It was as though the world did not want her to rest. She'd just managed to get rid of Logan a couple of minutes ago and thought maybe she could have some peace of mind by finally finishing off the fourth season of Greenleaf, whilst sorting out the playlist for the following day, and having some of the chocolate mousse she had been thinking of the whole day.
Yet here it was, the sound of a soft knock at her door – not allowing her to indulge into her guilty pleasures of actually lazing around after a long day at work. Maybe if she ignored the knock, the person would go away? It's not like she knew anyone else in this part of town, besides Logan and Amaru. Besides, she highly doubted Logan would come back up, there simply was no reason.
Yet, another soft knock sounded at her door, and she groaned as she placed the tub of chocolate mousse onto her coffee table, and then slowly stood to her feet before pausing the show that was currently playing on the screen.
Another knock sounded in less than ten seconds from the last, and now Shane was starting to get agitated, "I said I'm coming,"
Letting out a sigh and preparing to plaster a fake smile onto her face, she placed the chain onto the side of the door in case someone was trying to rob her. Then proceeded to slightly open the door and lifted an eyebrow at the sight of a woman standing at her door.
Maybe it was the resting bitch face that the girl had on that made her stand out, or maybe the sandy complexion she wore, her skin smooth and tawny. Nonetheless, Shane was not moved, nor did she care – all she wanted to know was why on God's green earth did this lady want to disturb her peace.
"Can I help you?" Shane asks when the woman remains silent, as though she was not the one who knocked on the door. She seems to not be present even though her eyes are on Shane, all Shane could see were the pursed lips, and the nose ring that adorned her nose.
"Hello?" Shane slightly shook her head to get the girl's attention, this was definitely not the time to be starstruck, she was neither a celebrity, nor was she someone who was batting for that side of the team.
As Shane starts to close the door, the girl smiles and holds the door frantically – as though back on planet earth.
"Hey, sorry. I was just trying to figure out how to start this conversation," she says, her lashes swiftly caressing the air as they shield a pair of chestnut-colored eyes. Shane couldn't even deny it, the girl was gorgeous, and that was richly emphasized by her voluminous jet-black mane that danced in circles and lightly kissed her chest.
"I think one usually establishes that before they knock on the door?" feeling a bit weary, Shane decides not to unlatch the door, and to stay on guard, ready to shut the door as soon as she sensed danger.
"Yeah," the girl chuckles, "but you were ringing the bell at my door, with your boyfriend,"
"Ma'am, you must have me mistaken for someone else," Shane nervously chuckles, trying to deny the truth, and take it to the grave. Damn Logan for putting her in this mess.
"Camera's don't lie, I've got one right outside my door, saw you both fleeing the crime scene," she says matter-of-factly. She gives a smile of guilt, an apology soon follows as she realizes that there was no escaping this,
"He's not my boyfriend. Just a colleague. But I really am sorry for his actions – I truly am. He can be quite the...uhm," she pauses, trying to think of a word to use, "childish man, for the sake of not finding a better word,"
"It's really not a problem. To be honest, that kind of helped me do what I've been meaning to do from the time you moved in last week," she says as she places her hands in her back pockets,
"Uhm, okay. And what's that?" at this point Shane began to find this situation quite weird, if she was not upset about the doorbell ringing – then what the hell was she here for?
"I wanted to introduce myself, and hopefully be one of those neighbors that get along?" she bites her lips, a look of discomfort on her face. If one had not looked closely, you'd notice the slight movement of her feet, as she moved them slightly from side to side.
"Not interested, thanks for stopping by though – and sorry about my colleague," Shane immediately says and begins to close the door. However, the other girl sighs as she holds the door.
"Uhm," she pauses, as she tries to gather her words, "please. I'm quite lonely in this city, this building, I have no one – and if I stay like that, I might just lose my mind,"
She stares into Shanes eyes, pleading as her eyes hold moisture. Although Shane wants to abruptly say no again, her heart tugs at the emotion being shown and the words uttered, and she sighs.
"I'm Shane, and you are?" she unlatches the door and opens it wide, leaning against the one side of the wall that helped in keeping the door in place.
"Annalise, but you can call me Liz – kind of hate it when everyone calls me Anna," she seems to take a breath of relief when Shane introduces herself,
"Nice to meet you Annalise, would you like to come in? I'm watching Greenleaf and kind of busy making a playlist," she gives a tight smile, moving backwards so as to invite her in.
"Please," she doesn't hesitate to accept the offer, as she gives a smile of gratitude and slowly makes her way into Shane's current home. She pauses as she slowly observes the open-plan living room on the right-hand side, and the kitchen with an island on the left-hand side. The décor in the room was pretty simple and did not show much of a person's character.
Besides the faux-plant that stood mightily besides the refrigerator, the hanging mirror straight ahead, with the two black, white, and cream paintings on the right, above the grey couch – there wasn't much to it.
Shane's TV sat – lonely on the wall that hid or maybe introduced the staircase behind, that led to her bedroom, and en suite bathroom. The three books that sat under the TV collected dust -showing they were but just for decoration, as were the three candles that sat to the left of the books.
"The way you're observing my place is as though you don't have the same one," Shane chuckles, throwing her keys into the bowl, before walking to the couch and seating, grabbing her tub of chocolate mousse and the spoon.
"I actually don't have a loft kind of design – this is so cool. I have your normal two-bedroom apartment – my parents would kill me if I stayed in a loft apartment," she seems so starstruck as she stays on her feet and Shane shakes her head, hiding her smile behind the spoon she places in her mouth.
The mousse softly dissolves within her mouth, and the chocolate that she hates and loves at the same time engulfs her tastebuds – she softly moans in pleasure.
"So, at your big age – your parents control where you decide to stay?" Shane lifts an eyebrow at Annalise, as she elevates her one knee up, and places her barefoot onto the marble grey and black table before her.
However, Annalise nervously chuckles before biting the corner of her lip, and placing both her hands in the back pockets of her denim jeans, "It's complicated, you wouldn't understand,"
Shane opens her mouth to rebut that statement, but then closes it after letting Annalise's words slowly marinate in her brain and picking up on the hint that she did not want to dive into at.
"Are you gonna sit, or stand for the rest of your visit?" she shifts the motion of conversation, and Annalise visibly is appreciative of the change in subject,
"Thank you," she takes a seat besides Shane, leaving an amount of space between them – which Shane was appreciative of. She did not know her like that to be all up in her personal space.
"So, how long did you stalk me for since you know I moved in last week," Shane smirks glancing at Annalise, who softly laughs in response,
"I was not stalking per se, but rather I was walking out of the building when I saw you moving in – you probably didn't pay me any mind. Then I'd constantly see you in the hallway either as I was leaving, or coming back home," she explains,
"And I always looked at you and said, woah – she seems so cool, she'd be nice to have as a friend. But I didn't know how to initiate that. It's not like you can just walk up to a person and say, 'hey, let's be friends,'," she did not intend to cut her off, but she did with a quick remark,
"But, that's kind of what you did," Shane teases, and that makes Annalise scratch the back of her head as though a sudden itch had just come about.
"Not really – it was a situation of telling myself that it's either now or never. I mean, I even bought cupcakes from Walmart as a welcome to the building gift – like they do when you move into the house next door,"
"That could have worked, where are the cupcakes?" a soft and short laugh escapes Shane's lips and Annalise laughs,
"I ate them. I mean, think about it. You were ready to close the door in my face – if I had come with the cupcakes, you would have probably said thank you, taken them then closed the door afterwards. And if we passed each other in the hallway, you'd raise a hand and call it a day," Shane purses her lips, and sits back a bit,
"You must have me all figured out," not that Annalise was wrong, that definitely would be Shane – being polite was something she gave everyone who gave it to her first. She definitely would not be making friends with her then, but neither was she doing that right now. Right now , hosting Annalise – she was just being polite, cause the girl damn near begged to be in her life.
"Not at all, but that's the kind of energy you give – like right now you're so friendly but in the hallways, you give off that energy that no one can approach you," she admits, before averting her eyes to the television and keeping them there,
"I'm actually quite flattered that someone wants to be my friend – this is the first time that's happened to me. Usually it's a situation where I meet them at work, or at a social gathering – but yeah man, let's see if anything solid comes from this here acquaintanceship.
"Acquaintanceship, oh wow," Annalise chuckles, a bit taken aback, "people don't usually use that word,"
"Yeah, they run off and start calling each other friends. But one thing you should know about me is I'm going to say it like it is – and a friendship is a daily commitment to doing life with another person, when you know them. Before that, we just know of each other," Shane says taking another spoon of her favorite dessert.
"I guess I'm just gonna have to get used to that, I'm so used to clothing my words with velvet, to consider how another feels," she admits,
"Yeaaah. I don't have time for that. I'll call a spade a spade – how you feel is up to you. And that's on Mary had a little lamb," as she admits this, she notices that she's going a little too hard, and decides that maybe she'll just let Annalise experience it instead of scaring her off. Not that it mattered if she decided to run.
"Anyway, why are you lonely? Are you also new in Chicago?" Shane decides to change the subject, as the feeling of awkwardness started to cloud the space in between and surrounding them.
"Kind of branching off for a little bit from the family and my usual friends, trying this thing called independence, so I've been alone for about a month, and it sucks – royally," she sighs as she leans against the couch, showing signs of actually starting to be comfortable.
"Damn sis, no work mates or anything?" Shane asks, kind of relating to how Annalise was feeling right about now. Though she did not mind being alone, quite frankly she thrived in rooms where she was left alone.
"I'm kind of still looking for a job," she admits, as she starts playing with the ring on her finger.
"You must be rich then, staying in this apartment building with no income," she does not mean to come off as inquisitive, but that exactly what she was – a person who wanted to know it all.
"It's more like using my savings, which are slowly depleting. I actually have to budget," Annalise bites her lip and Shane laughs looking at this girl,
"Yeah, you're rich rich sis. You've got money money, alright. We can be friends. I like money," she says playfully, and Annalise laughs,
"Are you being serious? Cause then I'd have to leave. Way too many people started being my friends for money," looking at Shane, she gives Annalise a smile,
"Nah don't worry. I've got my own money. Besides, I might be able to hook you up with a job. But you might not like it chile," Shane shakes her head as the thought of the man who played the role of boss in her life quickly came to mind, and just as quickly as it came – she pulled the plug and chucked it out.
"Why not? Is it not the best place to work? At this point I'm willing to take any job with a little bit of dignity," Annalise says, real concern overtaking her face,
"Nah, the man is a real asshole. Misogynistic too. If you want to, I can send you the link for application as soon as I get it from Logan," Shane says as she picks up her laptop and closes her tub of chocolate mousse, deciding to leave it so she could finish it tomorrow.
"I don't mind. What job is this?" she innocently asks, it's the innocence displayed all over her face that makes Shane almost feel sorry for her.
"Are you a Cancer sis? Like the sign?"
"Yes! How'd you know?" Annalise says so excitedly, and Shane smirks,
"I called myself getting into astrology once upon a time, so I can easily pick up on people's signs or rather what the signs say about people,"
"You speak of it in the past tense, do you no longer believe in it?"
"I think there's some aspect of it that is true, I just don't believe in people faulting their shitty behavior or how they act based on their star sign – that's complete bs,"
"How do you then explain things matching then? Like what a Cancer sign is like, how do you explain it?" Annalise genuinely ask, quite curious to hear what Shane would say,
"I think someone studied really hard, like the personalities of people, and grouped them accordingly – then blamed the stars in the sky. But that's just my hypothesis, can't be proved wrong since I actually did try this out before," Shane says, shrugging her shoulders.
"That's an interesting perspective, personally, I just researched into it – and I know that since I'm born in July, I'm a Cancer. And I follow an Instagram page too, so yeah,"
"Oh okay. Anyway, the job position is that of a PA and sales rep – you've got to know how to sell cars, if not, yeaaah, might not be the best person for the job," Shane stretches the corner of her lip out wide, looking at her face crumble into defeat,
"I've kind of got zero working experience except for when it comes to law, I'm really experienced there. But I want to step away from law and get into something else," Annalise sighs.
"Okay, don't you worry. You're acting like never working in something is a roadblock – it's not. It's a learning point. This is a really easy job, and if you're willing to learn, I can help you out – and we'll get you ready for this position, cool?" she lifts an eyebrow, waiting for an agreement.
"Oh my word. You'd do that for me?" Annalise smiles, staring at Shane,
"Sure, someone did it for me, so I don't mind." She responds quite nonchalantly,
"I don't mind putting in the work," Annalise nods her head which makes Shane smile,
"Cool, we'll start with fixing your resume – then we'll get into it. In return, help me come up with this music playlist for tomorrow," Shane sighs, as she looks at her blank screen,
"What's that about?"
"The boys have a playlist they play throughout the day. Now Logan has prohibited me from playing Ariana Grande, whom I secretly listen to because she had songs that go hard," Shane admits, "I want to impress them, but I don't want to suck up to them,"
"Oh that's easy. Mix up the playlist. Put in a few songs you know they'll like, then introduce them to you – the new music you like. That does not necessarily fall under Ariana Grande, like create a sound that sounds like you," Annalise says,
"Oop, look at you giving me ideas. I think we're gonna get along Ms. Annalise,"
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So today we got more insight on Shane's character, and we also met a new character —Annalise.
First things first,
How are you feeling about the book as a whole at this point?
What type of person do you think Shane is?
And do we like Annalise? Was her approach to friendship weird?
Should she work at Haines City with Shane?
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thank you for reading. please vote and comment, and share with a friend.
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