With a pull, the door swung open and Giselle stared into the smiling faces of two strangers. One of them was a tall, dark-skinned guy with rectangular, frame-less glasses, a bald head, a goatee on his chin and thick, dark lips. He wore a white tee that emphasized his toned upper body and shoulders. Next to the man that was at least a head taller than her, stood a relatively petite woman with bright, red hair and round, enormous glasses. Her make-up matched her hair color and was way too bright to be natural in the first place. The woman had a round face, neatly plucked eyebrows and full lips. She was short, wore a white, cute dress that showed off a slender figure.

The woman started in a high-pitched sing-sang voice, "Hi, I'm Rachel". Then a deep voice, almost as deep as Ian's, continued, "And I'm Kamal". It went back to Rachel, "We're the new neighbors". Giselle's eyes moved over to Kamal, since it was his turn again, "We moved in directly under you". He held out a plate with pastries and the redhead grinned, "And we made cookies. I hope we get along well!".

The brunette stared at them, asking herself what the fuck just happened. Did they actually practice this? Are they going to do this at every door? Why now and why was she wearing her pajamas again?

Rachel said after a moment of complete stillness, "You're supposed to take a cookie and maybe say Hi?". The smile was bright and perfect. Giselle found her way back and blushed. She reached for a cookie and introduced herself in a shaky voice, "Hi, I'm Giselle. Ian ain't home yet. I'd ask you in, but I am so not prepared for guests". Her shy laugh prompted Kamal to wave off, "Don't worry, we'll probably run into each other again. Just in case, here's our numbers to reach us if we're too loud or anything". The woman and him exchanged a glance and then a brief smile played across Rachel's lips as he handed a piece of paper over. It was hand written and had two names and two numbers on it.

"Anyway, I hope you have a lovely evening. T'was nice meeting you. Please take one more for Ian", Rachel smiled and pushed her partner to offer the plate again. Giselle squinted at them and took a second cookie. She said sheepishly, "It was nice meeting you, too. I'm sorry, I just didn't expect visitors. This isn't how I usually am". Her hands ran down her pajamas that had an Eat-Sleep-Hockey print over her chest as if to show them. The shirt was Ian's, it was a magnitude too wide and reached over her thighs.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Another awkward silence passed over the three and Kamal cleared his throat, "How about this, you come down tomorrow evening or the day after and we'll show you our place, have a snack and we say Hi in a less awkward manner?". He gestured around the dim stairwell that echoed their voices through the different floors. This brought a bright smile to Giselle's lips, "That sounds lovely. I can bring Ian, right? I mean if he even wants to". She rolled her eyes out of habit, but Rachel nodded, "Of course. We'd love to have you. Just text me and we'll set something up". Both of them smiled, waved at her briefly and went up the stairs to the next floor, probably to greet more of the residents. The plate still held quite a few cookies.

"What an odd couple", she muttered to herself as she went back inside, put the cookies on a plate in the kitchen and took them with her to the sofa. With her phone in hand, she added two new contacts and noted down that they lived underneath their own apartment. Just when she was about to put the device away and return to her TV show, it beeped.

Annie: "Have you met the new couple? Oh my god, that girl is cute! :smiling\_face\_with\_3\_hearts:"

Her hand hit her forehead out of reflex as she facepalmed in response to the text. She typed her response immediately.

Giselle: "Stop hitting on everything that is female and walks on two legs! They were cute together!"

Annie: "So you met them. I know, I know, I won't mess up their thing, I promise :face\_with\_rolling_eyes:"

Giselle: "Thanks! They did invite us down for snacks. Guess they felt sorry for me. I opened in my pajamas"

Annie: "The kinky silk ones?"

Giselle: "No! I'm not wearing those anymore. The one from Ian"

Annie: "Awww, too bad."

Giselle: "What do you mean 'too bad'! That thing is fucking revealing, you should know!"

Annie: "I know! Anyway, tell me how they are once you met them properly, alright?"

A thumbs up was the only response Giselle gave when she returned to her show. About ten minutes later, a new text arrived.

Ian: "Something came up. I'll be late"

Giselle pouted and stuffed both cookies into her mouth at the same time. Her act of protest made her feel good for a moment. Then she regretted it immediately when the cookies sucked all the moisture from her mouth. Now they tasted like sand with chocolate because of it, but she chewed it down anyway.