The Taste of You and Me

I stepped out of the building and took a deep breath, my shoulders slumping. I had arrived at work just before nine, and it was finally five o’clock: home time.

That had been the most hideously patronising day ever. I was basically the office tea-and-coffee bitch.

As I began to walk down the street, my thoughts wandered back to my meeting with the guys; they were all so incredibly laid back about welcoming me to the building. In fact, Tony and I had already exchanged numbers, and the guys had offered to show me around town. San Diego looked like a great city to be in, and exploring with the guys definitely seemed more fun than work. Then again, I did have to set up my apartment sooner or later…

A street of quaint looking shops caught my eye: a cute cafe, Italian restaurant, dessert bar and art shop. I crossed the road and headed towards the latter - maybe finding some cool artwork would give me the inspiration and motivation I needed to set up my apartment.
A purple door was propped open between two glass windows lined with thin tube lights. The name was painted across each window in a black serif font: Inktense.
Stepping inside, I realised all the artwork was based on tattoos, the majority being photography, but with a few pieces of paintwork too. Intrigued, I looked up at the work mounted all over the walls.

“Are you following me?” I jumped and looked over my shoulder, met with a perfect smile in a familiar face.

“Hi to you too, Mike.” I chuckled, turning around.

“How are you? Vic told me it was your first day at work.” he said, standing besides me. I nodded slowly, taking in the piece in front of us.

“Yep. It sucked.” I replied. Mike chuckled, shaking his head.

“It can’t have been that bad.” he insisted. I looked at him, eyebrows raised.

“Dude. I’m tea-and-coffee bitch.” he said. He pressed his lips together into a tight line, curling up at the corners.

“OK. Maybe it was that bad.” he eventually conceded after suppressing his laughter. I punched his arm playfully and he sniggered.

“Don’t harass the customers, Fuentes!” someone yelled. We both turned to the source of the voice. A guy dressed similarly to Mike (in awfully tight skinnies, a tank top and multiple tattoos) approached from the room behind the counter. “If you can’t get the chicks to buy anything, at least don’t scare them away!”

“Riiiight…” Mike rolled his eyes, “Maya, this is Jason. Jase, this is my new neighbour Maya.”

“Hi.” I smiled, offering Jaon a hand to shake, “Nice to meet you.” He shook my hand warmly, giving me a big smile.

“Hi. It’s a shame a pretty girl like you landed such an asshat for a neighbour.” he commented brightly.

“Arsehat. I like it.” I chuckled, nodding and giving Mike a quick grin.

“I’m his boss, did I mention?” Jason added, sending Mike a quick wink.

“Oh, nice, who doesn’t like a man of power?” I joked. I think Jason may have taken me a little too seriously because his face lit up and he stepped closer, looking at my face intently: I sent Mike a look and he shrugged, looking slightly bewildered himself.

“Uhm,” Mike began, taking my arm, “you know you still have to make up for stealing my pepperoni.” He pulled me away from Jason, so there was a space between us, and turned to his boss.

“Oh, yeah,” I said, nodding my head as we headed for the door, “Lets do that now.”

“We’ll catch you later, Jase.” Mike added, grabbing his hat from the counter. A we left the shop, I waved to Jason and giggled.

“That was weird.” I said, strolling alongside him.

“Ahh, I’m sorry. Jason’s pretty...yeah. Well, he can come off a little abrupt sometimes.” Mike mumbled. I snickered and shrugged.

“I don’t really mind. Besides, it’s nice to be called ‘pretty’ indirectly.” I added. Mike shook his head disapprovingly but couldn’t hide his smile.

“Alright, whatever. But you still owe me food.” he said.

“Yeah, well, there’s a dessert bar here, I think. I saw it as I was walking along.”

“Mm, yeah, that place is good.” he nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. “It’s right...here.” He stopped in front of the shop and opened the door for me. I murmured my thanks and stepped into the cool, brightly lit shop. Looking up at the wall, I skim-read through the menu, arms folded across my chest.
Mike stood next to me, arms folded in exactly the same manner.

“Can I help you?” one of the servers asked.

“One hot chocolate fudge sundae, please.” we chorused. Mike and I turned sharply to stare at each other as the server laughed.

“That was really cute.” she commented. “You guys are so in sync, it’s adorable.” I faltered for a moment as I realised she probably thought we were a couple. “Do you each want your own, or will you be sharing?” she asked.

“I’m super hungry. I think we’ll have our own.” Mike said smoothly. I nodded after a moment’s hesitation. As she began to prepare it, I unzipped my bag and pulled out my purse. “Put that away.” Mike said, pulling his wallet out of his pocket.

“Whatever, Fuentes, I want my lightsabre back.” I replied, rolling my eyes. He smirked and snatched the purse out of my hand, holding it over my head, well out of my reach.

“Chill the uck out, Lee, I just wanna pay for the ice cream. You can have your lightsabre back,” he chuckled. “Are you gonna jump for it?” He waved my purse around and wiggled his eyebrows. I elbowed him in the stomach and pushed him.
“Oww!” he whined, holding his middle. “That fucking hurt!”
I pulled a face and he straightened up, grabbing my scarf from where it was hanging limply over my bag. Throwing it around my arms, he tied it in a bow and grabbed my face between his two long, thin hands.
“Don’t laugh at me, you bully.” he said, squishing my cheeks. He put my purse back in my bag and zipped it up, then paid for our ice creams.

“You suck!” I whined as he picked up both ice creams and licked one temptingly.

“Alright, fine. I feel bad now. Hold still,” he said, placing the ice creams back onto the counter. Quickly untying me, he swathed the scarf around his neck and flicked it over his shoulder in a fashion that brought the word ‘camp’ to mind, then handed me one ice cream.

“Arse hat.” I mumbled, frowning at him. He wriggled his eyebrows again and held the door open for me as we left. As he walked besides me quietly, licking his ice cream, I scowled at the side if his face - he didn’t seem to notice. “Mike,” I said.

“Mm.” he said, not deviating his attention from his ice cream. I reached out and quickly smacked his hands, causing them to kerk the ice cream into his face. He froze, staring at his hands in shock. I stifled a snort of laughter and broke into a run as he turned sharply to me. “You are going DOWN!” he shouted after me.

“Like hell!” I called back, turning the street corner - the apartment building was in sight, and I glanced over my shoulder. He was still a little way away.
Slowing down, I jogged to the building and pressed the buzzer to be let in. The door opened with a click and I was about to step over the threshold of the building, when I felt Mike grab my waist and dig his fingers in, making me jump.
“Holy fuck!” I yelped, tearing away and stumbling into the building.

“Yes, ma’am!” he chirped, pulling me closer and moving forward to wipe the ice cream from his face on my top.

“Nooooooo!” I whined, holding his face between my palms and pushing him back. He laughed and took hold of my hands, using them to wipe his face.

“Mike.” someone snapped sharply. I jerked away from him and he let go of my hands. We both looked up to see a tall, gorgeous brunette standing at the bottom of the stairway, wearing a pretty pink summery dress and a scowl.

“AR.” he said, looking surprised. I looked between the two of them cluelessly and struggled to suppress my laughter. “Oh, uhm...Maya!” he said suddenly, touching my shoulder gently. “This is my girlfriend Alicia-Rose. AR, this is my new neighbour Maya.”

I looked over at her again, realisation dawning on my face, alongside an apologetic smile: no girlfriend would want to see her boyfriend getting overly friendly with his female neighbour, whether or not we were up to whatever she was thinking.
I stepped forward and offered her my hand. She walked past me without so much as a glance and pulled Mike towards the door as she went.
Mike looked over his shoulder, sending me a confused look. I shrugged and mouthed “sorry”.