#f2f 001

[Upon receiving Shoshanna’s text, Adelaide sighs. It’s obvious that her friend was in need of some sort of comforting. Not that Addy was great at that. But she could try. She went downstairs and helped Shosh bring up her dogs, letting them all get comfortable.] 

Shoshanna, do you want red or white? 

[She asks this from the kitchen, hoping Shosh was settled on the couch in the next room, an open bottle of red in her hand as she pours herself a glass. The best thing you could do when girls weren’t happy was give them booze. At least, that’s what she hoped. She took a sip of her wine before calling to her friend again.]

Never the one to start conversation with people she didn’t know personally, Marley Rose decided to keep her mouth shut. Besides, her mother struck the fear of god in her when it came to talking to strangers in New York. Coming from a small town, Millie Rose was a little paranoid and didn’t want the Big Bad City to eat her poor baby alive. 

But the box the man held next to her seemed like a real challenge. He was young, maybe her age or a few years older, his tattooed arms flexed as he gripped the edges of a giant cardboard box labeled HEAVY. Judging from the number 7 illuminated on the elevator menu, they were going to the same floor, so...

“Sorry,” Marley’s voice cracked and she cleared her throat, “Do you need help with that box? I mean, I probably can’t do very much, but it looks kind of bulky and heavy, so --”

“Yeah, you know, if you wouldn’t mind just opening the door to my place, that would be great,” he responded with a smile, “my keys are in this hand,” he jingled them against the box so that Marley could reach them.

“Right,” she replied as he handed off the keys, “of course -- no problem. I’m guessing you’re new here?”

“New to Manhattan, not to New York. Moved out of my ex’s place from Brooklyn and now I’m here,” a wide grin indicated he meant no hard feelings. At least Marley thought initially, though she knew relationships could get messy and pouring your heart out on the floor wasn’t something one typically did in front of a total stranger.

“Mhm,” Marley responded, leading the pair down the hallway, “well, I’m Marley -- I moved in a couple months ago with my friend, we live in apartment 7E.”

“Oh, sweet, I’m -- oh right here,” the man dropped the box against a door that read 7D and took in a heavy sigh of relief. “Thanks. Uh. This is embarrassing but now i’m realizing I sort of didn’t need you to open he door for me,” he laughed, feeling foolish, and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

Marley laughed, nothing the apartment number and pointing to it. “7D? Guess that makes us neighbors.” She extended her hand and offered him back his keys.

“Wesley.” he took back the keys and proceeded to shake Marley’s hand. “Nice to meet you, neighbor.”

From there, Marley found making smalltalk was actually surprisingly simple. Wesley seemed friendly and easy to talk to, and it seemed like a good opportunity to try to make a new friend. For a city with over one million people living in it, New York could get astonishingly lonely at times.

So, she learned bits about his story -- bad breakup in Brooklyn and a new job in music production led Wesley to the East Village. He bartends on the side to make some extra cash, since he’s just starting out in the studio. Originally from Westchester, oldest brother of five, and actually never met his roommate before. Both applied for the place on Craigslist and the building owner decided they were the best fit for it. Go figure.

“If you need anything at all, just come knock,” Marley said as their conversation came to a close, “we live literally across the hall.”

“Yeah, thanks, Marley,” Wes’s smile was contagious. Marley sensed that immediately from him. “If you don’t have anything better to do, mind helping me set up a little? I’ll treat you and Kurt to pizza tonight as sort of a housewarming.”

He turned the key in the lock, ready to open the door to his new place -- and new roommate.

Dara ran her fingers through her hair, a nervous habit that had stuck when she was a young girl. She stood on her tiptoes before taking a deep breath and walking forward a few steps to reach the door of her best friend’s house in the valley. This was so not what she was used to. The feeling in her stomach made her want to turn back and run as far away as possible, but she knew that the girl behind these doors meant too much to her. She knocked three times before bouncing on the balls of her feet. 

“Avi, Jesus, you’re supposed to be waiting for me.” She chimed to herself, giggling softly as she adjusted her shirt. Her nervous energy was running rapidly through her veins. 

The taxi ride from the bus station to the apartment he shared, with two of the most important females in his life, was long. At least it wasn’t as long as the bus ride. That one was an hour or so. He stared up at the building, taking a deep breath. They didn’t know that he was able to come home; Not this early into his tour. Honestly, he didn’t know if he was home for good or if he had to return to Afghanistan. Finn was hoping for the first option, but for now, he was just glad to be home.

Handing the money to the gentleman, Finn grabbed his bag, throwing it over his shoulder. It was the middle of the day, so the streets were busy. It was New York, so of course they were busy. He made his way inside, fingers scratching at the beard that had taken residence on his face. Keys were down in his bag somewhere, so there was no point in trying to dig them out. Stepping into the elevator, a yawn escaped from him, jet lag, more than likely, kicking in, but an idea formed in his head. He had ran his hand over his face, pulling his other phone from his pocket, Finn called the house phone, getting the voicemail. Calling from his other phone made an international number appear on the caller I.D., so they would assume that he was still overseas. Rachel and Quinn were probably busy, so he just wound up leaving a voicemail.

Blaine had one of his hands shoved into the pocket of his winter jacket and the other gripped his coffee cup. “I don’t understand how it could get so cold here,” he said absently to Kurt, bumping his shoulder against the taller boy. “I’d like to take you back home and show you what a southern winter is like.”

So with that in mind, it wasn’t really all that surprising for him to get a little about going to this party his mom throw. It was a business party, one that was attended by his every worker at his mom’s production company, with a lot of The Big Guys coming. Naturally, since his mom knew his ridiculous habits (her words, not his), she had kept on asking him to behave. But then again, she was practically asking for the impossible. So, as much as he loved his mom, he decided to still gonna roll like usual; flirt with some interns and take them home when his mother isn’t looking his way. Sure he might get caught for his bullshit, but hey it would all be worth it.

Now, before his plan begins, all he needed to do was fulfilling his promise to his mom. She said that she wanted to introduce him to someone – a lovely young woman, she had told him and he had to keep the urge from rolling his eyes because it was started to sound like she was arranging a marriage with her. But since she wouldn’t stop bugging he eventually agreed, which was why he was standing there with his mom, trying to participate (or at least pretend to) in a conversation with his mom and a few other guests. They were discussing all about business and political matters he couldn’t even care less when his mom suddenly said, “Oh there you are!” Ian looked towards the direction his mother went off, towards a girl that he felt he’d seen before, though he wasn’t sure where. It wasn’t until his eyes met that it finally clicked on him, and all he could think was: well fuck.