[1:8] Lavender Valley

(Cunning Roll Failed!)

“Okay, well. It’s your music.” you say.

“What about it?” 

You swallow down a small surge of anger before continuing. “Yeah, well it was kind of on the loud side. I could hear it through the walls all last night and just now and you probably weren’t aware how loud it was – “

“I mean, I was aware. I was listening to it.” she flippantly replies. 

You preface what comes next with an exasperated chuckle, “Alright, okay. Well I’d appreciate it if you could just turn it down a notch. That’s all and I don’t want to make this a big thing - it’s not - we’re neighbors and I’d rather us able to talk to each other about an issue without getting anyone else involved.”

She stares at you for a few seconds then pushes herself off the wall and struts past you and walks right into your apartment. After fully piecing together what had just happened you rush after her.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Her back is to you and she’s standing in the middle of your apartment. She puts her finger up to demand silence. That was the last straw. 

“Listen, Mrs. Doesn’t-Introduce-Herself I have been nothing but nice and you have been a colossal bi–”

“--careful.” she snaps, her finger still up commanding your silence. You hold your tongue and wait for her to finish whatever it is she's doing. In the quiet the only sound that can be heard is the distant thudding of the bass of her stereo. She wheels around to  face you and says, “It is too loud.”

She strides past you and back into the hall where she calls back, “You’re right.” 

You quickly follow after her as she walks into her apartment, leaving the door wide open, but you stop at the threshold. Not sure if she intended you to come in or not. She leans over a massive stereo with towering speakers that are about as large as she is and turns it down. It was far and away from the simple set up that most people would get at a Best Buy. 

“Of course it was, why would anyone lie about that?!”

“You’d be surprised.” 

“Okay so, thank you.”

“Mmm hmmm.” 

“So that’s it then? You'll keep it down?"

She moved from her stereo into her kitchen and grabs a drink out of her fridge and takes a slug of it before answering.

“Yep. I’ll keep it down. Thanks for stopping by. You can go.”

She dismissed you. You set your jaw to hold back what you really wanted to say in that instant and managed a passive aggressive smile that emerged more as a wince. You lingered for a second, not wanting to obey her demand but there wasn’t another choice. You stalked back to your apartment seething. 

You tried to busy yourself with some YouTube, you made dinner - a slow cooker concoction that was almost Mexican food and attempted to fill out a few more resumes. But you found yourself both too angry and disappointed to focus on much. This place was almost perfect. Almost. You weren’t sure what you had hoped for and you weren’t sure why you thought that it was all going to be great. But you’d be lying to yourself if you didn’t let yourself get seduced by the vibe of this place. 

For the rest of the evening you tried to busy yourself on your computer and tidying up but hanging out with Josh, even if you were doing something like watching sports, only made you realize how quiet and monotonous your life here had become. You told yourself once you got a job and got back on your feet it’d be different. This was just temporary. Maybe Josh would want to hang out soon? Maybe you should learn a thing or two about sports before then? 

You were just getting out of the shower, about 9 at night, when you heard a knock on your door. Getting dressed in a tee shirt and pajama bottoms you looked through the spy hole and saw none other than Rude Neighbor standing there, her back to your door. She held something large under her arm but you couldn’t quite see what it was with the distortion. 

You grit your teeth. It took all night to come down from her rudeness and now here she was, just as you were settling in for bed, here to possibly ruin another night. All you wanted was some quiet and to go to sleep…

1.) I Don’t Want to Deal With Her. It’s too late for more of her rude bullshit. Whatever the issue is, it can wait until morning. Ignore her and go to sleep. 

2.) See What She Wants But Give Her Some Shit. See what she wants but give her a taste of her own medicine with some of your own rude and standoffishness.

3.) Open The Door, I Guess…See what she wants, but make it clear you are getting ready for bed and not in the mood for more of her BS.