Neighbors

Chapter Fourteen: 22

"Ryder, can you come downstairs for a moment?" my mother shouted from downstairs. She and I were on speaking terms on certain days. I think I might have actually been getting through to her. Each day I made sure to talk about Ian at some point, reaffirming my feelings for him. I thought maybe if she heard it enough, she'd get used to the idea of him. Hopefully.

I stopped mid step as my eyes met those of a skinny blonde standing at the foot of our staircase, next to my mom. She was pretty anyone could see that. Her golden blonde hair just touching her shoulders and her pink lips. She was probably one of the prettiest girls I had ever laid eyes on.

This made me suspicious.

"Ryder," my mother began. "I'd like to introduce you to Mrs. Tillman's niece, Nicole. She's staying next door with Mrs. Tillman for a week or two. I thought you could maybe show her around Pear Street, introduce her to some people - Maybe Ashley?"

I scoffed. Oh, she was good. This was some sort of set-up. Did my mom honestly think that if she brought the hottest girl I had ever seen that I would magically forget about Ian? It didn't work like that. Unbelievable.

"Well, Patricia and I have some shopping to do and we'll be back in two hours or so," my mother said. "You two have fun."

Before I could protest, she walked out of the house, slamming the door shut behind her. I glanced at Nicole for a second, unsure what to say.

"You can call me Nicki," she said. "Also, I know where Patricia keeps her liquor if your interested."

"Um sure," I replied following Nicki's lead. With the way my mother has been acting lately, liquor was definitely needed. Nicki led me into Patricia's house, and right into Patricia's bedroom. I raised an eyebrow as she pulled open the bottom dresser drawers. Inside were two bottles - one, vodka and the other, fireball.

Nicki pulled the fireball out and handed it to me.

"I like the way you think," I laughed as I followed her outside to Patricia's patio. I sat down on a lawn chair beside her as she opened the bottle up, taking a swig out of it, before handing it to me.

"So how did my mother get you here?" I asked placing the bottle on top of the table.

Nicki laughed. "My dad is on a business trip. He didn't want me home alone, trashing his place up with my friends. What did you think I was some punishment or something? I hope I'm not that boring."

I shook my head. "No. No. It's not like that. It's just my mom and I aren't exactly on good terms right now either. I'm kind of seeing someone she doesn't really approve of. So I think this was some sort of set-up."

Her blue eyes lit up as she tried to hold back a laugh. "A set- up? Who does that anymore? It's actually pretty funny. You're mother must really hate your girlfriend."

I took a long sip from the fireball, nodding. "Yeah. You can say that."

I wasn't really comfortable sharing my relationship with Ian to Nicki. I mean I had just met her and it wasn't something I could just casually bring up. Oh yeah, by the way, my girlfriend is actually a 30 something year old man.

I glanced next door at Ian's place. I imagine he was sitting down at his desk, a cup of coffee beside him, as he typed away on his laptop. Every so often he'd brush his hair out of his face or find himself on the New York Times website, reading articles about whatever.

I hated that I missed him so much. It was hard not being able to see him whenever I wanted.

After drinking a significant portion of that fireball, Nicki filled it back up with water so Tillman wouldn't suspect anyone had drank out it. I mean it was a stupid idea, but we were drunk and it was the best we could do. The color had changed, but Tillman would have to be really looking at it to notice.