Synthetic Love

Chapter 4

Chris walks into the living room of his apartment, having just gotten out of the shower. It almost felt weird wearing regular clothes after spending several weeks wearing the same handful of outfits and stage clothes. It was good to be home though, and Chris was excited to spend the next few weeks writing.

As Chris walks out, he hears a knock at the door. Chris turns and walks over to the door before answering it to reveal a very giddy Saanvi.

"Chris!" She exclaims, practically jumping into his arms. Chris catches her and blinks, surprised.

"Well, hello there," He says.

"I'm sorry, I know you're probably exhausted from tour - I just wanted to come say 'hi'."

They come apart and Chris smiles, "No, you can always come bug me. It's so good to see you again, how have you been?"

Saanvi steps inside and Chris shuts the door behind her, "Alright, I guess. I've mostly been working and helping Ravi get ready to leave."

"Ah. How's that been?"

Saanvi shrugs, "It'll be sad to see him go, for sure, but I do think it will be good for me to see what it's like to be really alone for once."

"Well, you won't be completely alone - you still have me."

Saanvi smiles up at him, "Yes, I do," She says, "So. Tell me all about tour!"

x

A few days later.

Chris was up and ready for the day, planning on having the guys over in a couple hours to continue working on writing. He had coffee brewing and was beginning to get things set up when he heard a knock at the door. Chris furrows his eyebrows in confusion, as he wasn't expecting on anyone showing up for quite some time now. He goes to the front door and opens it to reveal Saanvi, dressed in her scrubs, ready for work.

"Hi. Do you have coffee? I'm out," She states, bluntly, "Actually, scratch that - I know you have coffee and I'm coming to steal some." She lets herself into the apartment.

Chris blinks, then chuckles, "Yes, please come in," He says, sarcastically.

Saanvi already knew her way around Chris's kitchen, so she gets herself a mug of coffee while Chris stands close by drinking his.

"Is today another writing day for you?" Saanvi asks.

"Yeah, we're gonna be meeting up in a couple hours. How about you? You're only working a half day today, right?"

Saanvi nods. Today was Ravi's last night at home before he would be flying out to Liberia tomorrow morning.

"He's spending the first half of the day with his family, then he'll be with me and I'll drop him off at the airport tomorrow morning."

"Are you at least a little sad that he's leaving?"

"Well, of course I am. It's going to be extremely hard to be without him for a whole year."

Chris nods, understanding, "Well, if you ever get lonely and you need a buddy, you know where to find me."

Saanvi smiles and nods, "Thank you, I'll definitely keep that in mind."

x

For the most part, Chris managed to push his thoughts of Saanvi aside and focus on writing. He couldn't help but wonder though what this year with Ravi gone would do to their relationship - especially when Saanvi clearly didn't love him. Would they break up? Would Saanvi take interest in someone else? Maybe someone living across the hall from her?