Chastity was stuck in her car for what felt like an eternity. It was scorching and she was sure she was going to have random breakouts on her back but she couldn't help but stay there longer. It truly had nothing to do with the fact that she was half scared of making it to Ivy's flat or that she would say something so wildly unfit like, "Hey there, buddy!" while tapping at her shoulder and finishing it off with finger guns. 

Absolutely nothing to do with that. Her imaginings remained to be exactly that - imaginings. 

She took in a big, hot breath and looked at the ceiling of her Mini Cooper. It was time, she gathered. She could be just as cool and unbothered as Ivy was. Why was she taking everything so widely out of proportions? A small reddit session and she knew that everything was going to be okay (this was minus the ministrations of one, sukunassockdrawer, who was stupid and didn't know just how strong their bond was). She was okay. She was an adult for crying out loud! They were both tax paying adults! Why would it matter? 

Having psyched herself a proper one, she reached for her phone and before she could chicken out, dialed Ivy. She could not help her leg bop or the sudden rivulets of sweat that decided to show at the exact moment. "Pick up," she whispered as she bit into her right hand thumb, heart beating so fast she would not object to being called guilty of something at that exact moment.

"Where are you?" It would have helped, Chastity thought, if Ivy were a normal person and started her calls with a courteous hello. 

That being said, she could not help how easily she broke into a broad smile, her nerves cooling, her personhood finding footing. "So uncouth. How many times must we do this? Say hello then I'll answer."

On the other side, Ivy sighed. "I am not the one whose flat is infested with snakes. I could leave you for dead out there."

Her free hand clutched at imaginary pearls as her eyes widened and her mouth let out a very offended gasp. "Why, I never!"

"Well, never today." She could hear shuffling about. "Where are you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I am parked at this place the lot of you call a parking. Honestly, I think you should talk about forming a union or something. It is not a good look for Alpine Flats."

Keys jingled and Ivy's door screeched in protest. First order of business, she gathered, was getting her some good lubricant for her door hinges. "Tell that to Kiptum. If you can convince him that it would not ruin those demons, then I think you'd win a free flat here. Gosh, that man!" Ivy's slippers were so loud as they slapped over the concrete floors. "Did I tell you? The other day he was talking about how we are enemies but he was nice about it? It was so weird! Like, he made me gather myself in an instance!"

"Why'd you need gathering?"

Ivy was quiet for a second too long and she hoped that she was not imagining why she had to gather herself. She had promised herself she was not going to think about it. Besides, Ivy was the kind of woman who would need to gather herself constantly. She was the kind of woman who'd bemoan a matriarch of a fly family being killed thus effectively never taking food home to the family!

"Well," she finally said, "I saw a bird's nest fall and I couldn't save it. All the eggs broke. I think that's why Kiptum was kind of nice. He must like all animals equally."

"Of course," she said, smiling but, strained. She couldn't understand why that answer made her heart feel like it was being folded in on itself. It was the most apt answer so why did it matter? It was good that they were getting back to normal. "Though I doubt that man likes cats. I mean, just look at him!"

As though to emphasis on the point, a sharp rap on her car window led her to let out the most unladylike yowl. Ivy was saying something over the phone when she turned to look at who it was. Eyes, cold as Limuru twilight, stared deep into her soul. Fucking Kiptum. She lowered the window of the front passenger seat and gifted him the widest smile she could master. "Hello, Kiptum. Long time no see."

Kiptum groaned and pointed at her steering wheel with his nose. "No idling. Go park elsewhere."

"I am not idling. I am here to see Ivy. Actually, I am here to live with Ivy for sometime so I am using her parking space. I don't think that is illegal, is it?"

She was not sure is she imagined it. While Kiptum seemed to have an unfounded disdain for Ivy that he showed every time he could, he was indifferent to Chastity. Ivy's flat was her second home and she seldom ever went a week without setting foot there and even then, the most he would show her, was luck of curiosity. In fact, he would go out of his way to address her as though she was a complete stranger every time they would meet. At first, it had been irritating but after a while, she learnt to ignore it and talked to him like a coworker. A fellow stranger. 

At that moment though, he looked at her with something sort of heavy disdain only it passed to quickly so she was not sure if it was real or if she was seeing things. 

"You have stayed in the car too long. Either you go see her so that I can determine you are a visitor or drive off and go park at Naivas."

"Unbelievable," she whispered as she begun getting out of the car, locking all the windows and doors, walking to her booth to get her backup clothes. "You know, I actually like you, Kiptum." She decided it was best to get to his good graces. That passing look had shook her to somewhere and she did not like it. "I wish we had you as out guard. I'd feel super safe. Something about the dogs and you just say, professional!" She then pulled out her office smile. Wide, but not too wide. She did not want to come off as a maniac nor was she in the market to making herself less that aesthetically pleasing. 

"Go. Office. Parking card." With that, he left, leaving Chastity, her backup clothes and her fuck ass smile looking after him. 

She could have said something but she was saved by Ivy's voice which sounded a tad laboured but overall had that hint of joy she could never leave out. "What were you and Kiptum talking about?" Ivy turned to look after him, her head cocked to the side. Something, she was sure, had changed.

"Just the usual, the Alpine Flats Handbook for Dummies. Imagine he was telling me to go park at Naivas like I'm some stranger he's never seen before! Gosh, what did you really do to that man. It can't just be because of that letter, no?"

She finally got to look at her. She would not say it was jarring because the shock was not forceful. It was calm, as though she had just come home from a long trip and found the house clean, having completely forgotten she had done it before leaving. It was slow and gradual and induced such intense happiness. Ivy, she thought, looked like a well done painting of the sunrise. Simple in a way that was breath taking because no one else in the world could do it like her. While she always looked spectacular in her layered styling, the look she had on, a simple flowing t-shirt so thin she could practically see her poking nipples with such short shorts made her look so good she wanted to fall into her arms and never leave. 

"He's been acting weird," Ivy said, pulling her from her sickeningly sweet thoughts. "I wonder if he's okay."

"Caring for your mortal enemy?" she asked as she turned to look at the retreating back of Kiptum. "That is the downfall of many a sweet people. Stop while you still can."

"Can't," she said in resignation. "It's too late for me." She smiled at her. "Want to go home now?"

Now, why did her heart jump like that?