The big game

"Goddammit." Bianca says, taking the parking ticket off her windshield. She looks at her permit and see's the yellow color rather than the new navy blue one. "Told you you'd get one," Harrison says. "That's tough, though. At least it's only $75." Bianca rolls her eyes. Harrison goes to watch the football game, and Bianca quickly moves her car outside the parking garage. As she's walking back to the entrance of her apartment building, she thinks about what made her forget to renew her parking permit. She flashes back to 2 days prior when Sean had left her feeling the worst that she had ever felt. Bianca had messed up but told Sean she would never make that mistake again, and she tried her hardest to talk to him about what had happened. Sean just ignored her and walked away, leaving Bianca standing in the parking garage in tears. She went inside and went to her apartment on the third floor. There she opened a bottle of red wine and drank straight from the bottle. She turned on some Adelle and started to look at old pictures of her and Sean. Bianca finished the bottle in her hand and then headed to her cabinet. She picks up several bottles reading the labels before finally settling for a bottle of bourbon. She turns up the Adelle a little louder and gets halfway through the bottle before she hears a knock at the door. Bianca pauses the music and proceeds to move slowly towards her door. She looks through the peephole expecting it to be Sean, but rather it was her neighbor Harrison from 363. She opens the door. "How can I help you?" she says, slightly slurred. Harrison responds, "I was just wondering if everything is okay. These walls are pretty thin, you know." "Yeah, everything is fine for the most part. Nothing that a little alcohol can't fix." Bianca replies, giving a small laugh and holding up the bottle of bourbon. Harrison smirks and says, "You know what they say, if you're not drinking alone, you're not an alcoholic." Bianca, who didn't find this statement too funny, lets out a little laugh and invites Harrison in. She hands him a glass and pours him some bourbon. She raises her bottle and says, "To long-ass days." Harrison raises his glass and drinks his bourbon. The two talk and get to know one another. An hour passes by, and they're both fairly drunk. "So, wait, you just got out of a long-term relationship?" Bianca says. Harrison promptly replies, "Yeah, the longest six years of my life ended two days ago. Thank god that shit is over." "Six years?! Damn. I couldn't even make it three years!" Bianca says. "In two days, it would've been our 3rd anniversary." Harrison raises the bottle of bourbon and says, "To new beginnings." Bianca takes the bottle, raises it, and says, "To new fucking beginnings." She puts the bottle to her lips and takes a long sip. Bianca wakes up the next morning and makes herself a cup of coffee. She takes a steaming hot shower and gets herself ready for work. Bianca forces herself to work and to get her assignments done before the hour hand hit 5. She leaves work and heads to the store. On her way to the store, her phone rings. Hoping it would be Sean, she starts to speed a little bit. Her phone pings three more times. She gets to the store and looks at her phone. She sees a message from Sean, "I will be by around 7:30 for my stuff. You can leave it outside your door if you want." Bianca sighs heavily and stops herself from crying. She forces herself to read the other messages. Harrison texted Bianca, "Hey! Big game tomorrow!! I'm having some people over to watch the game. Wanna come?" Harrison had then texted two more times, "It starts at around 10:30, but many people are showing up around 10." "Everyone is required to bring one sort of snack or 'treat'. BYOB too." Bianca responds to Sean, "7:30 sounds good. I'll see you then." She then texts Harrison, "I'll be there around 10:15, just to be fair, haha. I'll bring my spicy chicken dip." She heads inside and gets everything she needs. She drives back to her apartment and parks her car in her spot. Bianca carries four bags from her car each trip. She heads back to her car for the alcohol case when Sean texts her, "Where are you?" She looks at the time "Crap! It's 7:34!" Bianca says. She rushes up the stairs to the third floor, where she finds Sean. She starts to head over to him and sees Harrison talking to him. Bianca, shocked and confused, walks over. "Hey, Harrison! Hey Sean." Bianca says. She quickly gives Harrison and Sean a side hug. She opens her door and places her groceries inside. Bianca hears their conversation through the door. "Sean, are you watching the big game tomorrow?" Harrison asks Sean. "Of course, I am! Who isn't?" Sean replies. Bianca places Sean's stuff in a grocery bag and quickly heads to the door. "Here, Sean. Sorry to make you wait." Bianca says, handing the bag to Sean. "Thank you, B. I better get going before they tow my car from my parking spot." Sean replies. "I'll walk you out." Harrison says. "I'll see you around, Sean." Bianca says before slipping back into her apartment. She puts all her groceries away and starts to make her spicy chicken dip. She goes back to thinking about how nice everything was with Sean, how happy he made her. Bianca realizes she dozed off when she hears the knock at the door. She walks over and opens the door to find Harrison standing there. "Hey! What's up?" Bianca says. "I just saw your car in the garage. Your parking permit is expired, and I just thought I'd remind you to renew it before you get a ticket." Harrison says. Bianca, whose mind is all over, says, "Oh! Thank you!" and then quickly runs back to the kitchen to check on the dip. "Is that your spicy chicken dip?" Harrison asks. "Yeah, I like to make it the night before because I think it tastes better when it's cooled down, then reheated." Bianca replies. "I also don't feel like waking up at 8:30 to make a chip dip." She laughs. "It smells really good! Can't wait to try it!" Harrison says. "Alright, I'm going to start getting my place together for tomorrow. I'll see you at 10:15?" "Yep! Have a good night!" Bianca replies. Harrison leaves her apartment and heads back to his. Bianca heads over and locks the door. She finishes making her dip, scoops it into a dish, and covers it with cling wrap. She opens the fridge and clears some space on the second shelf, and places the dip inside. While she's there, Bianca places her beer in the fridge as well. She heads over to the wine fridge and places the bottle of whiskey in there. She pours herself a glass of wine and then heads over to the couch and turns on the TV. She opens Netflix and watches a movie. "TGIF." Bianca says before sipping her wine. She sets the alarm for 9 AM. After she finishes her glass, she starts to doze off a bit. Just before the movie ends, Bianca falls asleep. She wakes up before her alarm goes off and decides to start getting ready for the game. She throws her favorite player's jersey on along with a pair of jeans. She cleans up her apartment and takes out the trash. On her way down, she bumps into Harrison, who is also taking out the trash. "Morning, stranger!" Bianca says. "Look who it is!" Harrison says. The two head down to the garbage room together when Bianca remembers that her parking permit is expired. "Shit!" Bianca says. She quickly throws her trash out and runs towards the parking garage to find a ticket on her windshield. "Goddammit," Bianca says.