Not The Betting Type ~ Harry Lewis

Chapter One

I stood at the base of the stairs and sighed, leaning against the wall and catching my breath. One more heavy box to go and I would be fully moved into my new apartment.

The problem was that my new place was on the tenth floor of this building and my move in day just happened to coincide with planned maintenance on the elevator.

All day I'd lugged heavy boxes up and down these stairs and I had already decided to cancel any plans to go to the gym for the rest of the week. Thankfully the apartment was fully furnished because I couldn't even imagine trying to get a bed up these stairs on my own.

Why was I on my own you might ask?
The guy that I'd fallen head over heels for when I first moved to London had dumped me after living together for a year, and instead of at least trying to be a decent human being, he decided that ghosting me was a much easier option.

Sadly I had been so invested in my relationship with him that I hadn't thought to try and make any friends during my first year here and now I was stuck with the overwhelming and sinking feeling that I was alone in a city bigger than I'd ever experienced in my life.

And oh yeah, I still had ten flights of stairs to walk up again.

I reached down and lifted up the box, feeling a bead of sweat already forming on my forehead.

"Just one more box." I told myself over and over as I started climbing the stairs.
After one flight of stairs I heard a voice from behind me.

"You alright love? Do you want a hand?" I heard them ask me and before I even got a chance to respond I felt the weight of the box being lifted out of my hands and came face to face with a tall blonde boy with a kind smile.

"Sorry I just saw you struggling and I couldn't watch it any longer." He admitted with a cheeky grin and I laughed nervously, feeling the blood rushing straight to my cheeks.

From what I could tell he had an Irish accent and admittedly he was quite fit so I quickly tried to fix my hair and subtly wipe away the sweat from my forehead.

"Thank you so much! I'd like to say I could've handled it but I'm pretty sure after doing this all day that I was about to collapse!" I joked and I earned a laugh from him.

"Are you Australian?" He asked, quickly picking up on my own accent.

"Almost. I'm from New Zealand." I admitted and he smiled.

"Ahhh yes, the Guernsey of Australia." He joked and I convincingly faked a laugh, not really knowing where Guernsey was but also not wanting to embarrass myself in front of this guy.

"That's what my friend Harry says anyway." He added and we started to walk up the stairs again.

I tried to hide my heavy breathing as we made our way up the stairs, making small talk as we went.

"So which floor are you on?" He asked as we walked.

"The tenth." I said apologetically, risking a glance over at him.

"No way?" He replied with a laugh.

"I'm sorry, you probably wouldn't have offered to help if you knew!" I joked and he laughed.

"Hey I'm stronger than I look!" He defended himself and I looked him over, taking in the fact that he did indeed have muscles, even though he was very tall and skinny.

"But actually what I was going to say was that you must be our new neighbour." He added with a grin.

"No way? You're on the tenth floor too?" I asked and tried not to blush again as I saw him nod in response. A good looking neighbour was unexpected and I definitely wasn't complaining about it.

"So what's your name then neighbour?" He asked.

"Jessica." I responded shooting him a smile.

"I'm Cal. I'd shake your hand but mine are a bit preoccupied right now." He said and I looked at the box once more. He made it look as light as a feather in his hands and as grateful as I was, I still felt guilty that he was carrying it.

We reached the tenth floor and I quickly pulled my keys from my pocket and opened the door for him.

"Just anywhere is fine." I told him and he placed the box down next to the couch.

"Sorry I was curious to see if the place was the same layout as ours. I don't normally follow people into their apartments." He added and it hit me that I'd essentially just let a stranger into my home.

"And I don't normally invite strangers into my home." I half joked and he laughed.

"I'll consider myself special then." He said shooting a small wink in my direction.

"Not bad, a lot smaller than our place." He said before stopping himself.

"Sorry that was really fucking rude of me." He said and we both laughed.

"It's fine, it's fine." I brushed it off and gave him a quick tour of the place.

Mid way through his phone started ringing.

"Oi what do you want?" He said into the phone and I was taken aback by the way he answered a phone call. It must be somebody he knows well.

"Yeah I'm across the hall. Meeting our new neighbour. You want to introduce yourself?" He asked and I listened in anticipation.

"Your loss mate, I'll be over in a few." He said and hung up the phone.

"Sorry about that, Harold is not the greatest with meeting new people, not to mention he can just be a lazy prick sometimes."

I nodded as though I understood and he smiled.

"Well it was nice to meet you Jessica. Don't be a stranger." He said with another wink and with that he was off.

I watched him walk out of the door and unlock the door directly opposite mine. He wasn't kidding, he really was my neighbour.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I closed my door and I realised I wasn't quite as alone as I thought I was five minutes ago.

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Got inspired to write a new story. Vote and comment if you like it :)
I'm excited about this one!