Page 5 of Spark

“No makeup?” she asked her reflection, pouting her lips. “Nope.” She smiled again and turned to the laundry bin. The phone in her pocket dinged. Smiling, she slid the device out and looked at the screen. Her smile fell. It was just a regular text from her coworker.

Flory:Hello dear! I know David asked you to come in, but don't bother. The diner's dead because the weather's too nice for people to be indoors. See you tomorrow, love.

After typing a quick reply of thanks to Flory, Mia slid the phone back into her pocket as the laundry basket tumbled free from her hip.

“Shit!” Mia yelled, throwing her hands up. Her eyes scanned the floor as her hands begin to collect the pieces. She stood and sighed, closing her eyes for a moment to center herself again.

“Fucking great.” She breathed out, her fingers flew nervously over her hair, but no flyways were found. Mia began to gather her clothes from the floor again when she heard the shuffling of feet once more. With a roll of her eyes, she went to slide the door open to vent her frustration on the nosy neighbor, but before she could, her phone dinged once more. Anger temporarily forgotten, she smiled as she read the message.

Aurelio:Hey, beautiful, I can't talk now. Stuff is going down at the job today. But I wanted to see if we could maybe call later? I would love to hear your voice if that's cool with you.

The idea intrigued her, and a tingle of anticipation tinged with dread crept down her spine at the thought of hearing his voice. She checked the time once more; her morning was slipping away fast. The clock read nine. There was plenty of time to run errands and maybe chat with Aurelio on the phone.

She gathered the clothes from the floor as a small knock sounded. Standing up straight, she grabbed the sliding door and pulled. Janet stood there, her ratty slippers shuffling forward into the apartment before Mia could react.

“Well, it's official!” she cried, moving towards the couch. “It's just you and me on this floor for the foreseeable future!” Janet's whiny voice grated on Mia's bruised nerves.

Sighing, she slid the door closed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sure, Janet. Come on in,” she muttered half under her breath.

If Janet heard, she made no comment on it. Instead, she plopped down and continued to talk. “I don't know, Mia. Two young ladies...” Mia raised a brow, and Janet scoffed before continuing, “...youngish.”

“Janet.”

This was not the first time the older woman had barged in and began complaining about living alone with no man to protect her. She waved a hand, shushing Mia. Not wanting to engage in the conversation, Mia focused on picking up the dirty clothes, but the old woman was completely undeterred.

“Well, regardless of our opinions on age, two women living alone on the same floor is asking for trouble.” Janet crossed her arms, nose pointed in the air as she waited for a reply.

“Terry lives one floor up.” Janet made a small, annoyed sound. “And there are only three lofts on this floor anyway.” Mia looked at the woman's manufactured look of shock. “The whole building is only four floors. The cafe on the bottom, the four smaller lofts below us, our floor, and then Terry.” Using her hands, she stacked them like she was trying to explain away a fear with logic to a toddler.

“I know how our building works,” Janet snapped. “I have lived here longer than you.”Not wanting to deal with a full-blown Janet tantrum, Mia softened her voice. “I know.” She dropped another pair of jeans into the basket, eyes on the messin front of her instead of the mess of a woman on her couch. “But you have to remember we don't live in some high-rise in the middle of a big city.” Mia waited. When Janet still didn't respond, she let out a deep sigh and went back to the task before her.

When she was almost done, Janet finally spoke again. “I just think maybe we need doors on the stairs. Ones with keycards to get onto the floor itself.” The lady had pitched the idea many times before at the monthly meetings the residents held at the cafe. “You wouldn't need it to leave, so it's not a fire hazard.”

“You pitched the idea at the last three meetings,” Mia groaned. When Terry had heard the idea, he let them all know that if it was something they all pressed for, the cost would come out of their pockets in rent increases. None of them lived there because they were loaded.

“Well, if you came to the group with it, maybe….” Janet gave a desperate smile.

“Are you really that scared?”

“Well, I mean.” Janet gripped the top of the robe she was wearing, gathering it to her saggy neck. She couldn't have been more than fifty-five, maybe sixty, but her face was dominated with wrinkles. The woman was a smoker; Terry had chewed her out for smoking in the advertised “smoke-free” building more than once. Mia felt sad for her; what Janet really wanted was friends, people she could be around. But friends were something Mia couldn't afford. Friends meant fun, fun meant pictures, and pictures meant people could find her.

Steeling her spine, Mia walked to the older woman and gripped her elbow gently to lift her to her feet. “Janet, I have errands to run and things to do,” she said with a serious but kindtone. “This issue is something that the whole building decided was not worth it.”

Janet put up little resistance as Mia directed her towards the door. “I just think we need to seriously consider banding together. You and I can convince the three on the lower floor. And you're friends with that flamboyant barista.”

Mia rolled her eyes behind Janet's back as she led her to the door. “You need to leave.” Janet paused for a moment, staring at Mia for a beat before releasing an annoyed, sad sigh and shuffling outside.

Before the door slid closed, the older woman turned and placed a wrinkled hand on Mia's shoulder, her bony fingers digging in slightly. “Just think about your position before the next meeting.” She gave Mia's shoulder a couple of pats and turned towards her own door. “Us girls need to stick together.”

Chapter Three

Mia made quick work of picking up the rest of the laundry, making sure to grab every stray piece that had somehow landed under the chairs. She retrieved her keys and cross-body bag and, with a grunt, hefted the laundry bag on her hip before sliding the door open. Before she stepped out, she looked down at her bare toes.

“Fuck. Shoes,” Mia sighed, rolling her eyes as she set the bin down. She selected the most simple option before her: black thigh-high boots that rested comfortably over her jeans. Zipping them up, she gave a triumphant smile. “Okay, let's do this.”

No sounds came from Janet's loft as Mia passed her door. No noise was normal, considering the woman spent all her time eavesdropping on everyone else. And after their last interaction, she probably wouldn't see her again till tomorrow.

Being extra careful not to accrue any more bruises today, Mia cautiously made her way down the metal stairwell. Most of the time, the tenants would use the side entrance to leave the building. But since it was raining and Mia's little blue Bug was parked in the garage across the street, she opted to drag her laundry through the shop. Tony wouldn't like it, but they had a good relationship. She opened the side entrance to the cafe and lugged the hamper in. Tony looked up at the sound of the bell above the door and frowned.

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