Across the Hall

The following is written in the perspective of Stella Craig (3rd person-limited)

It’s around dinner time now, and Stella wonders how well Cassie and her Dad’s date is going. Stella can't believe it's finally happening for her best friend. Cassie’s been obsessed with Stella’s Dad since Stella could remember, and now Cassie’s on a date with him.

Downside of that is…

Stella’s getting really bored being alone in the apartment.

She’s tried watching something on a streaming site but nothing really caught her fancy. She’s tried chatting with her new college friends and varsity teammates, but they’re mostly just like Stella who haven’t really done much after one day removed from coming back home from college.

It’s during this concerted effort to do something to fight boredom that she realizes she’s way more conscious of the time because she just can’t wait to find out how well their date went.

~ DING DONG ~

Stella looks at her phone to check the time and sees it’s way too early to be back if they had a good date. She walks towards the door, hoping it’s not her Dad and Cassie coming back from their date already. If it is them, fingers crossed they just forgot something and are only coming back to pick it up... or that they're super horny and just want to skip to that part already. Otherwise, her whole “be happy” speech she’s given to both of them would have been such a waste of breath.

Stella opens the door and finds, to her surprise, her neighbor from across the hall, Tanya Ramirez. “Hey Ms. Ramirez, what brought you across the hall?” Stella asks Tanya.

“Oh, hey sweetie. Didn’t I tell you to call me Tanya already? I feel so old when you call me Ms. Ramirez.” Tanya tells Stella, trying to be casual. Stella doesn’t really react, and is still waiting on Tanya’s reason for ringing their doorbell.

“Is your dad home?” Tanya asks. The question takes Stella off-guard as she’s not sure if she should reveal to Tanya that her Dad’s out on a date right now.

“Oh, uh, he went out.” Stella answers vaguely.

“Is he coming back soon?” Tanya continues to inquire.

“Hopefully he won’t be back for a while.” Stella replies. Tanya picks up on Stella’s choice of words and decides to tease, “Why do you hope he won’t be back for a while? You have a gentleman visitor perhaps?” Tanya says with a suggestive smile, teasing Stella.

Stella, not really appreciating being teased by her neighbor, decides to tease back. “I’m just hoping his date’s going well. Wouldn’t be much of a date if they came back at this hour.” Stella replies, curious as to how Tanya would react to that information.

Tanya keeps her smile after hearing Stella’s reply, but Tanya couldn’t hide the disappointment in her eyes upon hearing Jay was on a date. Stella picks up on this but decides to wait for what Tanya has to say.

“Oh, that’s… that’s good! He’s been stuck in this apartment for months, you know. It’s good he’s finally doing something other than wallow in misery. I bet you helped a lot in speeding that up.” Tanya says.

“I can’t take all the credit,” Stella replies. “He went out last night and didn’t come back for hours. When he did, he was like a changed man. I bet whoever he met up with has to take most of the credit for his quick recovery” Stella continued her teasing, not really hiding anymore that she knows that her Dad hooked up with Tanya last night. Tanya wasn’t Stella’s best friend who just gets embarrassed from her teasing though. Tanya can play that game too.

“Oh sweetie, whoever that was can only take some credit. I’m sure your papi would agree.” Tanya replies, not hiding it either that she picked up on Stella knowing about what happened last night.

“I wonder if my papi is going out with the same girl tonight too?” Stella says, continuing the verbal sparring match she’s having with Tanya.

“Probably not. I bet his date from last night would still be exhausted from all the… advice she was giving him.” Tanya counters.

“I bet his date last night was just shouting that advice to him so loud that even her neighbors could hear.” Stella parries and throws a counter of her own.

“Her neighbors should probably just mind their own business and let someone give advice in peace.” Tanya says, blocking Stella’s verbal jab.

“I’m sure they usually don’t mind, as long as she doesn’t start her loud therapy sessions in the middle of the night when people are sleeping.” Stella says, staying on offense.

“I’m sure his date would advise her neighbors that earplugs are cheap.” Tanya replies, not backing down.

“And miss out on all that advice?” Stella asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I always knew you were a pervert.” Tanya finally breaks all pretense that they’re not talking about each other.

Stella breaks from her teasing facade and starts to chuckle, which eventually turns to laughter. Tanya can’t help but smile, and laugh a little too, as she admits to herself that she enjoyed that little exchange with Stella.

“You remind me of your mother.” Tanya tells Stella, intending it as a compliment, but Stella reacts with hostility in her body language, which Tanya immediately notices. “I mean, not entirely! You're less…” Tanya says, trying to diffuse the situation, but can’t really think of something to say.

“Less of a cheating whore?” Stella says with a chuckle, finishing Tanya’s statement for her. Tanya awkwardly laughs, not wanting to agree just in case Stella was trapping her, and just shrugs at Stella’s suggestion to signify she’ll neither confirm nor deny. Stella didn’t seem to mind that response.

...

“Hey, since your dad’s out and I made more than enough Posole for both of us, want to have dinner with me?” Tanya asks Stella, to Stella’s surprise.

“Uh, yeah. Definitely. I wouldn’t say no to that.” Stella answers. Tanya’s glad with Stella’s response, and she turns around to lead Stella into her apartment. As Tanya opens the door, Stella asks her —

“Hey, um, was this dinner supposed to be for my Dad? Was it supposed to be a date?”