I’m making coffee while John Mercer sits at the table with Pandora, chatting quietly. Dave’s guitar case is on the couch behind him, but Dave himself is nowhere to be seen. Karen left a note on the fridge saying she’ll be late for dinner, which is weird because we’re ordering pizza tonight. Meanwhile, Mr. Whiskers is in the kitchen meowing loudly for attention, and Mrs. Jenkins just walked past the apartment carrying shopping bags and gave us a friendly wave. I should probably remind John to update his resume before she asks about his job hunt again, because she always asks. Also, the coffee beans are stale. I really need to buy fresh ones.
Anyway, Pandora suddenly laughs at something John says, and he smiles back at her. They’ve always gotten along, but I think the laugh is what throws me off. Pandora’s usually a little more reserved around John. Not unfriendly, just… less openly amused. At first I figured maybe she was trying to make him feel better because he mentioned last week that he’d been feeling stuck lately, and she’d been pretty supportive. Maybe she was trying to cheer him up. But he doesn’t seem upset right now. Honestly, it could just be a normal laugh, and I’m sitting here trying to analyze it like I’m reviewing security footage.
Then Mrs. Jenkins smiles while walking by, and now suddenly my brain starts connecting things that probably shouldn’t be connected. Is she smiling because she saw Pandora laughing? Is she aware of something I’m not? Am I somehow missing a bigger picture here? Then Mr. Whiskers starts screaming louder, and I think he just knocked over the coffee beans onto the floor. Great. Now I definitely have to buy new ones. Although maybe I could still use them. It’s not like anybody checks coffee bean freshness unless they’re one of those people who suddenly become coffee experts after buying a grinder.
The thing is, I keep telling myself I’m overthinking this. Everyone’s just hanging out and waiting for pizza. That should be the end of it. But once I started thinking about it, I realized Pandora and John actually have been spending more time together lately. Not in some dramatic secret way, but enough for me to notice it. She drops by unexpectedly more often than she used to, and a lot of the time it just happens to be when John’s around. It’s not that I mind. There’s just something about it that feels slightly… off. She always seems unusually invested in his life. She helps him with job search stuff, checks in on him, gives advice, and John always appreciates it. But sometimes it feels like she’s trying a little harder than she needs to.
Now I’m realizing John’s been acting differently too. Lately he’s been getting random calls or texts while we’re hanging out, and whenever I ask about them he suddenly gets vague. Meanwhile Mrs. Jenkins seems to be paying attention to all of this with way more interest than a neighbor probably should. I swear she watches Pandora and John interact like she’s observing some kind of social experiment. Right now she’s standing near the kitchen island sipping a glass of wine while Mr. Whiskers circles around her legs, and I’m suddenly wondering if she’s more involved in this whole thing than I originally thought.
Maybe she’s not just a neighbor. Maybe she’s an observer. Maybe she’s invested in our entire household dynamic for reasons I haven’t figured out yet. Because once I started thinking about it, I realized John acts differently around Pandora too. Not dramatically different, but enough that I noticed it. He asks for her opinion more. He seeks out her advice. It almost feels like he’s trying to impress her somehow. Then there’s Mrs. Jenkins constantly watching them, and I swear she occasionally gives Pandora these strange looks like she’s evaluating her.
Even Mr. Whiskers has started acting weird. Whenever Pandora’s around, he suddenly becomes attached to John and follows him everywhere. He rubs against his legs, sits nearby, and watches everything happening in the room. At first I thought I was imagining it, but now I’m not so sure. Animals notice things people miss. Everybody says that. And Dave has been acting strange too, now that I think about it. He always seems to include Pandora in conversations, even when she wasn’t part of them to begin with, almost like he’s creating opportunities for everyone to interact. Karen, on the other hand, seems a little more distant around Pandora lately. I’ve noticed her avoiding her a few times.
Mrs. Jenkins mentioned some kind of “rift” between Karen and Dave recently, but every time I ask questions, she changes the subject. That’s suspicious by itself. Then yesterday I caught Pandora and Mrs. Jenkins whispering in the hallway. The second I got close, Mrs. Jenkins immediately changed the subject and walked straight over asking if I needed help with anything. Completely evasive behavior. And now that I think about it, Mr. Whiskers is always watching Pandora too. Not obviously. Just quietly from across rooms. Windowsills. Corners. Chairs. Watching.
So now I’m wondering whether Mrs. Jenkins is somehow manipulating this entire situation. Maybe she’s pulling strings behind the scenes. Maybe Pandora doesn’t even know she’s involved. Mrs. Jenkins and her husband have apparently been having financial problems lately, and financial problems create motives. Maybe Karen and Dave’s so-called rift isn’t even real. Maybe someone manufactured it. Maybe someone is creating tension on purpose. Maybe Mrs. Jenkins is using our entire social circle as pieces in some elaborate neighborhood conspiracy.
And now that I think about it, John has been taking up a lot more space on the couch lately.
I knew something was wrong.