Three's Company

1.09 | An Unlikely Friendship

An Unlikely Friendship

coincidence: [koh-in-si-duh ns]; noun; a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance.

    Felix took a deep breath as he walked up the front steps of 1430 Gregorian. There was little to nothing that the Anastos' didn't have, and that fact was displayed obviously on the front of their mansion; shrubbery littered the walkway, the steps that led up to the house were more like a grand staircase, and there were more expensive cars in the long, winding driveway than in the entire senior parking lot of Capital High School.

    He rang the doorbell and took a step backwards, remembering his mother's instructions to be polite and not intrude on a person when they answered the door to their home.

    Footsteps could be heard as he stood there waiting, and the door was flung open to reveal a Jessica Anastos he barely recognized; yes she was still as beautiful and well-groomed as always, but she was wearing attire that the people who ran in her crowd would call "workers' garb". Her gray sweatpants were tucked into fuzzy slippers, and a large red T-shirt hid any indication that she was a girl at all. Her bun was immaculately messy, if that was even a possibility, because with Jessica Anastos, the impossible seemed to be possible, if not completely doable.

    "Hi." She smiled slightly and took a step backwards, making room for Felix in the foyer. "Come on in."

    Felix nodded politely, stepping into the house and closing the door behind him. He felt Jessica's eyes on him and tried his hardest not to come off as a complete dork, something that was always a struggle for him in particular. He wasn't exactly sure why he was inside of the Anastos residence; he had assumed that he would be handing his notes to Jessica on the doorstep and then leaving immediately. He looked up at Jessica for some sort of indicator as to what he was supposed to do next, and was surprised and slightly annoyed to find her staring at him with a slight grin on her face.

    "What?" He asked, feeling like an animal in a zoo, being watched with no idea what the person was looking at or why they were so interested in him in particular.

    Jessica shrugged and pointed to the papers in his left hand.

    "Those don't look like nearly enough papers for someone to have copied your notes and also have your originals...and since they're in color, I'm assuming those are the originals?"

    Felix felt like an absolute moron as he stared Jessica Anastos in the face. He had been so worried about traveling to this part of the county that he had completely forgotten about actually copying his notes. He couldn't just hand over his originals, or he would have nothing to work off of.

    A perfect situation to be in while standing in the foyer of the home of the school's most popular and loved citizen.

    "You did understand the basis of the text, correct?" Jessica asked, her grin widening with every word. "I need to study off of the notes, which means I need to keep them. And so do you, since you're smart and get things done in a timely manner."

    Felix nodded, mute.

    "And if I'm not mistaken, the papers in your hand are just one set of notes?"

    Felix nodded again.

    "Holy crap Brannon, lighten up. I'm just giving you a hard time!" Jessica laughed, retreating into the kitchen as Felix followed her. "We can just work on the project together, tonight. As long as you don't have any other plans?"

    Felix shook his head before realizing that Jessica was ahead of him and had her back turned to him. He managed to mutter out a quiet "Alright," as they continued walking.