The Neighbors

Chapter 2

"You must be Shea! I'm Anne," the woman who I'd assumed to be the mother introduces herself.

"Nice to meet you Anne," I smile.

"The boys saved you a seat," she gestures to the empty chair. Butterflies flutter in my stomach when I look at them.

"Yah Shea, we saved you a seat!" The boy in the plaid gives me a cheesy smile and pulls out the chair before draping his arm over it.

"Um, thank you," I keep my smile and sit next to him. He keeps his arm on the chair and the butterflies in my stomach fly like they've just encountered a storm.

"I'm Logan," he smiles and takes his hand off of my chair to gesture to the boy in the beanie, "and this is Noah," Noah waves.

"Hi, I'm Noah," he reintroduces himself.

"And I'm Harry," the one at the end adds. Harry is the one I hadn't seen at first. He is wearing a blue blazer and his curly hair is in his face, unlike Logan, who has his pushed back. All of these boys are breathtakingly beautiful.

"Alright, now that Shea is down, let's get this food served," my mom claps and brings two casserole dishes of lasagna to the table. She serves everybody and sits back into her seat.

"So Shea.. How is that spelled? S-h-a-y?" Harry asks and takes a bite of his lasagna.

"No, I spell it S-h-e-a," I answer before taking a bite of my lasagna.

"You spell it? Does that mean its a nickname?" The boy in the beanie, Noah asks shyly.

"Yeah it is," I smile.

"What is it a nickname for?" The boy in the pla-Logan, asks.

"It's for Sheila, but Shea always suited her better so we started to call her by it when she was six," my mom answers for me.

"Sheila is just as beautiful as Shea," Logan smiles and takes a sip of his water. I blush and adjust in my seat.

"Jared used to call her 'Say' when he was a baby because he couldn't pronounce the 's-h' noise. He still calls her 'Say'," my mother adds.

"That's cute," Noah says and I blush again. I look at him when he says it and he has a smile on his dimpled face. Do they all have dimples? They are just too beautiful.

"Could you pass me the salt?" Jared asks me and I hand it over to him.

"I don't think this needs salt Miss James," Harry says and flashes the same cheesy smile that Logan did earlier. They do all have dimples.

Mom and Anne talk about recipes and other mom stuff almost the entire meal. The boys ask me a few questions as we eat and I ask them a few in return.

"So Shea, are you in the eleventh grade?" Harry asks.

"Yes, are you starting school on Monday?"I ask and he nods.

"Yeah, mum wants us to start school as soon as possible," Logan adds.

"Will you be driving to school?" I ask.

"I'll be driving," Logan smiles and Noah sticks his tongue out at him.

"The only reason I didn't pass my test was because that woman didn't like my tattoos, besides, I'm retaking it next week," Noah defends himself playfully. I look at his body and I can see the black outline of his tattoos through his white shirt. He has two swallows on his chest and and a butterfly on his stomach. Or maybe a moth? I've never seen a butterfly tattoo look more manly.

"Shea, are you done staring at Noah?" Jared asks from across the table.

"Oh, uh, sorry," I blush and look down to my empty plate. The boys all laugh in a beautiful chorus of chuckles.

"How old are you?" Jared asks them.

"We are seventeen, our birthday was last month," Harry answers.

"Oh, Shea turns seventeen this month," Jared says with a smile.

"Oh does she?" Logan asks.

"We'll have to remember," Harry adds.

"We're good gift givers," Noah says with a shy, dimpled smile.

"Everybody have room for dessert?" Anne asks.

"Miss Styles made brownies," Mom says and grabs a plate of brownies from the counter. I stand up and collect everybody's plates and put them in the sink. I count seven people in my head and grab seven dessert plates. I pass them around and each of the boys say 'thank-you' when handed their plates. I notice how Harry has a happy sound to his voice, Logan sounds flirty, and Noah sounds the deepest.

When we've finished our dessert I gather the plates again and roll up my sleeves to wash the dishes.

"I'll help!" Harry offers and I smile to accept it.

"You can just put the dishes that I've rinsed into the dishwasher," I explain.

"Great, you know, Logan and Noah saw you this morning," I blush and hand him a rinsed dish.

"Yeah, I was on my way to work," I rinse another dish.

"Yeah, they told me how pretty you are, but I thought they were exaggerating," I blush and drop a plate. It crashes on the floor and splits into five pieces. Harry chuckles at me and bends down to pick up the pieces.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," I bend down to help him. Why am I so flustered around them?

"It's not a problem, love," Harry smiles and I hand him a broken piece of the plate, "ouch," he holds out his finger and it is bleeding.

"Oh my goodness, Harry," I say and stand up. I set the pieces of the broken plate on the counter and drag him to the upstairs bathroom. I put down the toilet lid and have him sit down. He grabs a bit of toilet paper an wipes up the extra blood.

"Are you ok?" I ask and open the cabinet behind the mirror. I grab the box of band aids.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thank you for helping," he smiles and I wrap the band aid around his finger.

"It's not a problem, besides, it is my fault," I apologize and he stands from the toilet.

"You dropped the plate because I called you pretty," he smiles, "it's my fault, really," his dimples pop and I blush again.

"There you are," Logan says at the door of the bathroom.

"Harry cut his finger," I say and Harry wiggles his injured finger.

"I thought you'd left to your bedroom," Logan says with a flirty smile.

"That's one place you'll never be going," Harry mocks him and smiles.

"C'mon, we're about to head home," Logan says and Harry walks into the hall with him.

"You're leaving so soon?" I ask a little too fast.

"Would you like me to stay?" Logan asks with a flirty grin.

"No. She doesn't, besides, we sill have to unpack," Harry leads him down the stairs and I follow them. We walk into the living room where Anne hugs my mom and Jared.

"It was so nice to have you over," my mom says and hugs Noah, then Harry, then Logan. Anne hugs me and kisses my cheek. Logan and Harry hug Jared goodbye but Noah gives him a high five. They all hug me goodbye and they all smell incredible. They have different smells, but good smells nonetheless.

~

"Those boys were cute, weren't they?" My mom says once they've all left. I blush and nod.

"Yeah, If it wasn't for their clothes, I'd have trouble telling them apart," I say and remember how Logan wore plaid, Harry wore a blazer, and Noah wore the beanie.

"Yes, they are lovely boys," she smiles and I notice that she must have cleaned up the broken plate.

"I think that they like you," Jared says and pokes my arm.

"I think they do, too," my mom says and I blush.