Jenlisa Oneshots

melting stars

"We long to make music that will melt the stars." -Gustav Flaubert

-

Lisa lets out a satisfied sigh, sitting on her bed and admiring the room around her. She's just finished unpacking her boxes, meticulously placing every one of her possessions in their precise places. She had left the books for last, and now she sits admiring the bookshelf filled with novels and textbooks. They're impossibly thick, with intimidating titles like 'Advanced Astrophysics' and 'Fundamentals of Space and Time', but they make Lisa's chest swell with happiness whenever she sees them.

It's been her dream to go to space ever since she was a child, staring up at the heavens and feeling as though she belonged among the stars. She had worked her ass off all through her schooling career, as well as playing several sports to stay in top shape. All for this, her post-graduate degree in physics and planetary study at MIT. She would get a job at NASA if it killed her. She would get to space as soon as she could.

She sits in the small studio apartment that's just off campus. Rent is cheap and the building is meh, but Lisa has made a small, neat home in the space that she is proud of. She admires the NASA poster that hangs above her bed before picking up her book (Carl Sagan's Cosmos) and reading for a bit before bed. The silence is intoxicating and welcome after a whole day spent moving and carrying boxes. She doesn't hear the small electric hum that starts at first, but after a moment or two she gives the wall it comes from a curious glance. Soft chords begin to play from an electric guitar, a calming melody, and Lisa smiles as she returns to her book.

And then-

Hell. The chords come loud and fast, a big, heavy tune infiltrating the room and screaming at Lisa. She tries to focus on the page in front of her, but she can't. She reads the same word over and over, unable to form thoughts due to the cacophony that swirls around her. She strides over to the wall, and bangs on it three times. The music stops, and she lies back down with a content sigh.

It starts up again before Lisa's head hits the pillow.

"God damnit," she almost yells, slipping on her flip flops before going to find the guilty neighbour. Who the fuck is this selfish? She thinks. This is a building filled with post-grad students who need their fucking sleep.

She slams on the door three times with her fist. When it opens, she has to remind herself that she's angry, because holy shit, an angel stands in front of her. Her black hair is dyed pink on the ends, shaved on one side, and she wears short shorts and a tank top. Tattoos make their way up her arm, swirling black patterns covering the pale skin. The woman smiles when she sees Lisa, who suddenly feels incredibly self-conscious in her matching pajama set and messily tied-up hair.

"Can I help you?" she asks, ignorant to her crimes. Lisa peers round the woman and into the apartment behind her. It's also a studio, but moving boxes are still scattered about, and the only thing that looks well cared for is the guitar and amp that sit in the middle of the room. Seeing the guitar fuels her anger.

"You need to shut the fuck up," Lisa says to the girl.

"Ex cuse me??" she replies, indignantly.

"It's a school night. You need to stop playing that music."

"Well you could at least be polite--"

Lisa walks away before she says something she regrets, or before she accidentally looks at the woman's bare legs again. She slams her door shut behind her, and lies in bed for a few moments, waiting to see if the music will start back up again. After a few minutes she sighs in relief, and picks up her book. As she begins reading, the music starts up once again, this time even louder and choppier than before. Grabbing her pillow and putting it over her face, she screams into it, muffling her frustration.