The Mom Next Door

24-Official

*jens pov*

*1 month later*

I set my last box of stuff by the door, and turn, looking at my empty room. It's been almost a month, and there's a lot going on. Me and Leah are still closer than ever. We've been seeing eachother a lot more, and by seeing eachother, I mean sleeping with eachother. We're eachothers use of relief when it comes to the stress in our lives, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Other than Leah, I'm still babysitting Sofia whenever I need to, and I still love it. Sofia's such a fun girl to be around and my job really doesn't feel like work at all.

I take the box by my door and head downstairs to put it in the trunk of my car. I bought an apartment a couple weeks ago, and I'm getting moved in today. Leah's helping me with it since once again, my mom is missing in action.

My mom knows about me moving and everything, but she really doesn't care. Since my dad left, we've completely drifted. I never see her and our relationship is basically non existent. It makes me sad, especially since I never saw it being this way,
but I guess I'm used to it now.

"Ready?" I ask Leah once she gets in my car. She nods and I head to my apartment. About 10 minutes away, we get to the apartment building, and I couldn't be more excited. We both get out and look up at the building.

"It's a lot nicer than I expected.." Leah observes. "Right." I agree. We go ahead and start grabbing boxes, then we go up to the 2nd floor, which is where my apartment is. We head in and my jaw drops. It's really nothing too special, but I guess the thought of owning my own place is finally hitting me.

"This is cutee." Leah says and puts the 2 boxes that she was carrying down. "I love it already." I say and take it all in. We bring in the rest of the boxes, and I rented a U-haul to bring the furniture from my room.

The only furniture I had in my room was my bed, desk and dresser. So I definitely need to go furniture shopping, but I'll worry about that later.

Me and Leah spend the day getting my stuff unpacked and situated, then we order take out and eat on the floor of my living room.

"Thanks for all the help." I tell her. "Yeah of course." She says. "I'm proud of you for taking this step. It'll be good for you to have some change." She says and looks at me. I smile as she looks away.

I love being with Leah, she's not like anyone I've ever met before. I don't know if it's because she's older, but I feel a sense of safety, like I'm just naturally comfortable. I would spend everyday with her if I could.

I look at her as she's the only thing on my mind, and she catches me staring. "Stop." She says and I smile. "When do you have to pick up Sofia?" I ask. "3:15" She says and I nod. "Why?" She asks. "Just wondering how much time we have left." I shrug.

"Oh." She nods. We continue to eat and it gets quiet. "Do you like me?" I break the silence. "What?" Leah giggles. "Do you like me?" I repeat and shrug.

"Of course I like you, I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't." She smiles and I force a grin. "I know, but do you like me..?" I tilt my head. Her smile fades when she realizes what I'm asking.

"Jennifer...let's not talk about it. I think it's best that we just leave some topics alone." She says. "I agree, but I don't see why we can't talk about this?" I say.

Leah sighs and stays quiet, not wanting to tell me the answer. "I like you enough to stick around, and to keep this thing that we have going on between us steady." She says. I smile a little with relief since I would've been questioning her feelings all day if she didn't answer.

I don't know why I asked Leah that in the first place, I guess I was just curious to see where her feelings stand. I know that I'm not in love with Leah or anything, I'm not that naive, but I definitely think I like Leah. And I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

-

"Now you can come over wheneverrrr you want." I tell Sage. "I'm so jealous." She says as she looks around my apartment. "You can move in if you want." I say. "Smh- like my mom would let me." She chuckles. "You're literally an adult, you can do whatever you want." I tell her. "Yeah but she's still my mom. Plus I don't know if I could live with you." She says and I furrow my brows. "Why not-?" I ask, offended.

"You know how messy I am, you'd get so tired of me and my dirty clothes everywhere." She says and I giggle. "True. You are a mess." I tell her and she smiles.

"But I'm serious, you can come over when ever you want." I tell her. "Thankyou." She smiles and kisses my cheek. "I'm hungry. You got any food in here yet?" She asks me. "Ummm, cereal?" I suggest. "Sure she nods and we head to my small kitchen.

"Soo..." She starts to say as I fix her some cereal. "What?" I say. "How's Leah." She says and I cut my eyes at her. "She's fine." I nod. "How's Sofia?" She asks. "She's great." I say and turn around, handing her a bowl of cereal. "Thanks." She says and I nod.

"Jennifer." Sage says and I look at her as I sit in the chair beside her. "Yes?" I ask, already knowing where this is about to go. "Are you still seeing Leah?" She asks. "Um yeah- I babysit her kid." I say, being a smart mouth. "You know what I mean. Are you guys still fucking?" She asks.

"Why are you so invested in this topic??" I ask. "Who wouldn't be??" She asks. I sigh and look at her. "Well..?" She asks. "Yes. We are." I roll my eyes and she shakes her head.

"So do you plan on being her girlfriend or something?" She asks with attitude. "No. It's just like anyone else I've ever hooked up with, except she was my neighbor." I shrug. "And she's almost twice your age." She says.

"Oh my god Sage. If you're just gonna give me shit about this, then I don't wanna talk about it at all." I shrug. She sighs and looks at me. "I'm sorry. It's not like I think it's gross or anything, it's just confusing, especially since you're keeping this relationship going." She says.

"It's not really a relationship. Not an official one at least." I correct her.

-

I wake up the next morning and get ready to go to class. Leah was right about my French class, it's definitely gotten easier, and I really want to be fluent. I already speak Spanish, so it'd be cool if I could speak French too.

I drive to my college campus and sit in class for half an hour. The only thing that's frustrating about this class, is how early it is, and I am not a morning person.

Eventually class ends and I make my way to the door, being the last one to leave. "Jennifer." My teacher, Ms.Clément, stops me. "Yes?" I ask and turn. "Good work today, I can see your improvement." She smiles sweetly. "Thankyou so much, I appreciate it." I say since I definitely needed that validation.

Another good thing about this class, is my teacher. I love her so much, she's one of the best teachers I've ever had. She's French with long wavy black hair, and blue eyes. Her voice is so soothing, it literally almost puts me to sleep in class.

The main thing about a class, is the teacher. The way you learn and grow, is all based on the teachers work ethic. That's why it sucks when you have a really bad teacher. But Ms.Clément is so sweet. She makes this class very easy, and I'm definitely her favorite student.

I leave the building and head to Leah's house. She called me yesterday and asked if I could babysit Sofia since Leah has a meeting today, and of course I said yes.