Unlikely Conditions

Chapter 7

Meadow slumped down in her chair, spinning it round slightly as a heavy sigh escaped her lips. Her roommate placed a plate down in front of her. It had a freshly toasted waffle on it, she'd covered it honey and whipped cream then placed two neatly chopped strawberries on top.

"Thanks Heidi.." She said softly as spun her chair to look over at her. Heidi happily smiled back at her before taking a glance over her shoulder. She squinted slightly to glance at her laptop screen.

"Views seem lower than usual for you." She sighed, gently wiping her hands on the small dish towel in her hand. Meadow pulled her knees to her chest before gently resting her chin on them.

"I haven't really been doing my usual posts or videos lately.." Meadow replied with a sigh. Heidi rested her hand on top of her head, playfully ruffling her already messy hair with a slight smile.

"You're just not feeling yourself lately, nothing wrong with focusing on yourself first!" She exclaimed as Meadow nodded back at her slowly. Heidi jolted slightly from the sudden vibration in the pocket of her lounge pants. She grabbed her phone before taking a step to the side to check her notifications. Meadow spun her chair round to look over at the focused look on her face.

"Everything okay?" Meadow asked nervously as Heidi turned her body back towards her, not taking her focus from her phone screen.

"There was another gang related attack and apparently that girl that helped your drunk ass home might be involved.." Heidi hesitated as she slowly looked up to see the look of disbelief plastered on Meadow's face. Meadow dived from her seat, spinning round to stand hip to hip with Heidi, her eyes dancing across the screen in front of her.

"According to two eye witnesses a tall dark skinned woman in a leather jacket was seen fleeing the scene the crime took place at 3am early this morning.." Meadow read aloud before taking a slight step back. Heidi turned to look back at her, concern in her eyes as she turned her phone screen off.

"Meds, this means nothing! For all we know this could be a race related hate attack on her!" Heidi insisted as she tried to ease the situation. She could see Meadow's eyes dotting round her room in search of something to say.

"I- She- I'm so confused!" Meadow stuttered, running her fingers through her tangled hair before diving for her phone that was sitting on her bedside table. She fumbled around with it in her hands nervously as she stared down at Keegan's contact before eventually pressing call.

"What are you doing?" Heidi asked, Meadow turning her head to look back at her as she listened to the phone ring.

"Calling her!" She stated back at her. She nervously bit on nails as she waited in hopes of her picking up the call.

"What? This better be important!" Keegan snapped back at her. Meadow exhaled deeply with relief from just hearing the sound of her voice.

"I..Its Meadow, I need to see you.." She stuttered, there was a moment of silence as Keegan paused before she exhaled through her nose.

"Fine, I'll send you my address." She sighed before abruptly hanging up the call. Meadow pulled the phone from her ear with a weak smile before tossing it onto her bed.

Meadow took a step off the bus, looking down at the location on her phone before looking back up towards the buildings in front of her. They looked almost abandoned, she doesn't really have any right to judge. She grew up in a house only many people could dream of. A house you could easily get lost in. She took a quick deep breath, exhaling as she opened the door with a creak. There was an out of order sign stuck on the doors of the elevator. She turned her focus towards the creaky rusted metal stairs. She slowly made her way up them, keeping herself steady incase there was a sudden snap or creak that would result in her being injured in an unfamiliar and somewhat terrifying part of town. She finally reached the 4th floor of the apartment complex, her eyes gazing across each door till she found door 4E. She stood in front the door for a moment, clutching her phone tightly in her hand as she tried to gather the courage to knock. She reached out and knocked three times, waiting patiently as she then heard the sound of locks and chains on the other side of the door before it opened slowly.

"This better be good bambi." Keegan yawned as she stood in front of her. Meadow couldn't take her eyes off of her. She'd always seen her somewhat put together no matter what she was wearing but this was her in her natural state. She was stood wearing a pair of tight black boxers that hugged her thighs perfectly, a somewhat white tank top exposing the side of her breasts as well as the right amount of cleavage. Her hair was dreaded in her perfect locks, it was messy and loose but still showing her neatly shaved sides. Keegan stepped aside, opening her arm out to gesture her inside. Meadow nodded as she slowly stepped inside, hearing Keegan close and lock the door behind them. Meadow entered the living room, her sofa had been pulled out into a bed, there were no covers or sheets on it but there was a black lacey bra along with underwear to match. She quickly looked away as she took a seat on the arm chair sitting in the corner of the room. Keegan placed her hands on her hips, leaning to one side slightly as she glanced down at Meadow.

"Start spilling bambi, I was busy sleeping till you called!" Keegan hissed, by the looks of her living room she was doing more than sleeping but that wasn't any of Meadow's business. Meadow sighed heavily as she opened her phone, searching through it for a moment before handing it over to Keegan. Keegan's eyes focused on the screen intensely for a moment before she slowly backed away, sitting down on the edge of the pull out bed.

"Shit.."

"Yeah.." Meadow added, nervously picking at the chipped nail polish on her fingers. She looked over to see Keegan with her head in her hands. She was completely vulnerable. Terrified almost. She didn't see this side of her when they came across that gruesome attack in the park.

"This is why I told you not to get involved with me.."

"W..What do you mean?" Meadow hesitated, inching towards the edge of the chair as Keegan exhaled deeply, lifting her head to give her a slight glare.

"I thought you were smarter than this, you can piece things together." Keegan remarked, Meadow leaned back slightly. She started to piece things together before looking back at Keegan in shock and disbelief.

"Fuck.."

"There you go.." Keegan added as she got to her feet, handing the phone back over to Meadow. Meadow stared down blankly at the reflection in her phone screen.

"D..Did you have something to do with the guys who attacked me?" Meadow asked nervously, terrified of the answer. Keegan sharply turned her head towards her. She narrowed her brows in a frown as she held back the urge to grit her teeth.

"Are you serious right now?!" Keegan snapped, grabbing a half empty can of beer from her coffee table before throwing it down to avoid saying anything she was going to regret.

"I'm sorry.." Meadow apologised as she leaned back in chair, avoiding all eye contact with Keegan. Keegan glared back at her out the corner of her eye as she slammed the almost empty can back on the table. Keegan looked her up and down for a moment out the corner of her eye.

"Fuck it!" Keegan huffed as she stormed into her room. Meadow leaned forward slightly in the chair, she got a glimpse of Keegan's bare back as she pulled the tank top off over her head. Meadow's eyes wondered across her back before fixating on the between her left shoulder blade, her eyes then quickly darted across the healing bruises scattered across her like stars in the sky. She quickly turned her head away as she saw her turn to the side to grab her shirt from the closet. She picked nervously at the nail polish on her nails before the sound of heavy boots echoed into the living room. She lifted her head to look back at her.

"I'm going out, I have something to take care of!" Keegan declared as she slipped on her leather jacket before grabbing a almost empty box of cigarettes from the inside pocket. Meadow watched her turn as she began to head towards the front door. Meadow quickly dived to her feet, trying to hurry behind her.

"I..I'm coming with you!" She insisted, narrowing her brows together in a slight frown before swiftly taking a step back as Keegan spun round to glare at her. She shook her head repeatedly as she waved her lighter in front of her.

"No! Sit your ass back down and stay here!" She hissed back at her, inching closer towards her as Meadow backed away before slowly sitting herself back on the arm chair with a sigh. Keegan looked back at her one last time as she exhaled heavily before disappearing out the front door. Meadow listened to the click of the door as Keegan closed it behind her before hearing the sound of her heavy boots against the old floorboards fade down the hallway.