The GEEKs

2. cupcakes, anniversaries, and a study in hotness

I bend over to look under the last washing machine in the laundry room and... "Bingo!" I slip my fingers under it and fish out a quarter that some lazy idiot didn't bother to pick back up. I straighten up and as I do, my eyes trip over a figure standing in the doorway of the basement. She's holding a basket with dirty clothes propped against her hip and has one eyebrow raised so high it completely disappeared under her auburn bangs.

When Dan and Lukin dragged Katie in like two cats who had just hunted their first mouse the other night, I could swear I'd seen her somewhere before. I kinda still feel like I might have bumped into her somewhere at least; then again, she said she'd been living in Seattle for uh...a few years? I think it was four? Yeah, probably four, she mention something about college, it's probably four. So that's not impossible, I could have just seen her on the street. Anyway... "Hi, neighbour." I greet her with a brief wave of my hand.

"What were you doing just now?" She takes a few steps closer and sits the laundry basket on the edge of one of the washing machines at the end of the row while I slip the quarter into my jeans pocket.

"Saving twenty five cents on a phone call."

She gives me a weird look, as if weighing me up, her hazel eyes drilled into mine, and I make a point of not blinking as I put the biggest, stupidest smile on. Let's see how that'll go over with her.

"Do you not have a phone?" Katie breaks our gaze ant starts loading the machine with her clothes.

"I do."

"And yet, you're gleaning for coins in the laundry room. Interesting."

I slowly start to make my way towards the exit, keeping my eyes on her as she speaks without looking at me. "Not very. It's actually the opposite of interesting when you think about it."

"How come?"

"I wanna call someone and don't want to leave my number." That's true. And that's probably as much of it as this nosy fiery-haired creature needs to know, so I don't tell her that it's my father's birthday today and I'm going to call him to wish him a happy one and continue to have my parents believe I don't in fact have a telephone so that I remain to be in control of how often we talk.

"See, that just makes it more interesting. I'll remember this when the FBI come knocking on my door, asking about a hiding prison escapee or something."

"Don't rat me out too cheap though, I hear you can get good money for that kind of information."

"I'll keep that in mind." She looks up at me and taps her finger against her temple as I take a few steps backwards until I'm in the doorway. "Oh, I bought some light bulbs."

"Perfect. I was beginning to worry you weren't gonna give them back. And, you know, I couldn't even got to the police about it." Or actually, I'd totally forgotten about them since last night, but whatever.

"I'm a man of my word. I left them at your door since no one answered."

"Hmm doesn't sound like the smartest idea, leaving stuff out in the hallway, but okay. Thanks."

"Lukin said this place is too shitty to have any thieves lurking around."

I really have no fucking idea whether she's joking or being serious, which probably shows in my face for a split second before I smile condescendingly. "You're way too gullible, Novak."

"Maybe you're too sceptical." She pulls her shoulders into a shrug and slams the washer lid down, and I can see a new thought cross her features. "Weren't you in a different band before Mudhoney?"