"You're new here, right?" she asks me, "Stone was just telling me you're neighbors!"
Still smiling, I nod. Her handshake is firm, tight enough to convey to me a certain territoriality. How could I even imagine a guy like Eddie not having a girlfriend?
"Cool! We often go to his place, so" she continues, clutching at Eddie's arm as her smile grows even bigger "we'll be seein' a lot of each other, I expect!"
"I'm looking forward to it!" I answer, smiling politely.
I've never been too good at camouflaging my sarcasm, which my interlocutors never failed to point out, but this time it seems to go unnoticed.
"Well, it's lucky you ended up living next door. You two seem like a good fit!" she says then, all of a sudden, almost making Stone choke on his beer.
"Er, wait," I say, without succeeding to hide a certain embarrassment "me and Stone are not dating. Plus we only met what, three hours ago?"
Beth looks at me with a smirk in a complete silence, scrutinizing my face with skepticism.
"Stone, you tell her.", I say in an awkward, shrill voice.
He first looks at me and then at her, answering without too much urgency to straighten things out.
"She's right. We're not dating."
"That's too bad" she adds then, in a mischievous and annoyingly chanting tone "I'd have bet on you guys. You two look good together."
She puts a cigarette in her mouth and lights it, then looks back at Eddie.
"Ed, our friends are about to start playing. Let's go see them?"
He gently smiles back at her.
"Sure. Alright, maybe I'll catch you later. Have a nice time guys!"
I say goodbye with a slight gesture of the hand and as I watch them walk away I can finally put this stupid smile back in my pocket, showing my light distress freely. I can't deny I'm a little disappointed.
"You ok?"
It's Stone's voice that brings me back out of my thoughts. I turn to him and smile again, this time a bit wearily.
"Yeah, sure. I'm just a bit tired, tomorrow will be my first day of work, and I'll have to wake up early, so..."
"Would you rather just go on home?"
"If you don't mind."
"Yeah, yeah that's ok. No problem. Let me just...Jeff! Hey Jeff!"
A guy with a weird colored hat just turns to us, walking between people to reach Stone with a nice relaxed smile and a skateboard under his arm.
"Stone! I was looking for you, dude."
"I was talking to Ed and Beth, did you meet them?"
"No, not yet," he says then, looking at me "Hi, I'm Jeff."
I shake his hand and smile back, looking at his round earrings barely swaying on the earlobes.
"Sarah. Stone's new next-door neighbor."
"Oh, I'm so sorry for that!" Jeff adds then in a laugh "Just kidding, he's a nice guy. Sometimes we go to his flat to listen to some tapes and have a beer, you know."
"I think we'll meet sometime, then. I just met Eddie and his girlfriend, they told me that they often go at Stone's too."
"Yeah, just like they don't have a roof over their heads." Stone says with his usual sarcastic tone.
"Don't listen to him. Great music listening sessions there. Beth also plays, the bass like me. Do you play any instrument?"
Here it is, that feeling of being the puzzle piece that cannot fit in with others. Why does every person I've known since I came to this town know how to play an instrument?
"I do not, actually. But I have a passion for photography, so maybe I could make some while you play or-"
"It would be cool! Did you bring your camera tonight?"
I shake my head. "It's still buried in some moving box."
"Too bad, there's a cool skateboard ramp, you could have taken some great pictures!"
His good mood seems contagious and his smile is a ray of sunshine. I'd really like to take some pictures of him skating.
"Are you good at skateboarding?"
"Let's say I'm doing pretty good." he answers me with a half-smile "Coming to see some tricks?"
"We were actually leaving," Stone says, "tomorrow will be her first day of work, we don't want her to make a bad impression, you know."
"Cool, good luck tomorrow! It was great meeting you. I'll call you in the morning." Jeff says to Stone before turning around and mixing with the crowd again.
"So did you have fun?" Stone asks me as we walk to his car, being careful not to step on any of the boys smoking or making out on the grass.
"Yes, it was a good night. Your friends seem really nice. All of them."
"They'll be yours too. I mean, if you want."
Nobody told me that before. I've rarely felt so well-liked right away.
I just smile shyly and don't know what to say as I get in the car with him. My tiredness is real, and so is my concern about my first day at work, but I feel a bit guilty for forcing Stone to leave, too.
"I'm sorry I forced you to leave with me, didn't mean to throw a damper, really. Maybe you wanted to stay and enjoy the evening for a while longer."
"It's okay, I have to get up early too. I wouldn't be there for long anyway."
I'm happily amazed at the selflessness this guy has reserved for me tonight. He didn't know me, yet asked to come with him and introduced me to his friends without the slightest hesitation. Do people like that still exist? Maybe I had to cross the whole country to find one.
I watch him out of the corner of my eye as he drives carefully and with both hands on the steering wheel. As the long ponytail comes out of the cap, landing on his back and swinging at each bend, Stone seems way too careful. Maybe this isn't even his car.
"All right," he sighs, parking and removing the keys from the ignition "here we are. I think I need to get the brakes checked, that light shouldn't be on I think."
"I know nothing about cars, but I think you should."
"We got home, I guess that's something."
We enter the building and climb the stairs, reaching our floor without making too much noise. The structure is quite old and the steps creak a bit under our weight.
"Thank you for the nice evening Stone, I've had a really great time!"
"Yeah, I thought you should breathe, you know...some of the local air. Go get some rest and good luck tomorrow!"
The smile Stone gives me before he goes into his apartment reassures me, somehow. It's a really good feeling to know that I'm not completely alone anymore and that who lives next to me seems a good person.
When I close the front door behind me, I quietly observe my apartment for a few seconds: this is my new home and it feels so surreal. Will I ever get used to all these changes?
My boots are now on the floor and I stand on tiptoe to get my favorite cup from the kitchen cabinet just above the stove. After looking for the cinnamon tea box and while the water is boiling, I sit on the stool and look down on the chaos that now reigns supreme all around me.
"Tomorrow." I snort, taking my cup and going finally to the bedroom.
* * *
When I leave my apartment the sun is not yet high in the sky. There is a slight breeze that makes me almost regret not having chosen a heavier jacket, but Seattle is really charming this time of morning and I let myself be fascinated without paying too much attention to my goose bumps. As I look at the purple hue of the sky I keep walking towards the diner, distractedly but at a quick pace to avoid the risk of arriving late. That would be a bad start.
"Goodmorning!"
It's Meg's voice that almost makes me jump. Her beautiful purple dress stands out under the white apron that's fastened around her waist.
"I hope you've rested. Across the room you'll find a closet to change and put your belongings, the apron is already hanging from your locker. I'll wait right here!"
I smile, crossing the room. It's not the first time I've done this job, but I suppose being a little nervous is normal.
"Look at you!" she says, placing freshly baked donuts on a tray. "This place needed some youth! Come, I'll show you a couple of things."
It's strange how comfortable I feel in a place I've never been before. Maybe it's her way of talking to me, loving and motherly, so naturally predisposed to a young and lost girl in a new city.
"You told me you've done this job before, so I won't have much to teach you. Here's a fridge stocked with water and soft drinks and the other one has beer."
In an instant my mind goes back to last night, when opening my beer the foam splashed on me. It was pretty funny.
It is absolutely without cause and without right that I wonder, just for a second and vaguely, what that guy in a backward cap I met yesterday night is doing right now. He seemed to really care about my forgiveness, sincere in his concern.
"...and that's all you need to know, little girl. If you know how to make coffee and use the register, we're well advanced."
In a moment of disenchantment I look at Meg and smile.
"I'll do my best. Thank you."
To be my first day on the job, hours have gone by really fast. When you have to learn so many things and do so many, time flies. So much that, when I look at the clock on the wall, my shift is almost over.
"So, how's it going?" Meg asks me, ready to take over for me.
"Well, I have to get used to the coffee machine but-"
All of a sudden I'm interrupted by the sound of the doorbell.
"Do you have time for one more customer?"
"Of course!" I answer quickly, turning towards the entrance. "Goodmorning and welcome to-"
"Meg's, I bet."
I frowned with a smile on my face.
"Stone, hi! What're you doing here?"
"A sudden craving of coffee. Low blood pressure, you know." and as he answers me he's smiling, chewing gum with his mouth open and hands in his pocket, with a boastful and mocking expression on that face. I don't know if I'll ever get used to it.
"Of course." I smile. "How did you know I work here?" I ask him, fumbling with the coffee maker.
"I was just walking around and saw you. This place is practically across the street, wasn't particularly complicated to bump into each other. I could almost see you straight from my kitchen."
"That's true..." I whisper, grinning and giving him his hot cup filled with the best coffee I could make.
"What time do you get off?" Stone asks me, slightly putting his lips on the ceramic edge and taking a sip.
"Just over, actually. You're my last client."
"Oh," he says, "must hurry then."
"No, you don't have to-"
"I was just going home, tho. Don't know if you remember that we live in the same old shitty building. I'll wait for you."
I smile in front of this kindness disguised as a little impatience.
"I'll be back in a minute."
When I catch up with Stone who's waiting outside the diner front door for a smoke, I realize that the wind has risen, probably a storm is coming.
"It's a little brisk out tonight, huh?"
"Yeah, a bit chilly..." I say tightening the collar flaps of the jacket around my neck.
"So, how was your first day?"
We walk side by side, hands in the pockets of our jackets as the wind keeps rising.
"Went well, I just have to get familiar with all this news. What did you do today?"
"I spent the morning in the studio with Jeff and Ed, we got on with some tracks we'd left unfinished."
As Stone speaks he looks up, the sky has become even darker. "We better hurry!"
I admit that when I heard Ed's name I felt a little tingle in my stomach.
"So...how's it going with the new recruit?"
"We couldn't wish for anything better, honestly."
Stone turns to look at me in silence for a few seconds. "He seems like a nice guy, right?"
It's unclear but I can sense a slight hint of suspicion in his tone of voice. More like an insinuation.
"I suppose he is, yes."
A hidden part of me suddenly feels revealed. It was just a conversation question, wasn't it?
"Finally," he says by inserting the key in the building door lock "this drizzle was starting to get on my nerves."
The stairs are wet and dirty, we climb them taking care not to slip.
"Well, it was a pleasure to share these meters with you," Stone says, opening his door "have a nice evening!"
"You too."
Crossing the threshold, against all odds I feel really calm. Although there's still much to do this is the place I choose to restart my life...we just should become a little bit familiar with each other.
After putting on a more comfortable tracksuit, I sit on the floor in the middle of the living room and begin to look inside the boxes still to empty. I didn't realize I brought so much stuff with me. As I'm removing some newspaper from the base of a lamp, suddenly a light sound comes to my ears.
I smile, listening to the notes of Stone's acoustic guitar. Sweet and delicate they cross the concrete wall, coming to me as a gentle caress to my ears. I smile even more thinking of him leaning over his instrument, intent on creating new melodies and achieving his dream. Must be nice to be so passionate and dedicated to something.
The chords follow one another and the melody continues, delicate and without being intrusive, until suddenly...it stops.
"Fuck!" I can hear through the wall.
The music starts right after and then stops again, cutting off.
"Fuck...fuck!"
I giggle.
Don't know why, but for once in my life I feel like I'm in the right place.