NICK

PANDAS

hehe sapnap

L i can call you that now

hello bug

WOO YOU ANSWERED

can we do something today

im bored

and since were actually like

neighbours

and know who each other are now

we can hang out !

im busy til 2 but i can hang out afterwards

COOL

we should go ice skating

YEAH

okok ill come to urs at 2

WOO

_________________________________________

the girl hears a soft knock at her door 10 minutes past 2pm. she stands up quickly, picking up her bag as she walked out if her bedroom. she ensures the lights in her apartment were all off, walking to the front door and unlocking it to see nick standing there, smiling. "hey! youre late" ailee says playfully, with a giggle.

nick laughs and faces the ground, shaking his head slightly. "come on, whats your excuse? was there traffic in the whole 3 steps to my door?" she laughs as she speaks, creating banter between the pair. "i had to psych myself up to spend time with you, this is torture already" the boy responds light-heartedly. ailee fakes a shocked look, placing a hand on her heart in mock disbelief. "oh come on, im not that bad." she says as she steps outside of her door and locks it behind her, seeing clay standing in the open doorway of the neighbour's apartment.

"clay! how are you on this fine day" she says, waving in return to clay's. "better than nick, he has to spend time with you." clay says, nick nodding enthusiastically in response. "thats what im saying" he agrees as ailee once again fakes a hurt and shocked expression. "thats it. im going ice skating by myself." she laughs and begins to walk away from the pair of boys by the door. "bye clay!" she yells as she hear nick's hurried footprints approach her as he chuckles at her response to the banter. "have fun kids! use protection!" clay says, causing the pair walking to stop and look back in shock and disgust right as the door closed behind the boy.

the two continue walking towards the elevator, making comfortable small talk on their way to the local ice skating rink. as the friends enter sapnap's car, the girl immediately reaches for the aux cord. "who said you get aux?" sapnap says, seeing the girl plug in her phone. "me. plus, you have to drive so...." she responds and begins searching for a good song to play.

'bottom' by gracie abrams begins to play as the car drives through the streets of florida, taking them through stretches of malls, shops and restaurants. the drive consisted of a comfortable silence, each person taking in the fact that their friend of months was finally next to them, before a conversation filled with banter and sarcasm arose, breaking the silence.

after around 20 minutes, the pair finally reach the rink, entering the cold area and heading straight towards the hire desk to get skates. bug eventually got her skates on, struggling with the laces as her hands felt frozen, despite only being in the arena for a few minutes now. sapnap waits impatiently, excited to start skating, celebrating when bug finally stood up. the two make their way onto the ice, sapnap immediately losing his step when he places his foot onto the ice infront of him.

bug bursts into laughter at the boy trying to regain his balance, seconds away from falling. "how are you good at skating?" sapnap asks ailee, slightly out of breathe as the girl had been doing small circles on the spot, waiting for him. "i used to go skating in australia as a school sport, i did it every week." ailee explains, slowing her pace in order to keep up with sapnap who is gripped onto the wall.

"every week? you're not allowed to laugh at me" sapnap says, trying to avoid the humility of being a terrible skater. "its too late, this is very entertaining for me." ailee says with a giggle in her voice. sapnap shoots the girl a flare, before laughing along with her.

"do you know even know how to skate?" ailee asks, sapnap shaking his head. "here, ill teach you." she says, grabbing sapnaps hand, as an attempt to pull him from the wall. instantly ending terribly, ailee hits the ice with a thump not long after sapnap, bug being pulled down after sapnap lost balance almost as quickly as when he initially stepped on the ice. to anyone around them, the pair in a pile on the ground, erupting in laughs and comments about who's fault it was, were the obstacle in the way of their skating circle. however, they were having the time of their life.

the pair each found comfort in the newly found friend, the friendship growing each moment shared, creating the bond between them that only ever previously existed over the internet.

and hour or two later, after a meal and many, many falls, the two made their way back to bug's apartment.

they ended up on the couch, watching the new season of stranger things while talking. "have you ever thought about how weird it is, that the entire time we were texting, we ended up living next to each other?" sapnap asks, turning his head to face ailee, who was very intently watching the current scene of the show. "it is weird, but the other weird thing was how throughout the whole time we talked, you never fell in love with me! even after my numerous attempts, you still never reciprocated the feelings. im truly offended." bug says, her tone laced with sarcasm as she almost broke character half way through, a laugh escaping her lips.

sapnap replies with rolled eyes and a pillow thrown in the girls direction, making both if them start laugh, interrupted by a knock at the door. "give me a sec, ill go see who that is" bug says while standing up and making her way towards her front door. opening the door, she was greeted with dream holding patches. ailee instantly fell in love with the cat, patting her and eventually taking her out of dreams arms as she let him into her apartment. "nick's in the living room" she says, letting dream lead as she walked behind, focusing on the cat in her arms.

dream and sapnap greet eachother shortly before ailee enters the room, announcing the presence of patches to sapnap. "dream brought patches!! im gonna go introduce her to steak." she says and exits the room, still able to her dream and sapnap's short conversation include dream asking who steak was, followed by asking why ailee named her cat steak.