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Zelda could say a lot about the occupant of the apartment across from her. Mr. 516 was very tall, blonde, had a habit of wearing a lot of green and this one blue scarf that seemed to be wrapped around his neck even during the hottest summer months yet amazingly brought out his clear blue eyes. He always woke up early on weekdays but slept in on the weekends, and he never read the paper that was delivered to his doorstep every morning. Zelda could probably write a short story on all the little quirks and habits she had noticed over the past seven months of living across from Mr. 516, but there would be many gaping holes in the text. Like his name, for example. Zelda didn’t know Mr. 516’s actual name. Or what his job was. That is, if he had a job. He did look young enough to still be in college. Oh, and she didn’t know his age either.
But despite the missing, possibly essential, information on Mr. 516, Zelda had developed quite the crush on him.
Sure, they only really communicated through smiles and the occasional nod, and granted, they had only really exchanged the occasional “Hi” when they passed each other on the stairs, but Zelda had fallen fast and hard for the cute blonde across the hall. In all her seven months of living in 515, she had never once plucked up the courage to actually talk to him. There were times early in her stay at the apartment complex when she had thought about walking over and introducing herself, but that never ended up happening. As time wore on and her crush seemed to intensify, Zelda found herself thinking up wild and certifiably insane ideas for getting him to talk to her. Like claiming one of the many stray animals he brought home was actually hers. Or stealing his umbrella just so she could return it to him on a rainy day claiming she had found it in the building’s lost and found. But all of these ideas were obviously ludicrous, so Zelda spent her days pining after a guy whose name she didn’t know and whom she had never actually talked to. That is, until one fateful October Saturday.
Zelda had just been getting back from a marathon study session at the university library. Though she didn’t have many midterms, she could already tell that her tests would not be easy. Hence the studying on a Saturday. She walked up the stairs thinking about heating up some leftovers and reviewing the main points of her notes one last time before bed. But when she reached the fifth floor, she noticed a deep, pounding base that seemed to fill the whole floor.
“Someone’s having a party,” she thought out loud.
She smiled as she walked down the hall to her apartment. It was nice that some people could be carefree enough to have parties on Saturday nights. Zelda caught herself wishing she could go to a party and let loose, but with the threat of her midterms looming over her, she thought better of her wish. The music got louder the closer she got to her apartment.
Who is throwing this party anyway? she wondered.
Zelda got her answer when she turned the corner to see her apartment and apartment 516. The door to Mr. 516’s apartment was wide open with loud music and flashing, multicolored lights spilling out. Zelda could only stand staring into the apartment with her mouth open. Sure Mr. 516 threw parties occasionally, but never had she seen one this crazy. She continued to stand there gaping for a solid minute, completely forgetting to get her keys out and enter her own apartment, when she caught the eye of Mr. 516 himself.
Her eyes widened as he saw her through the open door and started to make his way toward her. Zelda let out an embarrassing squeak and began fumbling for her keys and ended up dropping them twice. Mr. 516 was so distracting in that almost too tight green band tee that showed off his broad shoulders and those black skinny jeans that made his legs look so long and that ever present scarf that made his blue eyes shine like beacons against the flashing lights of the party and that super cute green knit beanie; oh Farore, kill her now.
“Hey, Miss 515,” he flashed a dazzling smile and raised the cup in his hand like a salute. He leaned against the door frame that separated his apartment from the hallway. “What were you doing out late on a Saturday?”
“J-just studying,” she stammered. Zelda could feel the tips of her ears get red.
“Studying on a Saturday?” he looked appalled. “Cute girls like you shouldn’t have to study on weekends! You should be out partying.” Then his face lit up as if he just thought up the most wonderful idea on the planet. “I’m throwing a party right now; you should come.”
“Well, uh…” Zelda felt like her brain had shut down. He had said she was cute. Her eyes glanced over Mr. 516’s shoulder, trying to distract herself by looking into the apartment.
“It’ll be so much fun!” he smiled happily. “Will you come? Please?”
Zelda opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by someone shouting.
“Link!” a tall, flaming orange haired girl with strange, circular tattoos all along her arms came up behind Mr. 516. “What are you doing over, oh.” Her piercing, yellow eyes fell on Zelda. “Are you the infamous Miss 515?”
“Midna, don’t call her that,” Mr. 516 (no, Link; his name must be Link) practically whined.
Zelda couldn’t help but giggle, “This is my place,” she rapped her knuckles against the door behind her, “So, I guess that’s me, but I don’t know anything about being infamous.”
“You should come to my party,” Link said again with that huge smile on his face.
“Don’t mind him too much,” Midna chuckled as she slyly took the cup that Link was still holding out of his hands. “Link, here, is a little drunk.”
“I am not,” Link whined, reaching for his drink like a child that had their toy taken away.
“But you can come join us if you want,” Midna continued with a small smile as she kept Link’s cup away from him with her long reach. “It is his birthday after all, and there’s still some cake left.”
“It’s your birthday?” Zelda gasped. How could she ignore this perfect opportunity to hang out with her long time crush? And she wanted to hear more about this ‘infamous’ business. To hell with worrying about midterms, Zelda was going to go to a party. “Then of course I’ll come over.”
Link turned to face her, another huge smile growing on his face, “Really?”
“Really,” Zelda giggled.
Link enthusiastically threw his arms around her, “Man, I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone.”
“Wait,” Zelda couldn’t stop smiling at Link’s slightly drunken antics. “Let me put my bag up real quick.”
She scrambled to unlock her door and throw her book bag in her apartment at lightening speeds. When she turned around, Link threw his arms around her again as if determined to prevent her from leaving his side.
“What’s your name, by the way?” Link smiled at her as he half led, half dragged her into his apartment.
“Zelda.”
“Man, that’s such a pretty name,” he sighed as he brought her into the kitchen. “I just knew you would have a pretty name.”
Zelda, who was trying to suppress her giggles and flaming red blush, was thankfully distracted by offerings of chocolate cake. Link was rattling off the names of everyone gathered in the kitchen.
“The girl with the blue hair is Lana, really sweet Hylian major. And her twin sister is Cia. She has short, white hair and is probably hanging around here somewhere. Oh, and the Goron is Darunia. He TA’s Physics with me at the university.”
“So you’re a grad student?” Zelda asked as she sipped on the wine Midna procured for her.
“Yup,” Link popped his lips. He then started gushing about all the research he was doing with Quantum Mechanics and using big science words that Zelda didn’t even knew existed. She just nodded and smiled like she knew what he was talking about as she was brought to the living room to meet more people.
“The red head is Marin, exchange student from Koholint Island. Music major, she’s pretty much fluent in every instrument. And Ruto is the Zora over there. She’s kinda snobby, but we love her anyway. And you already met Midna. We’ve been friends since high school.”
They sat and talked for a while after all the introductions. Zelda learned enough about Link to fill in all of the holes in the information she already knew about him. She felt herself become slightly bolder over the course of the evening, probably due to the cup of wine Midna made sure was never empty. The longer Zelda talked with him, the more she found herself staring into his eyes instead of paying attention to what he was saying. She started boldly flirting with him, flipping her hair, subtly touching him while laughing, and Nayru help her if he wasn’t totally flirting back.
“Oh my Goddesses, Link!” someone suddenly yelled over the music. “Is that who I think it is?”
Zelda turned to see a slightly shorter, feminine version of Link. They had the same golden shade of hair (though hers was done up in two braids), the same clear blue eyes, and apparently the same penchant for green clothes.
“How could I forget the most important person?” Link left Zelda’s side for the first time that night to hug the girl. “Zelda, this is my little sister, Linkle.”
“It is her, isn’t it?” Linkle’s eyes lit up. “The girl that lives across the hall.” She turned to Zelda with a smile. “I have been trying to get Link to-”
Link swiftly cut her off by slapping his hand over her mouth, “Linkle can get kinda loud when she’s had a few. Spills secrets and information she should keep to herself.” He eyed his sister darkly.
Linkle promptly bit down on Link’s hand and smiled at Zelda as if nothing happened, “I’m so glad you two finally met.” Then she skipped off to the kitchen, leaving Link blushing and Zelda slightly confused.
“Have you, uh, been wanting to meet me?” Zelda asked curiously.
“Nah, well, I mean,” Link ran his fingers sloppily through his hair. “I’ve been meaning to say hey since you moved in and all, so, uh, hey.” His face erupted in an ear-splitting grin, and he gave her a cute, little wave.
“You know,” Zelda felt the tips of her ears go red, “I’ve been wanting to say hey to you as well.” She returned his smile and wave shyly. “Hey.”
They stood in the short hallway awkwardly for a second before dissolving into nervous laughter.
“Well this was nice,” Zelda gestured to the rest of the party. “Are we going to go back to being generic apartment neighbors that just wave to each other when we pass each other on the stairs?”
Link’s face fell, “No, I don’t want that.”
“Then what should we do?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Link frowned. He then slapped his hand to his forehead, thoroughly surprising Zelda. “Man, I’m probably going to forget all this in the morning, too.”
“Oh come on,” Zelda chided. “You can’t be that drunk.”
“Well, I’m not a lightweight,” Link started, “But I have a horrible tendency to forget everything after, like, my third drink.”
“You should really get that checked or something,” Zelda laughed. She glanced around the room and spotted a desk shoved in the corner. “Come with me.”
“Wha-” Link’s eyes grew wide as Zelda dragged him into the living room. “Wait, we can’t do anything out here. People will see.”
“Your mind also goes in the gutter when you’re drunk,” she stuck her tongue out at him. “I have an idea.”
She pulled Link up to the desk, which he promptly sat on. Zelda riffled through the drawers until she found a Sharpie.
“Give me your hand,” she smiled at the still confused Link. He hesitantly raised his hand, and Zelda pulled it closer to her. Then she started writing on the back of his hand:
Miss 515 = Zelda
Go & knock on her door
“There,” Zelda finished with a smiley face. “Now you’ll remember.”
Link took almost two minutes to discern the writing, much to Zelda’s amusement. It entertained her to no end seeing his face slowly morph into the widest grin she had seen on his face yet.
“This is perfect,” Link threw his arms around Zelda. “I knew I would like you. I think it was something in the eyes. Your eyes are so pretty.” Zelda listened to Link ramble on and on until the party was finally closed down a little after one.
“Do I need to walk you back to your place?” Link offered in between saying bye to everyone. “I mean you do live, like, five feet away, but I feel like I need to be gentlemanly and all.”
“You don’t have to walk me back as long as you come and knock on my door tomorrow,” Zelda bopped him on the nose. “And Linkle, you promise to tell him that he actually did meet me tonight?”
Linkle giggled before nodding.
“And Midna, will you please, please answer your phone when Link calls to confirm that he did actually meet me tonight?”
“You got it, girl,” Midna winked at her.
“Now you,” Zelda turned to Link. “Don’t cucco out. Come over later today.”
“Later today?” Link asked, tilting his head in a way that was making Zelda reconsider the ‘not kissing Link good night because he won’t remember’ rule she made up earlier. She settled on rolling her eyes and leaning in to hug him.
“It’s past midnight, hotshot,” she whispered in his ear.
Zelda sent him one last wink before walking over to her own apartment across the hall. She ungracefully tripped over her book bag on her way to the bedroom, but Zelda felt as if nothing could dampen the bright feeling that came with the knowledge that Link was going to knock on her door when the sun rose.
That is until she woke up with a pounding hangover.
Oh, wait no, that was the pounding on the door. Goddesses, why was it so loud?
But even while sporting a killer hangover, Zelda had manners, so she did not scream at the person assaulting her eardrums to shut up and instead proceeded to down some aspirin before answering the door with a withering stare.
Which she immediately regretted as soon as she saw a tall head of messy, blonde hair.
“Link?” Zelda asked. She was tempted to close the door just to see if Link would still be there if she opened it again.
“See?” Linkle’s voice came from behind Link. “She knows your name. That’s proof you met her last night.”
Zelda zeroed in on Linkle, “You mean he doesn’t believe you?”
“Me or Midna or Lana, who can’t tell a lie to save her life,” Linkle rolled her eyes.
“She was laughing too much,” Link protested.
“Who do you think wrote on your hand, then?” Zelda asked, slightly confused at Link’s disbelief.
He only mumbled something about how “anyone could have done it” before turning away with a blush coloring his cheeks.
“Whatever,” Linkle looked so done. She must have been at this for hours. “You’re here. Zelda’s here. Now tell him the truth, please?”
“Sure,” Zelda nodded slightly. She opened the door wider to invite Link in. “You want some coffee, or something? You must have a killer hangover, too.”
“I have a bit of a headache still, yeah,” Link nodded as he closed the door behind him.
“I have some food, too, if you want it,” Zelda called from the kitchen. She still felt tired, but she would put that on the backburner in order to spend time with Link.
“So, they really weren’t playing a trick on me?” Link finally asked when Zelda set a cup of coffee and bagel in front of him.
“What?” Zelda laughed. “No, it wasn’t a trick or anything.” She sat down at the small table across from him with her own cup of coffee. “You saw me in the hallway through the door and invited me to join your party. I said yes, you introduced me to everyone, and we talked a lot. Then you said something about probably not being able to remember the night ‘cause you drank too much, so I, being the genius that I am, decided to give you a reminder of our night and a little note so you would know to come over.”
Link only nodded, looking down at his graffitied hand and slowly taking a sip of coffee.
“Do you really not remember anything from last night?” Zelda asked. They had gotten to know each other so well. She hated to think that they really had to start all over again.
“Well,” Link started before another round of blush covered his face. “I, uh, did you whisper in my ear, or, uh, something at some point?”
Zelda smiled, trying to keep in her laughter, “You were very drunk and confused when I told you to come over later today instead of tomorrow since it was past midnight already.”
Link’s shoulders instantly relaxed, and he finally looked her in the eye to give her a lazy, crooked smile, “I remember a lot more than I thought I did then.”
“Well, color me intrigued,” Zelda raised her eyebrows at him.
And just like that, the awkwardness was gone, and the spark they had found last night ignited. They talked and laughed, and Zelda spent ample time teasing Link on the holes in his memory from last night. Apparently, he actually remembered quite a bit of the time they spent together; he just thought it was some sort of alcohol-induced dream. Hours passed without them even noticing, and it wasn’t until Zelda’s stomach started growling that Link looked at the clock.
“Oh dang, it’s so late. We should probably get something to eat,” Link stood smiling.
Zelda simple tilted her head as she continued to sit at the table, “Really? You’re gonna go with that?”
“What?” he smiled nervously.
“‘We should probably get something to eat.’ That’s all you’re going to say?” Zelda shook her head. “I thought you would put more effort into asking me out.”
Link’s eyes widened, “Oh, I didn’t even… Wait, just give me one second.”
He quickly spun around to take a deep breath before turning slowly, a sexy, wide smirk spread across his face. He leaned in close, resting a hand on the table next to her.
“So how about dinner, just you and me?” his voice became silky smooth, and he reach with his other hand to play with a lock of her hair. “We can go where ever you want. What do you say?”
“I say you have quite the way with words,” Zelda felt a blush rise in her cheeks. She had no idea Link could be this smooth, and it was really turning her on. But she couldn’t show that just yet.
Link chuckled, low and sexy, “How about we get dessert after? Try and find something as sweet as you.”
“Now you’re talking,” Zelda smiled up at him. “Just give me fifteen minutes to get ready. I’ll come knock on your door when I’m ready.”
“As you wish, my lady,” he lifted her hand, pressing a soft kiss to the back before leaving with a wink.