mailbox 9
An apartment building in Brooklyn, New York (Earth-1610)
“Yes Mami.. I won’t forget, I swear.” Miles groaned, taking his mask off and shoving it into his jacket pocket before balancing his phone in place between his shoulder and ear. He picked up the cake box he set on the hallways window sill where he had come in, and made his way down the stairs.
“Uhuh.” Rio clicked her tongue on the other end of the line. “You already picked up the-”
“The cake? Yes.” he interrupted, sliding down the stair banister to the lobby floor, almost tripping as he landed.
“Is it still intact?” his mother questioned knowingly.
“Pssh..” he knew very well what she was referring to, and was confident the cake was fine, but still opened the lid of the box to peek at the cake to check, just in case. “Of course it is!”, he spoke, his tone changing from unsure to relieved.
“You sound a little too surprised at that, Miles.”
“I’m not, I’m not! I swear!”
“Whatever you say, mijo.” Rio rolled her eyes playfully. “And don’t forget to check the mailbox, your school sent out an email about your final report card coming in.”
“Already on it.” He replied smoothly, walking to the row of mailboxes along one of the walls in the lobby.
“You got your ‘B’ up in Spanish right?” Rio asked, tone becoming more serious.
Miles slightly panicked. “Hm? What- I-I think your connection is breaking up!”
“Miles.”
“Gotta go, love you!” he rushed out as he ended the call. Phew
Approaching his family's mailbox, he put in the key and opened it, taking the mail out, skimming through whom each envelope was addressed to, trying to find his report card.
He must've been on the fourth envelope when he felt his senses go off, lifting his head seeing someone approach. She stopped right next to him, though not sparing him a glance, she opened mailbox 9 and took out the mail, looking over her envelopes as well.
While she took the time to observe the small writing on the envelopes she held, Miles took the time to observe her. She was beautiful. Some of her hair was in the way of her eyes, but he could still watch as they flicked from left to right as she read. He followed the slope of her nose down to her lips and-
"It's rude to stare." she said plainly, not glancing up from the envelopes she held.
shit.
"Oh- uh sorry, I uhh.. zoned out." Miles struggled to get out, giving an apologetic smile.
The girl pushed her hair out of her face, looking to meet eyes with him. "Did.. you need something?" She questioned looking at him, eyebrows slightly furrowed.
He began to shake his head, trying to remain nonchalant. At least on the outside. "No." he responded, in an obviously fake deeper tone.
"No?" she repeated, eyes widening at the change of his tone.
"No." his voice returning back to its normal tone. She narrowed her eyes, a small smile formed on her lips in amusement. His eyes wandered back to the mailbox next to her. "Um.. is that mailbox 9?"
She turned to look back at the mailbox. "That's what it says."
"Oh cool," he says, nodding his head like an idiot. "So you uh, just moved in on the ninth floor then?"
"It would appear that way, wouldn't it?" she smiled at him warmly.
He gave a smile back, pausing for a quick second before responding, "I'm Miles, I live on the floor below you."
She opened her mouth to respond, before hearing a cell phone go off, interrupting her. Shifting her gaze down to her pocket, she took out her phone and paused for a second, looking at her screen.
The girl looked back up and gave him a small smile, "I’ve gotta go but, I'll see you around Miles." she said, closing her mailbox and walking past him towards the staircase.
He watched her leave, not knowing what to say. He didn’t want her to go, but he didn’t want to keep her from what she was busy with either.
“HEY!” He called out after a moment.
The girl nearing the top of the stairs turned to look at him. She didn’t give a verbal response, just looking at him with an interested face as she moved the phone away from her ear down to her chest.
He swallowed. “..My family’s having a rooftop party later today to celebrate my dads birthday. It starts at 5- you should come! If you’re not too busy that is. Your family can come too!”
She stared at him for a moment before nodding, a smile forming on her face. “Yeah! Yeah sure, I’ll ask them.” she beamed.
“Cool, so.. I’ll see you later then maybe?” he got out trying to play it cool.
“Yeah, maybe.” She replied, her smile slightly growing before hearing a muffled sound coming from her phone. She turned to face forward again, bringing the phone back up to her ear as she continued up the stairs. “Nothing Mama, I’ll tell you later.”