My Crazy Neighbor

The Girl Next Door

*ARTWORK DOES NOT BELONG TO ME*

"What is attraction? There's many kinds of... Ugh."

By no means I'll be an expert in the terms of attraction, and to be quite frank, I'm not sure I'll ever will. Not while that noise keeps ringing in my ear. Do people really call that music? This is one of the many problems with people's brains nowadays. They listen to trash. It's scientifically proven that certain types of music decrease your IQ. Trust me, I had to do a report on that. 

Anyhow. Let me start again.

"The true definition of attraction encompasses a whole spectrum of things..." but right now it's impossible to put into words what attraction is supposed to mean when I feel I'm going crazy! How am I supposed to write this thesis if she keeps distracting me like that?!

She's annoying. No, more than annoying, she's messy, like a cat, and I hate cats. They're always scratching the couch and throwing your glasses to the floor when you aren't looking all the while they look at you with those big feline eyes. Every time I try to focus, there she is with her weird music and her laughter. She laughs like a maniac.

The last two week have been utter hell for me, with her door slamming, the music blasting and what seems to be her jumping in a trampoline...?

Alright, let me start over.

"Attraction occurs in different ways and in different relationships for different social, psychological, and biological reasons and each one of them is important to... Okay, that's it!"

My heart starts beating faster and I slam my laptop close. This is all I can take. This ends today.

I began working on my thesis last month after beggining my internship in late spring and I'm yet to get my ideas straight. I'm not failing college over this new girl next door. I'm fixing this shit, now! She ought to learn to be a more respectful neighbor.

I storm out of my apartment and try my hardest not to slam the door too. There's literally five feet from my door to hers, which I cover in one long step. She has a WELCOME mat at the entrance.

"Ha, ha. Very funny," I murmur sarcastically.

Honestly, I haven't even met her yet. All I know is that at night I hear her leave and in the early morning she returns home. She probably works at a club or some other nightmarish place where she probably does a lot of illegal stuff or dances the pole, hence the trashy music. Hopefully I'm wrong.

The welcome mat has tiny cat paws in it... Great, a cat lady. Maybe she's a 50 year old exotic dancer. The thought of that makes my stomach churn. Just what I needed.

Deep breaths, Ben. You are a logical man, you can do this. Why does my hands feels so sweaty all the sudden? I just have to be firm and concise.

"I'm a psychology student, for God's sake."

I knock at the door three times, loud enough so she can hear over her music. My intent is not to start a fight. On the contrary; I wish we can set some very specific boundries peacefully.

The music stops. Light steps approach the door.

"Who is it?" a feminine voice asks.
"I'm your next door neighbor, Ben," I say uncomfortable.

The door opens only slightly and two big eyes spy from a poorly lit room.

"Can I help you?"
"Yes, so sorry to bother you," not really. "I believe we haven't met" I say as polite as I can. "I was wondering, if it would be possible if you could tone down your music a little?"
"Am I to loud?"

That was the moment I noticed her accent. It wasn't too shocking, but was not expecting an English girl to live next door.

"The truth is I'm working on my thesis, and it's quite hard to focus with all the noise."
"Oh, I'm mortified. I won't happen again, I promise."

She fully opened the door and revealed herself, and honestly, I don't know what got to me. But for a brief second I forgot my name and the reason I was standing at her door being such a dick. She is beautiful. Not at all what I was expecting nor hoping. This was worse.

"I'm Rey, by the way," and looks up at me with wondering eyes.

Does she really have to look at me like that? The way her long lashes move when she blinks is making me feel weird and I'm so thankful for my hair and how it covers my ears. They would give me away in an instant. They're burning right now.

"Nice to meet you, eh, Rey. I'm Ben."
"Yes, you said that already," she smiles.

Oh, no. What is she doing? What am I doing? Why are her teeth so white and perfect?

"I'll do my best to be quiet like a mouse, okay? I'm sorry to have bother you. Good luck on your thesis!"

And just like that, she closes the door on me. Not before eyeing me from head to toe. Maybe I just imagined the latter. At this point, the heat of my ears has transferred to the rest of my face.

Her apartment goes quiet and her music never plays again.

"Thank you," I sigh in relief.

Back at my apartment, everything is nice and quiet, so I sit in front of my laptop once more to resume my writing.

But I can't do shit.