Neighborly Affection

1: New in Town

Before you closed the door, you took one last look. One last look at your now-old apartment, empty and already smelling like dust. You had lived there for three years, three long years that felt like a distant memory the minute you closed the door and turned away. Carrying your last box you headed to the stairs and walked down those familiar four flights to the bottom floor.

I sure won't miss this, you thought to yourself after stepping off the last step.

You head out to the parking garage connected to the building and walk to your car. After putting the box in the back seat next to the others, you brush your hands on your jeans before opening the driver's side door and climbing in. It was early April so the weather was sunny and pleasant, with just a slight chill. You're wearing an old pair of converse, blue jeans, and a tank top with a small jacket over it, along with your hair in a ponytail just to stay comfy for the five-hour drive ahead of you.

After taking a deep breath you start your car and drive out of the parking garage. You make your way through the city streets, barely glancing at anything as you head to the highway. Once there and on your way out of the city, you take a look in the rearview mirror. One last look just like you did with your apartment, to gaze at the growing distant outline of the big city you knew so well, but needed to just get away from now. A smile creeps up on your lips as you look back to the road ahead of you, then you turn the dial on your radio to find some music you like and keep driving, to your new home.

----

After five hours of driving, you finally reach the small town you're headed to. Just before you make it all the way in town you pull into the first gas station you see to stop and stretch for a moment. As you step out of the car you take a deep breath, the air is crisp and smells like freshly cut grass. The early afternoon rays from the sun warm your cheeks as you close your eyes and face toward the sky, then you reach your arms up and slightly back to stretch them out. You open your eyes and take more of a look around. The gas station is small with only four pumps, it's kept up nice though since you see two benches and flower boxes lined in front of the building, looking as if it's a family business. Being that this is your first time here, you decide to go inside and see if you can ask for any directions.

As you walk in the bells to the door chime and you hear some old country music playing from the speakers. You take a look around and see that there's one older guy who is behind the counter. You flash a smile and walk up to him.

"Hi there! What can I do for ya?" the man asks cheerfully.

"Hi! I'm actually new to town and looking for directions, I'm moving here today," you say.

"Oh, that's great! Always happy to hear someone has picked our little lovely town for their new home," the man says. "Whatcha looking for?"

You smile and say, "Oakland street, do you know where that's at?"

"Absolutely I do," the man says proudly. "Been here my whole life, I know just about every inch of this place."

"Well, that's assuring to hear, if I ever get lost or need some recommendations on the best places around, you'll be my go-to guy."

The man laughs and says, "I'd surely be honored. Now what you're gonna want to do is keep heading down this old highway, then once you hit Main street take a right. Keep going down Main till you see Eighth street, it'll be a ways down, and once you get there take a left on it and just go till you see Oakland street."

"Perfect," you say. "Thank you so much! I'm gonna grab a water real quick and then I'll be on my way." The man smiles and nods as you walk away and grab a water bottle from the refrigerator section and come back to place it on the counter. "How much?" you ask him as you start to pull out your wallet.

"Nothing," he says with a wave of his hand. "It's on me."

"Are you sure? That's too kind!" You tell him.

"Of course! Think of it as just a little welcoming to town," he says with a kind smile.

"Well, I certainly owe you! What's your name?" You ask him.

"Rufus," he says, reaching his hand out to shake yours. "And you are?"

"My name is (Y/n), nice to meet you," you say as you shake his hand with a smile. "Thanks again, Rufus!" You head to the door giving him a wave goodbye.

"Hope to see you again!" Rufus says waving back to you.

You hop back into your car and start following the directions Rufus gave you. Driving slowly, you take a look at the pretty and quiet town, smiling as you go. I think I've made the right choice, you think to yourself.

You find Oakland street and turn down it, crossing your fingers over your steering wheel hoping your new house looks like it did online, maybe you should've come to see it first. You pull up and realize your spontaneous decision wasn't a bad one, the house looks just like the pictures.

Adorable light yellow paint, white wooden trimmings, an open porch big enough for the cute swing it had, stone steps leading up to the porch, old and big framed windows on the first and second floor. One thing you liked about it online was that the kitchen, living room, and half-bathroom were downstairs, while the bedroom and full bathroom were upstairs. You like the thought of having an upstairs bedroom with windows looking out to the neighborhood and town, plus there was a window seat which made you fall in love with the place even more. You didn't have a garage, but a little driveway connected from the side to the path toward your front door was good enough for you.

You pulled in eager to take a look inside. You had the rest of your big items shipped here so you were hoping everything made it okay and was inside. Grabbing two boxes from the back and stacking them on top of one another, you walk along the path and head up the little stairs to your front door. As you reached for your keys in your back pocket keeping one arm around your boxes, the keys dropped from your hands and you tried to carefully bend down to get them but couldn't reach without one box starting to slide off the top of the other. You were just about to set your boxes down to grab your keys when you heard a voice from behind you.

"Need a hand?" A man says from the curb in front of your house.

You turn to look at him, he's tall and has fluffy brown hair with kind eyes. He's wearing shorts, a short-sleeve shirt, and has earbuds wrapped around his neck as if he was just about to go for a run.

"Oh sure, if you don't mind!" You tell him.

"It's no problem," the man says with a smile as he jogs through your front lawn to your porch and takes a box from you.

"My name's Sam, I live right next door," he says as he points to the house on the right.

"I'm (Y/n), glad to meet a new neighbor," you say as you unlock your door and start walking in. He follows behind you and you notice he's just about as tall as your door frame. "You can just set that box here," you say as you place the one you have on the floor.

"Need help carrying any other stuff in?" Sam asks.

"Nah, I'll be taking it slow and do one box at a time from now on," you say with a small laugh.

Sam laughs a little too, "Well if you need anything you know where I'm at now. I'm gonna head out on my jog, but I hope to catch you later sometime!"

"Yeah, that'd be great! Thanks for the help, Sam" you tell him with a smile.

"Anytime," he says, returning the smile. "See ya, (Y/n)!"

"Bye!" You say back as he heads out the door and starts jogging away.

Before you start bringing more boxes in and unpacking, you go out to take a seat on your little wooden porch swing for a minute. Your swing is on the right of your front door but faces the house that Sam said he lives in. The house is a pale red and has white trimmings like yours, you can see his porch from where you sit and notice there's no swing though. Hmm, lucky me, you think to yourself with a smile. Glancing more at the house you can tell it's half a size bigger than yours, making you wonder if he lives with anyone else.

You move on from your thoughts and get up off your swing to head to your car and bring the rest of your things into your new home.