Rock Band Next Door ((5sos))

1.

It had been exactly one year since we broke up. One year of trying to move on, but not being able to find anyone like him. Well, there wasn't anyone out there that was quite like him.

I had spent the majority of my day eating a tub of oreo ice cream and watching reruns of Gilmore Girls. Today was a lot harder than it should have been. It was the start of summer vacation so obviously, no school.

I heard my mother walking around in the kitchen and looking through various drawers and cabinets. I paused the tv and craned my neck back to see what she was doing to cause all the noise.

"Cay, sweetie, do you know where the whisk is?" she asked me, digging through an open drawer.

I sighed and set my ice cream off to the side. I climbed off the couch and went to the kitchen to stand beside her. I furrowed my eyebrows as my eyes darted around the kitchen. My eyes fell on the dishwasher and I went over to it. I opened the door and pulled out the whisk she was looking for.

"Ah! Thank you, darling," she sighed in relief, taking the whisk from my hand.

"Whatcha making?" I asked, leaning on the kitchen counter, looking at a cookbook she had open.

"It's mine and your father's anniversary today and I wanted to make him a cake while he's at work."

"Oh. I forgot about that. Happy anniversary." I flipped through the pages of the cookbook, thinking about how this was a day of happy memories for them and a day of not so happy memories for me.

"Thank you, hon. Now, I need you to help me with something else. Turn off the tv and put that ice cream away."

"What's going on?" I asked as I walked over to my previous spot on the couch to grab my near empty tub of ice cream and turned off the tv.

"I heard we have new neighbors moving in today. I wanted to make them something, but my hands are a bit full at the moment."

"New neighbors? Like, right next to us?"

"Yep! We haven't had someone living next to us since the Jefferson's moved away. Isn't it exciting?" She gave me a big smile as she mixed around her cake ingredients.

"Yeah. Super exciting. Do we really have to be those  neighbors? The ones that bake a pie the first day they move in?" I groaned and started washing my hands.

"Yep! We're being those people. It's not such a bad thing, Cadence. What if they have a son? What if he's cute?"

"Because that would make it sooooo much better," I said with sarcasm laced in my voice.

"Alright, smart one. Here, turn to the page on cookies. Pick whatever ones you want to make."

I mentally groaned and turned to the pages on cookies. I looked through all the various kinds there were. I didn't know there were so many different kinds of cookies in the world.

I decided to go with the classic chewy chocolate chip. Everyone loves chocolate chip.

Except my ex. He hated chocolate chip. I grinned at a memory of when I made him chocolate chip cookies and he nearly threw them all up. 

I took out all the ingredients I needed and began baking.

...

After about an hour and a half, the cookies were ready to come out of the oven. I grabbed some oven mitts and pulled them out. They smelled like heaven. I wanted to eat them right then and there, but my mom smacked my hand away when I went to grab one.

"Those are for the neighbors, Cay. You can make your own," she said, putting the cake she made into the already hot oven. "Oooh! Speaking of the neighbors! I spy a moving truck!"

She poked her head out the window to get a peak at who these new neighbors could be.

She huffed and stepped away from the window. "Those bushes are in the way. I can't see a thing."

I ignored her and flipped through more of the cookbook while the cookies were cooling down.

My eyes would go wide as I stumbled upon a recipes that sounded delicious. I grabbed sticky notes and stuck them in the pages for later.

If there's one thing I love most, it's cooking. That's what I want to do with my life. I want to be a chef. I want to own my own restaurant and cook till my hands fall off. I planned to spend my summer cooking as much as I can.

The timer dinged and I checked my mom's cake. It wasn't quite done yet, so I went to check if the cookies were cooled.

They were all cooled down at this point and I grabbed a tray to put them on. I covered the cookies with plastic wrap and set them back down on the counter.

The moving truck left awhile back so I figured now would be a good time to take them over.

"Mom! I'm taking these to the neighbor's!" I called, figuring she was in the bathroom. I heard a faint 'alright' as I walked out the door.

I walked across the grass to the house that was right next to us. I stepped up on the narrow concrete path that led to the door and made my way up. I took in a deep breath, nervous about who these new neighbors were.

I held onto the tray with one hand and rang the doorbell. I took in another deep breath as I heard footsteps approaching.

I heard the door unlock from the other side and the doorknob began to turn.

My eyes almost popped out of my head when I saw who answered.

"Candence?" he said, his mouth almost dropping to the floor

"Calum?"

"W-what are you doing here?"

"I live right there," I said pointing to my house across the grass. I kept my eyes down, avoiding his at all costs. "What are you doing here?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"I- we just moved in today." I could tell he was trying to  not to look at me as well.

"Right. Um..th-these are uh for you. My mom told me to make them. Share them with whoever else is here." I awkwardly handed him the tray of cookies and he hesitantly took them.

"Chocolate chip?" he chuckled slightly, "You know I hate chocolate chip."

"Y-yeah. You don't have to eat them. I didn't think you of all people was going to be moving in."

"I can't believe I forgot you lived here."

"Yeah. I should uh probably go n-"

I was interrupted by a boy with golden curly hair coming up beside Calum and eyeballing the cookies. He glanced up at me and gave me an award winning smile.

"I'm Ashton," he said, holding his  huge hand out for me to shake. I awkwardly shook his hand, still avoiding Calum's eyes. "And you are?"

"Cadence," I said simply.

He glanced at Calum and said, "Cadence? As in-"

"Yeah," Calum said before he could continue.

"Oh. Uh-sorry. Thank you for the cookies, love. We'll see ya later. We've still got loads of unpacking to do," Ashton said, pulling Calum inside and shutting the door.

I ran back to my house with tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.

I ignored my mom when she asked who they were and ran up the stairs and into my room.

I laid down on my stomach and cried myself to sleep.