“You’re in the apartment below me? You’re the noisy jerk who keeps everyone awake all night?”
Chuckling, he hides his eyes when he glances into his lap. “No, that’s the third floor. They’re noisy as fuck. But I guess sometimes I stomp around to get payback, so maybe I am the noisy jerk in your eyes.” His gaze comes back up. “I was just thinking about my fifth-floor neighbor as I was walking here.”
I swallow dry waffle and chase it with cocoa. “You were?”
“Yeah. You’re so quiet, I wondered if you were dead.”
My stomach dips. “Dead? What the hell’s the matter with you?”
He laughs and turns back to the counter. “I swear, I never hear anyone up there, so I figured my neighbor was either already dead, or a dancer who’s light on their feet.” Staring at my plate a little too long and telegraphing his intentions, he reaches out without invitation. Whipping up my knife, I bring it down with a swift slice and embed the blade between his fingers.
His dark eyes snap back to mine in surprise.
“Don’t touch my fucking food.”
Pulling back slowly, he studies his unharmed hand, wiggles his fingers, then glances back to the knife stuck in the countertop. “What the fuck, Sophia?”
I push my food to the right and scoot back to my original stool. “I don’t know you, so don’t touch my food. I already let you have the marshmallows. That’s all the quarter you get from me. And yes,” I flip my long hair back so it doesn’t get in the syrup, “I’m a classically trained dancer… I was. A long time ago. But I was the best, so it sticks around even when you haven’t done it in eight years.”
* * *
Three days after officially meeting the mysterious man in Ginnie’s diner, I step into the hall of our apartment complex and regret my decision to share with him where I live. I should have kept my trap shut, because now I get random taps on my floor, like someone is using a broom handle to talk in Morse code. The worst thing is, I know Morse code, and something tells me Jay’s incessant tapping isn’t coincidental.
“Finally!” Hands in his jeans pockets, coat wrapped around his broad body, and a ball cap pulled low over his eyes, Jay pushes away from his apartment door as I round the staircase and step onto the fourth floor. “I’m starving, Soph! Jesus, I’m wasting away down here, but I never know if you’re home, ‘cause you got those dancer feet. So I tap-tap-tap, but I dunno if you’re there to hear me.”
I don’t stop when he steps in front of me. I use mydancerfeet and move around him, then I keep moving down the stairs. “Hi, Jay.”
“Wait up.” He jogs down the stairs and catches up until our shoulders touch. I pull my handbag close, though I doubt he’s here to mug me. “You hungry? Because I’m starving and have a hankering for more of Ginnie’s curly fries.”
“That’s a good idea.” I swing down to the third floor.
“Awesome. We can–”
“You should go there. Ginnie is so nice, so I bet she’d hang out with you.”
“Oh!” Laughing, he snags my arm when I hurriedly take the bottom two steps and stumble. “That was a solid brush off, Miss Wise and Peaceful. It was so smooth, it makes me think you get asked out on a regular basis. Your comeback was smoother than butter, but my stubborn streak is my most loved quality. Come on.” He tugs me in the direction of the diner as soon as we step out onto the street. Digging his free hand into his coat pocket, he comes out with gummy worms and holds his hand up in offering. “Want to pre-game our meal?”
I scrunch my nose and study his hand with distrust. “Ew. No. Did nobody teach you about food hygiene and accepting opened food from a stranger?”
“Nope. Where I come from, you eat what you’re given, and you don’t bitch about it.” He doesn’t say it in a cutting tone. He’s not tellingmeto eat what I’m told and to stop bitching. He’s recounting a literal childhood lesson. With a shrug, he pulls his hand back and shoves the worms into his mouth. “I need food, like all the damn time. It’s like a nervous energy thing; I gotta eat, or I go mad.”
“Okay, well,” I try to spin out of his grasp, “you enjoy your meal. I was actually heading…”to Ginnie’s. But now I’m not so sure.
“Come on. We’ve slept in the same building for months, and I didn’t murder you yet. Isn’t that proof I’m not a creep?”
Laughing despite myself, I stop fighting and instead step into the diner when he swings the door open. “You tell all the girls to trust you on that basis?”
“Nah. I rarely even talk to girls. Just you and Ginnie. Hi, beautiful. We’re gonna sit in a booth today.”
“Okay, honey. I’ll be over in two secs.”
Jay leads me to a booth on the far side of the diner and helps me slide in. From the moment I stepped out of my apartment, I’ve been railroaded and shuffled where he wants me to go. I should be pissed, but mostly my mind is stuck onI rarely even talk to girls.“I find it hard to believe Ginnie and I are the only female companions you know, Jay. This isn’t a date, and we aren’t a thing, so you don’t have to lie.”
“Oh, nah. I meant it literally – I don’ttalkto many women. I fuck them; we have fun, then they leave again. But we hardly talk.”
I walked straight into that.
I’m such an idiot.