Neighbors

Chapter One, New Neighbor

“BEEP!!!!!” I open my eyes and hit the snooze button but then remember I already hit it…twice. I stop it and throw my robe on. I head out to the living room to make coffee to find my roommate Peyton already making a pot. “Morning, you're up early this morning.” She turns and smiles at me. “Yeah… I have to run the shop today because my Aunt is out of town. You're up late.” I laugh and take a seat on the bar stool in front of the island. “Fun, yeah I hit snooze twice, that's how monday’s work.” She nods and pours us each a cup of coffee and sits beside me. “We have a new neighbor right across the hall.” I nod lost in thought. “Well I should get ready….oh by the way can you run to the grocery later today? I’m working late tonight to cover a shift.” “Sure. You're too nice. I feel like you cover at least seven shifts a week!” I laugh and head to my room to put my scrubs on. “WHERE ARE ALL THE PINK HAIR TIES!?” I am in our shared bathroom searching for pink hair ties so that it will match my pink scrubs. “I DON’T KNOW! MAYBE JUST WEAR ANOTHER COLOR!” I let out a sigh and grabbed a grey one and then grabbed my bags and keys. “Bye, have a good day at the shop!” I’m halfway out the door when I hear Peyton yell something at me. “YOUR COFFEE!” I stop dead in my tracks and race into the kitchen and grab my coffee. “Alright I’m going to work now, bye.” I head out the door and as soon as I take a step I collide with someone. I drop my coffee and bags which spill everywhere. “OH!” “Jezze lady, watch where you're walking!” I look up to see a giant… I mean a man standing in front of me shaking his head. “Well if I recall correctly you were the one who ran into me.” He rolls his eyes and continues walking. “WAIT! Who are you? I don’t recognize you….and it would be a nice thing to do if you’d help me pick up this mess.” He laughs. “You mean the mess you caused? No thank you. I live right here.” No no no…. This can’t be happening. HE LIVES ACROSS FROM ME! “Wow, really nice of you. Well good to know my neighbor is kind.” I roll my eyes and start picking up my bags and items that fell out. “Well…neighbor here is this.” I turn to see what he’s handing me. “Oh…umm. Thank you.” He walks into his apartment laughing. I quickly grabbed all my stuff and hurried down the halls to my car. “So you have a new neighbor who’s rude and now he knows what brand of tampon you use. Sounds fun! Is he at least good looking?” I shake my head of course the only thing Amy will care about in this conversation is if he’s good looking. “Well…” I think back to this morning and our run in. “I mean he’s really tall….and he has a beard with some tattoos and his hair is black.” Amy looks at me dreamily. “Girl you're lucky my neighbor is a 50 year old bald man.” She laughs and pats my shoulder. “Thanks for covering my shift friday by the way.” I nod and smile still thinking about my new neighbor. “Hello? Earth to Quinn you just got paged.” I snap back to attention and hurry down the hall. After helping deliver five babies and taking a very short lunch break it’s time for me to cover a friend’s shift. I head to the desk in the middle of the halway and sit in my chair. “I thought your shift was over?” “Mine is, but I’m covering a shift.” Amy looks at me and shakes her head. “Well my shift is over so I’m heading out. See ya tomorrow.” “See ya.” I spend the next hour filling papers and talking with staff members. Finally after four hours of only delivering one baby my shift is over. I’m feeling a little annoyed today with the whole new neighbor situation so I decided to listen to my Taylor Swift playlist to distract myself. I pull into the parking area blasting Fearless and singing at the top of my lungs when I notice that someone took my spot. I jump out of the car and look to see who’s car this could possibly be. I'm peering inside the windows to find a clue when I feel someone come up behind me so on instinct I grab my pepper spray and turn and spray the person. “AH!! What is wrong with you!? First you run into me, then you look like a car thief, and now you spray me with pepper spray!” I quickly realized I just sprayed my new neighbor with pepper spray. “Oh…I’m sorry. But in my defense you could have been a killer or something! And I’m not a car thief you're in my spot.” I place my hand on my hip and give him my best stern look. “Your spot? This spot specifically says ''apartment 5B your apartment 4B.” I stare at him in horror realizing he’s right. My old neighbor hardly ever came home so I used her spot. “Well how was I supposed to know that?” I don’t like to cave in so I stand my ground. “Well it’s true your spot is right there.” He points to the spot that says 4B and I walk back to my car but he stops me by coming up to my window. “Also your music is very loud. That’s why I came down here in the first place.” I try not to show my blush and ignore him. I basically race to my apartment and slam the door behind me. “Quinn?” I hear Peyton call out from the living room. I race in there out of breath. “Are you ok??” She jumps up worriedly. “I’m fine, have you met our new neighbor?” She shakes her head as she sits back down. “No…is he nice?” I laugh and throw my bags down beside the tv. “No quite the opposite, he is rude.” I sat down and told her what happened this morning and just a few minutes ago. “Oh…” I stare at her knowing exactly what that “oh” means she disagrees with me. “What?” She averts my gaze and sighs. “Well I’ve known you for eight years now and if there’s anything I’ve learned it’s that you're very stubborn and set in your ways…even when you know you're wrong.” I shake my head even though I know she’s right. “I know. I don’t know why I am, it's just instinct.” She laughs and smiles at me. “Well I think you should apologize to our new neighbor, maybe bake him something you find joy in that.” She’s not wrong. I do love to bake things. “Ok… I’m off tomorrow so I’ll spend the day baking.” She smiles at me and we watch One Tree Hill for the hundredth time.