New Neighbour - L.S.

One

Harry waved to the truck driver and stood with all of his boxes. He took a deep breath and walked into the apartment building, quickly locating the elevator. Harry grabbed as many boxes as he could in one trip - three -  and entered the elevator. He struggled slightly but managed to hit the button that would take him to the third floor.

Harry exited the elevator with his boxes and glanced around, looking for apartment 30. He spotted it and briskly walked over to the door and set the boxes down in front of it. Twenty minutes and four more trips up and down in the elevator later, he had piled all of his things in front of the door.

Harry dug around in his pocket for his keys and unlocked the door, smiling widely. He took in his surroundings; a small kitchen to the right of the door which looked onto the living room that was adjacent to the door. A couch and a loveseat sat in front of a fireplace and a tv. Between the living room and the kitchen was a small hallway which had three doors leading off of it, one on either side and one at the end of corridor. He opened the door on the left first, an unfinished laundry area behind it. The door on the right held a bathroom with a somewhat large shower. The final door led into the bedroom with a desk, a wardrobe, a small closet, a double bed and a glass door with a screen leading onto a nice patio.

Harry lugged all of his boxes inside and started opening a few. He picked up the one labeled 'Kitchen Utensils' up first. Crap. All of his scissors were in boxes. He debated asking a neighbor for help but sighed and tried to slice the tape open with his fingernail. Ten minutes later, he finally got the box open. He cheered loudly and brought it into his kitchen, unloading it into drawers.

He decided to leave the boxes, entirely worn out, and went into his bedroom. He groggily kicked his shoes off and closed the door, getting under the covers and falling asleep quickly.

-

Louis was on a conference call. It had started at noon and it was almost 4 now. He stifled a yawn and checked the time. 3:54, damnit. He grabbed his mug and went to take a drink before remembering he'd finished his tea.

"Sorry lads, but I have t'get a new cuppa. Carry on without me," Louis stood up and muted his mic, filling the kettle and setting it to boil. He stretched and yawned. After the conference call, he had some emails to respond to and some media-promoting he had to complete. His schedule was always hectic when he released new music, but never as chaotic as now.

When the water was boiling, he poured it in his mug. He added a little bit of milk and no sugar and went back to sit at his desk. He turned his mic back on and apologised but the rest of the team in the call brushed it off.

Fifteen minutes later, the grueling meeting still dragging on, Louis heard a thump. His head whipped around, trying to find the origin of the noise. He listened intently but didn't hear anything until six minutes later. His eyes narrowed at the general source of the sound, but again, no other sounds arose. Seven and a half minutes later, another two thumps were heard by Louis. He decided to ignore it, rather than either investigating - which he couldn't do because he was still trapped on that damned call - or letting it concern him. He watched the minutes tick by on his laptop, waiting for another thump, but he didn't hear any more sounds for the duration of his call.

When Louis - finally! - hung up, he peeked his head out of the door. Since he saw the same old empty hallway, he chalked it up to being his neighbor, Olivia, making noise in her apartment. He shrugged and went back in his flat, sitting back at his desk. He answered a few emails, discarded some spam, accepted a few interviews and promos. Overall, it was a pretty productive hour. Louis had just gotten up to make a fourth cup of tea when he heard a faint voice. It was deep, and British, but most importantly, it was coming from Louis' right. What the hell? Had some new tenant moved in today? Louis knew Nick - his old neighbor - was moving out, but he didn't know when. He had been so preoccupied with the album that he'd somewhat ignored the outside world.