Town Houses by Emma Epson

Town Houses

  There was a town house in a suburban street with a beige exterior topped with a bourbon pointy roof guarded by a dull brick fence with an old stale gate. There was nothing special about the house. In each house within a house lived a couple, both couples were unmarried childless heterosexuals living middled class lives and had nine to five jobs. Both seemed reasonably content.

  In the first home, 1a lived Elliot and Melody. Elliot at first was hesitant about moving to 1a because of the address “1a”. He thought it sounded arrogant and pretentious because they won’t just be the first house by numerals but also first in the alphabet.

  “Look at me I’m number one” Elliot said flailing his arms around, when he tried to explain to Mel his reasoning just after they first inspected the house.

  Melody was not impressed by his argument and a month later they moved to 1a. They now have lived there for a year.

  The occupants in 1b never had a complaint about the number of their place. Caitlyn however was glad that she was in 1b instead of 1a because like Elliot she prided herself at being modest and earnest, she never liked anything that could make her stand out in anyway. She liked being unnoticeable, it made her feel more comfortable. She hated drama and glad she lived a simple life with Mike. Mike on the other hand didn’t mind standing out and had no preference either way with being different or not. But coincidently he wasn’t a very notable person. Mike and Caitlyn had lived in 1b for almost 2 years.

  Both couples never spoke to each other in any length even though they were living side by side under the same roof with only a wall separating them. Neither felt the need to mingle they just gave each other a nod or a simple greeting when they crossed paths. Which was strange because both couples from an outsider’s perspective were very similar. They both ordered from the same Chinese take away, almost every night and they both had the same weed dealer. Both deliverers would occasionally mention that they were 'on their way' or 'just came from' next door to either couple but neither couple would really care.

  Caitlyn/ Mike or Melody/ Elliot usually just replied with an “oh really?” or “cool” take their goods and return back inside, into their warm cozy home.

  Both homes were decorated minimalistic. Neither had anything of significance or notice on their walls. Both bins were just piled with take away boxes and both couches had a faint smell of weed engrained into them.

  ***

  Melody worked as a personal assistant in a small law firm in the Inner West of Sydney. She spent most of her work day organising her boss's meetings which required a lot of calling, rearranging and sticker notes. Melody spends her lunch breaks with the receptionist, Gemma where they would discuss relationships. Not Melody’s relationships but Gemma’s. Tinder was Gemma’s hobby, swiping left and swiping right most of the day.

  “Oh My Gawd this guy last night was so weird, he couldn’t even look at me in the eye. He also said he was 180cm in his profile but was shorter than me. Geez what a liar” Gemma complained while drinking her strawberry smoothie.

  “Well you are 180 so you didn’t give him much room to grow” replied Melody jokingly crunching her chicken sandwich that she has been excited about all day, it was the first time ever she had made her own lunch instead of buying it.

  “Well you know I should totally leave you and this place and be a model, I got the height and the blonde hair” Gemma scoffed.

  “You certainly got the dumb blank model stare going for you” Melody mocked while putting her arms around Gemma reassuringly.

  “I don’t know how Elliot puts up with you” Gemma joked.

  Melody gave a weak laugh in return.

  “How is Elliot putting up with you, anyway?” Gemma said with a friendly seriousness

  “We are going, same old same old.”

  “Come on? I share all my dating gossip with you, I want to hear the goss with you guys”

  “There really isn’t much to tell I go home we order food, we eat and go to bed.”

  “Wow excitement much? Sounds boring. Don't you ever get bored?”

  Silence fell. Secretly, Melody had started feeling apathetic about her relationship with Elliot. She thought after they moved in together she would feel more fulfilled but she hadn't.

  “Oh! I need to remind Alex about the meeting she has later with that guy with the peanut head”

  Melody excused herself and left lunch 15 minutes early.

  Gemma realised she had hit a nerve sat in the staff room feeling guilty for the remainder of her break.

  That night Melody laid in bed with Elliot after their weekly act of sex wondering whether this was enough for her. Elliot was on his iPad watching some sports commentary on YouTube.

  “Do you think our relationship is boring?” Melody asked

  Elliot placed his Ipad on the floor and rolled to face her.

  “No, why would you think that?”

  “We do the same things every day, it has become more routine than anything” Melody explained.

  “We’ve been together for 5 years, this is normal and I like our routine. Don’t you?”

  “I guess, I just had a long day. I’m going to sleep.”

  Melody turned to her side and pretended to sleep even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep that night.