Neighbors

Chapter Six, Reunion

After talking and preparing for my siblings to come tomorrow we decided to go to bed. I climb into my bed and lay down. I toss and turn for a while until I finally fall asleep. “BEEP!!” I open my eyes and realize I never had the nightmare all night. I climb out of bed and throw my robe on. I walk into the kitchen for coffee and see a note from Peyton “I had to run the shop again, see ya later.” I pour my coffee and set it on the counter while I go put my scrubs on. I come back out and grab my coffee, bags, and keys. I’m out the door when I hear Chris’s door open he turns and we stare at each other. “Good morning Chris.” I smile at him and he seems caught off guard. “Morning… Heading to work?” I nod and we walk down the hall together. “You?” He nods. “I never asked what you do?” He turns his gaze back to me. “I’m a photographer. You?” “That’s fun! I’m a Labor and Delivery nurse.” He smiles. “I have been guessing since I first met you that you were a peds nurse or doctor.” I smile and look down. “You seem happy this morning.” “Thank you, I’m seeing my siblings later. I haven't seen them in quite some time.” I shock myself by saying so much to him. He seems shocked too but smirks. “That’s always nice, how many siblings?” I suddenly feel like running the elevator dings open and I dart out. “Sorry! In a hurry, bye!” I raced into my car not hearing what he said. “So..that’s exciting! But why did you shut him out again?” Amy is looking at me with a curious look. “I don’t know, I got scared.” She thinks about this for a minute. “Ok…but I thought all this would stop once you got closure.” I shake my head. “No, stubbornness is a part of my personality. And no matter what it will always be hard for me to trust someone.” Amy nods and goes back to typing. Nine hours and twenty-six babies later my shift is over. I head home and on the way I listen to my “Old Time Country” playlist with mainly 90s country or earlier. I get to my apartment and open the door to find Mark, Aria, and Peyton in the living room. “Mark? Aria?” They turn their heads and smile at me. Mark jumps up and picks me up and hugs me. “LITTLE SIS!” I smile and laugh at his excitement. “Not so little anymore!” He laughs as he puts me back down. “That you are not.. You're so grown up! Although you're still quite short.” I playfully punched his shoulder. “I’m 5’3 thank you very much.” He laughs. “And I’m 6’2.” Aria walks over and I notice that she’s pregnant. “OH!” I run towards her and hug her. “Hey sis. Surprise! I didn’t want to tell you on the phone.” I smile. “What is it?” “A girl…we’re naming her Taylor.” I freeze and then I start to cry. “You don’t have to do that!” My sister laughs. “Yes I do…it’s only fitting she has her Aunt's middle name as her first name.” I hug her again then Mark joins in. “GROUP HUG!” We stand there holding onto each other for a good minute or so before Aria has to go pee. “So, are you married, kids, dating?” I laugh. “None of the above. I haven’t had a single boyfriend in my twenty-six years of life.” Mark looks shocked. “Really? Well there must be someone you have had feelings for at some point?” I think about it for a moment and my mind wanders to Chris. “Ah! I see it in your eyes! You have feelings for someone.” Peyton, who had been quiet since I got home, spoke up. “I’m willing to bet his name is Chris.” Mark smiles.  “The new neighbor?” I laugh. “How long have you guys been here?” “Two hours.” Aria emerges from the bathroom. “Are you ready to go?” I look at her curiously. “I picked up Mark from the airport.” “How did you know he was coming?” “Peyton called and asked me to pick  him up.” My brother and sister smile at me. “We also booked the same hotel so it works well.” I hug them both. “I don’t have work on the weekends so we can do something tomorrow. I'll call one of you with plans.” “Ok love you.” “Love you guys too.” “Love ya little sis.” They leave and I stare at Chris’s door from my doorway. “You should go see him.” I think about this. “Ok.” I knock a few times and then just go in. “Hello?” I wander the apartment looking for Chris. I stand in the living room thinking he might be in the shower. After a few minutes I went into his room to check. “Hello? Chris it’s Quinn.” I see the bathroom door is closed so I go to knock on it but at the same time Chris opens the door and I fall….right into his chest. “Woah!” Chris balances himself and holds me upright. “Are you ok??” He looks at me worriedly. “Yeah, thanks for catching me.” He laughs while he’s still holding my waist. “I think my apartment is a danger zone for you…but speaking of why exactly are you in my apartment..better question why are you in my bathroom?” I laugh realizing how this looks. “Well I was coming to talk to you and then I was going to knock on the bathroom door to let you know I was here but then you opened it while I was about to knock..and here I am.” We laugh. “How did it go with your siblings…that you didn’t want to talk about?” I realized that I was cold with him this morning. “I’m sorry….” I trail off, staring at his scar up close. It looks even worse. Suddenly he tilts my chin up and kisses me. At first I was shocked and let it happen. It's nice but then I shove away from him. “Sorry-” He begins to say something else but I run just like always and don’t stop until I’m behind my closed apartment door. Peyton looks up and shakes her head. “You're wet..” I look down to see that my scrubs have wet spots all over them. “What happened this time?” I move from the door to the couch and sit beside peyton. “He kissed me.” Peyton’s eyes look like they're going to pop out. “WHAT!?” I shake my head. “I wandered around trying to find him and then I decided to check his room. I saw that the bathroom door was closed so I was going to knock on the door when he opened it and I fell into his arms and we said a few words and then he caught me off guard and kissed me.” Peyton stares at me in awe. “And then what?” I avoid her gaze knowing she’s going to call me out when I tell her I ran. “Well I panicked and ran.” Just as I figured she would, she rolls her eyes and wacks me upside the head with her novel. “Ouch.” She rolls her eyes again. “That didn’t hurt! It’s a paperback, be lucky for that! SO basically what happened was you had a romance novel scene with our new neighbor and when he kissed you instead of saying something or kissing him back you ran?” I nod my head. “Yep. Great, it's official my roommate has lost her mind! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” I shake my head. “I don’t know…I’m gonna go take a shower and go to bed.” I hop in the shower and the whole time I keep thinking of two things: one, I want to kiss him again and two, I want him to tell me how he got that scar. Once I finished my shower I pulled my wet hair back into a bun and put my pj’s on and climbed into bed. I toss and turn for twenty minutes and then I go back out into the living room. Peyton is still up reading. “Thought you were going to bed?” I shake my head and curl up on the other end of the couch. “I can’t sleep…I keep thinking about kissing him again and also the scar on his side.” She sets her book down and looks at me. “Scar?” “Yeah I saw it that day I baked for him, it's really long on his side. It looks bad, but when he tried to tell me about it I got scared and ran.” Peyton eyes me with a stern look. “Where doing something follow me.” SHe practically dragged me out of the apartment and across the hall. “What no. Not happening.” She rolls her eyes. “Yes it is!” She knocks a few times and he opens the door. “Holy.” Chris is wearing his basketball shorts and no shirt with his black hair messy. I kick Peyton’s leg and she wobbles. “Woah! That wasn't necessary.” Chris stares at us. “Can I help you girls?” Peyton giggles and then shoves me closer to Chris and takes off into our apartment. “What are you doing Quinn?” I shake my head. “I don’t know…” He stares down at me. “Quinn, I'm going to close the door now, night.” Something takes over me and I shove my foot in the door to stop him. “Wait.” He stares at me again. “Do you want to talk?” I want to say yes so badly but instead I say. “No.” And turn around and walk back to my apartment. “WHY ARE YOU BACK?!” Peyton yells as soon as I walk back into our apartment. “Sorry! I couldn’t do it…I wanted to but I’m too good at running.” Payton rolls her eyes. “Ok well I’m going to bed. Night.” “Night.” I went to my room and turned on “Whiskey Lullaby.”