Aloras pov:
It had been 3 hours since Irene had shown me the painting room. I decided to try painting in it while I have some free time. I changed out of my sweater and jeans into an old t-shirt covered in paint and sweatpants. I put my hair into a quick messy bun and start to walk towards the painting room.
"I'm gonna go paint for a little bit," I tell Irene who's sitting at the kitchen counter. "Wait I'll come with you," she says with a mouth full of food, jumping up from the kitchen stool and bringing her muffin with her.
I laugh as we walk towards the paint room. Opening the door, my breath gets taken away from the view again. I tried to enjoy this moment but it was being ruined by the music still playing next door.
"God who plays music that loud for 4 hours straight?" I say looking back at Irene as I walk towards my paints to pick some colors. I chose some whites, blues, blacks, purples, and greens. I planned to paint some swans.
"Uhm yeah, who does that? He must be having a hard time." Irene joked, not making eye contact but instead looking down at her muffin and fiddling with the edge of her plate.
How did she know it was a he?
I note that the topic of our neighbor was making her uncomfortable again. I don't know why she keeps getting so uncomfortable when I bring him up. "Irene is everything okay?" I ask her.
She looks up at me from the stool she was now sitting on and continues to tell me "Yeah it's just uhm, they're actually coming over tomorrow to help us put furniture together, so I just want you to like them." She tells me, now calling him a them. I don't mention that what she's saying makes no sense but instead, I just nod and sit on the stool in front of a blank canvas.
"Irene of course I'm gonna like them," I say "unless they keep playing that music every time I'm in this room." I continue. Irene just laughs and seems to relax a little. I don't know why she wants me to like them so much if they're only coming over once to put our furniture together. It's not like they're gonna be over 24/7. I brush it off and continue to paint.
Irene had left after only half an hour. She said she had to run some errands. She was always out and about running around so it wasn't very surprising for me. I was covered in paint and desperately needed to take a shower, but I took the chance to paint alone while I could. Plus it gives me some peace and silence. Well, at least some peace. If only the person next door would turn their music off.
The more and more their music plays the more my head starts to hurt. After a while I start to hear nails being hammered into the walls. I might just rip through the wall separating our apartments just to tell them to shut up. I think moving has made me very impatient because I usually wouldn't get this mad.
Eventually, I can't take it anymore. "I'm just gonna go ask them nicely to turn it down," I whisper to myself. Standing up, walking out into the hallway, and turning left to their apartment door I slightly doubt myself. I reach up to knock on the door but pause.
'Come on Alora, just ask them. What's the worst that could happen?' I ask myself. I finally knock, but I'm guessing the music was too loud to hear the first knock because no one opened the door so I knock again. Still no answer. I knock one more time keeping my eyes on the ground. Before I can finish kncoking the door swings open and my hand punches a man right in the chest.
"Oh my god I'm so sorry I didn-" I start before I look up and see who it is. It's him. I immediately stop apologizing. He doesn't deserve my appologies.
Kian Gavla.
Kian and I went to the same high school. We were always in the same classes, which was surprising because we were both in all advanced classes, and Kian does not seem like the type to try in school.
He had dark black hair, sleeve tattoos, a nose piercing, and owned a motorcycle. But even though he seemed like the type to skip school or drop out, he was one of the smartest people in our high school. With both of us being the smartest in our classes, we would always compete for the best scores. He was one of the reasons I tried so hard in school. Seeing the look on his face when I would get a better score than him on a test, or an assignment, or even just optional work.
And the worst part of it all, we were both Irene's best friends. With both of us being her best friends, it was just another thing to compete over. Of course, Irene thought it was some kind of stupid way of flirting. She always shipped us which made me want to stop talking to her forever and move to a different country. I know I'm her favorite though. Which I would remind him of everyday. To which he'd say some snobby thing about how he knew her first or some crap.
Well look who's living with her buddy. HEHE!
"Nice aim." He holds my fist in an attempt to stop it from making contact with his chest again. He looks down at me while leaning against the door frame. I can't lie it was kind of hot. He let go of my hand resulting in me bumping his chest.
"Woah" I say as I poked his chest again. He has gotten so much stronger since I last saw him. I'm brought back to reality when I hear him grunt. I feel my cheeks heat up as I lower my hand and look down in embarrassment. Did I really just do that?
I take a second to pull myself together before looking back up. "Please tell me you're just visiting a friend right now..." I beg finally saying something.
"Irene didn't tell you did she?" he says with a blank stare on his face.
"Irene knows you're here??" I ask. How could she know and not tell me that Kian was here? Especially when I'm stuck here. She knows I can't go back home. I'm finally free from that place. So why on earth would she make me stay anywhere this close to Kian??
My face turns slightly annoyed as I start to realize why Irene has been acting so weird.
"Oh look at that, you're finally using your brain," He says in a condescending tone. Oh, he's done for.
"What are you doing here?" I continue in an annoyed voice. Kian pauses with a blank look on his face as if my question has an obvious answer.
"Alora don't be fucking stupid. I know that might be hard for you, but if you use your context clues you'll be able to answer that question." I hadn't seen him all summer and within the first conversation we have he's already calling me stupid. I don't think I'm going to be able to deal with living next to him this whole year.
I look at him with an annoyed look. "Hard for you to say, when you graduated with a lower GPA than me." I retort back. Still leaning against the door frame, he looks me up and down.
"You look fucking homeless Alora" He says, ignoring my stab at his GPA, which was only slightly lower than my 4.5 GPA. I look down at my paint-covered outfit. Shoot. My shirt had rips in it everywhere, and my sweatpants were covered in stains. I look back up slightly embarrassed, forgetting what I was wearing.
"Answer the question Kian, I'm not in the mood for games right now," I say, looking up at him with squinted eyes and crossed arms. There's a slight pause, making me feel even more annoyed.
He finally speaks up, "Well I'm definitely not here for bitches to come knocking on my door just to make a fucking scene."
Confused I just scoff and throw my hands in the air. "I don't care if I'm making a scene, I thought moving here would mean never seeing you again but now I'd rather live in a cardboard box than live next to you," I say being completely dramatic.
"Well, what's stopping you? I'd be happy to throw you out of the building right now. I've got extra boxes in here if you can't afford to buy new ones" He says gesturing to my clothes again, making me even more mad.
I throw my hands in the air and scoff as I start walking away. I pause for a minute and turn around before asking what I had initially came here for, "Please turn your music down," I say lowering my voice and trying to be as nice as possible so I had a chance of him even considering my request.
I turn back around and hear his door shut behind me as I walk back into my apartment. As I walk back into the paint room, I hear his music get louder.
Irene's a dead woman.
Yall I'm sorry the beginning of this story is just dragging on, I'm trying to get in all of her POV's before I add in his.
BUUUTTT we've finally met Kian!!! He's already being an asshole though, so we'll see how this plays out.