Nosey Neighbor

I'm fascinated by one of our neighbors in our apartment building. First, a bit about where we live... for a brief while it looked like The Boy and I would be on our way to practice law in NYC. So we were already prepared for the high rents, etc. So when we found out we weren't going to NYC (thank goodness!) we realized that we had a big chunk of rent money already set aside. Never wanting to leave anything to waste (or spend wisely...) we decided to go for it and live it up for a year in our new city. This meant renting a penthouse apartment (honest - it really wasn't that much more expensive than our more reasonably priced back-up plan) that over looked the city and came with trash and maid service (see, another way we justified the cost).

So a lot of our neighbors are pretty tony. There's this particular couple across the hall that moved in a few months ago and The Boy has been lucky enough to walk by their place when the door was open. The place is apparently so put together that The Boy thought it was one of the "show" apartments set up by the management (let me just tell you that no one would make that mistake if they saw our apartment...).

And then a while back as I was doing walking lunges down the hallway I just happened to notice the letterhead of a competitive law firm pressed up against their garbage bag (see, this is where the trash service makes it so much easier to be nosey). So when I passed by again I took a closer look (really, I just wanted to see if my neighbors worked at a rival firm).

The first few words regarded the prenup they had on file. So our neighbors are a client of a rival firm and they recently inquired about or filed a prenup. I guess this is the best place to interject and let y'all know that these neighbors produce an inordinate amount of trash. And I mean, an ungodly amount. Where we might have 1 or 2 bags per week they have 8 by the end of the weekend and at least 1 every day after. I come home from work and the hall outside their apartment is lined with JCrew, Nordstrom, Tiffany, etc bags. It's to the point that it's a running joke between The Boy and I.

So seeing this prenup really got us wondering. But that's not the point of this story. So the other day I'm dragging myself home from work after a 12 hour day. Let me just say I was tired, headachey, pissed - all the worst I could feel. And as I walked past the neighbor's apartment I heard a man sobbing as he said, "But you promised me you wouldn't do this..."

At first I thought it was a joke - histrionics over the phone. But then I heard the guy again saying, "you promised you would help me and I can't believe you're doing this to me!"

It was real, he was seriously upset and yelling, clearly sobbing. I can't remember what the woman said, but it was something in rebuke. It was an all out fight and a part of me flashed back to the prenup, wondering if that would ever come back into play.

And I stood there listening, wondering what the hell was going on and totally fascinated by this glimpse into another life. But it sounded like their voices were close to the door and wary of being caught I slipped into my apartment to gush to The Boy. Thinking he'd admonish me for my nosiness I was suprised when he told me to get back out there and find out more. Normally I would have but I'd already gotten enough of a glimpse into their inner life.

Instead I walked over to The Boy and told him how much I loved him.