The Boy Next Door

Songs on a Balcony

He smiled and replied, "I'm not half as good as you are.", while stunning a few chords on his guitar.

I mimicked them while replying, "I wish I was half as good as you are!" I complimented back. We laughed and he flipped through my song book again. "Now what are you looking for?" I questioned.

"You got anymore up beat songs?" he replied.

"Yah. Page 27, the one about my crush inthe ninth grade...wait...why am I telling you this?!" I laughed.

He smiled, made a heart with his hands, and said, " 'Cuz you looove me." he said pointing to the lyrics of my changed Josh song.

I groaned and replied, "That was just a product of a long day and a emotional break down." Again o thought, why am I telling him this?! Finally he found page 27 and started to play his guitar. I played my piano softly and focused on his voice until he gestured for me to sing. I sighed and joined into the song that I had sang over and over in ninth grade. I smiled and sung the chorus softly, so that you could barely hear my voice over his guitar playing. In turn, he played his guitar softer and softer until you could only hear my voice.

I paid no mind to this because, for some weird reason, I felt comfortable with Andrew. More comfortable than I'd been with Josh, or anyone else for that matter. It felt like Andrew and I contained some kind of unknown connection. Little did I know that this unknown connection had caused me to forget the words of my own song.

"Um..." I stuttered, trying to save the song. He noticed me fumble and stoped strumming his guitar and leaned over the balcony.

"You forgot the words to your own song?!" he exclaimed, surprised.

"No," I started off strongly, "I just got wrapped up in something." I finished softly.

"And what was that something?" he pushed.

"Nothing." I said in an effort to shut him up.

Apparently he didn't care for my efforts and persisted, "Come on. It has to be something."

I groaned and said, "Give me my book back."

"Not until you tell me." he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black ball point pen.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me." he said, his pen inching toward the paper.

"I will." I fought back with conviction. He shrugged and started to write on the page. I stood there, shocked that he would dare to invade my privacy again. "What are you doing?!" I exclaimed.

"Just what you told me to do." he smiled slyly, finishing his note on my paper.

I scowled as he tossed the book back to me with only one sentence inscribed on it:

If you had a normal life, I would never have met you

-Andrew

I smiled and looked up to find him gone. He must have climbed down from his balcony while I was reading the sentence. My smile fell into a limp frown as I headed down the stairs into the foyer of my house.