Neighbor

Bleach and Hair Dye

Basil turned his head away from his phone to see where the familiar voice was coming from. He was surprised to see who was waving her.

"Hailey, what are you doing here?" He asked, walking over to her.

Basil towered over Hailey's 5'2 self. He wore nothing but a tight tank top and checkered pajama pants. A gold chain dangled over his collarbones, Hailey couldn't help but blush.

"Just picking up some supplies for a friend," Hailey explained, showing him the box of bandaids she had in her hands. "What about you?"

"Oh!" Basil gave her a shy smile and scratched the back of his neck. "Just some, personal stuff."

Hailey laughed at his response before going back to rummaging through the shelves, Basil made his way to the hair care aisle and started doing his own searching.

"That will be 15.99," the cashier told Hailey. Hailey began searching for the cash in her little yellow purse before she felt a hand wrap around her wrist to stop her.

"I'll pay," Basil thoughtfully offered.

"Dont be ridiculous!"

But Basil had already given the cashier his stuff and began to pull out his card.

"I insist."

Hailey didn't say anything after, she just watched as the cashier bagged up their stuff in two separate packets. Her cheeks turned bright crimson at Basil's kind offer.

She wondered where the feud between him and Simi started because he seemed so much nicer outside of school.

The two of them headed out together.

"You're going this way too?" Basil asked, pointing in the direction of the apartment building.

Hailey nodded.

"So what's with the hair dye and bleach?" Hailey asked, remembering what the cashier had put inside his packet.

"Oh, I figured it was time for a new style," Basil explained. "I was... inspired."

The two of them walked up the stairs of the building and then it clicked for Basil.

"You're here to see Simi?" He said, pointing at her door.

"Yes!" Hailey responded.

"Oh cool," Basil said, pulling his keys out from his pocket.

"Wait, you live right next door to her?"

"Aha, yes," he unlocked the door and opened it to go in.

Suddenly their fights made a bit more sense to the Blonde, there was obviously a lot more to this than she thought.

"Thanks again for paying for Simi's stuff, Basil!" Hailey exclaimed, tapping him on his forearm. "Her leg was so badly injured, she really needed this."

Basil looked down at his feet, he still couldn't shake off this bad feeling that he was partially responsible for Simi's haircut.

"It's no problem, I'll see you around," Basil waved before going inside.

Hailey entered Simi's house again and noticed she hadn't left her room the entire time. It seemed that her mom wasn't home anymore.

It was just the two of them now.

Simi noticed Hailey walk into her room and she felt her mood lift a little. For a girl who hasn't felt a feeling of genuine happiness for years, the feeling she got right now came quite close to it.

Maybe having an acquaintance didn't seem so bad to Simi anymore.

Hailey sat back on her bed and began tending to her wound.

"Hey, why did you take so long to get back?" Simi asked.

Hailey wasn't sure if she should answer that, but she knew that if she was going to get through to Simi, she was going to need to gain her trust. She had to be honest to her.

"I ran into Basil at the store," Hailey mumbled.

Simi's mouth fell open.

"He didn't do anything to you, did he?" Simi asked, examining her new acquaintance's face, cupping her cheeks in her hands.

"No! No, no, no," Hailey waved Simi away.

"He was actually really nice to me, I don't see why he's so horrible at school."

Simi raised her eyebrow.

"The truth is..." Simi began fiddling with the band aid wrapping, "Basil actually paid for your stuff."

Simi could feel the life being sucked out of her. Her lip quivered in rage but she didn't want to cause a scene that night.

Just breathe.

Simi calmed herself, she was gonna see what Basil's issue was later. When Hailey was gone.

The two sat in awkward silence for a few moments before Simi realized how late it had gotten.

"Hailey, it's 9 pm, how are you going to get home?" Simi asked.

Hailey told her that her brother was going to come for her soon, she wasn't going to walk home alone.

"Oh okay, otherwise I would've walked you home," Simi scratched her head as she mumbled those words embarrassedly.

Hailey blushed at her new friend's gesture. She assumed that was probably the most she was going to get out of her tonight.

Hailey's phone dinged, breaking the silence between the girls. She looked at her phone to see she had received a text from her brother.

"Oh my brother says he's waiting downstairs for me," Hailey said pointing to the front door. "I'm gonna go now."

"Wait, I'll walk you down," Simi said, getting off her bed, pulling a pair of longer pants over her pajama shorts.

The two of them walked down together in complete silence.

"Hailey!" The sound of a husky voice came from the dim-lit parking lot.

A tall man stood waving at the two of them happily. His toned body showed through his tight shirt, he had dark blue eyes and he had a buzz cut. Simi suddenly started feeling self conscious, her cheeks flushed red and she wrapped her arms round herself.

"Hi, I'm Joe," the boy introduced himself, holding a hand out for Simi to shake.

Simi slowly took his hand in hers and shook it.

"Simi," she said in her usual monotonous tone.

Joe's personality shone as bright as his little sister's. They even shared the same smile.

Simi waved the two siblings off. Joe must've been at least a year or two older than her.

She headed up the stairs again and then found herself standing in front of Basil's door instead.

She knocked.