Woah.

I had a double take, blinking after I had swung open the door to the roof access of my apartment complex. There was another woman up there, long wavy red hair and pale skin. She wasn't moving, frozen in time like me. It was the only reason why I stopped at the door, afraid my next step would cause the universe to press the 'play' button again. I couldn't focus on the city view, my eyes were locked on her, a weird chill shook me before I shut the door quietly behind me.

/Come on, just relax, deep breath. You've heard about people doing this all the time. Say something./

"Ahh, hey..."

She turned around so quickly I almost flinched, throwing some of her hair off her shoulder. She had a lot of freckles, but her face was like stone, with a mix of discontent and irritation. My mouth was part way open, until I realized it was getting dry from the cold air. I swallowed and pulled together a smile. "I like your hair." It was true, running fingers through my own hair. Just a short pixie cut, I dyed it purple a few days ago but it turned out way more neon colored than I wanted.

Her fingers curled a little more on the metal railing around the roof edge. "Thanks."

/Oh good, she spoke./

I felt a second wind, but I wasn't willing to take another step. She seemed pretty imposing. "Soooo, um, you live here I take it?" I was just trying to keep it casual.

"I do."

"Oh, cool. What floor?"

"Third floor."

I started nodding, but went with it. "Yeah? cool,"
/Gah, I already said that./
"I actually live a little ways east of here, off of Redbug. I rent out an apartment here though, I was just checking on it and stuff..."

"Must have a pretty good job to afford two places." It was good that she was at least keeping conversation.

I perked up when she mentioned my job though. "Oh yeah! I work as a weapon and armor designer, business has been pretty good since all of those American gladiators started moving up to Toronto for work. And aaaah..."
/I'm talking too much, let her talk./
"How about you?"

"I'm just a secretary for some normal organization."

"Well that's not so bad. Not nearly as dangerous, huh?" I was trying not to smile as much since I was starting to force it. I was just wool gathering, but I was already starting to tighten up at the idea of changing the subject. I decided to keep going and see if I could gather some bravery. "You have any roommates?"

"No, I live by myself." She turned around and looked back out at the city lights and I felt the blood in my arms sting. I took a step forward, freezing afterwards in case she heard it. "Have you always lived here? Like in Toronto?"

"No, I moved up here when my job did."

"Guessing you have the day off tomorrow? It's pretty late for you to be up here for one of those usual nine to five jobs, eh?"

She didn't say anything for a few seconds, then a minute. My second wave was gone, my chest was burning. I took another step forward, I could feel the trembling in my voice. "Hey hey, I uh, hehe, uh...I mean, do you-are you looking for a roommate? I could help you look, I've got a lot of people that..."

/Oh geez this isn't helping, just stop. stop talking./

"I...sorry I'm getting all flustered and...I'm-"
/Say it. Go on. She looks like she likes honesty./
"I'm nervous."

I don't think I was able to breathe normally after she looked away until my honesty caused her to looked back. Now that I was closer I could get a better look at her.

"...why are you smiling?"

I snapped my head up, turning away from her after she asked. "Sorry, you have...you have really cool eyes. They're grey and..."
/It's still true, but come on...just talk about something else./
"Do you have any pets at home? Seems like it'd be really lonely in an apartment by yourself."

She looked more captivated at that, she was looking right at me now, listening sincerely. I didn't really mind that she wasn't before, since I was kind of screwing this all up anyway. I felt like there was so much on the line, which didn't help at all. Thankfully her replies were breaking my thought process.

"No, I don't have any pets..."

/Am I going about this the wrong way? I mean she's responding, but usually this isn't how it works, at least not on TV.../
"Have you thought of getting one? I mean, unless you have any allergies."

She kept her grip on the railing pretty tight, I swallowed hard until she finally spoke. "I don't have any allergies."

"Oh, well, you know, there's a pet shelter like two blocks from this place. You could adopt a dog or a cat there."

"I'm more of a dog person."

"Oh! Me too!"
/That may have been too loud./
"I, uh, know the clerk there, or at least the one that works the morning shift. I don't know if that would...help you or anything but-"

"Look."

My breathing stopped. I don't think I was very good at hiding my anxiety after she said that, there was a chill in my skin, colder than the Toronto air at least.

She sighed sharply. "I know what you're trying to do here."

/Don't freak out, nothing's happening yet. Be honest./
"I-It figures, it isn't too hard to figure out what's going on here I guess, huh?"

"Not really."

She pulled her head back, looking away again, and I panicked. I took a big step forward. "Hey! Hey, look," I was desperate, and it worked at least. She turned back with a little less enthusiasm than before. I felt so many words trying to cram through my head and out my mouth I couldn't form anything coherent.

"I...keep...look back at me, please."

She removed a hand off the railing to pull her hair back, I think she heard me gasp a little after that, slowly moving her hand back to the railing before she had finished.

"Listen...what's your name?"

Thankfully I stopped mentally blabbering to myself to answer. "Sam."

"Sam..." It felt unreal just hearing her say my name. "I'm scaring you, aren't I?"

"Y-Yeah." I couldn't help myself, I had to force some sort of smile to try and keep what little of a good mood was left. "This is all just...you really..."

I noticed a few subtle changes in her face, though then it started to blur out when my eyes started to water. Wow, this wasn't going well...

"I liked your idea, going to the pound to get a dog..."

I blinked to try and clear the blurring out, causing a few tears to run down. There was no way to hide them anyway. "Really?"

"Yeah, I'd like that. I've always wanted a pet. A puppy or something."

I tried not to sniff to make the crying less obvious, rubbing my face. "Oh totally! I can...I can take the day off tomorrow or whenever really. My manager gives me really flexible hours, seriously, I can drive us there and-"

"I've got a car. We can both drive there and meet during lunch."

"Yeah, definitely. That'd be so great...really. I'd love to do that with you..."

"...I'm glad you would."


Since I'd come up to the roof, it felt like someone had been gradually choking me out. I'm not religious, but I had to mentally thank someone when she stepped away from the ledge and climbed back over the railing.


"Tomorrow for lunch, right?" I confirmed, wiping my face when her face blurred up again.

"Tomorrow for lunch." She said with a curt nod. "I'm Irenne, by the way." After giving her name, Irenne dug into her pants pocket, offering a small cloth normally used for cleaning glasses to me. I waved my hand to turn down the offer.

"It's nice to meet you, Irenne. Did uh, you want my number or something before I go? Anything? There's a coffee machine in the room I rent out here, I could..."

Irenne rose her hand at me, so I shut my mouth, watching her face shift from a cold discontented mood to exhaustion. "Yeah, coffee sounds nice about now."

"It's the Keurig machine stuff, not really home brewed, is that okay?"

"Yeah."

I took a few steps back, almost not wanting to take my eyes off of her until I got to the door, holding it open for her.

"Thanks." She'd say, before stepping inside.

After I followed her in and shut the door behind us, I walked with her towards the staircase. At that point, after what happened, I was probably just as tired as she was. I didn't know if she wanted to talk, but I didn't want to hog up all the...sound space? Sure, that's a word.

Once we got up to the door, Irenne finally broke the silence before I could dig out my key. "Sam?"

I looked up from digging through my jacket pockets, finding my key in the left one. "Yeah?"

"Thanks."