I didn’t occur to me until the next morning. I lay there thinking of all the things I hated. At the moment the thing I hated the most was the walls. Their thin condition let the sounds from outside seep in.

   I heard the angry yelling of people whose engines had frozen and who didn’t want to go to work.

   I groaned and let my head fall to the side looking at the window. I looked at the snow flurries floating down. I heard pounding on my door.

   I don’t know what drives people to do what they do. But one thing’s for sure, something drove Jessica to be so pissed off that morning.

   “What?” I raised my voice at her delicate frame draped in a throw blanket.

   “That girl was back, and she pounded across the hallway dragging something!” She skillfully expressed her discontent. It was easy for her.

   “Well!” I threw my arms up in the air, I was not in the mood, “I’m sorry!”

   “What’s up your ?” She was suddenly calm, like I had all the epinephrine out of her glands. She was deflating like a balloon.

   “Are you alright?” I asked, ready to catch her light figure.

   “Uh, I don’t get any sleep now that, that girl won’t stop leaving and coming back!” She cradled her head in her hand.

   “Well I think it’s because she lives here Jess.”  I didn’t want to burst her bubble, but it was true.

   “Well then she should move!” Jessica stated.

   I didn’t bother responding; arguing with Jessica was like trying to turn on the heat in our “vintage” apartments. Didn’t work no matter what effort you made.

   On the subject, the draft was leaking through my broken window. I hated that particular window, aimed right at where I spent most of my time now. At the table, being distressed about not being able to pay my bills.

   “Let’s move!” I said shivering against myself. Jessica looked at me.

   “I don’t care, I like it here it has a kind of vintage charm.”

   “You don’t really believe all that bull they sold you when they showed you the place did you?”

   “You didn’t? The layout is cute!” Jessica was being more positive than me, which ticked me off to no end.

   “Maybe I’ll just move!” I said.

   “And go where?” She narrowed her eyes at me, “You can’t afford your rent in the worst part of town, you can’t pay any bills, or hail a cab, or keep a job. How do you expect to pay for a nicer apartment? Honey, you’re stuck here.”

   Now that Jessica had made my already poor living conditions seem like a prison all I wanted to do was re-think our friendship.

   “I think you should go.” I said blankly.

   “Whatever.” She got up and left just like that, I followed her out and watched her enter the apartment right next to mine.

   Everything looked so familiar when she rounded the corner. It took me a second.

   “Oh!” She said smiling at me, “You’re that girl that I saw in the coffee shop!”

   “Uh yeah.” The weirdness didn’t die down.

   “What’s your name?” She asked. She had a large rectangle wrapped in plastic by her side.

   “Choi Sooyoung.” I didn’t say anything more.

   “Hwang Tiffany!” She stuck out her hand.

   This was called a handshake and I didn’t like them. They made me feel like I was making some pact to become a friend and talk to you more than once. And that was something I wasn’t willing to do.

   I don’t think I could show my annoyance. I really wasn’t that annoyed. I’d just deserted her in a coffee shop with cold indifference. I don’t think that anything could make that up to her, but she just looked at me and smiled.

   So I took a chance, I shook her hand. I felt my muscles relax and decided that I had an important question to ask.

   “So where so you live?”

   “This floor.”

   Shows you how observant I am, “How long have you lived here?”

   “For about five years.”

    Well tickle me pink, this girl had been living here longer than I had, and I had never seen her before.

   “I’ve never seen you!” I said in disbelief.

   “I went MIA to complete some paintings, went back home to finish them.”

   Professional artist. There is no way in Hell this girl was making her rent either. Yet here she was, happy as can be.

   I swallowed my pride and sighed.

   “I’m sorry for ditching you in the coffee shop.”

   “Oh it’s fine, I was insensitive to your problems.”

   I felt like a now. I just nodded and went back into my apartment without another word.

   Damn.

   I can’t even comprehend what was going to happen after that day. I just assumed that that was that.

   Damn.

   When I was younger I thought that maybe I had a whole future ahead of me.

    Monday, I headed down to the coffee shop.

   “Hey!” Tiffany came sweeping up behind me and blocked my path.

   “Hm?” I pretended to look interested.

   “Let me buy you come coffee!”

   I couldn’t hurt

   “Sure…”

   “So what’s on your mind?” She asked.

   Once I had sat down, it occurred to me she wanted to talk, it actually might happen too.

   “My sister and my rent.” I said, short and true.

   “Ah yes.” She nodded like some wise old man and set her coffee down gently.

   “Professional artist?” I tried not to sound too bored.

   She nodded and that was that.

   Next Monday I was again graced with that awkward feeling. I was walking down the street pondering my options for money when I saw her, sitting in that art gallery place that had been causing so much commotion only a few nights ago. The beats still echoed in my head.

   I watched her through the giant glass display. She was wrapping up some paintings I assumed were hers.

   “Sell anything?” I leaned against the frame of the open door.

   “And here I thought you didn’t like me.” She looked up at me weakly smiling.

   “I don’t like anyone.”

   “Touché.”

   I didn’t want her to think I was some heartless jerk who didn’t care about her problems. Even though I was. So I took myself into the gallery and began looking at her paintings. They were abstract, but the passion was clearly recorded.

   I was taken back by my own reaction “Where do you get inspiration for paintings like these?”

   She shrugged, “I’m inspired by life.”

   “Life?” I snorted.

   “Why the snide tone?” She asked.

   “Life isn’t that inspiring.”

   “I have financial issues too.”

   “Everyone does.”

   “Yeah so what makes yours so different?”

   I looked at her. I didn’t know how to answer that. Yeah, I had a sister in the hospital, but for all I knew so did she.

   So I didn’t say any thing, but now I wished I had.

   "Life is not inspiring, because it is not." I said blaintenly.

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A/N: Sorry for the rushed chapter, I was inspired and had to jot this little chapter down real fast. So I hope you get some mild enjoyment from it! :) I think I'm going to have a lot of fun writing this fic! The idea didn't seem very cool at first, but now I'm hooked as an author! Please send love and support and your opinions. I'm setting out to make this my best fic yet so thanks