Once Upon a Neighbor

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Declan

"Uh..." Declan stammered for a response that wouldn't make him come off as a stalker, but luckily his buddy Thatcher saved him.

"Wait, Jay. I wasn't on the phone with you... well at least I don't think I was. Who were you talking to before you ran away from Dec?" Thatcher asked Jamie.

Declan leaned forward in his seat, elbow resting on his knee and the other arm scratching his chin. He looked to Jamie, waiting on a response himself. He had to admit that he was curious about his young love, but he was also fairly angry with her too. In his mind, she should have at least remembered his name and connected him to the memories they shared.

But now, to see her fidgeting with her sweatshirt, and not looking up to meet either of their eyes, he couldn't help but pity her and how she was now. She used to be a confident popular girl who held all of the boy's hearts in her pocket, and now she looked to be some nervous, shy wannabe who had fallen from grace.

"Um..." she glanced at Thatcher with her lips pursed. Declan observed her hazel eyes, watching as they looked from the floor to Thatcher. A hard look replaced the antsy expression on her face and she met Declan's eyes when she said "None of either of your's goddamn business."

A silence overtook the room because her random guarded outburst suprised all three of them. The silence was upsetting and uncomfortable, as all three of the people in the room were shifting uneasily. Declan was the first to speak. "So what brings you back to Texas, Jamie?" He said her name harshly, and with conviction. He half smirked at her visible flinch.

Flinching kind of makes her look weak.. harmless. Like she needs someone to wrap their arms around her and hold her while she cries and lets her tears out...and that person could be-

Okay, stop. Focus. This is the girl thay moved away dragging a trail of broken hearts behind her. One of them being yours.

Declan shook off his thoughts and tried to concentrate on her answer. He raised an eyebrow at her, to which she glared at her hands and swung her legs off the couch. The sudden absence of her warmth on the couch left Declan feeling cold and heavy. Unbalanced.

"I'm beat. I am going to go to sleep." She murmured and padded over to the door. Jamie was looking at Thatcher as her hands fumbled at the door to unlock it then leave.

Wait, does she need a ride home? He wanted to ask but then he thought back to her arrival and how she wasn't wearing shoes. So she's probably staying nearby. And that was when he spoke out the rude thought that had occured to him. 

"I'd offer you a ride home, but you could probably just shed the sweatshirt and then you can get picked up like the hooker you are." Declan sneered angrily at her. He then felt stupid because he just now recalled what Thatcher told him about her living upstairs with her aunt. The door swung open and she hesitated. Hazel eyes met his blue eyes for a millisecond before they dropped back to her hands which were knotted around the end of the sweatshirt.

"Whatever." And with that, Jamie walked outside of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her.

She was only gone for half a minute before Thatcher had risen from the beanbag and towered over him.

"The fuck was that, dude?" Thatcher's nostrils flared as he ran after her, leaving the door wide open after him. Declan just stared at the door, considering to lock his friend out. But then he recalled the angry look on Thatch's face so he found it best if he just leave.

Grabbing his phone from the armrest, Declan pulled his keys oyt of his pocket and strutted out the door, using the tips of his fingers to shut it behind him. Anything he may have left behind he would come and get once Thatcher wasn't so angry with him.