We've Only Just Begun

Part 10 - Neighbors

I woke up to the doorbell ringing. "Oh God not again." I said still half asleep, not even realizing I was talking. I felt a squeeze, Nath was still in the bed with me. 

"Don't worry. It's not her." He told me matter of factly.

I rolled over and looked at him. "How do you know?" I asked teasingly with a smirk on my face. 

"Because Siva made sure of it. He sent her a very strongly worded text message." He told me. "He's just being protective." 

"Well that was sweet of him." I said. "But how do you know she listened to him?" I asked.

"We don't. But trust me, she won't be coming around here again any time soon." He said.

"Okay." I replied. He kissed my forehead.

"Kaye and Paulina are here!" I heard Max yell up.

"Be down in a minute!" Nath yelled back. "Those are our neighbors. You'll love them, they're a lot of fun." He told me.

"Oh cool." I said sitting up, still groggy. We made our way downstairs.

"Hi I'm Abbey." I said to them.

"Hey girl! It's good to meet you. I'm Paulina." She replied. She had long brown hair and she was wearing a black maxi dress with tan sandals. I noticed she was holding a beer and it made me really want one.

"You too!" I said.

Kaye shook my hand then. "I'm Kaye." She said smiling. 

"It's nice to meet you." I said, staring at Paulina's beer. Nath looked at me funny.

"Do you want one?" Paulina asked me laughing, gesturing to her beer.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry." I said. "I've had a stressful day." I held up my cast.

"Yeaaah, Max filled us in." Kaye replied.

I nodded. "I would definitely love one of those though, if you don't mind." I said to Paulina. 

"Yeah! Hold on a sec." She said and walked out the door.

"Heard you have one hell of a right hook." Kaye said pointing at my broken hand.

"You should have seen it." Tom said with a laugh. Nathan shot him a dirty look.

I laughed nervously. "Yeah..." 

"I should hire you as my body guard." She replied with a playful smile. I laughed.

Paulina walked back in with a six pack of beer in her hand. "Knock yourself out." She said to me, handing me one. 

"Thanks." I said. I twisted the top off and took a sip. 

"We were thinking about having a little house warming party for y'all." Paulina said. I noticed she said "y'all."

I gave her a confused look. "Are you from the south?" I asked her.

"Yeah! Austin, Texas." She told me.

"Really?! I'm from Houston!" I told her. "Small world." I looked at Kaye then. "And where are you from?" I asked.

"New York!" She smiled.

"Wow. You're a long way from home." I said surprised.

"Yeah. I couldn't ignore moving to LA any longer. The sun was calling my name." She replied.

"So. A house warming party huh?" I asked.

"Yeah! You should meet more people besides these boys here. And we thought you needed to be cheered up since..." She gestured to my broken hand. "...you know." Paulina said.