Ivy had never had a complex about B3. It was a two-bedroom flat with a properly spacious kitchen and a wide open area she assumed was supposed to be a corridor but the flat was too square so it ended up being a square space that connected every room. She'd also decorated it in the ways of maximalism, opting for very many plants and homemade crafts that gave it a cosy sort of feel. The stray bean bag chairs she had three too many of were also always constantly changing, never finding a permanent home because Ivy herself did not believe in that sort of permanence. She was moving and so immobile things were supposed to move alongside her. 

Chastity had been to her place one too many times. She understood what everything was and what it always looked like yet, Ivy was decidedly nervous. She kept on stealing glances her way, laughing nervously as she walked behind her one maroon loveseat. A tad stressed, she wondered if a cloud of dust might come off it if she slapped it. She kept things neat but she seldom ever used her living room so she seldom ever did any sort of deep cleaning.

"Well," she said, more to break the ice within her and not the one around them, "you know where your room is. Get settled and let's have supper." Reaching for the reserves of unbotheredness within her, she plopped herself onto the maroon seat, tried very hard not to care if there was a cloud of dust after and then fished her phone from her pocket. "What do you want to eat? I don't feel like cooking anything. Scratch that, I haven't done any shopping and I don't feel like doing it and then cooking."

"Order from that place we like - rice and beans for me." Ivy plucked up the courage to look up at her. Chastity's eyes were glazed as she stared into nothingness on the ceiling. Her mouth was ajar and Ivy was sure she was about to drool. She couldn't help the tiny giggle. 

"Papa's gives your mum a run for her money." She scrolled quickly and ordered two of the same. "I'll marry the owner. Watch me."

Chastity broke her revere. "Not if I get to her first."

They were quiet again. 

Ivy and Chastity had the sort of friendship that did not need words to feel empty space. They were the kind of friends whose existence filled all their spaces. They could stay right next to each other for a week without talking and they would be completely satisfied. In the same breath, they could talk nonstop for a week and be completely satisfied. Theirs was a bond that exemplified sisterhood - at least, according to the very sarcastic older sister to Ivy. And they had perfected the art of communication in all its forms. This was until that very moment the quiet seemed to challenge something within their established status. 

It itched for Ivy to say something. The air, quiet without the ramblings of the two, felt charged in a way that would quickly pave to awkwardness if they did not handle it properly. There was Ivy, fiddling with her calculator app because then she'd have to talk. From the corner of her eye, she could see Chastity fumbling with the strap of her bag and suddenly she wanted to know why. Passingly, she wanted to know what it would have felt like to be the strap being touched by Chastity. She wanted to be on the receiving end of the fumbling hands.

She couldn't help the sharp embarrassed gasp that was followed quickly by a whispered, "Be serious!"

This obviously worried Chastity. "What is it?" She asked, stepping away from the square corridor, and making her way to the sofa.

"Nothing," Ivy answered quickly, shutting her phone and placing it screen-side down on the sofa. "They just said it is going to take a bit longer to get our order and I got a bit annoyed." On cue, her stomach rambled, joining and affirming her wicked lies. "I am so hungry!"

Chastity laughed, rolling her eyes. She was always so beautiful when she acted bratty. This was something Ivy had known from early in their relationship. She highly suspected that Chastity knew this as well because she invoked bratiness whenever nothing went her way then suddenly, it did and she would get numbers from it. It was a superpower she had long envied and the same space that she had loved. It was the slight brattiness, she realised, that ended up breaking the awkward tension that had been steeply on the rise. 

"Well then, that's my cue to go shower."

As she walked away, her back turned to Ivy, shoulders still shaking from the after-effects of Ivy's embarrassing stomach, she realised that she had probably done one of the silliest things known to man. 

She should have advised her to go to her parents. 

It was one thing to have her stay over for the night and then leave the next day. It was completely another to have her stay for an indefinite amount of time. Now, Ivy knew she was not the sharpest tool in the shed but she liked to think she was well versed in the matters of unrequited love. She had been stewing in it long enough she'd gotten herself a PhD in said matters. One thing she had known from watching all her romcoms and experiencing intense pinning was that, it was bearable when the focus of all romantic emotions was not there constantly. She could talk herself out of feeling as though she was being eaten alive with all her feelings. But now? There she was, having her delusions being reinforced constantly. 

"Bad idea," she said the moment Chastity disappeared behind her bedroom door. It was more to herself than anything else but part of her feared she could have heard. After a beat or two of not coming out, she figured she'd not. 

Being that she was still not sure about her acumen for handling adult situations like the disaster she was in at the moment, she sort of looked for advice from the one person who was kind of getting a hang of the whole business. Her older sister, Pendo.

What? She texted back after a curt hello that was punctuated with so many emojis it was probably considered illegal in a couple of countries. 

Chastity is staying over.

And this is my problem how?

Ivy pursed her lips in slight annoyance. She's staying for a while.

It took five minutes to reply back, then you get to bone. leave me out of it.

Oh, how Pendo annoyed her so. That's not the point.

What is?

We... did the thing and now it's awkward as hell.

Another five minutes. I don't really want to know about this. Don't you have friends to talk to about this? That old lady you like talking about a lot. 

We already talked.

There you have it. Just bone again and get it out of your system. Second time's the charm.

Pendo was being decidedly unhelpful. You're not helping.

I don't want to hear stories about a relative having sex. 

She put her phone down and stared into nothing. She was going to be all alone in the nonsense she'd sort of created.