Roommates

PART 5 : old friend

Here's a pic of Jessie at the top ( Ryan's sister )

Sienna's P.O.V

Jessie unlocked the door to her place.
"God, I hope it's not a mess!" she exclaimed, slightly nervous and apprehensive. Partly because she thought there might be a mess, but partly because she didn't really know me well. There was just small talk, because we still had only just met and were passing the time.

I laughed nervously too. She let us both in. Her apartment was similar to Ryan's, but you could tell two girls lived here. His apartment was pretty bare and basic, because he never really seen the need to decorate. But Jessie's was filled with beautiful art pieces and decorative pots and such.

"Wow, this is lovely!" I said, taking in my surroundings.

"Thanks! I live here with my roommate, Quincey, I think she's home."

"Quincey?!" she called out.

"Yeah?" A voice replied, and there was a rustling from a room nearby.

A girl emerges from the dark hallway at the other side of the open plan kitchen, and sitting room. I vaguely recognise her, which is strange because I know no one here.

Jessie gets us acquainted and then it clicks with me. She was the store attendant who helped me pick out my outfit for the dinner with my mother. What a coincidence.

I debate on whether or not to tell her that we actually know each other. I don't see any recollection of our encounter in her eyes, which tells me she probably doesn't remember.

I decide to start veering the conversation towards work, so that maybe the fact we have met will unfold itself as we continue to talk.

I ask her how long she's been living here, and why she decided to move, hoping the topic I'm anticipating will come up in one of the answers.

She tells me that she's only been living in New York eight months, and that she only moved in with Jessie about two months ago. Jessie had put an ad up online, seeking a roommate and Quincey had replied.

She said she moved here to go to art college, but that it was so expensive that she's saving up to start next year, and not this coming school year that would begin in two months. And finally, the topic I was waiting for came up.

"I recently got a job at shopping plaza to help earn the money for college."

I ask her what store and she tells me.

"Oh, I went there a couple of days ago to pick out a dress for a dinner I was going to."

She looks me straight in the eye then, and her brow furrows. I didn't want to be the one to admit we met, and she finally started to realise my face was familiar.

"Hey, I think I helped you pick out that dress!" She said, when she realised she recognised me.

I opened my mouth in fake surprise as if I hadn't known all along that we had met.

"What a coincidence!" I said, and we both laughed, hers a bit more genuine than mine.

Quincey told Jessie about our coincidence and she laughed about it too.

"It must be fate." She said.

I'm still slightly awkward in their house. But I don't want to go back to mine. So I sit there twiddling my thumbs.

Jessie suggested we watch a movie, since it was getting late, and that we order Chinese food. She ordered online from a nearby place and we decided on what movie we wanted to watch.

"Comedy, horror, action, romance, thriller or classic?" She asked, flicking through the stack of movies she had.

Quincey turns to me. "We have Netflix, but both of us prefer having the actual DVD itself." She informed me and I nod.

"I do the same thing with CD's!" I said, being truthful, even though I left a lot of my collection back home, because it was too much hassle to bring them all.

We settled for watching 'Clueless', which is one of my favourite films. And as soon as we put the disc into the DVD player the doorbell rang.

Jessie ran to get it, and I jumped up after her to help. We both grab the bags and Jessie paid the delivery man his money and she set them on the breakfast bar. I went to find my purse so that I could give her the money for the food I ordered, but she swatted my hand away, and told me not to be silly and that I'm a guest and it wasn't even expensive anyway.

I made a mental note to take her and Quincey out to lunch on me, because my mother always taught me that it's a good idea to pay back an act of kindness, so that the slate is then cleared. I don't know whether I'm happy she taught me to accept an act of generosity but never settle for it, or if I'm angry that she actually wanted us to show off that were not poor by always giving back what we are given. Either way my mind makes the note to do it, because that's how I'm programmed. I'm sure Jessie's mother also told her the same, but also to 'treat guests like royalty and pay for their food' and told her it was polite. Mothers train us to do questionable things, but we don't know any different.

We ate our food as the movie played and I started to feel my eyes getting heavy. I looked over to see that Jessie already had her eyes closed.

I shut my eyes gently and listened to the movie play in the background. I eventually drifted off to sleep.