bag as she moved to the couch and settled down. "You look good, though. Actually."
Rose shook her head and grabbed the remote.
They argued about the movie for six minutes. It felt longer.
Maya wanted something with enough drama to keep her awake, something with shouting and grand gestures and at least one betrayal. Rose wanted something that wouldn’t require her to think. They settled somewhere between the two: a romance that neither of them had seen, where a woman kept running into the same man in different cities. Maya found it on the streaming app, something called Dan in Real Life, and clicked it before Rose had finished weighing her options.
The movie started.
For a while, that was enough. The beginning sequence started, first was the pitch blackness followed by the usual introductions of studios nobody paid any attention to.
Rose watched the screen without really watching it. She grabbed a handful of the popcorn and took a bite. Mm, creamy.
The lead actor was handsome. Rose could see why Maya had picked it.
Rose kept her gaze on the TV, but her mind was elsewhere entirely. Adrian’s face from earlier came back to her. And the fact that-
"He actually looks different."
Rose blinked, snapping back to reality from Maya’s words and turned. Maya was still facing the television, but she didn’t seem to be paying much attention to it anymore.
"The actor?" Rose asked.
"Adrian." Maya said it like she was completing a thought she’d been sitting on. "From earlier. He looks different from what I remember."
"I mean..." Rose kept her eyes forward, searching for the right words. "It does happen. It’s been a while since you guys met."
"I mean, it hasn’t been that long. Two weeks, maybe three?" Maya pulled her knees closer to her chest. "He’s just... I don’t know. He’s holding himself differently. When we were together he wasn’t like that."
Rose kept her eyes on the screen. "Different how?"
She paused. "I mean there wasn’t really anything about him that made you actually look twice."
Rose kept her expression still, her eyes still looking at the television.
"But that’s too bad..." Maya smiled, slightly, to herself. "If he’d looked like that when we were together, to be honest, I probably would have thought twice before leaving."
Rose kept her expression still, her eyes still looking at the television.
"But Son is something else entirely." The smile changed, warmer now, more certain. "He has everything mapped out already. Money, popularity ... and best of all, loyalty. You either have that or you don’t."
There wasn’t even a hint of doubt in Maya’s voice. Something in Rose’s stomach tightened.
Rose looked at the television. The actor was reaching across the table, doing something she didn’t pay mind to.
"Adrian is reliable," Rose said.
"Mm..." Maya looked over at her. "What?"
"You’re slandering him like he was nothing." Rose kept her tone even. "I don’t appreciate that. Especially when he has plenty going for him."
A short beat.
"Um. I didn’t mean it like that," Maya said slowly.
"That’s how you presented it." Rose shot a look at Maya, "it might seem like nothing, but you need to realize that the old Adrian isn’t the same guy. He’s changed."
Maya was quiet for a moment. Long enough that Rose almost thought the conversation was over.
"Hmm. I thought you said he was just a neighbor." Maya asked. "How do you know how he’s changed?"
Rose went still. "What?"
"You said it like you knew," Maya said. "Like it was something you’d noticed yourself." Her tone was genuinely curious. "Do you know him as more than just a neighbo-"
Rose picked up the remote. "Let’s keep watching the movie."
"Rose."
"Maya." She turned the volume up by two. "We were in a good part."
Maya stared at her for a moment. Then she turned back to the screen. "You’re really not gonna answer?"
Rose didn’t answer. She watched the actor say something that made the woman across from him go very still, and she processed none of it.
Maya faced the television again. Rose could still see the few glances she threw at her.
Rose knew what she was waiting for. She couldn’t think of any reasonable answer. She just kept her eyes fixed on the screen like it’d help. It didn’t.
But atleast Maya wasn’t talking again... Sorta.