Neighbourhood Watch Redux

Agnes stood perfectly still as the elevator hummed somewhere below. Sunday evenings were usually quiet in the building. Most residents had settled in for the night by now. Television through the walls. A vacuum cleaner somewhere down the hall. The occasional regulation under-thirty-pound dog barking two floors below.

The sound of the elevator, however, meant somebody was coming.

Her shoulders tightened automatically. Ever since Thursday, she'd developed an irritating new habit. Listening. Watching. Waiting.

It wasn't paranoia. It was vigilance.

Roy Robinson had moved a woman into the building. Not just any woman. That woman. That kind of woman.

The memory of the encounter still irritated her. Standing in the elevator, her unpleasant neighbour, Roy, smiling politely. Introducing himself because apparently just because they were neighbours they were supposed to know one another.

Then, almost casually...

"My girlfriend moved in."

As though that weren't strange enough. A man like him with a girlfriend? Who would bother with an older, short, fat man like him. It was difficult to imagine anyone in their right mind falling for a man like that, no less wanting to be intimate with him.

But then he told her about his girlfriend.

Young.

Black.

Living just a few doors away.

Agnes had managed to remain pleasant throughout the elevator ride. She hadn't protested. She hadn't let her true feelings show. Then she'd gone inside her apartment and spent nearly an hour looking up moving companies.

Her lease couldn't end soon enough.

People paid good money to live somewhere respectable. She certainly had. Before signing, she'd researched the building. Crime statistics. Property values. Nearby schools, despite having no children. Demographics.

You were supposed to know where you lived. What kind of neighbours you had. That was simply common sense. Roy, by inviting this infestation, had upset that balance.

The elevator stopped. A soft ding echoed through the hallway. Agnes quietly crossed to the door. One eye found the peephole. The hallway came into focus. Two women stepped out. One immediately caught her attention.

Jessica.

Jessica Holloway.

The senior lawyer from work.

Agnes blinked. That couldn't be right.

Jessica wore fitted jeans, a cream blouse tucked neatly into the waistband, and an easy smile that Agnes almost never saw in the office. At work Jessica projected calm confidence, the sort that made clients immediately trust her and junior staff immediately straighten their posture.

Beside her walked another woman Agnes had never met. Short. Curvy. Black pixie haircut. Large glasses. Middle Eastern, if Agnes had to guess.

The unfamiliar woman carried a bottle of wine under one arm while chatting animatedly. They laughed together. Comfortably. Like friends. What on earth...

Neither woman turned toward Jessica's door. Instead they walked toward Roy's apartment.

Agnes frowned. What could these two possibly want with her neighbour Roy? A man who, until recently, had been a very solitary neighbour, suddenly having a live-in girlfriend and two additional women coming for a visit? Something was up. Before she could stop herself, she'd already unlocked her own door and stepped out into the hallway.

"Oh!"

Both women turned. Jessica recognized her immediately.

"Agnes?" Jessica said, confusion in her voice.

"Good evening," Agnes replied, forcing herself to smile.

"You live here?" Jessica asked.

"Yes," Agnes nodded. "I didn't expect to see a coworker here. Do you have a friend in the building?"

"I... we're visiting," Agnes' employer said, blushing and looking at the shorter woman. "Our boyfriend lives here. Maybe you've met him. Roy Robinson."

"Oh?" Agnes could hardly believe what she was hearing. Boyfriend? She had thought that Jessica would be more discerning, more sophisticated than to get entangled in... whatever that was...

"Where are my manners?" Jessica said, jovially. "Agnes, this is Zara. One of Roy's girlfriends. Zara, Agnes and I work together."

"Pleased to meet you! Any neighbour of Roy's is a friend of mine. What's he like as a neighbour? I bet he's great." The younger woman paused for a breath, then, "You're a lawyer, too?"

"Receptionist," Agnes answered, flatly.

"Agnes works the front desk. She's the face of the firm, the first smile that anyone sees when they meet us," Jessica explained. "It's a vital role."

Awkward silence followed the explanation that Agnes never asked for. She knew who she was at the firm, and what was expected of her. It wasn't her fault that her career hadn't taken off the way some people's had. How could it, with all the immigrants taking the best jobs?

But there was more to Agnes' pause than having had her position at the company described in a less-than-flattering manner. It was everything about this situation. Both of these women, plus the one in the apartment, with Roy.

Her neighbour.

The fat, old, loser.

Her eyes drifted toward the other woman, assessing them. Jessica was beautiful. She had always been beautiful, for as long as Agnes had known her. The second woman, this Zara, despite being Middle Eastern, was also gorgeous. Far out of Roy's league.

But this wasn't a case of coercion. Nor was it a case of manipulation. This was, as far as Agnes could tell, earnest. They looked happy. Genuinely happy.

Jessica glanced toward Roy's door.

"We're actually a little early."

"We're meeting the other girlfriends tonight," Zara added, almost bouncing on her toes.

"Other girlfriends?" Agnes asked, "You mean the black girl? Michelle?"

"Oh, and Elaine, too," Zara said brightly. "I bet she's great. Jessica sure is. We just met downstairs, and I'm already convinced that Roy has the best taste in women."

"If the others are as fun as you," Jessica said, smiling warmly, "then we're in for an exciting night."

Agnes felt as though she'd accidentally walked into the middle of someone else's dream. Or nightmare. She could understand Roy having more than one girlfriend. That made sense for a guy like him. But these women? These incredibly attractive women? That was nonsensical.

Something inside Agnes lurched. Not physically. Existentially.

Jessica Holloway. Partner-track lawyer. Confident. Successful. Elegant. The woman Agnes quietly admired. The woman who could have any man on the planet.

And she had picked Agnes' neighbour, Roy.

Agnes watched as Jessica moved to her neighbour's door and knocked. A few moments later, the apartment door opened, and Roy stepped into the hallway. It all seemed to be moving so quickly, not giving Agnes time to formulate any questions that might bring sense to this madness. His face brightened immediately.

"Jessica! Zara!"

Jessica moved first and kissed him. It was quick, comfortable, the familiar type of kiss that a woman gives her man when she is completely at ease in his presence.

Zara then squeezed her way between them and wrapped his head in his fingers and brought pulled him toward her, giving her own kiss. Not a quick, easy kiss, but a hot, fiery kiss that made Agnes blush to see.

There was no jealousy between the women, no awkwardness. Smiles of happiness were on both of their faces as Zara finished her kiss, stepped back, and sighed deeply.

It was only then that he noticed Agnes standing there.

"Agnes," he said, coldly. "I'm sorry I didn't see you. Have you met my girlfriends?"

"Yes," she answered. "Only just."

"Okay," he said, no hint of the lust that most men show in their eyes when they looked at her. "They'll be at my place tonight. We're expecting one more, in case you see her."

"Okay," was all she could think to say. Somehow, under the gaze of this potato of a man, Agnes felt unsure of herself. It was as if when he looked at her, he could see her more clearly than she could see herself. It was an entirely unpleasant experience, and if it hadn't been for social convention, she would have immediately walked away from the encounter, returning to the sanctuary of her apartment.

"Well, ladies, would you like to come in?" Roy said. "I want to introduce you to Michelle."

"Lead the way," Jessica answered.

"It was really great meeting you," Zara said, smiling at Agnes, then making her way into Roy's apartment. "I hope we can connect again. You seem really nice!"

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jessica said over her shoulder. "Pleasant surprise seeing you."

The three disappeared inside. The apartment door closed. Silence returned. Agnes remained standing in the hallway for another several seconds before mechanically retreating into her own apartment.

The lock clicked. Her back rested against the door.

No.

No, no, no.

That...

None of that made sense. Jessica Holloway. Dating Roy Robinson. Not secretly. Not reluctantly. Not some weird kink thing. Not a blackmail situation.

Openly.

Proudly.

Alongside however many other women there apparently were.

Agnes shook her head slowly in bewilderment, then walked numbly toward the living room instead.

The sofa accepted her weight, but her mind refused to settle. Jessica wasn't stupid. Jessica wasn't naïve. Jessica wasn't desperate, ugly, fat, poor, or blind. If anything, she'd always struck Agnes as intimidatingly competent. The sort of woman who evaluated people correctly. Who made good decisions. Who never tolerated fools.

So...

What did Jessica see that Agnes didn't?

Roy had always seemed so ordinary. No, that wasn't right. Less than ordinary. Short. Heavy. Middle-aged. The sort of man Agnes would've dismissed without a second thought. Except, it seemed, at least four women disagreed.

Four women!

The Black girl. The Middle Eastern girl. Jessica. And one more. A woman she hadn't met yet.

Agnes rubbed both temples. Maybe Roy was funny. Maybe he was incredibly charming. Maybe he was secretly rich.

No.

If Roy was rich, Agnes would have sniffed him out by now. She had a sense for that kind of thing, an awareness of who had money, who had power. Roy had neither.

Maybe...

No.

Maybe...

The possibilities kept collapsing.

Maybe it was real. Maybe what Agnes had just witnessed was a real, true, healthy, loving relationship. Maybe there was something that Agnes just didn't get about her neighbour.

She'd been furious at Roy for days, ever since he'd told her that he'd let that black girl move in. How dare he? How dare he bring someone like that into her building? It had taken far too long to find this apartment, researching what her life would be if she picked this building: age of the structure, utility costs, demographics of the residents.

She'd built a life that made sense. A safe life. A respectable life. One where she was able to stay away from people she preferred not to be around.

Now Roy kept introducing variables she hadn't agreed to. It had felt invasive. Claustrophobic. Like someone had quietly rearranged the walls of her world.

But not understanding Roy's relationship with Jessica and the others, that was far worse than having the black girl move in next door. If a woman like Jessica could love Roy, if nobody else saw an issue with it, then maybe the problem was Agnes.

And if Agnes was wrong about that, if her judgement could be so off base, what else could Agnes be wrong about?

Not just about Roy.

About everything?

The idea arrived so suddenly that it frightened her.

No.

That wasn't possible. She wasn't wrong. How could she be wrong? Her eyes drifted toward the dark television. The room felt strangely quiet. Too quiet. Almost as if the walls were staring at her, accusing.

Without thinking, Agnes reached for the remote. The television flickered to life. A familiar news anchor on the right-wing station that she often accused of being far too liberal appeared almost immediately. Voices filled the apartment. She allowed the sound to wrap around her, comforting her, bringing her certainty.

This was what she needed. Not questions about why her coworker was crazy about her loser neighbour. Not challenges to her moral scaffolding, nor urges to examine what kind of man she did like, and why Roy wasn't on that list. Agnes turned the volume up another few notches.

There.

Better.

The questions became harder to hear.

Not impossible.

Just...

Quieter.