troubled waters (FierroChase AU)

eight

When she had entered her new apartment, Alex stood there in awe for a few seconds, just admiring what was to be hers now. All the rooms were completely furnished with beautiful and stylish yet simple furniture. A small couch stood in the living room, a modern wooden table and two chairs next to it, some shelves with much open space, partly with books already standing there. The floor was made of light wooden parquet with a homely pattern of skewed wooden lines. The window was quite big, facing towards the park cross the road. Through a hole between the lines of trees that were forming the border to the streets, she could even see a little part of Boston's skyline, beautifully shining in the afternoon sun.

As she was observing the living room, as content as she was with the way it was designed, she already thought of possible different arrangements, of how to create a spot for her little arts space, with a canvas; she would not have enough room here to do pottery and she did not want to do it in a rented apartment anyway; but she was hoping there would be regular occasions for this at college, given her courses and the specialized rooms that surely existed.

The window open, her phone put on the table, she proceeded towards her bedroom. It was rather small, but fitted her needs perfectly. A bed a little bigger than ordinarily for one person, a wardrobe that definitely filled too much of the room and a little table next to her bed, where she could put books she was reading, her phone or just some sheets and a pen for sudden inspiration while laying in bed. The window faced another house a few dozen yards away and had a view on the little garden of theirs and of their neighbours. It was basically just a little lawn, with grass, some flowers and an apple tree, that would bear fruit soon.

Alex thought of maybe having a lounger out there, to just lay in the sun and dream of whatever she wanted to dream of. There was also a bathroom and separate toilet, but that was it all in all. It was not much, especially compared to what her father could afford in Chicago, what Penthouses or villas he possessed there, but it was exactly right for Alex, for she was free.

And there was this neighbour of hers downstairs. She should pay him a visit some time soon, she thought. He might be nice after all. But, first of all, she wanted to unpack, install herself, then plan what to buy in order to make her new home as comfortable and stylish as possible. She put her clothing, as extraordinary as her, in the wardrobe, following a strict order of storage to never forget where the single pieces were. She noticed, while doing this, that she had not been able, after all, to buy many clothes yet. What she already possessed would not suffice, so she would need to go shopping quite soon, the next weekend already if possible.

That was a great opportunity, since it was not a long time, that her father would forbid everything that he did not see fit for a boy, for a member of his dynasty. Obviously, pink leggings or green shirts, extra-wide sweaters and band-merch was not allowed under these circumstances and she had sworn to herself, even while being on the plane, that she would never again wear a black suit or a white collar in her life. She wanted to buy a nice light-green suit for herself, when she was going somewhere where official dressing was needed, she might even combine it with black skinny dress pants, but she wanted to be normal no more. There was still much to be done.

When she was almost done unpacking, she heard a quiet noise from below. It was like piano chords, very faint sounds at the beginning, before they grew a little louder, now clearly revealing what it was. Someone was playing the piano and that someone had got to be Magnus, her neighbour. From time to time she heard mistakes, before he continued playing, sometimes he repeated passages, three, four, even five times. It was clear that it was nothing recorded, but her own live music from downstairs.

She had shortly stopped what she was doing, and just listened, before she got back to it, realizing how the sounds had captured her. Though it was barely hearable, she strained to listen, discerning classical music, beautiful classical music. But as she had never really been into that, though she had to admit its aesthetic value, she could not recognize what piece or what compositor it was that Magnus practised. She decided to ask him about it, when she was going to go down later.

Thinking about that while finally emptying her suitcase, she concluded that it would be better to go down and let him invite her, than to invite him up, since he had an apartment that was ready for visitors unlike hers. And she was not sure yet that she was going to like him, there was a risk in trying. But that risk was what Alex liked about it; it was a risk worth taking, because it was not linked to a crime, a challenge, but to something nice, to something new.

To talking, understanding, interacting, getting to know someone, having an experience she had not had the chance to have often before. The one time, she really befriended someone, when she was still in school with other kids, though it was a private one already, it had not ended well. Her friendship with Adrien had led to her father taking her into home schooling. And nevertheless, now she was free, now she could get to know people, so she wanted to take the risk, whatever was going to happen, would happen.

She thought of an old movie, she had once seen with Adrien, before her father had learnt of their friendship. There was a song the protagonist had sung, that she had remembered. Que sera, que sera, what will be, will be. That was what was leading her know. That evening, she would go downstairs to talk to Magnus. She did not want to listen to him practising before he knew her, it seemed to her like...some sort of intrusion into his private sphere. Everything done, she grabbed her phone, laid down on the couch, plugged her earphones in and played her favourite playlist. The first song was by Cold War Kids, and she just let herself go with the music. Silently, her eyes closed, Alex sang along to the refrain.

"When we go out tonight
I'll be looking so far past the flashing lights...
Finally open my arms wide, finally I let you inside,
Finally made it past the end
To finally begin"