brick by brick

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At the very least, their superintendent looked equally unimpressed with whatever attempt at a joke the man was making.

“This is just further confirmation that people like you for your arms and not your personality,” Tanvi snapped, letting her eyes trailed over the bulge of his biceps before flicking back up to his face and letting out an indignant ‘hmph!’

It appeared that her neighbour simply refused to stop there. He seemed to want to further her humiliation for nothing more than, what? His own amusement? A way to save him from his boredom? She could only imagine he must not have a particularly fulfilling life if this was how he reacted to such a small hiccup in the middle of his day. Yet here he was, commandeering everyone’s attention with wild swinging motions of his arms.

He’d even pulled Graham into the mix and Tanvi fixed her other neighbour with a stony glare, hoping her scowl conveyed everything that she was feeling right now: that if he so much as thought about joining in with this awful little charade, she would make sure that he explained the merits of tampons over sanitary towels to his granddaughter by himself next time. She was not above leaving him to flounder in the feminine care section of Target on his own.

Folding her arms across her chest as he began a ridiculous slow-clap, she fought back against the burning feeling of humiliation crawling all over her skin. She had been trying her best! Yes, it had gone wrong but–

“Have you never made a mistake in your life?” she blurted out, suddenly more than a little irate. Barely resisting the urge to stamp her foot on the ground at the unfairness of it all, she powered on. “I’m sorry that something as important as your shower got interrupted but I am trying, okay? How am I meant to do anything right if no one will let me get things wrong first?”

This man simply wasn’t to know about her parents' reservations and her older sister’s disbelief when she told him about her plans to make it on her own in a little apartment just for her. He wasn’t to know about the way Mark had given her a look that suggested he thought she was insane, only to laugh and say, “Oh, bunny, I don’t think that sort of thing is for people like you.”

Her infuriatingly handsome neighbour wasn’t to know any of that, but he was the one standing in front of her and gloating right as she had reached her breaking point.

“Yes! I burned lunch! I didn’t realise I was the only person in the world to have done it. Yes! I did hammer my thumb trying to hang up a photo frame last night!” She stuck her band-aid wrapped thumb out at him for evidence then threw it back down by her side. “I didn’t realise that meant I had to be an unwilling participant in your small-minded little comedy routine!”

His amusement was short lived as he watched her flounder under the attention, the vein in her forehead standing to attention as though it might explode clean out of her skull. She seemed less embarrassed now than she did, well, furious. She stared around at them all, shooting daggers into the side of Graham’s head – who, to his credit, seemed to look a little more shamefaced than the rest of them, offering her a sympathetic smile as she spun on the spot – and Garrett had to admit that he felt a little bad. 

Not nearly as bad as he probably should feel, but he had the good decency to at least feel a little guilty for having caused a scene. Sure, she was the one that had dragged them all out of their apartments and onto the sidewalk, but he probably shouldn’t have kept pushing her buttons. The problem with pretty, entitled – and, if her general disposition and the label on her shorts was anything to go by, rich – girls was that... Well, they were pretty fun to tease. And Little Miss Fire Hazard seemed to fit the bill in every way imaginable. She was beautiful in a way that told Garrett she was well aware and was likely hoping to use it to get herself out of her situation. 

Still, her assessment of the situation wasn’t entirely wrong. He had young nieces and nephews and he’s spent their whole life trying to drill into them how important it was to own their mistakes and learn from them. Sure, she was a damn sight older than them and should have been able to do something as basic as cook herself a pot noodle without setting fire to the stove, but maybe he wasn’t in the position to judge. If he’d heard someone talk to his little niece the way he’d spoken to her, he’d have knocked their head square off their shoulders. 

“Alright, Princess. We all make mistakes, it’s all good,” he sighed, running a hand through his damp hair. 

Shooting a glance toward their superintendent, Garrett offered a sheepish smile as the other man started to slowly bellow over the crowd, slowly beckoning for everyone to make their way back inside. If their friendly neighbourhood arsonist was about to have a meltdown, he probably figured she deserved to do so without as little spectators as possible. 

He was readying himself to speak up again, this time to apologise, but she kept on going. Garrett’s eyebrows shot up along his forehead, practically settling in his hair as his eyes widened in surprise. Despite his earlier conscience, his lips quirked into an amused smirk as her tirade lead her down the slippery slope of listing every mistake she’d ever made in recent days. A low chuckle escaped him as he spotted the dollar store bandaid that she’d wrapped around her thumb, decorated with the same pretty Unicorns that his niece loved. 

“Are those Prada medical supplies y’have there or are are they more Thom Browne?” he teased, unable to help himself. 

Finally, he threw his hands up in surrender and waved away her frustrations. He took a step closer to his neighbour and clasped his hands together in front of her, adopting a gentler, more apologetic smile. 

“I’m sorry, alright? I get it, you’re trying,” he put emphasis on the latter, silently noting that trying didn’t mean succeeding. He knew he should leave it there, and let her take or leave his apology, but he couldn’t help but be amused by her severe lack of DYI skills. There wasn’t a worse person she could’ve admitted her struggles to. 

“Sounds like you need a nice strong man to come and hang those frames for you, huh?” He hated the way the words sounded, teeming with misogyny. She wasn’t to know that he was a glorified handyman, fit for the exact purpose she needed, and not some sleaze who thought women couldn’t do anything for themselves. 

Hell, even when she had been dating Mark, she’d managed to convince him that he’d made her finish every time he pulled out of her and then fixed his puppy-dog eyes on her to seek her approval. 

Suffice to say, Tanvi was particularly good at spinning a yarn, yet she was floundering right now. And it irritated her to the nth degree to turn and see her horrendously attractive neighbour leering at her in amusement, as if nothing delighted him more than the idea of catching her out. How he had managed to see right through her, she didn’t know. She thought she had been her usual brand of extremely convincing.

All eyes seemed to be on her as the superintendent walked in her direction. She hadn’t been in the building long, and so she had yet to find the time to charm everyone yet. There had been a few run-ins with some of her neighbours in the elevator where she had bypassed small talk in favour of complimenting their outfits or adorable grandchildren or, in one instance, a potted plant that she knew would die immediately if left in her care. Tanvi knew how to talk her way into people’s good favour, but as the superintendent walked over, alabaster brow set heavily in a frown as he glared at her, she knew this one might be more of a challenge

Of course, Mr Charisma by her side seemed to think he was qualified to take the reins. She shot an annoyed glare his way when he plastered a smile on his face and greeted the other man like they were old friends. Tanvi hadn’t even been aware his name was Sal.

More annoying was the idea that Tanvi couldn’t style her hair without burning the building down. She narrowed her eyes at once.

“My curls are natural, thank you,” she shot back. “And it wasn’t because I was curling my hair, it was because I was cooking lunch.”

The admission, which was as good of a confession as any, fell from her mouth without her permission. Immediately, her cheeks darkened and she let out a quiet huff.

“I mean…”

She looked helplessly, and perhaps a little apologetically at Sal, whose frown only deepened. The idea of a man frowning so much at a woman making one little mistake when she was sure his life was comprised of many, many more was enough to raise her hackles and she stood as tall as she could.

“But I put it out by myself. It was already out by the time he and his team showed up!” she said, pointing an accusing finger at the firefighter who had, so far, stood there and said nothing. 

The man, helmet on with his visor flipped up and the name ‘McQueen’ plastered on his turn-outs lifted his shoulder in a small shrug.

“I’ll give her that. It was out,” he said quietly.

Tanvi let out a ha! of victory, smugness creeping into her tone as she turned to Sal and her neighbour.

“See!”

Admittedly, it had almost worked, but that was before he’d known the truth. 

Of course, he didn’t totally blame her for lying. Who would ever want to admit to being the reason a whole building full of people were now standing outside in the cold, wintry breeze, most of them half-dressed or in their pyjamas, disgruntled and confused? He didn’t envy her, that was for sure, but he didn’t feel a whole lot of sympathy either. What grown woman in their right mind didn’t know how to cook a basic lunch without it being a safety hazard? 

“Oh yeah? Y’know, I don’t think Flamin’ Hot Cheetos qualify as cooking lunch, but nice try,” Garrett grinned. He could feel the superintendent's glare even without looking, and the firefighter across from them looked sheepish in the face of his joke. Whatever, he knew that shit would land with his nieces, nephews and Felix if nobody else appreciated the shitty pun. 

The three of them – and a few nosy neighbours – watched her with curious eyes as she fumbled and floundered over her words, desperately trying to explain away the obvious confession that she’d handed them. It was amusing, really. Garrett knew Sal wasn’t likely to do much about the disturbance, particularly if there was no real damage done to the apartment, but he hoped the older man would at least let her sweat for a little longer. It seemed unreasonable that the only punishment she’d get would be the frustrated glares of her neighbours who would inevitably forget about her in a day or two. 

“Aw, well la-di-da, would y’look at that? She put on her big girl pants and put it out by herself,” Garrett announced, giving the woman next to him a slow, dramatic clap. His elbow shot out to give Graham a quick nudge in the side, as he noticed his buddy appear at the side. “Y’hear that everyone? She’s a regular superhero.” 

He was having way too much fun with teasing her, releasing another loud, unbearable chuckle as the firefighter across from them looked hopelessly around him, as though searching for an escape of his own. The poor bastard was just doing his job, and now he was face-to-face with the world’s first cartoon villain come to life. 

Rolling his eyes, Garrett propped both hands on his hips and released a sigh. 

“Am I allowed to get back to my shower now, or are we all supposed to stick around for a little longer while Princess over here explains the merits of microwave dinners?” he arched a brow her way, smirking. 

Tanvi wished that she could say she wasn’t immediately moved by the sight of sharp eyes and a pearly-white smile, but if she did she would only be following on with the habit she’d undertaken today of being a complete liar. She was a woman who had once been forced to attend an all-girls school, which meant that on the few occasions when they were allowed to attend a co-ed dance with the boys from the neighbouring academy, the whole thing was like a pride of lions showing up to a watering hole. It felt like every attendee was fair game, and mouths had watered.

Even the men in her circle were nothing like the specimen in front of her. They were either a wet blanket like her ex, gay like Kai, Hugo and Sidney or they were… well, whatever Chris and Carmen were.

Suffice to say she wasn’t altogether used to being flirted with the type of men that she wanted to flirt with her; namely, handsome, confident men who looked frankly fantastic in a thin tank top.

Vain as it was, she couldn’t help but preen a little under the way he so easily called her beautiful. No subtext, no preamble, just straight to Tanvi’s ego. Naturally, with this now under her belt, she could never ever tell him that she was the reason they were all gathered out here in the cold like a huddle of penguins.

“Perhaps you should say that a little louder so our friend can actually hear you,” she pointed out with a teasing, red-lipped smile as she nodded towards the cross-looking woman from before. “I think her mood would be improved if she knew you thought she was, what was it? Beautiful?”

Her tongue caught demurely in the corner of her mouth, the way it always did when she knew she was in charge of getting her and her girls free drinks at the bar. It might have worked to make the man in front of her make the next move, if it hadn’t been for her coughing fit.

“I’m fine!” she insisted, far too brightly. She pressed her hand against her chest and awkwardly cleared her throat to try and suppress the tickle there.

There were murmurs in the crowd about the firefighters exiting the building. Content that this little hiccup would be quickly put to bed, Tanvi shot the man another winning smile, only to realise he was giving her an odd look before he swiftly glanced away. Following his eyeline, she realised that he was looking at the firefighters and the building’s superintendent. And the rather rude way they were currently pointing at her.

Still desperately trying to feign ignorance, Tanvi folded her arms across her chest with an affected casualness and pretended to peer around her. 

“I wonder who they’re pointing at,” she mused, before the bellowing voice of the super cut through the air.

“Miss Tanvi Sharma?” he called, prompting her to immediately wince.

In a misguided attempt to save face, she turned to the visibly white lady next to her, hoping beyond hope that there might actually be two Tanvi Sharmas in the vicinity and one of them was the bottle blonde in the velour tracksuit with the word ‘juicy’ printed across the butt of it. 

“Is that you, or… No. Of course. No,” she said, quickly accepting defeat. She turned back to her devastatingly hot neighbour.

“They might want to thank me for keeping everyone calm,” she explained.

“You got somethin’ y’wanna tell me sweetheart?” Garrett quietly mused, offering her a sideways glance and a teasing smirk. 

If her words were anything to go by, she seemed just as clueless as him, but Garrett was no fool. He had enough siblings, nieces and nephews to know when someone was caught in a lie, and the pretty little lady next to him was showing all the signs. Arching a brow, he silently waited for her to fess up, before she was called out and humiliated in front of their entire building block. In a move that was equal parts embarrassing as it was admirable, she seemed to be committing to the bit as she glanced around them in confusion, unresponsive to the name they’d called out. 

If she wasn’t the Tanvi in question, then the superintendent was about to look like a real ass for not being able to look past the dollar signs glued to his retinas for long enough to recognise his own tenants. And if she was, well, Garrett had a front row seat to whatever hole she was digging herself. He crossed his arms across his chest, mirroring her body language with a little more ease, his own casual stance coming a little more naturally than her own. 

“Oh, yeah? Is that so?” Garrett grinned, meeting her gaze with a twinkle in his eye. It was almost conspiratorial, the way he ducked his head low, tone dropping to barely a whisper, as though they were in on it together. 

He was about thirty seconds away from releasing a loud, booming laugh at her obvious discomfort, when the firefighters in question came to a final halt beside them. Rising back to his full height, Garrett turned to face them, a warm and welcoming smile on his face for the mighty heroes of the city who had just dragged him, half-naked out of the shower and out into the cold streets of New York. 

“What’s the damage, Sal? Someone leave their curlers on?” he mused as he addressed their superintendent. His gaze drifted back to Tanvi, her own pretty curls framing her hair perfectly, as though to accent his point. 

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The risotto, which had initially been the perfect dish for Tanvi to prove her mettle as a bidding chef, went up in flames almost instantly. She wasn’t even sure where she had gone wrong, but in between tossing her vegetables into the frying pan and then grabbing her phone to confer with Google and double check exactly what the process of sauteeing involved, the dish had gone up in flames. She’d immediately grabbed a dish towel and began swatting at it to middling success.

She was almost positive that dousing it with water wouldn’t help, and so she’d grabbed her apartment’s fire extinguisher instead, half-screaming in frustration when the peg wouldn’t immediately give way to her feeble grip. Eventually, she wrangled it into submission, spraying her charred lunch and half of her kitchen with the foam. When all that was left was the lingering wisps of smoke, she quickly realised that the ringing in her ears was actually the shrill blare of the fire alarm. A dismayed groan left her at once.

“You have got to be kidding me!” she said, stomping her foot. That wasn’t fair! She’d put the fire out herself! The building’s alarm didn’t need to sell her out like this, and she let out another whine when she remembered the warnings of her superintendent on the day she’d moved into the building: the alarm sent a direct alert to the nearest fire station.

Soon enough, Tanvi could hear the distant sound of sirens. Not an uncommon occurrence in New York, but she knew that they would be headed for her building.

Tipping her head back with a loud groan and a fresh determination to play dumb if any of her neighbours asked, she slipped into the hallway, nearly getting caught up in the stampede of the building’s inhabitants as they swarmed the hallways in a bid to get outside.

“I’m sure it’s nothing!” she called, diplomatically. When one woman in particular gave her a strange look, she quickly corrected herself so nobody would think she was complicit in this hiccup in their afternoon. “But I wouldn’t know if the fire was out or not. So we should definitely get outside.”

As she stood shivering on the sidewalk outside the building, mournfully regretting her decision not to grab her coat from where it was draped across her sofa (she had yet to find the courage to hang her coat hook on the wall), she was momentarily distracted by a deep voice talking to her.

Lifting her head so she could look at the man, her eyes widened at once. There was no denying that he was attractive in the way she often forgot men could be, so used to the men in her circles being terribly stuck-up or terribly gay. Yet here this man was, a rather modern day Adonis standing in front of her in clothes that looked like they could blow away from him any minute. She doubted anyone in the vicinity would mind that.

“Oh! Probably,” she said, pulling herself together. It was then that she realised she had a curler rolled into her bangs to give them a little extra bounce. Because of bloody course! Quickly, she reached out and ripped it out of her hair before humming a little and looking back at the man.

“I’m sure whoever it was must be so embarrassed,” she pointed out, in a vague attempt to defend her own honour.

The same grumpy-looking woman from the stairwell walked by them and wrinkled her nose. “Selfish, if you ask me!”

“Oh yes, completely idiotic!” Tanvi nodded, earnestly throwing away her principles. The minor smoke inhalation she’d endured from before suddenly crept back up on her and she immediately coughed into her fist. 

“Yeah, maybe,” he conceded, nodding absently. No doubt whoever the culprit was, they probably were embarrassed about their fuck up, and damn right that they should be. He didn’t have a whole lot of sympathy for them. 

He laughed openly at the girl as she loudly chimed in with some of their other neighbours. They’d settled on embarrassed, selfish and now idiotic in the span of about six seconds. It was impressive work, he had to give it to ‘em. 

“Still, though. I don’t feel too bad for ‘em. It’s their fault we’ve got beautiful women freezin’ out on the streets here now,” he noted, eyeing her pointedly. Just to drive home his point, he rubbed at his bulging arms – bespeckled with goosebumps and freckles as they were – as though to stave off the cold. 

Suddenly, the wind picked up and he found himself shuddering as the temperatures dropped, an icy chill coursing through his bones. Garrett really hated the fact that this moron had interrupted his shower. He hadn’t even had time to grab a sweater, though he supposed the wind was doing him a favour at least. He used the sudden burst of wind as an excuse to shuffle closer to the woman.  

“You alright there, darlin’?” Garrett eyed her curiously, wondering if the dumbass in question had been a close neighbour of hers. Maybe she was just asthmatic, he had no idea. Either way, it furthered his opinion that some people were just selfish. 

A commotion stirred up ahead as a number of firefighters came stomping out of the building, followed by the superintendent, seemingly searching around them for someone specific. It looked like they’d already found the cause of the disturbance, and with the super accompanying them, they likely knew who was responsible, too. He couldn’t wait to see someone get their ass handed to them. 

“Looks like we’ll be heading back inside soon, huh?” he noted, nodding up ahead. Suddenly, he frowned, noting the way they seemed to be staring directly at Garrett and the stranger. He shot her a quick, sideways glance, before casting his gaze forward again. Now they were pointing. 

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