The Man Next Door

Chapter Five

You kept yourself busy over the week that followed your vacation- after your phone call with Joel, you'd barely had time to think about him.

A group of your childhood friends were in town, so you'd taken the opportunity to catch up with them. When questioned about your love life, you brushed it off, saying that you were in a dry spell.

You almost loved the fact that Joel was your little secret, but part of you was sad that you'd never be able to just be with him. Your dad would never allow it- in fact the two of you would be in serious trouble with your father if he ever found out.

But that's what made it so exciting.

A little over a week after you'd come home from the beach, you'd had a date set up, but this time it was with someone new. Not your shitty, cheating ex, and not the guy you couldn't be seen in public with- but a guy you'd met on Tinder.

He was just a year older than you, played sports, owned a nice home, had a dog.. he seemed perfect. Part of you couldn't stop comparing him to Joel, though.

Tinder boy (Scott) had set up a date at a nice restaurant, and he'd planned to take you out to his favorite bar afterwards. It was such a nice change for the man to take responsibility and plan a date.

The two of you had planned to meet at the restaurant at seven, and you had spent half of the day preparing- shaving, exfoliating, waxing, you name it. This was probably the cutest boy you'd gone out with in a long time- he was tall and muscular, his face was clean shaven.

Not as good looking as Joel, who was taller, who's mustache made your panties wet...

"Fucking hell," you cursed at yourself. You had not been able to keep this man off your mind, even as you got ready to go on a date with a perfectly respectable and attractive man.

The drive to the restaurant was pretty short, so you decided to head in early and get a table. You'd pulled out your phone and texted Scott that you were already at the restaurant when a waitress greeted you. You ordered two waters as you waited for him to arrive.

After thirty minutes and several check-ins from your waitress, Scott had still not showed up. You decided to step outside to call him.

A warm breeze hit your legs and you tugged on your dress, pressing your phone to your ear. The call immediately went to voicemail, and your heart sank.

He'd stood you up.

Tears welled in your eyes. You'd put on one of your nicest dresses and spent hours preparing for this date, just for the asshole to fucking not show up.

Tears streaming down your face as you made your way back to your table, profusely apologizing to your server, explaining what happened. You closed out your tab (which consisted of three waters and a side of calamari) and tipped twenty dollars, leaving as quickly as you could.

Your plans for the night were so thrown off- you were not expecting to leave dinner in tears. You drove around without any destination in mind, when you realized you were close to the bar you'd planned on going to. Without giving it much thought, you pulled into the parking lot.

The inside of the bar was not too packed, so it wasn't hard for you to find a spot at the bar. You ordered a whiskey and coke and pulled out your phone to distract yourself.

After three drinks, you started to feel the whiskey kicking in, making your head feel like a cloud. You ordered a fourth, and the bartender laughed, jokingly asking if you'd had a rough night.

You decided to delete Scott's number (only assholes are named Scott anyways- you decided) when you saw the conversation between you and Joel.

Joel. He would fix all of your problems right now.