Chapter 02: Broken Shower
The fact that his sister, Jenna, had moved back to Boston gave Darren a constant feeling of anxiety. Although she was two years older than he, Jenna wasn't what you would call reliable. She claimed to have secured a job as a Senior Architect for Lockwood, and that she only needed to crash at Darren's apartment until she could get a place of her own.
Presuming she didn't get fired or decide to hop to another city again, Darren stood a chance of having his apartment to himself again within a matter of a couple of weeks. He had worked hard to be able to afford such a nice place to live, and while he didn't necessarily expect his sister to set the place on fire, he was more than a bit concerned that her belongings would spread like a virus through the place.
It was week four and, admittedly, she had been a lot better about things than he had expected she would be. She seemed to pitch in with dishwashing and vacuuming, and picked up after herself — well, at least as well as Darren ever did.
That night, they had both done their best to straighten up. Sandy, from apartment 192 was coming over to look at the shower. She wasn't the landlord, but she was kind of like the landlord's helper for the apartments on the 19th floor. She would assess any problems and put in any orders for maintenance.
Sandy had always been friendly to Darren, and he suspected she was kind of into him. It worked out well for Darren. It hadn't ever taken more than a day to have anything fixed.
She would be up any minute, so Darren made sure to throw on a cleaner shirt. He made his way back to the living room to find Jenna wearing just a pair of panties and a black t-shirt.
"Jenna," he said. "Come on. Sandy's going to be here any minute."
"I'm just waiting to get my pants out of the drier," she replied. "Don't get all uptight. I'm sure your neighbor has seen a woman in her panties before."
She tugged at her t-shirt. "You remember this?"
Darren would probably never forget her t-shirt. Jenna had worn it the last time she was in Boston, six years ago. His anxiety came rushing back at him. The t-shirt was the centerpiece of an awkward moment in their history. Six years ago, in his old apartment, Jenna had walked in on Darren as he was jerking off to porn. As if that hadn't been weird enough, she stayed, encouraging him to continue masturbating while she teased him. It wasn't their finest moment. Darren was more than a little ashamed of himself for it.
Why on earth would she bring that up again?
"Yeah, great," he said, dismissively. "Can you maybe go to your bedroom or something?"
The doorbell rang.
"Shit. Just go to your bedroom," he said as he approached the door.
He opened the door. It was Sandy. "Hi Darren," she said. "How long has the shower been acting up?"
Sandy had dark hair, a pleasant smile, and was overweight. She didn't seem very confident, but she made it a point to talk to Darren whenever she could. They often shared the elevator in the mornings before work, and had even had lunch together a few times on the weekends.
"It just started this morning," he answered her. "The knob for the hot water twisted off. I could probably fix it myself," he said as he motioned for her to come inside.
"Not if you want to keep your security deposit," she laughed.
"Hey. I can fix stuff," he smiled.
"Sure you can," said Sandy, "but why don't we play by the landlord's rules and you can use part of your security deposit to buy me lunch this w--"
She cut off her sentence and Darren felt his stomach drop. He turned around. Sure enough, not only was Jenna still in the room, but she was still pantless.
Jenna rushed to Darren's side, grabbing onto his arm and pressing herself against him. "Aren't you gonna introduce me?" she asked.
Darren didn't know whether he was angry, amused or just plain confused. "Um... Sandy, Jenna. Jenna, Sandy," he said. Sandy reluctantly extended her hand. Jenna leaned across Darren to shake it. Her breasts pressed against him.
Sandy's eyes met Darren's. "So, the shower then?" she said nervously. Jenna had purposefully made Sandy uncomfortable. What in the world was she thinking?
Darren walked with Sandy to the bathroom, being sure to shoot Jenna a dirty look over his shoulder while his neighbor wasn't looking.
Sandy didn't waste any time with small talk as she inspected the shower. "Yeah, it's busted. I'll get the maintenance crew up here in a couple days."
"Couple days?" Darren protested. "That's a--"
"Best I can do," she cut him off. "There's a backlog of repairs right now." She walked out of the bathroom and showed herself to the door.
"Okay," said Darren as he followed her. "Thanks for coming by so quickly," he added.
"What are neighbors for?" said Sandy, coldly. "Jenna. Nice to meet you," she half waved, walked out and closed the door.
Jenna leaned against the kitchen island that connected to the living room. "Nice girl," she said.
"What the fuck was that all about?" Darren raised his voice.
"What?"
"I told you to stay in your room."
"Sorry," she said. "I just wanted to meet your friend."
"Well, you obviously made her uncomfortable," said Darren, "and now we don't have a shower for another couple of days."
"I wouldn't worry about that," Jenna smiled. "I think she's into you, brother. Besides, if it does take a couple days, there's a shower at work I can use," she said, selfishly.
"What the fuck do I care?" said Darren. "Sandy left here upset, and it's your fault."
Jenna got a strange look on her face. "Oh," she said. "I didn't realize you were into her too."
"She's a friend."
"Is she?"
"Jenna, just stop, okay? Can you at least admit that what you did was inappropriate?"
"Actually, I probably just did you a huge favor," Jenna winked.
"Oh, this'll be good. Go ahead, Jenna. Explain how you just did me a huge favor."
"She has no idea that I'm your sister. She probably just thinks I'm some girl you're banging."
"Still not getting how that's a favor."
