I Chose Nothing

2

John knocked and held his breath silently as he heard the laughter fade and rushed footsteps heading towards the door. He heard the neighbor fumble with the locks and laugh at themselves, they opened the door with a sheepish smile on their face. "Sorry if I disturbed you..." They began, but John interrupted at the same time, "Are you okay?" The two of them stared at each other awkwardly for a moment. "Uhm yeah!" They laughed as they opened up the door a bit more and leaned on the door frame. "I'm just a bit scatterbrained and well...I've been messing around with a couple of things in my bedroom and it's all over the place-" But before they could continue rambling on John interrupted again, "I was just making sure y'know? I was writing an essay and those crashes sounded brutal!" He joked, trying his best not to seem rude.

In an attempt to do the same thing, they stuck out their hand, "Sorry we haven't met sooner, I'm Sage, Sage Kelley." They smiled sheepishly again, John took their hand, "John Stuarts, it's a pleasure." Sage raised one eyebrow, "Would you like a drink or anything? I have cookies- COOKIES!" Their face fell and they dashed towards their kitchen, leaving the door open for all to see. Their apartment was organized, but there was innocuous clutter here and there. "You can come in if you're not busy, I don't bite!" She laughed to herself from the kitchen. John laughed silently to himself, "Eh, why not?" He whispered.

John entered the familiar, yet completely different apartment. He then came into view of the kitchen where he saw Sage taking out cookies and placing the batch they made on top of the stove to cool off. "I completely forgot I had these baking, luckily they came out fine!" They laughed again as they took off the mittens and shut off the oven. John stood near the counter, "I take it you like these?" He pointed to a vase that carried two flowers one was yellow, and the other was striped. Sage nodded, "Carnations are my favorite, I never forget to water them. How about you? Do you like anything?" They asked, John nodded, "I like to..." It hit him, he doesn't like many things and the one thing he enjoys he's terrible at. "...paint." He wasn't sure why he lied, you don't have to be good at painting to enjoy it right? "That's really cool," Sage added, "Would you like something to drink?" They asked again, John shook his head. Sage shrugged and poured herself a glass of water. "Which apartment do you live in? I don't think I've ever seen you." Sage asked as they jumped onto the counter, taking a sip of water from their glass. "Room 627-A" He muttered quietly, Sage tilted their head, "You live right next door, huh." They nodded again.

After a seemingly short conversation about painting, (which John found easy to lie about since he'd done past articles on impactful artists like Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, and Claude Monet) John looked at the digital clock on Sage's oven and couldn't believe his eyes. "Is that clock accurate?" He asked Sage, interrupting her spiel that he wasn't paying attention to. Sage looked at her phone, then at the oven and nodded, "Is something the matter?" They asked, John shook his head, "Its just that...it's been a long time and I have to submit an assignment before midnight." It was already 8:30P.M Sage nodded understandingly and thanked John for the company, "See you later neighbor, maybe we can have a painting contest or something." She smiled, John nodded, "I'll let you know when I'm free." He said as he entered his own apartment and closed the door, bidding them goodnight as he did.