Windows on the World (OLD VERSION) [BEING REWRITTEN]

[¹⁴] ˢᵘᵖᵉʳᵐᵃⁿ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᵃ ᴷ

Sunday morning was bleak and gray. Barely any light reached the living room, so the TV playing the new Men in Black animated series provided most of the illumination, flickering onto Phoebe's face as she sat in cozy darkness, blanket covering the rest of her body except for the hands holding a cereal bowl. Dana had slept at Hugh's, a trend that she worried she may have started with her inquisitive doubt on their living arrangement and the distance keeping them apart. The first time Dana had called to ask Phoebe if it was okay with her, she had no choice but to utter an agreement while masking that unnerving loneliness.

A buzzing sound alerted her of someone from the outside requesting access. One quick peek through the window revealed Walter waiting on the stoop.

"Shit. It's like he jumps outta bed with a suit already on."

Phoebe pressed the intercom and mumbled a "hm?"

"It's me," he said.

"Good morning, Me Cooperman." Phoebe could tell he must have been shaking his head during the silence. "Come up, I ain't quite ready yet."

She wouldn't lie... she feared that Jeff might've been there somewhere, watching Walter enter. But New York's cold temperatures could be unforgiving, there was no way she was going to let Walter turn blue out there.

The man blinked when he heard the strident screech of the door permitting him passage into the brownstone building. It was the first time he'd been invited up to Phoebe's—her cousin's—apartment. He had started to think that there would never be a day in which she would let him go that far.

Phoebe left the door open for him, running to get her clothes and shutting herself in the bathroom immediately after.

Walter took to the staircase hoping the exercise of going up those flights of stairs would bring some warmth to him. By the time he reached the unlocked door, he was already taking his scarf and gloves off, but kept the coat on when he noticed that the apartment didn't appear to have a great heating system. The small kitchen was the first part he noticed. With barely any counter space or decently-sized appliances, he struggled to envision Phoebe cooking there, or at least enjoying the process of it.

He paced the empty living room, picking up on lightly distant noises coming from somewhere else in the apartment. He did not poke around or snoop. And instead, decided that settling down on a couch with fabric peeling off the armrests, facing the adventures of the 'dumb' Men in Black, was the only thing to do for the time being. A half-eaten bowl of cereals was left abandoned on the coffee table at his feet, so was a notepad full of numbers and symbols, and a couple of college textbooks with colorful sticky notes poking through their pages.

Phoebe fixed her unusually pale complexion—given this appearance by the diminishing sunlight of the season—by applying some flattering makeup. Her curls had formed a nest because she'd forgotten to tie her hair up before going to sleep, and her tossing had not helped the situation, so she tried her best to refresh them. But considering the random outfit she had grabbed in a hurry, the hair would probably go unnoticed... A multicolored stripy T-shirt with lilac checkered pants, and bright pink socks. Phoebo the Clown.

While letting herself out of the bathroom, she first peeked through the door to locate Walter.

When the clown braved to make an appearance, she leaned on the doorframe to the living room, trying to appear collected and nonchalant with her 'relaxed' posture.

"'Sup?"

Yet Walter could see past her disguise te second he laid eyes on her. Those red cheeks and the movement of her shoulders following the accelerated rhythm of her breathing made it quite obvious she had been rushing.