09 - Thin Walls

Kassidy's POV

Last night was wild, or should I say crazy and unbelievable. 

I had been in bed for maybe an hour, drifting toward sleep, when I heard a thud followed by a loud moan from the room next door, and then another quickly after the first. I could recognize that voice even in my worst nightmare. It was Nova. Her voice was low at first, something I could bear, but then, out of nowhere, it became louder. 

"Faster, Eli," Nova moaned loudly. "Yes, baby,"

I lay there and stared at the ceiling. When I couldn't take it anymore, I tried putting a pillow over my head to block out the sound, but it did nothing. I never realized how thin the walls in this house were until tonight. 

Why couldn't they quiet down? I had an interview at the pizza place in the morning, and I needed all the sleep I could get.

I tried my earphones. I found a playlist and turned the volume up until my ears ached. But I could still hear it underneath the music, or maybe I was just imagining it by that point, but either way, I was wide awake and miserable.

They finished eventually. I knew because the house had gone quiet, but I still couldn't sleep.

At five thirty in the morning, I got up, pulled on a hoodie over my pyjamas, and went downstairs. My plan was simple. I would get someone's bowl from the cabinet, get a spoon, eat my cereal, wash everything up, and put it back before anyone woke up. In and out. Nobody would even know.

But the kitchen light was already on when I stepped inside.

Eli was standing at the counter in grey sweatpants and a white t-shirt, and he looked like he was waiting for the coffee machine to finish. Suddenly, a vivid image of what he had been doing with Nova mere hours ago filtered into my mind, and I groaned inwardly. He looked up when I walked in and I almost turned around and went back upstairs.

I didn't, because I was hungry and sleep-deprived. Instead, I walked to the cabinet and opened it.

"You're up early," Eli commented.

"Nice observation." I reached for a bowl.

"It's five thirty-five in the morning, Townsend."

"I'm aware of the time, Eli, thank you."

He watched me take the bowl down and reach for a spoon. "Why are you up at five thirty?"

"Why are you?" I pulled the spoon out of the drawer and turned toward the fridge for my milk.

"I asked first."

"And I chose not to answer." I got the milk, got my cereal from the counter where I had left it, and sat down at the kitchen table. He was still watching me with that expression I hated sometimes. He looked too concerned for someone who supposedly couldn't stand me.

"Are you eating Marcus' cereal?" he asked.

"I'm eating my cereal, which I bought with my own money and which I am storing on this counter because I don't have a space for it in my room." I poured the milk. "And this is Marcus' bowl, which I am going to wash and return before he wakes up. Please, stop asking me annoying questions."

Eli ignored my plea. "Why don't you have your own bowl?"

I said nothing.

"Townsend."

"Drop it."

"You don't have dishes." It wasn't a question. He said it the way he said most things, flat and direct.

"I said drop it, please." I picked up the spoon. "Go and drink your coffee and leave me alone."

"I'm just asking..."

"And I don't want to answer!' I retorted in annoyance. "You ask me questions as if you care about the answers, and then you find a way to use whatever I say to make me feel small. I have not slept, and I honestly am not in the mood for it this morning."

He went quiet, and I felt myself close to tears, which annoyed me even further. The coffee machine beeped, and he turned to pour himself a cup, and for a few minutes, the only sound in the kitchen was my spoon against Marcus' bowl.

"At least get some sleep before daybreak." He finally said to me. "You look like you haven't slept at all." 

"I wonder why that is." The words came out before I could stop them.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"It means the walls in this house are thin, Eli. That's all it means. I have an important place to be in a few hours, and you guys kept me up with your lovemaking."

The silence that followed even worse than the first. He stared at me, and I glared at my cereal, and I could feel the discomfort radiating off him from across the kitchen.

He set his cup down. For a second, he just looked at me, and something different from the usual coldness shifted in his expression as though he was choosing his next words. 

"I saw you," he said finally. "At Target. With Reynolds."

I looked up from my cereal. "And?"

"Nothing. Just be..." He started to say, before footsteps came from the kitchen door. I smelled Nova's strong perfumes before she even walked in.

She was wrapped in a dressing gown, black hair loose around her shoulders, and blinking slowly. She looked so well rested, which infuriated me even more. Why did she get to sleep soundly after keeping me awake all night?

Silently and furiously, I stabbed at my soggy cereal. Nova glanced between Eli and me curiously.

"Good morning." Her voice was careful. "Is everything okay?"

"Good morning, Nova." I greeted.

"We were just talking," Eli said, at the same time as my greeting.

Nova looked at him for a second, then at me, and I could see her doing the math, reading the tension in the room. 

"Are you sure?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'm done, actually." I stood up, took the bowl to the sink and washed the cereal away quickly, dried it and put it back in the cabinet. I put the spoon back in the drawer. I picked up my cereal box and my milk. "Excuse me."

I walked out of the kitchen without looking at either of them.

Behind me, I heard Nova say something to Eli in a low voice. I didn't catch the words, and I didn't want to.

I went back upstairs and sat on my bare mattress with my cereal box and ate the rest of it dry, straight from the box, with my hands, while I thought about my interview.