VEE'S POV

Silence. That's all I heard on the other line... that is.... until I heard his voice. How does the universe do things like this? You think about a person, and suddenly, they show up at your doorstep, or call you. How does he think that he has the right to call me after I saw him with her? How does he think I'm feeling in this very moment? How does he want me to react? How is he going to fix this; fix us? But then again, what is there really to fix when there was clearly nothing there to begin with? Why should I even care?

(He clears his throat), "Uh, Vee? Umm, I just, I just want to say I so sorry."

Silence.

"I not know you was ganna be there, and... and I never -I mean I come by myself if I know. I so, so sorry!"

Silence... then a defeat sigh.

I shake my head, honestly not knowing what to respond with. My heart began to flutter and my stomach filled with butterflies. Was I okay with everything? Did I want to speak to him? What do I want to say right now? Why was a feeling a tinge of jealousy over a man that didn't belong to me?

"Hello?" He asks with worry in his tone.

"Um, yeah Larry, I'm... I'm still here, um..."

My heart was racing now.

"Can I see you?" Why did I just ask that?! I instantly shut my eyes at the realization of what just came out of my mouth and placed my phone to my heart and hit the side of my right temple with the palm of my hand. so stupid, so stupid I thought to myself. I put the phone back up to my ear.

I heard a sigh on his end, almost a sigh of relief if I had to describe it.

"Y-Yeah, sure, bien sûr- I mean, of course!" Um, when-well, where you want to meet?"

My heart pounded harder. It felt as though my heart was about to leap out of my chest.

"Uh, I mean, I'm kinda far away right now; in the mountains to be exact, so it's going to take me a while to get back on that side. Where I am, it's like, a little more than three and a half hours from the Skydive Ranch," I cringe at the thought of Marisol that flashed in my mind right when I said that. I squeezed my eyes together and continued, hoping he didn't catch the pause that was in my sentence, "that you guys were just at. Add on to the time from there to NYC, I'm really not sure how long it's going to take me. Maybe like almost 2 more hours added on to that. I hope that's okay!"

"Non, is fine! Um, well is close to 2 now, so when you think you be back over here?"

"I mean, I guess I'll be back by 7 or maybe 8-ish, depending on traffic and all." I let out an awkward laugh, which he returns to me through the phone.

There's a pregnant pause that he fills, "Well, I see you then! Just call me when you get here, oki?"

"Yeah, sure!" I respond a little more enthusiastically than I intended. I cleared my throat and said it again, but more nonchalantly, "Yeah, sure."

"Um oki. I see you in like 6 hours then, yes?"

"Yup, around 6 hours."

"Oki, so you want to come here for my house, or you want me to come for you house?"

"I mean, I can come over to your place. That's not a problem with me." Another awkward laugh follows.

"Ouais, yes, thas fine with me! So, I guess I text you my address then."

"Oh yeah, absolutely!" We listen to each other breathe, not wanting to be the first to say goodbye and hang up, I guess. This was getting so awkward. 

I finally say, "Okay, well, I'm going to get off the phone now."

More silence. 

He finally says, "Oki, then I see you when you get here!"

"Um, 'kay, see you later!"

"Yeah, see you later!" After about 8 seconds, I hear the 3 low-toned beeps in my ear through the phone, announcing that he finally hung up.

LARRY'S POV

I so nervous right now! After I hang up with Vee, I go to sit down to eat my third sandwich, but my stomach twist up in all these knots, and even though I take a bite, I cannot swallow it. I feel I ganna be sick, so I grab my napkin and spit it out. 

I pace around the living room and even though is still a good 6 or 7 hours till Vee get here, I keep looking out the window it seem like every 5 seconds for some reason. I need something to distract me while I wait for her and the bullshit online players on the Fifa game is out of the question. The last thing I need is more stress, so I call up Lau and tell him I gonna pick him up so us can go to the dance studio so us can dance. I know he not say non, because he always ready and willing to dance whenever, where ever. I really need to let the nerves go, and the best way I know how, is to dance my ass off.

...5 hours later...

I in the shower when I hear my doorbell. Usually, I play music when I in the shower, but I have too much on my brain, so I forget to turn it on. Is one of those things, like you get in the shower and realize you forget something, and you say 'fuck it' cuz you already in the shower and you be too cold when you get out to get or do whatever you forget. Is a good thing though, cuz I not hear the door if I have the music blasting like I always do. 

I know is Lau, because I see he forget his phone in my car when I come back to my place when us leave the studio and I drop him off. I not see it though, till I get back home and I cannot call him since is here, so I figure I give him his phone later.

I wrap my towel around my waist and grunt at the cold air that hits my skin. The steam in the bathroom made the air more warm, but when I get outside the bathroom, goosebumps cover the uncovered parts of my body and I tense up. I walk down the hallway and go into the living room. I go toward my coffee table to grab Lau phone and I head toward the front door where he knock again.

"Je sais, Lau! I have you phone! Don't be annoyi-" I open the door while I saying this and I freeze. Is Vee at my door, not Lau. I kinda stuck and I not know what to say. She take the words from my mouth and the thoughts from my mind. I see her chest rise as she take the deepest, slowest breath and then let it out.

VEE'S POV

Shit! Why Lord, why?!

This man was just- I was frozen as I felt my stupid eyes grow wide without asking my brain permission to do so. I feel my chest heave up and down, almost as though I was hyperventilating, but in slow motion. I feel my face heat up and I feel embarrassed for some reason; like I'm the one standing half naked in front of him, and not the other way around.

I have to admit, that I came a little bit earlier than the time that he was expecting me, as it was only a little after 6:30. The reason for that was because I'm a fast driver. I tend to be a little pedal-happy, especially when I'm on open roads with nothing or no one else in site, but I'm just now realizing that I forgot to call first to let Larry know that I was close by his place. It definitely slipped my mind, because my thoughts were so preoccupied during the ride here.

I couldn't place the tension that I know he and I felt in the air that surrounded us, but it was definitely there.

He broke the silence first.

"I-I in the shower, and I almost finished. I think you was Lau because he forget his phone in my car early today." My eyes followed his, as he looked down at the phone in his hand. He looked up at me and then stepped to the side and gave his hand a sweeping motion, as if to give me permission to enter his home. "You can sit and watch tv, or play games or whatever till I finish!" He wouldn't make eye contact with me- actually, I can't even say that positively, as I never made eye contact with him either, because I was busy looking at the floor the entire time after my eyes left his halfway naked body. From my peripheral though, I noticed his eyes were pointed towards the ground just as mine were.

I slowly walked in and made my way over to his couch as he closed the door. I let out a quiet "thanks." And he walked towards the back of his place, down the hallway and back into what I was assuming was the bathroom to continue his shower.

After I heard the door close, I sat down on the couch and looked around, taking in his place. It was similar to mine, oddly. It was the same color pallet and the same mid century modern set up, although it was an apartment and mine was a house.

For some reason, I thought that him and Laurent lived together, but I found out whilst hanging out with Chrystal once, that they actually did live together, until Laurent had moved out due to being in a relationship with some girl prior to meeting us. He ended up moving out of his and Larry's place, and when he broke up with her a few months after getting a place with her, he stayed instead of moving back in with Larry whilst she moved out instead. Since he was on the lease, he couldn't give up the apartment because he didn't want to ruin his credit. 

Chrystal said he told her that he had planned on moving back in with Larry after his lease was up though. But seeing how close he and Chrystal are, I don't know if that's going to happen now. I was so happy for my sister and Lau. They were really good together. I wouldn't suggest to her that she should move in with Laurent anytime soon, but I do see that being a possibility sometime in the future for the two of them, and I'm definitely not against it.

What I liked most about Larry's place was that it was homey. It wasn't perfectly clean; there were plates in the sink in the kitchen, some clothes sprawled out on the chairs at the dining room table, and shoes next to the wall by the front door. I'm not a fan of houses that look Hallmark approved, because those are the ones that I can never feel completely comfortable in. In those types of places, I feel like I shouldn't touch anything, let alone sit anywhere. When I see places that are used and actually lived in, I can relax!

I finally got comfortable on the large cushiony sectional and decided to take off my shoes. I walk over towards the front door and place my shoes next to the others I see against the wall on the floor and plop back down on the sectional after I grab the remote on the side end table.

Now this is what I hate about being at other people's houses. It seems like no matter if it's the microwave, remote, radio, or shower, you just can't seem to figure out how to work the damn thing! It's like being in a spaceship; turning knobs, and pushing buttons and all. I remember this time when I spent the weekend with my cousin and the first morning I used her shower, I almost burned myself, because after I finally figured out how to get the fucking thing to work and got it to what I thought was a good temperature, I got in and wanted it a little warmer. I ended up almost scolding my skin off because there was a tiny "hot" button on the side of the knob that I didn't know I pushed whilst turning it, and instead of it getting it to a degree or two warmer like I was trying to do, I turned on the actual hot water button by accident! Needless to say, I cussed her ass out for not warning me.

About 7 minutes later of failing at trying to figure out how to turn on the tv from the remote, Larry finally came out from the hallway, dried and dressed (thank god!). I don't know why, but I stood up, like I was a lawyer and the judge had just walked into his courtroom.

I saw him smirk like he was trying to hold back a laugh because he realized what I had did, which made me smile as well.

I sat back down on the couch slightly embarrassed under his gaze. He stood at the end of the hallway, his right shoulder leaning against the wall, and just stared at me. I met his eyes, but looked away. I looked at my hand playing with the fringe of my ripped jeans because I didn't know what else to do. Then I heard, "Vanika."

I looked up with curiosity at him and let go of the breath I unknowingly held, "Larry?"

He pushed himself up from the wall in the hallway and slowly strolled toward me. He took a seat to my left and let out a sigh into his hands that were placed over his face. He dropped his hands in between his lap and then finally turned towards me. 

Fire and mystery behind his eyes made me catch my breath and a hiccuping sound came out of my mouth. I was witnessing almost identical eyes that I had drew on my notepad earlier, but these ones were more real and they stirred an emotion inside of me that I couldn't pinpoint or compare to anything else. 

He parted his lips, as if he were about to say something, and then pierced them back together.

I looked down at the ground, not sure of who would speak first.

"What is it?" I finally heard him say, causing me to meet his eyes again.

"Us not know each other so good yet, but I really like you. I not like us for be this way." He sighed, "I want for you to be my friend. I need for you to be in my life. Chrystal with Lau and is only right for you to be here too. Tu connais?"

I smile at him, "Ouais!"