Chapter 6

(Luciana moves into a tiny apartment expecting peace and quiet. Instead, her neighbor Billie keeps accidentally stealing her packages, showing up in pajamas at her door, and asking to borrow random things she definitely doesn’t need. ) P.S: This is a one shot where billie is just a normal girl.

The first thing Luciana noticed about her new apartment was how it didn’t feel like a beginning.

It felt like a pause.

Like the world had briefly stopped speaking just so she could catch her breath.

No shouting through thin walls.
No constant footsteps above her head at inconvenient hours.
No roommates arguing over things that didn’t matter but somehow always turned into wars anyway.

Just silence.

Clean, heavy, almost unfamiliar silence.

Lucy stood in the middle of her tiny living room, surrounded by cardboard boxes, and let out a slow breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding since the moving truck left.

“This is it,” she whispered to herself.

Her voice bounced softly off the empty walls and came back quieter, as if even sound was trying not to disturb the peace.

The apartment wasn’t big.

It wasn’t impressive.

The kitchen was barely a corner. The living room could fit a couch and a small table if she placed them carefully and prayed nothing else existed. The bedroom was just large enough for a bed and a single wardrobe that looked slightly too ambitious for the space it occupied.

But it was hers.

And for Lucy, that mattered more than anything else.

She dropped onto the couch with a dramatic exhale, letting her arms fall loosely at her sides.

The couch responded with a tired squeak, like it had opinions about her weight distribution.

“Perfect,” she muttered.

Outside, L.A carried on like it always did, distant traffic, faint voices, life moving forward.

But inside, for the first time in a long time, she had nothing to respond to.

No expectations.

No noise.

No one needing anything from her.

It almost felt suspicious.

Like the universe was waiting to take it back.

It took exactly twelve hours for the illusion of peace to break.

It started with knocking.

Not gentle knocking. Not polite knocking.

Aggressive, confident, borderline disrespectful knocking.

Lucy sat up in bed so fast she nearly knocked her phone off the nightstand.

For a moment, she considered ignoring it.

Whoever it was would give up eventually.

The knocking didn’t stop.

It actually got worse.

“Okay,” she groaned, dragging herself out of bed, hair a mess, oversized shirt slipping off one shoulder.

She shuffled to the door and pulled it open without thinking.

And froze.

A girl stood there.

Leaning slightly to one side like she had forgotten how posture worked.

Messy black hair falling into tired blue eyes.

An oversized hoodie that looked like it had survived multiple questionable life decisions.

Sweatpants.

One sock.

Just one.

The other foot was completely bare against the hallway floor like that was a normal, intentional choice.

Lucy blinked slowly.

The girl blinked back.

Neither spoke.

A long, heavy silence stretched between them.

Then the girl lifted something in her hand.

A small cardboard package.

“Is this yours?” she asked.

Her voice was casual. Too casual. Like she knocked on random strangers’ doors every morning and this was part of her routine.

Lucy’s eyes dropped to the package.

Her name was printed clearly on the label.

Luciana Rosewood.

Apartment 3B.

“Yes,” Lucy said slowly.

The girl winced slightly.

“Right.”

And then… she didn’t move.

Just kept standing there.

Holding the package like she was waiting for instructions on what to do with existence itself.

Lucy waited.

The girl waited.

The hallway behind her remained empty and unhelpfully silent.

Finally, Lucy tilted her head.

“You… took my package?”

“Yeah,” the girl said immediately.

There was no hesitation.

Just honesty.

“…Why?”

The girl frowned slightly, as if the question required serious reflection.

“As it turns out,” she began, “reading addresses is important.”

Lucy stared at her.

The girl stared back.

Neither of them broke eye contact.

A beat passed.

Then another.

Lucy exhaled through her nose, fighting a smile she didn’t expect.

“Okay,” she said. “That’s… fair, I guess.”

The girl immediately brightened like that was the correct answer on a test.

“Cool.”

She extended the package forward.

Lucy took it.

Their fingers almost brushed.

Almost.

“Thank you,” Lucy added.

“You’re welcome.”

Silence again.

Not uncomfortable exactly.

Just… unfamiliar.

The girl tilted her head toward the wall beside Lucy’s door.

“I live there,” she said, pointing.

Lucy followed her finger.

Apartment 3C.

Right next door.

“Okay,” Lucy replied.

“Okay,” the girl echoed.

Neither moved.

The silence stretched again, heavier this time, like both of them were realizing they had no idea how to end a conversation that hadn’t properly started.

“This is getting awkward,” the girl said suddenly.

“It really is,” Lucy agreed.

“Cool.”

Another pause.

Then,

The girl turned around, took one step toward her own door, and immediately walked straight into the wall beside it.

A loud thud echoed down the hallway.

Lucy covered her mouth instantly.

The girl froze.

Slowly turned her head.

“Oh my God,” she muttered.

Lucy lost it.

A quiet laugh turned into full laughter before she could stop it.

The girl pointed at her accusingly.

“Don’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Lucy said between laughs. “That was…I’m sorry.”

“You are not sorry,” the girl said flatly, rubbing her forehead.

“I am a little sorry.”

“You are failing at hiding it.”

“I know.”

The girl shook her head dramatically, like she had just experienced betrayal from the universe itself.

Then she disappeared into her apartment.

A moment later, Lucy heard muffled shouting through the wall.

“That was so embarrassing.”

Lucy leaned against her own door, still smiling.

And for the first time since moving in, the silence didn’t feel empty anymore.

—-

Three days later, Lucy learned two things:

One, silence was not a permanent feature of this building.

Two, her neighbor was not normal.

It started with another knock.

Shorter this time. Less aggressive. Almost polite.

Lucy opened the door.

Same girl.

Same hoodie energy.

Different sweatpants. Still chaotic.

This time she was holding a spoon.

Just a spoon.

“Hi,” she said.

Lucy blinked.

“Hi.”

The girl lifted the spoon slightly.

“Can I borrow this?”

Lucy stared at it.

“…A spoon?”

“Yeah.”

“One spoon.”

“Yes.”

Lucy leaned on the doorframe.

“Why?”

The girl hesitated.

Then shrugged.

“That’s classified information.”

Lucy laughed under her breath.

“You don’t even know why you need a spoon?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You basically did.”

“I implied mystery.”

“That’s not how mystery works.”

The girl frowned like she was deeply offended by the concept of logic.

Lucy sighed.

“Give me a second.”

She disappeared inside.

When she returned, she handed her a spoon.

The girl accepted it like it was something sacred.

A priceless artifact.

A treasure.

“You’re a lifesaver,” she said seriously.

“It’s a spoon,” Lucy replied.

“It’s my spoon now.”

“No, it isn’t.”

The girl smiled anyway.

And this time, Lucy noticed it properly.

Not just the chaos.

Not just the awkwardness.

But the way her expression softened when she smiled.

Like she wasn’t used to doing it often, but liked it when she did.

“I’m Billie,” she said.

Finally.

A name.

“Luciana,” Lucy replied.

Billie tilted her head.

“Luciana is a nice name.”

Most people just said it was long.

Or complicated.

Or turned it into something shorter without asking.

But Billie said it like she meant it.

“Most people call me Lucy,” she added.

Billie immediately shook her head.

“No. Luciana suits you.”

Lucy blinked.

“That’s… very confident of you.”

Billie shrugged.

“Most people lack taste.”

That made Lucy laugh again.

It was becoming a pattern.

One she didn’t hate.

Billie looked down at the spoon in her hand, then back up at Lucy.

“Anyway,” she said, rocking slightly on her feet.

“Anyway,” Lucy echoed.

“I should go.”

“You should.”

Billie didn’t move.

Lucy didn’t either.

Another pause.

Longer this time.

Neither of them seemed in a rush to end it.

Finally, Billie nodded once.

“Okay,” she said again.

“Okay,” Lucy replied.

Billie turned…and paused halfway.

Like she wanted to say something else but couldn’t find the right shape for it.

Then she just walked into her apartment next door.

A few seconds later, Lucy heard a faint:

“That was not normal.”

Lucy smiled to herself, leaning back against her door.

For someone who came looking for silence,

She was already starting to wonder if she had moved into the wrong kind of peace.

And if the girl next door was going to be the reason she never got it back.

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HAPPY PRIDE EVERYONE 🏳️‍🌈