Bets and Wagers

Nine

Sure, I had seen her coming or going over the years and we shared very, very brief greetings but it had never been anything that would make us more than light acquaintances by sheer circumstance.

By sheer chance, I'd spoken more with her live-in boyfriend, Steven, than I had her.

There was one time where he'd formally introduced himself after he came to give me some of my mail that had accidentally been put in their box.

The second time was when we had a very brief conversation with him as he packed up the car, explaining that she was going in for surgery and that they were both worried about their four year old cat, Sol, while she was in hospital and he was staying with her family.

After that, it was more quick nods or a 'hi' here or there.

Come to think of it, I don't think we even knew one another's name, or at least I didn't know hers.

That thought certainly made my heart clench again.

I really had shut myself off into my own little world.

"Sure," she drawled out, looking at my locked door and then back down to me, "have you lost your key?"

I nodded slowly while wiping my eyes, trying to stem the tear flow now that I had company.

"Well shit," she mumbled, leaning against her doorframe, "and they don't open 'til nine."

She crossed her arms and drummed her fingers against her bicep, pulling her lips to one side.

"Tell you what, how about you come inside and stay on my couch for the night?"

"Huh?" I asked dumbly, looking up at her and feeling like a doe-eyed Bambi.

"Well I can't leave you on the floor, can I? Unless you got somewhere to go, but it seems a little late to be calling people."

Her eyes diverted to my own phone, which had started buzzing away to itself again.

"At least for most people."

I also gave the screen a glance and then swiped a finger across the screen to the red 'ignore' button before shifting around to stand, dusting myself off as I went.

"I really appreciate this," I said with the best smile that I could muster.

"Think nothing of it," she smiled, stepping back inside and holding the door open for me.

I nodded slowly and stepped inside, appreciating the darkness in the room compared to the burning lights in the hallway.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you," I shook my head, "I'm already being enough trouble."

"Nonsense," she said, waving her hand before closing the door and stepping around me to head toward the living room, where she switched on the light.

I trailed after her, taking in the decorations that I could make out in the dim light.

"Okay, I'll grab you a spare blanket, I hope you're okay with using one of the couch cushions as a pillow but we don't have any spare ones."

"That's fine, thank you."

"You can stop saying thank you so much too," she laughed while disappearing down the hall.

I watched her back and then stepped over to the couch, carefully sitting down as though it would break beneath me.

The seats were bouncier than my own couch and it threw me off guard just how high it was in comparison, though my body relaxed quicker than my brain did and I started to feel drowsy, all the exertion finally becoming too much.

Though I was still hesitant to get too comfortable, I found it too hard to fight and gave in to my urge to kick my shoes off and lie down to get into the best position.

It wasn't a long couch and I had to bend my knees a little to keep my feet from hanging over the edge, but it was something cozy and warm for the night.

She returned just as my eyes were beginning to droop and become hard to keep open.

"Here you go," she said, holding the blanket out to me, "I hope it's okay."

"It's fine, tha-" I bit my lip as I caught myself and merely nodded, turning my attention on sitting up and unfolding the blanket to throw it over myself.

"You're welcome, just let me know if you need anything," she trailed off as though distracted by a particular thought, then put one hand on her hip. "You know, I don't think I know your name and we've lived across from each other for what? Six years?"

"Something like that," I replied before hiding a yawn behind my hand. "Sorry."

"We all do it, anyway as I said, if you need anything then just ask, I'm Jayce by the way."

"Jayce," I repeated, "that's a nice name."

"Thanks, I picked it myself," she smiled proudly.

I nodded, giving her a tired smile.

As I squinted through my heavy and aching eyes, I finally told her my name.

It wasn't exactly how I had pictured introducing myself to my neighbour, not that I ever had honestly, but it was nice to finally exchange names.

Truthfully, it felt like the step in a good direction.

"Oh," she started, pointing down at my phone, "and I'd say turn that off, if they're the ones who caused you to be this wound up then they don't deserve your attention right now."

Jayce gave me a finalised nod and then a goodnight before retreating to her bedroom.

I waited until she had left completely then got up and moved across the room to turn the light back out, thankful that the layout of their place was near identical to mine, just flipped.

Upon returning to the couch, I led back down and settled in, ready to call it a night.

As a final act of moving forward to the weekend and putting it all behind me, I did exactly as Jayce suggested and lifted my phone towards my face, swiping Loki's name from my screen again so that I could shut it down and set it to one side.

Sure, it would hurt for a while and it'd be something I'd inevitably have to address, but tomorrow was a new day and Loki was not going to ruin it.

I just had to get home first.