around our naked forms. This bed never felt more perfect or comfortable.
Banging. Incessant fucking banging.
“ Whatthefuck ,” I groan, twisting away from Lilla. Exactly where I want to be.
Banging. Incessant loud motherfucking banging.
The lock clicks. I jerk the door handle ready to pounce. My skinny four-foot-eight weirdo neighbor with hands on her hips.
“What the fuck do you want, Georgia? I was sleeping. You better have been dying.”
Pushes right past me.
“Can I hide here?” She looks over her shoulder. “My stalker is following me.”
I swing the door closed. “What stalker?”
“This guy Joseph. He keeps following me. Sending me messages online. Posting on my Facebook wall his love and devotion. Changing his status to read he’s married to me. It’s damn creepy.”
My fucking head throbs.
“I thought girls loved that shit?”
“I don’t want my body raped or killed, Cash. I have limits.”
Coffee. I need coffee.
“He probably just wants to ask you out and doesn’t know how.” I pull filters from my pantry and swap the old grounds for new ones. Fill the tank. Flick the brew button and pray for quickness.
“How about coming up to a girl and just plain asking! I’m so scared to go home. What if he follows me? What if he has a shrine in my honor that he prays to every night, Cash? What if he has skins of other women he has mutilated that he drapes over his body, using them like last year’s Versace? What if!”
“Do you realize how crazy you sound, Georgia? And no offense, but you’re not really that interesting. If I was going to stalk someone, I think I’d choose a chick who is at least mildly amusing.”
“I know a Facebook stalker when I see one! This fool is straight up cray-cray for my vah-jay-jay.”
“Don’t speak internet language in my presence, please.”
“I tell ya, you randomly friend one lonely person on a social networking site and your whole world goes down the shitter.”
“Yes, because real-life friends are such less trouble. Thanks for coming to my apartment, by the way. Now your internet boyfriend will think you live here . I appreciate it.”
Lilla appears in the hallway, sleepy perfect. Bashful, silently questioning who this shouting woman in my living room is. My day is improving.
“Hey.” I look to Georgia. “This is Lilla. Lilla, this is my insane neighbor Georgia—who is incredibly sorry for waking us up from that delicious slumber we were enjoying.”
“Oh man,” Georgia groans, “you didn’t fall for this moron’s sob stories did you? Did he use the one where he was an orphan or did he go for the homeless child living on the streets bull-fuck? He was neither, just so you know.”
“I actually fell for the I drank too much. But thanks?”
“Do not let him near your vagina, girl. He is no good. Handsome as sin, yes. But I’m telling you, that dick of his is the black plague.”
Ushering her toward the door. “Good luck with your stalker, Georgia. I’m sure your skin will look spectacular as a trench coat.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” she bellows before I lock her out.
How do you proceed after such an interaction?
“Coffee?” I turn towards the kitchen, grab a mug from the cabinet.
Lilla sits at the breakfast counter, resting on one of the stools. I feel her eyes on me, watching as I stir sugar and pour milk. I bend at my knees, slurping down a mouthful of coffee when the cup is too full. Pour more milk. Another sip and I pass her the mug.
“Drink this one, Honey-girl. It’s perfect and that never happens twice.”
We exchange a brief glance as she takes the cup. I busy myself with making another coffee.
“Hungry?”
“No, thanks.”
“Are you sure?” I finally look at her, but she’s keeping her attention on the mug. “We could go get breakfast.”
She nods, but I don’t know if that’s answering the first or second question.
“Lilla.” Hesitantly she looks up. “What’s
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