Talk To Me

25

She wasn't sure what she was doing here, she wanted to see someone, but didn't know who exactly. What was certain was that in this place, already very familiar to her, she would find him. Stefani was climbing the stairs to the second floor until she saw one of the doors open.

—Thanks Bradley, you're wow, you're really good at that. Will you have time tomorrow?

—Mmm, I don't know, I ca—he stopped when he felt the presence of someone on the stairs. Iris noticed his gaze and leaned over to get a better look.

—Oh Stefani! —she exclaimed.

Fuck, the idea of hiding there didn't turn out to be as successful as she thought it would be. In reality, anyone would have noticed. She had no choice but to climb the remaining steps to them. Escape would be embarrassing.

She squeezed a smile when she saw Bradley and Iris near the woman's door. He looking sweaty and she with a bright smile. His eyes showed surprise at her presence.

—Hi, I just came to...

—Don't worry —Iris replied —Bradley will welcome you —she smiled at him as he turned to look at her until he closed the door. Stefani just stared at the interaction. Silence.

—Eh-

—Woah —they both said in unison.

—I was just... —Bradley began, one hand pointing to his neighbor's door.

—You don't have to explain anything to me —she shook her head —Do your thing, it's your life.

—Yes, but-

—Can you open the door? —she pointed to the door next to them in the familiar apartment.

Bradley took out his key to unlock it and let her go in first. He disappeared into the bathroom as she scanned the place, the living room with no one in it, no noise, in Chris's room not a soul. When she returned to the living room, resigned, she saw a stack of papers on the coffee table, a pile of printed sheets on top of each other. As she approached, noticed the different formatting in the letters on them. Sitting on the couch, curiosity triumphing in her, she picked up a piece of paper and read a bit.

xx

I've never met anyone like you

She was silent, waiting for him to say.

This is all so different from the way I thought, you wouldn't understand.

yy

But tell me, and I'll try to underst-

Stefani didn't finish reading because the sheet was quickly torn from her hand. She watched as the sheet was crumpled into a ball of paper as he headed for the kitchen.

—What's wrong with you? What was that?

—Rubbish —he threw it into the kitchen trash can.

—Wait!

He walked back over to the couch.

—Why did you take that? —she felt the bitterness in his voice, contrasting with his red cheeks and fearful eyes.

—I... those were on the table, I was just curious and that's all. You don't have to get mad —he stopped looking at her and turned to look at the street through the window, —and for the record, I thought it was good.