Synthetic Love

Chapter 5 (Explicit Content)

Disclaimer: SPOILER but potentially necessary, and I'll say this again in my ending A/N as well but here's what I have to say - I don't condone cheating, but it makes for good storytelling, so...yeah. Let's go!

A week later.

After another long day of writing, Chris was relieved to come home and relax for a little while. Or, relax as much as he could. But it didn't last long. He'd tried to sit down and watch a couple of episodes of The Office to unwind, but he just couldn't focus. He had so many thoughts on the album, what still needed to be done, what could be improved, what the rest of the writing process would look like...

He also couldn't stop thinking about Saanvi.

They'd seen each other in the hallway and said 'hi' to each other a few times, and even made some small talk, but it was almost like things between them had gotten awkward since Saanvi had gotten engaged to Ravi. Maybe Chris had made it a little too obvious that he liked Saanvi prior to the engagement, and now that she was getting married, she'd decided to keep her distance from him. Or maybe she knew that Chris would try to persuade her not to marry a man she didn't love - which in Chris's mind, was just him being a good friend, but it was clear that Saanvi didn't want to hear it.

It was raining hard outside - the news had said it would be one of Scranton's worst storms in a long time and advised everyone to stay inside and off the roads. There were lightening flashes that lit up the whole room, followed by booms of thunder that nearly shook the entire apartment building. The later in the night that it got, there was even some hail that started to fall down, and Chris considered himself lucky that this apartment building allowed its tenants to park their cars in a garage.

Chris finally decides he's unable to relax - not even Michael Scott could get his mind off of everything going on in his life. So Chris decides to grab his laptop to answer some emails and maybe listen to some of the audio files that the band had been working on earlier in the day.

Just when he decides to open his laptop though, everything in the apartment goes black.

Chris sighs, "Are you kidding me?" He asks aloud to himself. It was a huge storm, so Chris supposed he shouldn't be surprised that the power had gone out. He then hears someone shouting in the hallway.

"Noooo! Damn it!"

That sounded like Saanvi. It was coming from the hallway. Chris turns on the flashlight on his phone and walks over to the door. He opens it to find Saanvi in the hallway, appearing to be soaking wet as if she'd just been out in the storm.

"Vee?" Chris asks, "Are you okay?"

Saanvi turns to Chris, wincing slightly at the bright light coming from his phone. She then reaches into her pockets and pulls out pieces of hail that had fallen into them outside before dropping them on the floor.

"No, not really," She says, "I locked myself out."

"Oh, shit. Does anyone else have a key to your place?"

"Yeah, Ravi. Who's in Africa," Saanvi says, "I can call the locksmith tomorrow morning, but I still have to figure out what to do tonight and the power's out."

"Here, come inside," Chris says.

Saanvi nods, deciding not to argue with him, and steps into the apartment. Chris closes the door and returns his attention to Saanvi.

"Do you wanna just crash here tonight?"

"What? No, Chris, I don't want to intrude - "

"Vee, the only other person that has a key to your apartment is on the literal other side of the planet. It's too late to call a locksmith, the roads are too dangerous to be on, and you can't sleep in the hallway. You're staying here tonight."