"Wow. Sick digs, Ellie."
Heavy rain thumped against the corridor window outside flat 24. All around the doorway, strips of paint flecked onto the floor to dust the shoulder of Cadence's jacket a soft off-white shade. As Cadence pressed her foot against a loose bit of doorframe, the wood snapped free of its bonds and clattered against the ground.
Elise ran her fingers over the back of her neck as she searched for her keys in her bag. "It's...nicer on the inside. Robin makes sure of that."
"Shame. 'Junkyard dive' is totally my vibe." Slumping against the wall beside the flat entrance, Cadence's eyes flicked to the number that swung from a pin in the door. The lightbulb overhead fizzled and flickered, its glass bowl charred a smoky black from its overheating filament. "How much do they charge you for this paradise?"
"Don't ask." Elise slotted her key into the door and pushed the door open, ushering Cadence through the new passage. "Make yourself at home. The kitchen's just ahead on the left."
As she strolled through the door, Cadence took in the flat's close confines without a word. She stopped by the kitchen counter to leave her bottle of gin lemonade, yet before she fell onto a barstool, something on the corner shelf caught her eye. "You're kidding me," she gasped, vaulting over the sofa and landing in front of the stereo beside the television. "You splashed out on a hi-fi for this dump?"
The door swung shut behind Elise as she stepped into the living room, catching Cadence's flapping jacket as the girl whipped it off. "Yeah, because I'm clearly rolling in that kind of money," she laughed, and she fell onto the sofa with the jacket across her lap. "Robin brought that with him when he moved in. He's kind of a music geek – when he's not being a film geek or a coding geek, anyway."
Cadence ducked down to scour through the lower shelves, the gentle tap of plastic disc cases complementing the steady patter of rain against the window. "Are all these CDs his? Because not to judge, but I never thought I'd see Rush and Taylor Swift on the same shelf," she said, her face hidden behind the two noted CD covers. After flicking through another few titles, she put on an indie rock record that Elise did not recognise by ear. "So, what's the deal? Where's this Robin dude?"
"He should be getting off work in about half an hour or so," Elise answered, checking the time on her phone screen. "He's sweet. I'm sure he'll be fine with you, as long as you don't trash the place."
"Damn. Guess we won't be really rocking out tonight after all." Rising to her feet, Cadence cast a glance around the flat, then let a fiendish smirk light up her face. "But we can still get trashed, right?"
Another laugh left Elise's lips, a confused note rumbling through its musical air. "On half a bottle of gin lemonade between us? I'm not that much of a lightweight."
"Oh yeah? Prove it, killer." Cadence turned the dial on the hi-fi, letting the bass bounce through her body as she passed into the kitchen. By the time Elise swivelled herself around on the sofa, her friend had wrapped her fingers around a near-full bottle of red wine nestled in the corner of the kitchen worktop. "First swig is all yours."
Elise jolted back as Cadence landed beside her on the sofa and extended the bottle towards her. "Put that back, Cade. It's Robin's birthday present!"
Spinning the bottle to find the small gift sticker, Cadence narrowed her eyes before shrugging. "Happy birthday to him. Cheers!" She opened the bottle and took a sip of its fruity contents, shivering at the heady scent that rose from its brim. "There. Now, will you please stop being such an anxious mess and start getting wasted with me?"
"Not with this wine," Elise said, snatching the bottle out of her friend's grasp. "It's for special occasions. He only opened it the other day when he got a glowing performance review at work."
"So what? Is some dude's dumb uni job more special than us reuniting after ten years?" As she spoke, Cadence slapped her hand against the sofa cushion, hacking a musty cough up from the fabric. Her eyes glazed over in the silence that followed, and she rose from her seat with a huff. "I get it. You're too uptight to have fun with your best friend these days, Miss Professional Editor."
Light flickered in a flawless sheet over the wine's surface as Elise tilted the bottle, small bubbles popping at the liquid's edges to beckon her closer. "Don't be ridiculous. You know that's not true," she said, a groan tugging at the tails of her words. She took a deep breath of the drink's rich scent and met Cadence's twinkling eye. "I guess hanging out with you again is pretty special..."
"Damn right it is," Cadence said with a wink. She leaned over the arm on the far side of the sofa, her shadow blanketing Elise's lap. "Admit it – your life sucked without me in it."
"Oh, absolutely. I cried every morning." Rolling her eyes, Elise directed her attention towards the wine to avoid her friend's devilish grin. Cadence had buried her old self beneath a cloak of ripped-up jeans, shocking purple hair dye, and intricate tattoos, yet the same tiny stars from her childhood still circled her eyes with mischievous halos now. The thrill they instilled in Elise was irresistible, and she sighed to release her hold on the heat swelling in her gut. "One sip. That's it."
Meeting her friend's excitement with an unimpressed look, Elise pressed the bottle's brim to her lips and sipped at its contents. The alcohol's initial hot fury flashed over her tongue, yet it was the gasp of fermented vineyard breath that unfurled in her throat as she set the bottle in her lap. Deep plum and strawberry notes sang over a meadow of supple wildflowers, a hint of bold spice flaring through as if carried on a well-travelled breeze. Though only a single sip, the taste coloured Elise's tongue and clouded her thoughts long after she swallowed the wine down.
Glee hissed between Cadence's lips. "Don't leave me hanging here, pal. How is it?"
Elise shuddered, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I think I see why Robin only has a little at a time. It's...a lot."
"You're so precious. You're like a kid stealing a swig of their mum's booze." As Cadence perched her knee on the sofa's arm, she reached for the bottle and covered Elise's fingers with her palm. "Come on, let a grown-up show you how to do it."
"What?" Elise cried as she clutched the bottle to her stomach. "I said one sip!"
Falling onto the empty sofa seat, Cadence blew her hair out of her face. "Yeah, one sip for you. Some of us take longer to catch a buzz, sister. Help a girl out!"
"No, Cade!"
"Come on! Just one more."
A set of footsteps clapped up the stairway outside the flat. Startled by the approaching clatter, Elise jolted on the spot and sent a shockwave along her arm to launch the bottle out of her grasp. Spiralling like a rocket, the wine barrelled past Cadence's reaching hand and crashed against the coffee table as the girl lunged onto Elise's body. The glassy screech echoed through Elise's head, and the relentless tap of scarlet drops diving from the table to the floor dragged out the pain by raking slow, sharp edges over her ears.
"Shit," Cadence whispered, her arms wrapping around Elise's shoulders and her bitter breath burning across her friend's cheek. "You okay?"
"I'm sorry," Elise stuttered out as she blinked away the last of the hopping haze from the wine. Blossoming pains throbbed through her thigh and shoulder, souvenirs from catching the brunt of Cadence's tumbling weight. Staring up at the girl's reddening face, Elise found the flush of heat from those aches soon dwindled, outshone by the flutter of sunshine her friend's touch inspired in her heart. Cadence was clinging to her rather than hugging her, yet after so long without close contact, there did not seem to be a difference between the two. "I should've been more careful."
Shaking her head, Cadence ran her fingers through the disordered locks of hair strewn across her face. "Hush it, killer. You don't have to take the hit for this," she said as her hand fell beside Elise's neck. The brush of the girl's nails against her skin brought Elise's breath to a fleeting standstill. "I'm sorry."
"We need to clean up." Without thinking, Elise tried to stand up, yet Cadence's weight kept her pinned to the sofa. Her arms flailed in vain through the air, then fell to rest on Cadence's firm waist. A moment's hesitation brought no complaint from her friend, and Elise did not relish releasing the girl either. "There's glass everywhere, and if Robin comes in and sees –"
"My wine!" Robin's jaw dropped in time with the slam of the front door meeting its frame. Rooted to a well-worn patch of corridor flooring, his paralysed body was helpless to stop his loose rucksack slipping from his fingers. "I just opened that!"
Discomfort flared across Cadence's brow as she lifted herself from Elise's body onto her feet. "My bad. You might want to watch out for glass, dude, because that bottle flew."
Robin's eyes bulged as his features blanched further. "Who the heck are you? What are you doing in my flat? How did you get in here?"
"I let her in, Robin," Elise cried, tearing herself from the false comfort of the sofa cushions. "This is Cade, the friend I told you about. We...we dropped and smashed your wine. I'm sorry."
Glass shards clinked and scraped beside Robin's trembling feet, and lost wine drenched the base of his fallen bag with bloody wounds. "How did you manage that? I told you, I was saving it for a big occasion. Why were you touching it in the first place?"
Leaning back on the sofa, Cadence's hand fell over Elise's and refused to budge. "It was totally my fault. I was the one who wanted to see her get fucked up, and she tried to stop me," she said, hushing Elise's shock with a squeeze of her fingers. "I guess I fucked something up, right?"
"Too right you did. Look at the state of the place!" Robin motioned towards the ruby-red mess that glinted across the wooden coffee table, yet he did not look at it for longer than a second. A flock of grunts escaped from his throat, each one backed by a frustration Elise had never witnessed from her roommate. "I need a word with Ellie, please."
"Ease up, dude. There's no need to get all mad at Ellie." As she carried herself towards the front door, Cadence snatched up her lemonade and slung her jacket over her shoulder. "I know the drill. I can drag my own butt to the kerb just fine."
Elise shot to her feet, yet the front door shut her friend beyond her reach. "No! She doesn't have anywhere else to go, Robin," she said, splashing through the stained messes to land in front of her roommate. Though Robin's furrowed brow screamed at her to stay back, the urgency that simmered in her gut drove Elise into his frigid side. "Her mum locked her out, and that's why I offered to let her stay here tonight."
The living room light flickered to punctuate the end of her sentence, and in the brief moment of darkness, disbelief curled up the ends of Robin's lips. "Did you now? I must have missed your message telling me about that."
"I was going to tell you, I promise. Then we...got carried away." With shaking breaths, Elise fought to quell the anxiety that blazed through her veins. "Robin, I'm so sorry. I'll clean it up, I'll buy you a new bottle – I'll even do all the chores for a month, two months, whatever you want. Just don't kick Cade out over this, please!"
Robin massaged the bridge of his nose, the flexing of his thin fingers plucking at the strings of Elise's heart. "Why do you even care?" he asked suddenly, and his steely gaze bunched Elise's nerves into a quivering knot. "Seriously, Ellie, you haven't seen this Cadence girl for years. And then, when you decide to hang out with her again, this happens. Why bother sticking up for her?"
A draught flowed through the weather-worn windows, and only her feeble grip on Robin's arm stopped the current carrying Elise into the cold distance. "It was just a stupid mistake," she gasped, casting a pleading look up at her roommate's face. "I'm not going to ditch her over one thing that could've happened to anybody. She's my friend!"
"No, Ellie. She was your friend." Taking his dripping rucksack in hand, Robin stepped over the mess and stomped to his bedroom door. "I'm too tired for this, and frankly, I know better than to try and argue with you. I need a lie-down."
"So, Cade can stay?" Elise's dull eyes betrayed the false brightness in her tone.
The building's bones cracked as Robin's shoulders sank. "Just make sure she leaves in the morning, alright?"
Smiling with relief, Elise pictured Cadence's silhouette through the door. Her lips sparked into life before the stairwell came into view, each word soaring off her tongue with dove-like elegance. "It's okay! We talked it over, and you can stay."
Her smile collapsed into rubble at the sight of the empty landing before her. Fuelled by a flash of panic, Elise rushed to the nearest window to stare out at the building's carpark, her eyes landing on her friend's SUV as its headlights unleashed their beams into the murky air. Cadence had not been bluffing when she claimed to know how to kick herself out.
The window shrieked and shivered as Elise snapped it forward and poked her head through the opening. Struck by wave after wave of rough wind and freezing raindrops, she channelled all the energy, force, and oxygen her body held into one sharp cry. "Cade!"
Exhaustion threatened to tug Elise out of the window as the car's lights kept dazzling through the mist. A heartbeat before she let fatigue have its way, the vehicle fell silent, and Cadence's rain-showered shape appeared out of the driver-side door. The single winking shot from her friend's finger gun was more than enough to break Elise's hold on the window, a weak smile brightening her face as she fell against the stairwell's handrail. She had brushed off the issue when Cadence raised it, yet Elise could not bury the fact any longer.
Cadence had been right. Elise's life had sucked without her best friend around.