Four Guys (a short story.)

JOEY, the smart "boy-next-door"

Dedicated to my cousins because they are the absolute best!

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As I said earlier, Joey was incredibly cute.

Maybe it was because of his brown skin or his green eyes or his glasses or, most definitely, his hair. He was adorable.

From the beginning of Tatiana's little challenge, I knew that even if I was finding "love" it definitely was not Joey. I mean Joey was sweet and all but he'd never be able to put up with me, I'll probably run him mad.

Nevertheless, I was standing on his porch waiting for a response after ringing the bell.

Joey's house was a duplex with a cute garden out front. I might have expected a mansion considering that his dad was the owner of the most trending clothing line in Canada but I loved the duplex.

The exterior was painted with a solid grey and vibrant orange, a beautiful combination if I do say so myself.

I heard thudding behind the door until it swung open revealing an incredibly young woman. She was a striking reflection of Joey and I guessed she was either his older sister or mum, but seeing has he's never made reference to having a sister, it was probably his mum.

"Hello, who do you seek?" She had a silky Spanish accent and her words just seemed to roll off her tongue.

"Hi, I'm here to see Joey." I stated simply, slightly intimidated by how prim and proper she looked.

She thought for a moment before smiling, revealing her pearly whites, "you must be Daniela."

I cringed at the sound of my full name, "I prefer Dani."

She chuckled, "Okay then. Come in Dani."

I followed her instructions and stepped into a foyer. The foyer was decorated with pots of plants and flowers.

I heard her shut the door before saying, "I'm Sandra, Joey's mum."

I smiled in response, "I love your hair." I commented borrowing one of the conversation tips my mum had taught me.

She lifted her hand to stroke her thick brown hair, "Oh thank you. It rarely looks this nice but I have a meeting."

"Follow me. Joey would be down in a second." She led me out of the foyer into a homey living room.

I took a seat in the fluffiest white sofa I'd ever seen. I wondered whether it was polar bear fur.

"I'll go get you something to drink." Sandra said and exited the living room before I could refuse.

I took in the large plasma television and the shelves of books adorning a whole wall, there were exquisite (and mostly fragile) ornaments all around the living room. There were pictures arranged on a section of the wall and I got up to observe them. I stood before the pictures right next to a beautiful vase on a glass stool.

The pictures were family photos of Joey and his parents. He obviously didn't have a sibling. His family was ideal, business man daddy, sweet mummy and him, the smart perfect son.

"It's not that good, is it?"

I turned startled to see Joey behind me.

So... it was either because I was startled and turned so fast or because I had flailing arms that always seemed to move, anyways, we both heard a loud crash.

I spun around again to see the vase now broken into a million pieces with the flowers in it now lying in a useless heap.

"No, no, no, no–" I started covering my mouth with my palms.