Aruna and Rebecca Pt. 01

I put on a kettle of water and waited in the kitchen for it to boil. Oh god, if I had a crush on her, did that mean I was one too? A lesbian? Or maybe a bisexual? The kettle started to whistle and I took it off the fire. I poured the water in a bowl, on top of instant soup powder and took the butter from the fridge.

Maybe I was over-analysing it. She was just a friend, just my neighbour, and my body was just acting weird. I was just imagining these feelings, I hardly knew her. A few hours ago, before that kiss, everything was fine. Right?

I carried the soup to the table and put it in front of her. "I hope you like tomato soup. I still have to meet the first person who doesn't like it. Hold on, let me get a spoon." I turned around again and also took the bread and a knife for the butter. After I gave it to her she started to eat very, very carefully.

I took a pillow out of my bedroom and unpacked my winter down. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm making you a bed on the couch. I'm not letting you go back home while she's still there."

Rebecca shuddered and dunked a piece of bread in her soup. "I don't want to go back to her. Tomorrow I'm changing my locks. Nicky and I are so over." As if the monster upstairs wanted us to be sure she was still there, she began smashing things on the floor. "I hope I have some plates and cups left by tomorrow." Rebecca said, looking up. "Sorry to disturb your Sunday evening like this."

I came to sit with her again. "Don't say that." I said while my hand rested on her shoulder. "That's what friends are for. Besides, aren't good neighbours supposed to take care of each other a bit?"

I took my hand back and suddenly I didn't know what to say to her any more.

"Could we watch some TV before going to sleep?" she asked. "I need to take my mind off it."

"Of course." I stood up and we plopped down on the sofa.

"What's your cat's name?" I asked as two green eyes shone out from under the TV like two tiny flash lights.

"Rain." She answered as we flipped through channels. "I know it's a corny name, but it has a story."

I tried to lure the cat out of his hidey-hole, but all he did was stare at me with angry green eyes.

"Knowing Rain, he will probably only come out for food, in a few hours." She chuckled at my feeble attempts to get him interested in a shoelace. "I rescued him from the street and he's still skittish of most people. It took me almost two weeks before I could pet him, and even longer before he would sit on my lap."

I smiled and gave up trying to get the cat to play with me. "Who named him Rain?"

"I did." She answered while managing to lose a piece of bread in her soup. She drank the last bit and put her empty cup on the coffee table in front of us. "When I found him it was raining very hard outside. It was a Sunday morning and I went out to get some bread and croissants. I was rushing because I didn't want to get too wet or cold, but on my way back I heard a very pathetic meowing. So I went looking for the sound and there he was, behind a trash can, almost fully wrapped in a plastic bag. Now he is white, but then he was grey from the dirt and his fur was all wet. I picked him up and brought him home to give him food and get him dry and clean. I was planning to take him to a shelter afterwards, but by the time I was finished he'd conquered the couch and me. So I let him stay."

She put the last bit of bread in her mouth and swallowed. I noticed her neck was long and narrow and ended in two graceful collarbones. "He's very sweet, but he takes a long time to get used to people, and sometimes he doesn't at all. Nick could never come near him." I looked up at the ceiling and sincerely concurred with the cat. I would not let her get near me either, with that aggressive temper.

"She wasn't always like this you know." She said, as if she could read my thoughts. "In the beginning she was great. Sweet to me, nice to others, smart, creative, beautiful. She was everything I looked for. But then she started to become jealous, and it became worse and worse. I knew I had to let her go from the first time she hit me, but she seemed to regret that so much that I forgave her."

She was getting upset again and I could see she was fighting her tears. I kept my mouth shut, realizing that she had to tell this to somebody, and if it wasn't me, it had to be somebody else.

"But after that first time something was off between us." she continued. "The trust was gone and that made her all the more jealous. It changed her, and after a while I couldn't recognize anything from the Nicky she was at the beginning of our relationship. I tried to end it in a decent way, but..."

She lost the battle against the tears and cried in big sobs. She didn't need to tell the rest of the story. Her black eye, the terrified cat and the still smashing noises from upstairs already did that. I lay my arm around her shoulders. I wanted to say that it was all going to be al right, but I could not guarantee it so I said nothing.

We had already been sitting in silence for a long time when the cat sneaked warily out of his shelter. He came closer and eventually jumped on Rebecca's lap, where he nestled himself against her stomach and started to purr loudly, almost commanding to be stroked. She smiled and complied. "Crazy cat." she mumbled.

I pulled my arm back and let the cat sniff my hand. "Do you want some tea?"

Rebecca looked up into my face and nodded. Her face was all red and puffy, her hair was a big tangle, and her one eye was getting bluer by the minute, but I felt a tingle in my stomach. Or was it something else and my body was playing cruel tricks on my mind again?

After the tea it was already 12 o'clock and I had work the following day, so I went to bed leaving Rebecca with the extra down and a pillow to sleep on the couch.

As I closed my bedroom door and started to undress I wondered what she would wear to sleep tonight. I had seen her crawl under the blankets with all her clothes on, but she didn't seem the type to sleep with her clothes on to me. Maybe she just wanted to have some privacy to shed them.

I pictured how her legs would look naked and felt the tingle in my lower abdomen again. I had to stop this. This wasn't funny any more. She was taking shelter here for god's sake, I could not think like that about her again. It wasn't decent. I would not want that if I were in her place, or would I? I pictured her dreaming about me and that aroused me even more. I sighed. "Betrayer!" I mumbled to my body.

Chapter 4

When I woke up late the following morning because I forgot to set my alarm the previous night I could have shot myself. My watch said it was already 9:45! Frank would kill me! I quickly dressed and hurried to the bathroom. Since I was already far too late I really didn't have to hurry as my boss was probably already mad at me, but I didn't want to test him. I put some conditioner in my hair, pulled the brush through, washed my face, put a bit of make-up on and cleaned my teeth. Breakfast would have to wait until lunch, there was no time now.

I rushed to the living room to get my handbag, jacket and keys to leave and then I saw Rebecca. My heart leaped. How could I have forgotten her? She was still asleep on the couch and her hair lay like a big orange fan around her head. She had pulled the blankets up to her chin and her feet thrust out on the other end. I smiled at the sight of her red polished toenails.

"Rebecca?" I asked softly as I kneeled at her head. "Please wake up? I have to go."

She opened her healthy eye. "Good morning." she said with a hoarse voice. "What time is it?"

"Almost ten." I answered with a guilty look on my face. "I'm so sorry, I overslept. I hope you won't get into trouble at your work over this."

"Almost ten!" She shot up and grimaced. She brought her hands to her head and tried to contain her headache. "I guess it's not so bad. I can't go to work like this anyway. My head feels like I have the biggest hangover ever."

"I don't know if Nicky is still upstairs, but you can stay here as long as you want. I'll be back around 5, but I have to go now otherwise my boss will kill me."

Rebecca sank back into the couch. "OK. See you tonight."

I stood up and grabbed my things. When I walked to my bicycle to unlock it, I saw her looking down at me from behind my window. I waved before I left and she waved back.

I didn't really have my mind on the traffic when I left. I cycled down the streets on automatic pilot and despite the fact that it was already after ten and the rush hour should have been over, it was still pretty busy. I zigzagged between the cars with my mind at home, with her.

Would she go back to her own apartment soon or would she still be there tonight? Would Nicky be gone when she went home? I hoped so. She didn't need another domestic argument. Hopefully she would go to a doctor, even if it was only to get X-rays. Her face looked very swollen and blue. What if that bitch had broken Rebecca's cheekbone or something?

I was just picturing Rebecca with a huge cast on her head when a fat BMW behind me honked loudly. I turned around, seriously annoyed. "I have every right to use this road too, you know!"

When I turned my head back the light had changed to green and I rode on. That's when a beige car suddenly came out of nowhere and almost collided with me.

I ringed my bicycle bell furiously and shouted every curse and swearword I knew to the car and its driver. Only when my heart stopped beating so hard did I saw who the driver was: my boss, Frank.

With a face like a baboon's butt I cycled the last two blocks before I hastily chained my bike to the lamppost in front of the salon.

As soon as I opened the door I was greeted with laughter. Frank stood in the middle of a little circle of my colleagues and apparently just finished telling them what had happened and what words I used in my anger. I looked at him with lightning in my eyes, ready to strike and walked sulking to my workstation by the window at the back. There I sat down and browsed through my agenda. Luckily I didn't miss any of my regulars by turning up so late. Lilly had worked both our shifts at the same time and I was glad to take over my share of the work.

She turned around and immediately got my first client for the day out of her cage. She was a light grey poodle called Toto who I took straight away to the bath area. The check-in board on the computer said that her owner would pick Toto up in 40 minutes, so I had to work quickly.

I put Toto in the tub and clicked her leash in the slot so she would not escape. I turned on the hot water tab and she lapped up a bit of the water that flowed to the drain. "Aww, were you thirsty honey?" I said to the dog while I used the shower head to spray her all wet. "After I'm finished I'll give you some fresh cool water and a bit of food, OK?" The dog barked once as if to show she understood the deal and a few seconds later Lilly joined me with a big cockier spaniel in the tub next to Toto's.

She started washing him and raised an eyebrow at me. Lilly had been my best friend since elementary school and I knew what she wanted. I shrugged and told her everything. About the argument I heard, Rebecca who had taken shelter in my apartment, about the forgotten alarm clock, the crazy traffic, and that Frank clearly ignored a red light and so I was not to blame.

I didn't tell her about the kiss or how I felt when I thought of Rebecca, but I knew Lilly would know there was something more. Lilly and I were so close we could almost read each other's minds. I would tell her when we were more private. The salon was not that big and my other colleagues were listening in.

Frank protested loudly about the red light and I saw Suzy and Nina smile behind their counters.

I grumblingly rubbed Toto dry and took her back to my own workstation for the rest of her grooming.

I honestly admit: when I drove home that evening I really hoped Rebecca would still be there.

It would not have been practical at all, what with me smelling like wet dog and still needing to shop for dinner, but I guess hopes or wishes aren't rational or practical sometimes.

When I parked my bicycle I immediately saw that my lights were off and hers were on. Half relieved and half disappointed I turned my key in the lock. The blankets she used lay neatly folded on one corner of the couch and there was a note on top. It was an invitation to come have dinner with her that evening, written in a beautiful curly handwriting. Yes! I would still see her tonight!

I dropped my bag on the floor and undressed myself on the spot. I went to the bathroom and jumped in the shower. The least I could do was turning up clean. What should I wear? I pulled the hair-band out of my black locks. And what should I do with my hair? I could put it in a pony tail as I always did, or let it hang loose, but neither was very festive. Maybe I could use that gold hairpin Nadeem had given me for my birthday last year to raise it.

As I jumped out of the shower I still pondered what I was going to wear. By the time I was ready to go to Rebecca it was already 7 o'clock. In the end I went for one of my work jeans with my favourite T-shirt, to remind myself that this was absolutely no date. I did put my hair up though.

I knocked nervously on her door and she let me in immediately. After a hasty hello she quickly went back to the kitchen and I walked after her into the living room.

Her hair was in a big tail on top of her head and swiped happily back and forth when she moved. In this light it was almost brown instead of the carrot red it was when I first saw her. She also wore a light blue dress that was amazing on her. It snuggled her boobs and ass neatly and I had serious trouble keeping my eyes off her. Suddenly I felt really under-dressed in my plain jeans and shirt.

The cosy living room was pleasantly warm and she already set the table. Some nice music that I didn't recognize played from her stereo. "Please take a seat." I heard her voice from the kitchen. "It's almost done." I wondered what we were going to eat. It smelled great, but it wasn't something I recognised.

She came in with a big cook pot and placed it on the cork mat on the table. "I made stew. I hope you like it. It's a classic in our family." She went back to the kitchen and pulled a big round bread out the oven. She placed the bread next to the cook pot and lifted the lid before she sat down.

I poured us each a glass of wine from the bottle on the table while she scooped some stew on our plates. I saw pieces of meat and a whole lot of vegetables floating around in a watery brown sauce and it didn't look appetizing at all, but when I carefully put a spoon in my mouth I had to adjust my opinion. "This is delicious!" I said surprised.

Rebecca laughed at the expression on my face and tore a piece of the bread. "Here, with bread it's even better." I took it from her and bit off a piece. For a while we both ate in silence, completely focused on our plates and the food we were eating.

"Was your boss very angry this morning?" she asked when we were almost finished.

I looked up, swallowed, and grew red again. "Um, no. He almost ran me over with his car on the street and when I finally arrived at work he had told everyone and they all laughed at me."

"Then he was late too." She said.

"He's the boss, he can come and go whenever he pleases." I answered smiling.

"Is there nobody above him?" she asked.

I shook my head. "It's his dog salon. He inherited it from his parents."

She abruptly looked up from her plate and stared at me. "You work in a dog salon?" She asked surprised.

I shrugged. "What's so special about that?"

This time she was the one to get red cheeks. "Nothing." I smiled and finished my meal. "I thought you were a concert pianist." She said softly. She stood up and got the dessert from the kitchen: a big chocolate cake which made my mouth water.

My smile disappeared at the thought. "I wish. If my family had money I would have gone to the music conservatory, but we hadn't. Piano is just a hobby."

She cut two royal pieces of the cake and gave me one. "You play very well for a hobby. Couldn't you get a scholarship or something?"

"No, my family isn't that poor either. I started saving, but I gave up a few months ago. There always seemed to be other unexpected expenditures." I didn't know why I was so open to her, but I didn't feel a shred of unease from it. The giving up of my dream was something I didn't dare tell anyone yet, not even Lilly.

"But you won't stop playing, right?" she cried out. "If I could make music like that I think I would play every chance I got!"

I brought the first bite of the cake to my mouth and was temporarily distracted from answering her.

"If I was able to cook like this I think I would weigh 800 pounds." I answered after a while.

"I guess I gave up my dream too." Rebecca sighed. "I wanted to become a chef when I was little. I even had a place in my father's kitchens." I finished my cake and leaned back comfortably. I knew how hard it was to give up your dream, so I didn't ask further.

"I 'm kinda glad you wanted to come over for dinner." Rebecca said with a small voice. "I was a bit afraid you wouldn't want to see me again after all that drama yesterday."

"Absolutely not!" I cried out, a bit too enthusiastically. I abruptly held my tongue and flushed again. "I...I mean,... I hate to eat alone, and I really suck at cooking." I stammered. "And my apartment is always so silent." I added almost whispering. That last sentence made me embarrass myself even more and I gazed down to avoid seeing the look on her face.

Rebecca started clearing the dishes and I hastily stood up to help her, almost knocking her new plates of the table. My heartbeat raced like a cheetah in my ears. Why was I such a klutz all of a sudden? She brushed a warm finger along my cheek and smiled. "Tell you what, if you teach me how to play piano, I'll teach you to cook."

I managed to calm down a bit again. "OK."

We put the dirty dishes in the kitchen, the small room forcing us stand very close to each other for a while. Neither of us breathed and our eyes locked into each other's again like when we were moving my piano. I wanted to kiss her again so badly, but I didn't.

"How many times a week?" she asked eventually.

I couldn't think straight while looking at her like this, so I looked away. "One or two times a week?" I suggested.

I heard her take a deep breath and taking a step backwards, out of the kitchen and into the living room. "OK, you come here two nights a week to cook together, and in exchange I come to you two nights a week to play the piano together." That was a lot more than I originally had in mind, but I nodded anyway. Seeing her more could only be a good thing.

"Do you want to come with me to the animal shelter this weekend?" I asked without thinking. "I'm going to choose a cat."

"Yes of course!" she exclaimed. Her own cat Rain jumped on the table and began to lick a spilled puddle of the stew. Rebecca turned around and chased him off.

Chapter 5

On Wednesday Rebecca visited me for her first piano lessons. I had just come out of the shower after work when I heard the doorbell. I quickly pulled on a dressing gown and let her in.

As she came in I walked back to the bathroom.

"You can have something to drink if you want and pour something for me too! It's in the fridge!" I called out from behind the closed door. "I'll be ready in a sec!" I heard her walking to the kitchen and blow-dried my hair as fast as I could. After that I put some lotion in, got dressed and hurried back to the living room.