Between Ties

Noisy Neighbor

Maverick's Point Of View

"Beth, I'm sorry." I said apologetically as I held the phone to my ear using my shoulder, as my hoody had hung from my left hand while my right one had struggled to open the front door of my apartment. This f*****g lock is so stubborn, it took me fifteen minutes last week just to get this thing to budge, I seriously contemplated about burning the f*****g door down.

"Maverick, you went off the grid for the whole weekend! You constantly do s**t like this and I'm..." she breathed deeply and then calmed down to admit that- "I'm worried Maverick."

A wave of softness melted over my heart as I swallowed and then shut my eyes for a moment and stopped what I was doing,

She sounded like my mom, I had no choice but to be soft towards her.

"I get that baby but you don't need to worry about me. I'm fine." I said to her and honestly I was.

This weekend was crazy, I went to visit my mom and I had really missed her, her and I no longer live together, we can't. It's not safe.

"Okay, I trust your word." she accepted defeat and then quickly changed the subject as I tried to wave off my emotions and go back to focusing on opening this f*****g door. "Hey I gotta go, it's late and we have school in the morning. Please bring me Starbucks and don't be late." I could feel her smiling a kind of bitchy smile and then she hung up as I shoved the door a little too hard to have it open, causing me to almost fall in.

I stumbled into the darkness of my apartment and visualized flames to have all the candles in my apartment lounge light up as if they had greeted me with a warm hello from the windy night that had previously consumed me.

"You not going tonight?" I saw a figure appear out of the darkness like a crazy wife waiting for her husband to come late from work because she assumes his cheating, as the dim light from my candles had now made him visible on the couch.

I rolled my eyes and then flicked the light switch on.

"One, how the f**k did you get into my apartment and two, why the f**k is yo dumb ass sitting in the dark?" I c****d my head back at Tusco while I tossed my keys onto the kitchen table that was separated from my lounge area.

"One, I unlocked it with a spell and two, I wanted to be dramatic I'm finally on a break from college and I just wanted to have a little fun with my little brother." He said as he noticed a glass of water that I had left from this morning placed on the counter top of the zinc.

Tusco was the third oldest between the four of us, he was nineteen, Nix was twenty-one and Kenzo was twenty-five,

And ya boy was the youngest, a whole ass eighteen.

"An unlock spell?" I rolled my eyes "that one would actually come in handy. My f*****g door is the worst." I said as I threw my hoody on the kitchen stool and then twisted my body to opened my refrigerator door.

"Well if you showed up at meetings more often you'd learn cool shit." He was cocky in a playful way.

"Yeah, seems like Kenzo's really been studying daddy's little journal." I was being a d**k and then smiled thinly as I licked my lips while my eyes browsed over the contents of my fridge.

Cheese, garlic, spinach...I think I have pasta in the cupboard.

I narrowed my eyes trying to create a meal in my head from the s**t ingredients in my fridge. I really should go grocery shopping soon.

"Firstly, the book's called a grimoire you know that and secondly can you just show up tonight we need you, we already don't have Nix because of his tour and you know that the more of us together the better. When we're together our powers don't drain as fast, our union makes us more resilient and we need energy when we practice." He told me something I already knew and didn't care about as he got up from his seat to open the windows of my lounge because it was kind of stuffy in here.

He slowly twisted the rod to have the blinds open and then turned around to listen to me say,

"Honestly I don't give a f**k about the coven, and if I had a choice I would never choose to have these powers, all it ever did for me was keep me away from my mom and force me to move to New York when I was just a kid, and change my f*****g name." I pulled out the packet of pasta and then placed it on my counter alongside the other ingredients from my fridge.

"Look I totally f*****g get it. Out of all of us, you know that I'm the one who gets it most." He said because he was the only one who understood me and took the time to listen when I wanted to talk.

"Is that why Kenzo sent you? Pulling out the big guns?" I shrugged. "I'm not going tonight. I worked a shitty shift and I'm tired, I have school tomorrow." I cleaned my teeth with my tongue as he slowly lifted the water from the glass on the counter with his eyes, the water lifted to form an irregular shape in the air, looking almost like a curvy blob as it gently split into three parts and then lowered itself from the air onto my dying succulents.

He then picked up dirty dishes from my coffee table as he responded to me "Kenzo never sent me. I just wanted to see you. You're my favourite brother and you're literally the yin to my yang." He laughed lightly under his breath as he gathered the dirty socks too, referring to us being the fire and water elements amongst our brothers.

"I came out of my own to see how you're doing," he swallowed obviously noticing that I was a mess. "I called your mom this morning to find out if you went to visit her, since you don't f*****g tell anyone where you're going, she said you did and that you'll be home today. So I just wanted to see my boy." He shrugged "look I know life's a little hectic right now, but being fully apart of the coven will be good for you. Plus it would make life easier," he smiled small "for starters, your door." He pointed his eyes at it.

"I don't know." I was in deep thought as he placed all of my dishes into the zinc and then poured water into it with dish soap as he used his mind to control the rotation and movement of the water to have my dishes be sparkling clean.

"Yeah, the life we have isn't easy, but we use to have fun with our powers and I just want us to get back to that." He was serious and then he smiled remembering him and I back then "remember when I made it look like Rick Throne pissed his pants because he tried to bully that kid." He laughed and then I chuckled lightly "and when you set Mr. Erickson's bag on fire that contained all of the test papers for the whole school, and got test day pushed back just because I didn't study." He said and then I laughed remembering Mr. Erickson's face as his bag randomly lit on fire.

"Come on man, you're the lava girl to my shark boy." He chuckled and then I flicked a tiny speck of fire onto his t-shirt to have it burn a pencil nib sized hole into it and sting at his skin. "Lava man!" I corrected him with a smile.

"I miss it too." I admitted as I remembered all of the s**t we did together and the great times we have had before he went off to college and life became serious for me.

"This mean you coming tonight?" He nudged me as I began to chop the onions.

"No." I smiled as we both began to hear loud thudding music coming from outside of my apartment, I was on the 7th floor so that could only mean that the music had came from the neighboring building across from mine,

which was strange.

"You might as well, seems like you ain't sleeping tonight anyway." He refereed to my loud new neighbour as he drew off the dishes to pack them away neatly.

"Yo, not tonight Tus." I told him "but I'm in, I'll give the coven one last try before I burn all of you to your death, to rid y'all completely from my life." I smiled darkly, joking "I'll be there, next meeting I promise."

I nodded and then he roughed up my hair to mess with me. "Okay okay, don't get too comfortable cause I'm about to kick you out!" I laughed "So leave, I need to shower and go to bed. Ya boy is tired and has school in the morning, and also, you're done cleaning so your purpose was served."

"Get out Tusco." I shoved him out of my kitchen and grabbed his cigarette box from my counter as I pushed it against him while I was forcing him out, I shoved him through the front door and then shut it behind him.

"Goodnight! Love you man!" I yelled from inside and then he laughed "love you too but I didn't come with cigarettes dumbass so you just gave me yours!" He chuckled.

Fuck!

I rolled my eyes and then smiled small, listening to his footsteps walk away while thinking about how much I needed to see Tusco without knowing it, I-

"I'm going to report you! Keep the music down!" I heard the voice of Peggy the old woman from the building across from mine which made me pinch my eyes in curiosity as I walked towards my balcony. I opened the balcony door to see Peggy from one floor lower than mine, scream up to the floor in her building that was my new across the street neighbour.

"These are the classics! Who- who doesn't love N-Nirvana!?" I saw a girl dangling over her balcony as she shouted down to Peggy. I couldn't see her properly because her balcony light was off but the tone of her voice made it seem like she was annoyed.

That apartment had been empty for months and this girl was probably the new resident after the woman with seven toddlers had moved out last summer.

"It's 3am!" Peggy protested and as she threw her fist in the air as if she was ready to fight the new girl,

Peggy was f*****g right though, it was 3am and I need to rest and can't do so with Nirvana on blast, don't get me wrong Nirvana was some real good s**t, but it's f*****g 3am and,

I need to get involved.

"Yo new kid!" I yelled stepping out of the darkness and into the light of my balcony as my feet carried me forward "it's 3am! Some of us have s**t to do in the morning. Play your f*****g music during the day!" I yelled and then she lifted her head up to see me and pushed her hair out of her face, it was still dark but...

"M-Maverick!?" She was astonished and then she switched on her balcony light and then I saw her red hair and her pretty little face,

It's her.

I pinched my eyebrows together as I tried to catch my breath, she was shocked...

and clearly drunk.

"Rhyett?" I couldn't f*****g believe this.

"Peggy!" Peggy said as she watched us.

"Wh-" I was confused looking down at her.

"I thought we were saying each other's names. I felt left out! Goodnight kids!" She said "and you keep your s**t down!" She pointed her finger up Rhyett as I rolled my eyes and then Rhyett stared at me as if she has just seen a ghost.

"Don't go inside! Stay!" She said, holding her hand up to show me her palm and then I leaned over the balcony, resting my forearms on the railing to hold me up. I rolled my eyes as I exhaled deeply. Apparently I was a dog now.

But f**k,

It's her!

What are the f*****g chances. It feels like I'm in one of those w*****d novels that Beth always reads.

She quickly rushed inside and opened her blinds so that I could see right into her apartment. I watched her rush over to her stereo to lower the volume and then she came rushing back out, out of breath.

"Did you get my note?" She asked and then I nodded, trying to force back a smile remembering her cute handwriting, in fact her little note was in the pocket of my sweatpants at this very moment,

And so was her 100 dollar bill that she had given me,

"I did!" I said as I watched her try to brush her hair out of her face "look, the money that you gave me. I don't want it. I appreciate it but it's too much! I need to give it back!" I said and then she shook her head trying to reject what I was saying.

"No, it's yours I gave it to you!" She seemed upset and a little sad that I wanted to give her money back.

"Hey, come on. This is a sign from whatever forces are at work here, what are the chances that you would be living right across from me!? This is f*****g crazy, I can't accept the money and the universe is giving me a chance to return it." I said shrugging as she waved me off and then smiled sweetly as she breathed in for a moment just looking at me with softness.

"Goodnight, Mavs." She sang in an angelic tone and then rolled her eyes as if I was being silly, she twisted her body and then faced me, waving her fingers lightly in the air, she was so whimsical,

"Rhy! come on, don't-" I said in another attempt to make her take the money back but instead she shut the sliding door, cutting me off as she was now inside of her apartment then I rolled my eyes playfully, and decided to wave as she walked towards her large glass window and hesitated for a moment as if she was thinking something but then brushed it off and waved back, she bit her lip in curiosity and then reached for the rod that controlled the blinds and quickly twisted it forcing herself to say goodbye,

Leaving me, shut out.