The Balcony

  A breath of fresh air, that's all he could think about at the moment. Nothing else would satisfy him until he breathed in the hot, sticky air that was the city. His fingers drummed against his desk, eyes on the window, pleading the outside to do something to take his mind off of everything. 

    An email alert forced his eyes to shift back to his computer screen. The expended energy proved useless as it was just a promotional email, nothing important. His eyes slowly made their way back to the window, voluntarily or not. An exasperated sigh left his mouth as he threw his hand up, giving in to the temptation. 

    The door slid open with a squeal, sticky from not being used. Warm air bathed over his face as he stood in the doorway, soaking in the surroundings. His foot lightly stepped out onto his balcony. The rest of him quickly followed as he relished in the warm sunlight. It looked like the chair on his balcony hadn't been used in ages. Leaves and cobwebs covered its metal frame. He had to clean it off at some point. But for right now, leaning on the railing and peering up and down the street was enough.

    His mindless thoughts were disturbed by another door squeaking open nearby. His head swiveled toward the noise, which lead him to stare straight across the road at the apartment directly across from him. Once he realized that he was staring, he quickly readjusted his gaze back to the street below him. Well, the empty street. The sheer silence that surrounded him felt surreal. It was never this quiet. 

  A car slowly rolled by underneath him, breaking him out of his daze. He glanced around again, almost forgetting that his across-the-street neighbor was still outside. She had taken a seat around her small table and kicked her feet up. A book propped itself up between her thin fingers. He strained to see what it was that she was reading. 

  He must have been staring for a while because when she looked up, it caught him off-guard. He quickly looked away, laughing a bit, half to himself and half to break the silence between them. 

    "Sorry if I was staring, I was trying to figure out what you were reading," He tossed the words across the street like a peace offering. 

    "You could have just asked, I don't bite." She smiled, showing off her perfectly white teeth. Her eyes turned back down to her book and for a second he thought he had lost the first genuine human contact he had had in weeks. 

    "I'm reading Catcher in the Rye." She raised her eyes from her book to look across at him. Her eyes took him off guard. They demanded to be seen, and yet the mossy color seemed inviting in some way. He paused, breaking their gaze to compose himself. 

  "That's probably one of my favorite books," He had returned to staring, almost intently, at the balcony across from his. Her sunkissed skin drew his eyes in, soaking up its warmth. 

  "You got a name?" The words cut through his daze, grabbing his attention as the last word escaped her lips. A name. Yeah, he had one of those. 

  His eyes hit the street below him, drawing a breath in before looking back up at her, "Yeah, I'm Austin. Do you have a name?" His eyebrows raised slightly, waiting. 

  "I'm Amy," the laughter that left her mouth sounded like honey to his ears, sweet and smooth. He leaned onto the railing a little harder. "Nice to meet you Austin," she tossed a piece of her long, blonde hair over her shoulder, "I'm surprised this is the first time I'm seeing you." She still held her book in her hands but her grip relaxed. The book balanced gingerly at the top of her fingers, open enough to read a bit, an easy way out of a lapse in conversation. 

  "I am too now that you say that. Seems like we would've seen each other sooner, especially with the circumstances." 

  "I guess I honestly haven't been on my balcony a lot recently. I'll be out here all the time now with the weather getting nicer." 

  "I should be out here more, it's a nice change from inside," he saw her nod her head in agreement as she turned back to her book, "Have a good rest of your night. I have to go make dinner," but he didn't really have to make dinner. He just wanted to stop bothering her. 

  "You too!" She called after him as he turned. He looked back in time to see her waving at him. He gave a small wave as he pulled his door open again. 

  He breathed in the cool air-conditioned air, crisp compared to the humidity on his balcony. He found himself back at his desk, head in hands, thinking. 

  No, thinking wasn't the right word. It was more of a daydream, even if the sun was setting right outside his window. He couldn't get her out of his head. The image of the breeze flowing through her hair wouldn't leave his mind. Her velvety words played on repeat as he started to get up and make his dinner. 

  The smell of spices and cooking chicken soon filled up his kitchen. He was never one to go light on the spices. Broccoli sizzled in a pan as he lightly poked it with a spoon. His mind had wandered from what was in front of him again. The smell of burning broccoli brought him back to reality. He was burning his meal. The spoon quickly adjusted the tiny trees to avoid more burning. 

  He decided that he would eat dinner on his balcony as he took the chicken out of the oven. The thought of another actual conversation was something he couldn't resist. It was sad, the things that made him excited these days. 

  He took his plate and started walking to his balcony door. As he rounded the corner, he stopped in his tracks. 

  Because there, on the balcony across the street, was Amy. But it wasn't just Amy on her balcony. No, there was a guy standing behind her, presumably skimming the words on the page she was reading. 

  And just like that, as he leaned down and kissed her forehead, all of Austin's dreams about his balcony vanished. He really was going to spend this pandemic in self-isolation.