The good news: we now had toilet paper.
The bad news: I'd almost jumped on Maddox in my excitement.
Even worse news: I think he noticed.
Let me set the scene. We opened the bag, saw the toilet paper, read the note... then I turned toward him with my hands slowly rising up. His eyes went wide and I realized what I was about to do. So, instead I threw one hand in the air like you would for a high-five and jumped a few times. Super awkwardly. He laughed and high-fived me but by the smirk on his lips I was pretty sure he'd realized high-fiving was not my body's initial plan. That's who I blamed. My body. Definitely my body, just acting on impulse because my mind was repulsed.
Today might not have been that bad so far but the day was young, and Maddox was still the most annoying man I'd had the displeasure of meeting.
"I never thought I'd be this happy over toilet paper!" I also never thought I'd be bartering and trading items for it, but here we were.
I made my way to the kitchen cabinet to check whether one of the bags of Cheetos was the flaming hot type they'd asked for. As soon as I started shuffling with the bags I heard Maddox groan.
"Or that it would be such a high-priced commodity." He muttered and I couldn't help but chuckle at how salty he sounded. He clearly disliked having to give up his Cheetos. I was guessing his plan involved enjoying those with some of the many cans of beer he bought.
"Yeah, well, would have been regular priced had someone remembered to buy it on time." I spoke loud enough to be heard over the rustling and heard him mumble something incoherently.
I salvaged a bag of flaming hot Cheetos, one bag with cheese flavor and one regular pack, wrote them a little note back, and placed it all into the plastic bag.
"Alrighty, now one of us needs to—"
"I can take it." His offer was immediate and I narrowed my eyes, sceptical about his sudden spark of volunteerism. He cleared his throat and continued, "Er, I've seen the hot girl from 3E around a few times, like the hallway, in passing."
"Ah, oka—" I'd almost handed him the bag when I realized what he meant, "What? NO! What's wrong with you?! Do you understand what a quarantine is?"
"I wasn't going to do anything..." He sounded about zero percent honest when he said that and I felt a wave of rage course through my body.
"Is sex literally all you're capable of thinking about?" My voice was ice cold, a sudden change from the previously lighthearted mood of the morning.
"I mean, no, but I do like sex. So what?" The way his voice was tinged with annoyance made his words sound even worse.
"So what?!" I pinched the bridge of my nose, taking a deep breath, "Great, well, I like to be virus-free, so maybe you can try to keep it in your pants for like five fucking seconds."
His eyebrows shot up in surprise, probably shocked by the fact that he'd just heard me swear. To be fair, it was one of the rare times I actually swore — out loud at least.
Before he could say anything else, I stormed out of the apartment with the bag of goods in my hand.
Unbelievable. The nerve of him, the audacity! He was freaking unbelievable.
I froze before reaching our neighbours door. Was he though?
What Maddox had said was very believable in terms of things that Maddox would say. It's not like I didn't know how much he liked hooking up with women. I'd even filled out a 'sex addicts anonymous' form for him about two weeks ago, that I then later heard him laughing about with his friends.
It wasn't about the sex this time, though. It was about his level of immaturity and how he didn't take this situation seriously from the start. Making jokes and planning protests and buying stupid stuff like protein powder. He was the worst.
And that was what I had been mad about — or so I convinced myself.
I hung the bag of goodies on the doorknob and rang the bell before turning around and walking back to our apartment.
Just as I was about to reach it, I heard a door open in the hallway and a soft voice proclaimed, "Oh my God!"
I turned around in surprise to see that an extremely cute black haired girl's head was popped out from the door of the 3E apartment.
"Oh, hi! I'm so glad I caught you." She continued, stepping out to stand in front of the door but not coming any closer. That fact alone, that she clearly had common sense and respected the social distancing aspect of quarantine, made me immediately like her.
"Uh, um, yeah, hi!" I replied like the awkward turtle that I was. "I'm Aimee. I'm from 3C."
She chuckled and nodded her head enthusiastically, "I figured! I'm Luna, it's really nice to meet you finally. You moved in a few months ago, right?"
I was about to reply when I heard a deeper voice say something from within her apartment. She turned toward the sound, and let out a sigh, "Yeah, they had the flaming hot ones." A few seconds later a male hand reached out and grabbed the bag from her.
She looked after the mysterious guy for a few moments, an expression of hurt on her face. The curious part of me wanted to ask her about it, but every other part of me knew that would have been incredibly rude and totally inappropriate. Plus, I wanted to get along with her. She seemed like the type of person I could see myself maybe even becoming friends with.
Luna turned back to me, a bright smile back on her face, "Anyway, I hope this doesn't come off as weird but would you wanna exchange numbers? In case one of us needs something again." She glanced back at her apartment before continuing, "Or even just to talk, or vent to each other. This whole situation is just crazy!"
I was stunned by her bravery. I'd never be confident enough to just seek out a friendship like that. In hindsight, that was probably why I didn't have too many friends in the first place. Warmth spread through me at the prospect of making another one.
"Yeah, I'd love that!" I gave her my brightest smile, praying my level of enthusiasm wouldn't scare her away.
"I was hoping you'd say that!" She clapped her hands in excitement before taking out her phone, "Tell me your digits."
After she took down my phone number, she looked back into her apartment and sighed again, "I better get going or he'll eat everything. We'll talk soon!"
She waved to me, I waved back, and then she disappeared into her apartment.
I opened the door to our place with a smile still on my face and my mood significantly improved.
"What is this?" Before I even managed to close the door, I heard Maddox's voice behind me.
I turned around and saw him holding the notebook I'd designated to writing the rules for our co-existence.
And then I remembered, once again, that I hadn't had the talk with him yet.
This was turning out to be a very long day.
Hi lovelies!
Luna is a total cutie, in a totally messed up quarantine situation. Her quarantine days are full of misery and heartache, but why? Read on to to find out her story.
Maybe the two girls can help each other out with their (future) boy problems. ;)
Remember to vote if you liked the new chapter but most importantly... stay safe! <3