boy next door

day 1

I walk out from the front of my new house, back to the moving truck. My mom is standing inside the open backsliding boxes towards me. I grab another two boxes and put them with the rest of the hideous, faded brown, cubed, pieces of cardboard sitting in the new living room.

I grab two water bottles and walk bout outside to my mom. "Here ya go." I say to my mom as I hand her the bottle. "So- you like the house kiddo." I just nod my head as a guzzle down the water, or what's left of mine.

"Good, fresh start for you and me. The house is big enough for us to have our own space, but still small enough for us to be around each other all the time." She explains.

"Mom, if you want to take a break for a little, I can always just move the boxes by myself." I say as I sit down in the truck. "Oh no, it's fine. It'll go by faster." "Mom you just drove 8 hours with one-stop, I know you're tired."

"Hun, I know you are trying to be nice but I don't want it to take too long." She says as she picks up a few boxes taking them inside.

I stand up and walk to the back of the truck to grab more things. I move some of the smaller stuff into a group towards the front. I go back to the back of the truck. I start singing a song that's been stuck in my head the whole trip.

Some things just aren't that simple
You called me wondering why I changed or why I don't look the same
Why I think so differently now?
Is it ever gonna change?
Am I gonna feel this way forever?
Are you gonna be around for me to count on?
Is it ever gonna change?
Am I gonna feel this way forever?
Are you gonna be around for me to count on, count on
On-on-on, on-on-on
On-on-on, on-on-on
On-on-on, on-on-on
On-on-on, on-on-on

I felt the truck dip a bit, I keep singing as my mom picks something up. "You have a really nice voice.' I jumped at the unknown voice. 'Oh, sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

I turn around to see a boy standing in the truck with me."Uh, thank you." I avoid eye contact with him because he's making me uncomfortable. I don't know why he's even here.

Behind him I see my mom coming out of the house. A wave of stress fades away from me as she gets closer to the truck. "Hi, mom." I say to her. The kid turns around to my mom and smiles.

"Oh, you didn't have to, thank you, Robin." He says taking the bottle of water from my mom. I stand there confused. How do they know each other? "You're welcome, I wouldn't want you to pass out." She says back.

*my mom and i (irl) speak sign language out in public all the time so that's why this next part is here*

"Mom." I say then she looks up to me. In sign language, I say to her: "Who is he and how do you know him." She sighs and signs back: "He's the neighbor, his name is Zach. He is very nice. He wants to help."

I scrunch up my face, then just tell her okay. "Sorry, I never asked your name." I say as I turned to him. "It's okay, but my name is Zach. Nice to meet you." "Ditto, I'm Tara." I say, returning to the boxes.

"Sweetheart, Zach offered to help. Isn't that nice?" She tells me, clearly hinting at me to be nice to him. "Yep, that's great. Thank you."

"Now I get to rest and you can keep unpacking like you wanted to." My Moo told me. "Great."

My mom leaves us with a goodbye and a wave. Now the boy and I are standing in the truck together. I can tell already that I'm not going to be fond of him.

"So what can we start on first?" He asked me with a very inviting smile. "By you going back to your own house. I don't really want help so it's ok."

"Oh-" He said.

————————————————
yo. this is new and i like the idea. bye bye.