Neighbors(.)

Chapter 7

Scott pushed away from the wall, smiling to himself. He'd only just been thinking that he should go and do something, seeing as this was his last day off work, and voila. His prayers had been answered - in the form of his neighbour.

Alphy weaved between his legs, letting out a loud meow, as if to say "What were you talking about? Was it about me?"

Scott leaned down and picked up the old cat, giving him a scratch behind the ears, "Don't worry about it Alphy. Adult stuff." He was going to continue, before pausing, with a glance back at the thin wall. The last thing he wanted was his one-sided conversations with his cat going through the walls of a strictly no-pet apartment.

He set Alphy back down on the ground again and then looked up at the clock. It was 5 o'clock. That gave him about three hours to get ready. The theme park near the apartment block was renowned for being a must-visit destination, but in all honesty, he'd never had the time nor the money to spare to go there. It would be great to finally be able to have a look around, and plus, it was a good opportunity to hang out with his neighbour.

A little rush of excitement flowed through him. He loved having a neighbour he could hang out with, that he could go places with and just talk to... a real friend. And Vincent seemed like just the guy to fill that position. Okay, he was lazy, and sloppy (a pet peeve of Scott's), but he was... well, fun, for lack of a better word. He was fun, and interesting, and within two days of moving in, had already asked Scott out somewhere. Definitely all the signs of a long-lasting friendship.

Scott walked into the bathroom, picking up the hairbrush that lay on the counter and giving a quick tidy-up to his dark hair. Another bonus about going to a theme park: no reason to dress up for it. He didn't have to get all formal or anything like that, whereas he always felt obligated to at a restaurant or such. Just casual clothes would do fine.

He wondered if he should eat now, before going out. There was plenty of junk food to eat at the theme park - he didn't have to have been there to know that - but most likely nothing substantial. Then again, maybe Vincent knew something about the park that he didn't. It was always possible, he supposed, that there was some kind of meal available there.

Sighing, he settled on having a quick sandwich before going. Why not? Scott could eat an alarming amount anyway. He was permanently hungry. His friends used to joke that his stomach emptied into a black hole, so that he was never full.

Alphy appeared at the entrance to the bathroom, giving an impatient mewl. Oh, yeah, that was right. Scott wasn't the only person in this apartment that needed to eat.

"Sorry, Alphy..." Scott put down his hairbrush and turned back out of the bathroom, walking into the kitchen and opening one of the top cupboards. He pulled out a tin of cat food and peeled it open, wrinkling his nose slightly at the smell. "I don't know how you can eat this, you four-legged menace."

Despite the insult, Alphy seemed more than content once he'd gotten his can of old fish and vegetables.

Scott washed his hands and then pulled out the bread, tomato and ham from his fridge. He walked over to the bench, pulling out two pieces of bread and lining them up perfectly symmetrically. He cut up the tomato and put exactly half a slice on, folding up a piece of ham and placing it carefully on top. "Perfect."

He looked up at the clock again hopefully, only to huff once he read the time. 5.15pm. He'd only managed to waste 15 minutes.

He had a feeling this was going to be a looooooong three hours.