Across The Hall

Locked Out

"Come on, it wasn't that bad," I protested.

Mitch shot me a death glare, before pushing his wet bangs out of his eyes. "Your drooling excuse of a pet pulled me into a river. Yes, it was that bad. That's the last time I let you talk me into taking a walk with you," he declared as he unlocked his door.

"Hey, I saved you from drowning," I pointed out.

He replied with the kind gesture of raising his middle finger at me.

I couldn't help but laugh. "See you later, Neighbor," I teased as I turned to open my door as well.

My eyes widened in horror when it wouldn't open. I twisted again and tried shaking the handle, but it was locked.

I glanced at Mitch who was giving me a pretentious smirk, "Now I see why your dog is so dumb," he commented.

I narrowed my eyes at him, "I'll call the landlord. Until then do you think I could—?"

"No," he cut me off before slipping into his apartment and closing the door.

I rolled my eyes before sitting against my door and calling the landlord, explaining my situation.

Of course he was busy and couldn't come in and give me a new key until tomorrow.

Shamus sat next to me, panting for 30 minutes straight. 30 minutes felt like a year. Only at least 12 more hours to go.

As soon as I closed my eyes, hoping I could sleep in this position, Mitch's door opened. I looked up at him. He was dry and in a different outfit now.

"When can the landlord get here?" He questioned.

I sighed, "Not until tomorrow," I replied.

He let out a long dramatic sigh. "You can spend the night, but if that beast pisses or shits on my floor, I will castrate you," he offered threateningly.

"And here I thought you hated me," I teased as I stood up and waited until he moved for me to come in.

"Wait!" He exclaimed as he held up his hand to stop me, and I stopped, waiting for him to continue, "I need a towel for the beast," he stated as he started to walk away before looking back at me, "Oh, and one for Shamus too," he added with a smirk before disappearing into the bathroom.

"Wow, you should be a comedian," I called after him.

"You think so? I'm a hoot and a half," he assured me as he came back out with a towel.

I dried off Shamus before looking for a place for him to go lay down. Everything looked so clean, and the carpet and tiles were both white and I was afraid he'd stain something.

I pointed him towards the black rug and he obediently went over and sat down.

"Bathroom's right there. Don't use up all of my hot water," he instructed.

"And what about clothes?" I inquired as I handed him the dirty towel.

"Oooh. Um...none of my clothes will fit. I have sweat pants that have an elastic waistband and then you can like wrap yourself up in a blanket if you're not comfortable being half naked," he suggested.

Well, it was better than nothing. "Thanks," I muttered.

"Yup," he replied before disappearing into his room and coming out a moment later with a pair of grey sweatpants.

I took them with a half-smile before heading into the bathroom. After a nice shower, I dried off and pulled on the sweatpants.

They fit fine around the waist, it was the fact that they stopped a few inches above my ankles that made me look ridiculous.

When I exited the bathroom, Mitch was standing over at the counter on the phone, ordering pizza.

I was enjoying this too much. Showering at my cute, pretentious neighbor's place and then eating pizza and spending the night with him.

When he was done he turned towards me, before looking a little startled. I looked down at my bare chest and blushed instantly, "Sorry," I muttered quickly before looking for something to cover myself with.

He shook his head, "Oh no, don't apologize. I was just a bit taken aback, is all. It's fine. We're both adults here...well...I'm an adult, I don't know about you though," he quipped before walking over to the linen closet and grabbing an extra blanket and a pillow before laying it out on the couch.

"You never take a break from insulting me, do you?" I pointed out.

"Why would I ever wanna take a break?" He inquired with a shrug before turning on the TV and sitting on the couch.

I just chuckled and stood there awkwardly. Mitch raised his eyebrows at me and cocked his head to the side.

"Are you gonna just stand there like an attractive idiot, or are you gonna sit down and watch TV with me?" He questioned.

I gaped slightly at his backhanded compliment, and sat on the other end of the couch. For whatever reason, he found this amusing, because he laughed softly.

"What?" I snapped at him.

"You're literally sitting 23 miles away. I don't bite...most of the time," he informed me suggestively.

"It's just that you go from being nice to me, to threatening to remove my balls in 0.5 seconds, so I'm just protecting myself," I retorted before running my fingers through my hair.

"So nervous," he taunted.

"Well do you blame me, you don't exactly have the most inviting personality," I pointed out.

He scoffed. "What's that supposed to mean?" He challenged.

"He was probably stupid and ate something he shouldn't have. Probably grass. Dogs are known for being incompetent and eating anything they come across," I quoted in a pretentious tone.

He narrowed his eyes at me, "Well, was I wrong?" He asked.

I cleared my throat and looked away, earning a devilish smirk.

We watched TV until the pizza came. While I helped myself to 3 slices of pizza, Mitch rifled through one of the kitchen cabinets, before returning with a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses. He set them down before grabbing the remote and turning off the TV.

I watched as he disappeared into his room, before returning a few minutes later with a game I used to love at a kid.

Battleship.

"Every ship sunk equals one shot," he declared as he sat on the couch and began to set up the game.

"You're on," I challenged.

It started off pretty tame. 1 shot turned into 2. 2 quickly turned into 5. And 5 turned into the opportunity to make out with my pretentious neighbor

Before things got too interesting, Mitch threw up everywhere. Seeing that resulted in me doing the same.

Yeah, it kind of ruined the moment.

...

I was woken up by a large tongue licking my face. I groaned and turned away, before wincing at the killer headache.

Tequila would be the death of me.

Shamus whined before climbing on the couch and sitting on my back.

"Get down," I grumbled. He ignored me and continued to sit on my back and whine louder.

I groaned before turning over, forcing him to jump off. I huffed before sitting up and cradling my head. I looked at the coffee table, before my heart fluttered.

There was a cup of iced coffee from Starbucks, two capsules of Advil, the key to my apartment, and a note.

Went to work. Good luck with your hangover. If your dog shits on my floor while you're sleeping I'll kill you. Also, if you ever bring up the events of last night, I'll kill you. Lock my apartment on your way out.

Mitch

A/N: lol