Oil and Water | Terry Silver

Chapter 1 : Oil

Everything that could have ever been said, Devan had heard. She had a prognosis since she was young, it ranged to wild things. It went from having a blood infection, a rare blood disorder, seizures, she would never be the normal child she wanted to be. She would never be able to play any sports, be apart of any recreational activities.

She was used to hearing those words, nothing, she got nothing. So, she threw herself into her studies and graduated at the top of her class. She wanted to do great things and be a great person, but that was easily achievable for someone like her. She knew she was broken since the day she was born.

Her mother used to tell her the same thing, they were given a broken child. They had three more after her, her younger siblings. None of them developed what she had and that was alright. She was quite alright with it, she was perfect in her own eyes, but it took time to come to terms with such a thing.

She got good grades, focused, studies, but it was never enough for anyone else. She was always alone, even in the hospital. She came to terms with it long ago.

Worse, her parents had decided to give her the name of a boy. She heard it all from kindergarten to high school. In college, it wasn't so bad. In college, everyone focused on their grades. The ones who decided they needed to be the bully, they never made it very far.

However, along with school debt, came medical debt. She was in the hospital on and off for years, it just added up.

She worked long hours, did everything she could and it never made much of a difference. Los Angles was an expensive city so she decided to live in a cheap apartment. It was no big deal, a home was a home. It was safe, safe-ish. It was enough for her, most people would turn when seeing a big Doberman Pincher anyways.

"There's a new tenant moving in, Ms. Ashton."

The same quiet neighbor she had lived next to for over a year, Miss Angela Henry. Miss Henry brought her groceries every now and then, neighbors helped other neighbors after all and Devan could respect that.

Neighbors needed to be neighborly.

"Where at?" Devan asked as she put her bags down beside her apartment door to fumble with her keys. The apartment number on the door was 35, she was lucky enough to not have to live on the sixth floor. On bad days, Devan even struggled to get to the third floor.

"Well, next to you, Ms. Ashton! Landlord finally finished renovating after Mr. Reynolds keeled over!" Miss Henry laughed.

Mr. Reynolds had been in his eighties. They nicknamed it the death apartment because the landlord was unable to rent it after such a casualty. So, he renovated it in hopes of getting rid of the stench of complete death.

"Lucky me," Devan sighed, sticking the key in the lock of her apartment and clicked it. Her Doberman, Dotty, sat in front of the door with her tail wagging and her tongue sticking out her mouth. "Dotty, bags, please."

Dotty stood up and the white Doberman came and picked up the plastic bags and carried them inside.

"Have you met them yet?" Devan asked, eyeing Miss Henry.

"He and he is quite the charmer, Ms. Ashton! He's quite the looker too." Miss Henry wiggled her eyebrows and Devan could only sigh at her actions. Miss. Henry was a bachelorette in her sixties, but she never quite gave up on hitting on the younger generation or bringing up Devan's young age.

"I see." Devan sighed, "I guess I'll have to meet your new boyfriend." She chuckled softly, beginning to walk into her small, 600 square foot apartment.

"How's your health, Devan, really?" Miss Henry's smile disappeared and looked at Devan with soft eyes. Miss Henry was one of the few she was honest with about her health problems. There were days when someone had to take care of Dotty, she just couldn't lie. Well, she could have, but she didn't want to lie about it.

Devan sighed, softly, "just going through the motions at this point... It's still a long road for me to go, but I'll manage." She smiled before waving to Miss Henry and entering her apartment.

So, another new member to their hell. The apartment was hellish. It was low income, even though Devan wasn't really low income, but she had very little income coming in with all of her debt.

Leaning against her door, Devan stared up at the white, cracking ceiling. One day, she hoped to get out from under the bills and the debt she had managed. Running one of her hands through her dark brown hair, she closed her eyes just for a moment.

"Alright, Dotty, lets make dinner!"

***

Devan had her knees pulled up to her chest, her head slumped on the side of the couch. The TV blared an episode of Golden Girls. Her head laid on a brown leather couch that had tears all in it. Dotty laid on her back, on the floor, with her feet in the air. The dog quietly snored to the noise of the TV.

A knock echoed through the apartment. Then another and another, then a voice, "Ms. Ashton! Come out, please!"

Devan slowly opened her eyes and groaned, stretching her arms and legs up. Dotty rolled to her side and stared at her. "It's fine, Dotty." Devan got to her feet and adjusted her white pajama shirt and her black shorts.

"Hold on, I'm coming! This better be good, it's getting late!" She sighed, stepping over Dotty's toys. She opened the door to her apartment and beside Miss Henry was a gentlemen with slicked back hair. He wore a gray zipped up sweater and blue jeans. He had blue eyes, really blue eyes and an earring.

"Miss Ashton, this is the neighbor I was telling you about!"

Devan sighed, "I thought you were being murdered or something the way you were banging on my door."

He was a good looking neighbor, better than what they usually got. Her own hazel eyes stared at the newcomer, looking him up from head to toe. "I'm Devan Ashton, nice to meet you."

The smile the newcomer gave made even Devan shiver, but she gave a numb smile back. She put her hand out to the man and he took her hand with a smile.

"Terry Silver."

"Mr. Silver is a karate instructor, Miss Ashton."

Karate? Devan looked at the man and narrowed her eyes. She could see that. He seemed well built, but extremely tall too.

"That's an interesting field," Devan said.

"And what do you do, Miss Ashton?" Terry asked, smiling at her.

Devan shifted, "I'm a doctor. I work as a cardiologist."

"That sounds like an eventful job." He smiled at her and still, his smile made her feel weak in her knees. She had never felt that before and she dealt with all kinds of people in her field.

His smile, his eyes, everything made her feel weak, but he was rather attractive.

"You have no idea." Devan looked between the two of them. "I should be going, I have an early morning." She smiled at them both. "Have a nice night."

"You too, we'll hopefully be seeing more of each other." Terry's smile got bigger, but it made her feel different this time.

Instead of weak in her knees, she felt nervous and sick to her stomach.

Devan gave a nod of her head before slowly shutting the two as the pair walked down the hall. She leaned back against the door and closed her eyes. The building had all kinds of different people and Terry Silver was no different.