Malignant Virtues

IV

Gotta bail on moral support today - sorry!

Taz glanced down at the phone sitting on his bathroom counter, clamping his toothbrush between his teeth as he picked up the device to tap out a response. No worries, just one stop today - interview this afternoon.

Before he had set the phone back down on the counter, it was already ringing, Gretta's name appearing on the display. Taz spit the toothpaste out of his mouth and wiped the foam from his lips before sliding his thumb across the screen to answer the call. He had barely raised the phone to his pointed ear when Gretta's phone came through the speaker.

"An interview? That's so great! What time is it?"

"Not until five. It's nothing big, just a cashier job at one of those shops over in that new stripmall." He cocked his head to one side and frowned at his reflection, combing his fingers through his damp hair, thinking that it was getting a little long. "I was thinking about heading over that way a little early, maybe getting a haircut before-"

"Don't you dare cut that pretty grey hair."

"Ashen," he corrected, rolling his eyes.

"Mm-hmm, whatever you say, babe."

His fingers halted their progress through his hair. Babe. That was a new development. He cleared his throat. "So are you working tonight?" he asked. He untwined his fingers from his hair and leaned forward to inspect his reflection closer, dragging a long blue finger down his smooth cheek, determining that he did not need to shave.

"Nope," she answered. "I'm all yours. Did you want to do something after your interview?"

"I had a few ideas..."

"Well, stop by my place before you head out and we can talk about it. See you in a bit."

Taz finished getting ready and had arrived at Gretta's door within the hour. When she opened the door, Gretta had her customary smile firmly in place. She gave Taz a quick once-over and nodded shortly in approval before rising onto her toes to give him a quick peck on the cheek, taking him by the hand and pulling him into the apartment.

"There's someone I want you to meet while you're down here," she said, leading him down the short hallway that led to the apartment's spare room. Gretta and her brother had filled the room with an odd assortment of furniture and equipment for various hobbies they had had over the years -- a punching bag stood in one corner, opposite a karaoke machine shoved against the other wall; Taz had never seen the closet actually open but had seen various straps and fabrics poking out from below the door; a bookshelf stocked with dozens of books in various states of care stood next to the desk that housed a high-end computer Gretta had once told him she'd used for online gaming tournaments. A woman was seated at the computer, her fingers clicking away at the keyboard, and before she had even looked up at the sound of their footsteps on the hardwood, Taz recognized the back of her blonde ponytail. She glanced up at him and gave him a once-over just as Gretta had, but unlike Gretta, she did not give him a nod of approval. Rather, Taz could have sworn he saw her give him the slightest of frowns and an almost imperceptible shake of her head.

"I really can't believe it's taken me this long to introduce you two," Gretta was saying. "Taz, this is-"

"Adia Barnes," the blonde said, standing and extending a hand for him to shake. "I live upstairs. Well - up-upstairs, I guess, since you've got the middle floor. I can't believe we've never run into each other."

Taz hesitated for a moment, his grey eyes fixing on her blue ones before taking her outstretched hand and giving it a firm squeeze. "Taz Dekresh," he said. He dropped the hand and shoved it into his pinstriped pocket, returning her up-and-down glance. She was pretty and slim, and wearing a white sundress that just brushed the tops of her knees. As she dropped back down into her chair and curled one leg under her, he noticed she was barefoot, just as she had been the first night they'd met. A smirk twisted one corner of his mouth. "So you're Ms. Third Floor, huh?"