My next-door neighbor

Chapter 2

Johnny looked at Gil and Gil looked at Johnny. Blue eyes widened as Johnny realized that the man standing in front of him was none other than Gil Nexdor. " how ? When did you come back?" He asked getting closer to the fence. He looked at him up and down, analyzing his features.

Gil couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Just right now man..." something didn't feel right. Gill called everyone man, bro, dude or broham but he's never felt like something is off. He called Johnny by the same names but he noticed over the years before he moved to the city that he used them less and less when it came to him. He removed his hand from Johnny's head. " well I have to get settled in. Its nice to see you again, Johnny." He turned to leave forgetting that there were two more people there.

The girls sighed blissfully as they watches the handsome blonde leave. Johnny was baffled, he kept his gaze on Gil but his mind was completely empty. He didn't know what to think. " ahem!" As sound came out of nowhere making Johnny snap back into reality.

" what the Hel hell was that?" Dukey asked. He's been there this entire time and what he saw was odd. Johnny merely shrugged. He didn't know what Dukey was talking about. He started to walk to the house whilst the dog followed. " that wasn't something you could just shrug off, why was he staring so much?" He continued to ask as he followed Johnny.

"That's what people do when they talk Dukey and besides, it's a surprise to see him back home." Johnny replied honestly but all Dukey did was jus make a face when he turned to look at the neighboring house.

Later that night Gil searched beneath his bed. He was looking for a certain box that had all of his favorite things in, plus it was a box filled with things he didn't want his parents to find. As he reached deeper under the bed he finally grabbed something that felt familiar. "Bingo! " Gil pulled out the box and smiled when he opened it. " everything is still in good condition, nice!" He took the box and went to the backyard. When he got comfortable he pulled out a rolled joint and a lighter from the box . As he was relaxing himself with what he calls blissful high, he looked up.

From his backyard he could see the test house's back windows and one of those windows is for Johnny's room. He knew exactly which one was his because Johnny was a loud kid growing up. When Gil looked up at the window he saw Johnny there. 'hmm... he must have not noticed I'm looking at him right now ' Gil thought as he continued to stare at Johnny through that window. He blew a puff of smoke as the night breeze whisked it away.

Meanwhile with Johnny...

"Wow, the girls weren't kidding when they said Gil is a big shot on Instagram. The guy has a million followers and he bare posts anything " Johnny scrolled down Gil's feed taking in all the photos and videos that Gil had posted. He was curious about the whole being a model thing so he asked his sisters to show him his Instagram. Now here he is in the middle of the night sitting next to his window, scrolling non stop on Gil's feed. " like, how can someone be so good looking?" He asked.

"And why are you suddenly so absorbed into Gil's life?" Dukey asked his human companion. Johnny didn't look away from the phone in his hand. " I'm just curious, is that so wrong?" Dukey looked at Johnny as he replied. He could smell something was off, no maybe off was not the right word. Something was .... different. Dukey looked outside the window looking at the stars but then noticed something next-door. 'oh would you look at that ' Dukey thought.

"Johnny look outside the window." Dukey pointed. Finally the boy looks away from his phone and . When he looked outside he saw Gil. Why was he looking up here? Then Gil suddenly waved a hand to Johnny. Johnny, confused, still waved back at him. He soon saw Gil make a gesture to come over. "What? Right now?" Johnny looked at his clock and it read 9pm, he looked outside and saw Gil waiting. " I could use some fresh air!" Dukey said.

The two headed outside and instead of going through the front yard like a normal person, Johnny decided jump the fence. Dukey had to go to the front to not be suspicious. When he got there Johnny sat next to Gil. " didn't think you'd come " Gil said in a somehow tired voice. Johnny noticed, he sniffed the air. " where you just smoking we–" Johnny was cut of by a finger placed on his lips.

" we can't say that word here J, instead say ZaZa! I was blowing some sweet ZaZa!" Gil explained. Dukey finally arrived and paused. ' so much for getting some fresh air ' he thought to himself when he got a whiff of the older blonde. " oh hey Dukey, I haven't seen you in years! Can you still talk?" Gil asking that almost made Johnny's soul leave his body. Dukey looked at Johnny quite nervously. " why do you both look so freaked? I always knew Dukey could talk. I found out of years ago when I thought I was being crazy. "

" I - I have no idea what to say to this!" Johnny said looking at his baffled dog. Never did they think that their neighbor knew about one of their secrets. And he's known for years?! " why didn't you say anything?" Johnny asked with shock in his voice but all gill did was laugh and lean back on his hands. " I just never really had a reason to start a topic about something that you clearly were hiding." Gil answered.

Dukey looked at Gil like he was mad man. How do you see a talking dog walking on two legs and just not ... care? " I always knew you were and idiot. Too carefree for your own good." Dukey said as he laid down on the grass and closed his eyes. He thought it would be better to deal with this another time when the boy wasn't high out of his mind. Or maybe he wasn't that high? Dukey lifted his head and looked at Gil who was looking at Johnny.

"You know what I've been thinking about since I was sitting back here? That when it comes to orange.... did the color orange come first and then they named it orange, then they saw the fruit orange and named it after the color orange ... OR .... the fruit came first and then they named it orange and decided to take the color of the orange and name it after the fruit orange? " Gil asked.

' Nope! He's definitely high ' Dukey went back to lay down.