Behind Closed Doors

Sabrina Sullivan turned the key to her apartment, and pushed the door open. Upon walking in, she sat on the couch that she could get to first and breathed hard. Since the announcement about a virus that had gone haywire all over the world; just overnight, and their dismissal at work just an hour ago- she had been feeling both claustrophobic and overwhelmed. Which resulted in the hyperventilation episode that she was now having on the couch. With her face buried in her hands, she couldn't see that someone had walked into the room. "Hi," a voice said, making her scream. "I heard the door opening and I thought that it might be you," he continued as soon as she had composed herself. Amusement was written all over the stranger's face. "You must be Edward," Sabrina said after a moment had passed and then stood. "Edward Myers," he shook her hand with a smile. "In the flesh." "Right, nice to meet you." She said. Still feeling a bit disoriented and a bit absentminded. "I guess," she shrugged. "Sorry for frightening you," he let out a light chuckle. Which earned him a sharp glance from Sabrina, and resulted in him cracking a joke. "You must have thought that I'm the virus they're talking about, when you heard me speak." "It's okay," she sat back down on the couch. "I just thought I was alone, that's all." "Because I'm never home?" He wondered out loud, as he sat on the end of the same couch. "That, and because we've never met before." She told him, stealing a sidelong glance at him. Sabrina had acquired the apartment about a year ago; and when her previous housemate relocated, she advertised the extra room. And that had resulted in it, being rented by Edward - about six months ago. They had never set eyes on one another until today. And that didn't bother her at all, because she never experienced problems with him when rent was due. What strongly assured her that he was an actual living being, were the notes that they always left one another on the kitchen counter. So, him being physically absent all the time did not bother her. If anything, she liked and enjoyed having the house to herself. Before him, she had never shared a living space with a man. And when he put in his offer for the available room, she wasn't aware of his gender because the whole exchange was done online. From their early notes though, she had gathered that she was communicating with a man. And had worries in the beginning. Because she assumed that he would be a slob. But was pleasantly surprised about a month later, to discover that he was very easy to share a space with. And slowly, she had begun to relax. With time, she got fully comfortable and used to their situation as well as living arrangement. "I've been asking myself and wondering what the woman that I share an apartment with looked like," he mused. "And?" She prompted, without looking at him. "She's breathtaking," he breathed. Trying not to quickly label the man next to her as a womanizer, she decided to politely say, "thank you." "Aren't you going to ask me if that's something that I say to all of the girls?" He raised his eyebrow inquisitively. "No," she giggled a bit. "I figure you already have an answer ready for that one." "Unpredictable, and thinks two steps ahead." He said softly. "I like that in a woman." "Well, I'm not here to be liked," she retorted icily. "I'll add feisty to the list too." He grinned. "So, why are you here today?" Sabrina asked. "I live here, remember?" His grin remained on his face. As if he knew a secret that she wasn't yet aware of. "Yeah, sorry." She flushed in embarrassment, because he was right. This was his home too. "You're never home, though. So I guess that's why I'm curious about today." She explained. "Well, you're never home too." He retorted matter of factly, before cracking a joke. "I'm sure our divorce attorneys will love to hear that." Sabrina couldn't help the light laughter that escaped her lips. And for some reason, she found herself slowly relaxing. Or at least, not giving in to the fear that she had been feeling when she walked into the door. "Laughter is good," Edward noted as he studied her. "Even in bad and unpredictable situations?" She turned to look at his face. "Especially in bad and unpredictable situations," he seriously said. Which was a weird turn of events; because from his notes, she knew him to be a light-hearted and good humoured person. Even from the brief encounter they had been having since she walked in, she easily picked that up. "I was just about to fly out to England, when everything came to a standstill at work. And until further notice, we're to stay home." He shared. "So, you're a pilot?" She thought the question out loud, as she thought about how his consistent absence would make so much sense. "I was a few hours ago, who knows what I am now or will be in the next few days?" He shrugged. "You're worried," she quietly noted. "Aren't we all?" She saw that a few lines of worry and stress had suddenly appeared on his face. Where had the comedian that she was engaging with just a few moments ago, gone? She asked herself. "Tell me," he pulled her out of her reverie. "What's got you so busy to a point that you're never home when I am?" "A hotel receptionist job," she said. "Oh, I see." He breathed, then a smile broke on his face. "I've been getting your notes." "I've been getting yours too," she smiled back. Finding it amusing that they had been living together for six whole months, and hadn't seen each other not even once during that period. "I guess it's a good thing that we've kept the communication going then," he said referring to the notes. "It's definitely something to be mentioned at our divorce hearing." His playful self was back, Sabrina silently noted. "Does that mean you're now changing your mind about our divorce?" She played along. "I guess I'm not ready to lose you." He winked, making her chuckle. "Especially not during what might be a pandemic." "Speaking of," she grabbed a remote control that was sitting on their coffee table and switched on the TV. "Let's check the news." She said, feeling anxious and curious about the new developments of the whole situation. "I swear sometimes I just feel like these are designed to instill fear in us, about everything." He said, after the number of people that were believed to have died from the virus in the past hour- was mentioned. "A tad paranoid?" She checked. "No," he shook his head thoughtfully. "A tad open minded." "Shush," she said. As she tried to pay attention to what was being instructed to them, by the programme presenter. "I'll get us something to drink," he sighed and disappeared into the kitchen. "How do you like your coffee?" Came Edward's voice, as she tried to concentrate on the news bulletin. "Strong, two sugars without milk." She told him absentmindedly, then increased the volume. As scary as everything that was happening was, she didn't intend to miss a thing. "Coming right up," she faintly heard him say. A few minutes later, he walked in with their coffee, just when a sports programme started playing after the news. "What did I miss?" He placed her coffee and a few oatmeal cookies on the coffee table in front of her. "Nothing much," she stirred her coffee distantly. "It must be something big," he noted staring at her. "You seem to be in a worse mood than before." "Thanks for the coffee," she said. "You're welcome," he smiled. "And I'm notorious for not accepting change of topics, especially when they're made during a subject that I'm still keen on knowing more about." "What?" Sabrina looked up from her probably beginning to be cold coffee, because of all the non stop stirring. "You really aren't here, are you?" He studied her face. "I'm just thinking about all those deaths," her face creased into a frown. "Ah," he sipped his coffee. "So that's where your mind took a vacation to?" "It's just so horrifying and tragic that so many people have died, within such a short period of time." She muttered sadly. "It is," Edward nodded in empathy. "And that's why you need to stop thinking about it so much." "What?" She placed her mug back on the coffee table, without taking a single sip. "Why?" "Because it will make you paranoid. If you keep feeding your mind every little detail that's being stated on these hourly updates, you'll begin to start feeling like you already have ten of those symptoms." He stated matter of factly. "It's hard not to think about it," she reached for her mug distractedly. "Hey," he placed his hand on her arm comfortingly. "I know, okay? I know. I keep pushing it out of my mind, but trust me when I say it keeps resurfacing for me too." "So what should we do?" She desperately asked, feeling like a four year old looking for assurance in someone older- that things would turn out alright eventually. "We're still alive," he said with a small smile. "And until we aren't, I think we should live." "How are we going to do that if we're not even allowed to go outside?" She looked up from the mug, as she sipped her coffee. "Well," he slowly began. "I guess for now, we'll just have to do it inside here." She glanced at him, not just letting her eyes wander past him like she had been doing since the evening began. But took her time to study him. His features, his expressions and even his posture. When she experienced a passing wave of butterflies in her stomach, she looked away. How dare a stranger she practically met less than an hour ago make her feel all jelly, she thought and mentally chastised herself. "I'm listening," she finally said. "We can start with getting to know each other," he grinned. "Like, right now... I'd be delighted to know why you were stealing glances at me?" Sabrina took a few more gulps of her coffee, just to buy a bit of time before dealing with his question. "I don't know what you're talking about," she avoided eye contact as best as she could. "Really?" He let out a light chuckle. "You know, my first impression of you was that you're a brave woman. Probably one who isn't scared to speak her mind too." He sighed theatrically. "But I guess I was wrong, you're just a coward and a liar." "Okay, fine." She gave in to his manipulation tactic. "It's my first time seeing you, after sharing a house with you for the past six months. So, I guess I got curious." "Curious enough to steal glances?" He smiled crookedly. "I didn't want to outright stare," she said. "I hear it's rude." "Makes sense," he seemed to be highly amused by their conversation. "Glad you approve," she said sarcastically. "So..." He let his sentence trail, before it even began. "What now?" Sabrina frowned and waited. Feeling slightly annoyed with herself for being so affected by his presence. "Did you like what you saw?" He teased. "It's really not that deep," she rolled her eyes. "I honestly didn't think it was too, until you indirectly implied that it was." He smirked. "All I wanted to know was if you thought I was a safe enough person to be around, or just thought I was maybe a serial killer kind of person." She thought he was lying about the real intention behind his question, but didn't call him out. She genuinely believed that he had been flirting, but still chose not to bring that up. To avoid more walking around in circles kind of conversations like the one they were having. Deciding to put an end to it, she stood. "You are a very frustrating person to be around," she half turned before heading into the kitchen. "Anyone tell you that before?" "Frustration can be good," he followed her. "And no, not really." "Well, you should be reminded everyday." She said sarcastically. "Looks like you'll have a lot of opportunities to remind me of that," Edward smirked. Obviously unaffected by her remarks. If anything, he appeared to be enjoying every second of their weird conversation. "Especially now that we're stuck here, for who knows how long."