The Boy Not So Next Door

Chapter 4

I turned away from the direction of the bar because I didn't want Rory to see me looking at Louis. I figured that would upset her and I don't want to lose the first friend I made here after one day; that would be pathetic, even for me. Rory purchased three identical seashell necklaces. "Here, one for each of us," Rory said with a smile as she handed me and Travis our pieces of jewelry. "Thanks," I said as I tried to hand her some money to cover the cost of my new necklace but she wouldn't accept it. "Please, it's to show that we are all friends!" Rory stated in return. She seriously was so nice. I had never met someone so kind before.

The three of us headed down to the beach and sat in the warmth of the sun. We all sat in silence for a bit before Travis' phone went off. He got up and walked away a few feet so he could talk in peace. "My mom is coming here to pick me up for soccer practice. Do you guys want a ride?" he asked as he pulled us up off of the sand. "Yeah I would like one," said Rory dusting the sand off of her. "I need to get to tennis practice anyway." Travis looked to me and I shook my head, "I need to repaint my room so I'll just walk to the hardware store." "Are you sure?" they asked in unison. "Yeah, I'll be fine," I replied, playing with my new necklace. We said our goodbyes and headed off.

I stepped into Will's Hardware Store and walked up to an employee. He had his back to me so I tapped his shoulder to get his attention. The man turned around to face me. My breath hitched in my throat. I stared into those eyes that I longed to know. I was beginning to think he was following me, quite frankly. It was him; Louis. The very guy that was supposedly "bad news" was standing in right in front of me. Shit. But I mean, he did work at a hardware store for Christ's sake, that's pretty non threatening if you ask me. I panicked for a second and forgot why I had gone into that stupid store in the first place. He looked at me and asked if I needed any help. I nodded, mumbling something about paint and fixing a crack in a wall. He started walking towards an aisle and after a bit of hesitation, I followed him. I was so nervous to be so close to him, talking to him. I figured I'd just do what any normal teenage girl would do; Google him and hope that maybe I'd see him again in a few weeks and try to bump into him, casually, but on purpose. This was going way too fast. Before he could ask me about what I was specifically looking for, my phone rang. I excused myself and took a few steps down the small aisle. It was my mom. "Hi honey! Your father and I were going to run downtown for lunch and some shopping. Did you want to join us?" she asked. "No, I thought we were going to fix up my room today? I'm at the store right now," I replied with slight annoyance. "Well we'll have to do it tomorrow then, sweetie," she said, not seeming to care. "What about Derek? Is he home? He could help me," I said, hoping I could enlist the help of one person because there was no way I could do this all on my own. "No, I'm afraid he's out with some new friends," my mom said back. "Okay, well I guess I'll just do it myself. See ya at home then," I trailed off and hung up. We had been here for not even a whole weekend and I was already being pushed to the side. "Sorry about that," I apologized to Louis. "It's fine. So what exactly do you need?" he questioned. I told him about the crack in the wall and that I needed some paint as well. Without a word he handed me a can of Spackle and walked to the paint section. "What colour were you looking for?" he asked tilting his head. Damn he was cute. I told him that I was looking for a nice blue and he handed me a swatch. "I like this one best, personally," he said, pointing to one of the colours. "Okay, I'll take that one then," I said, giving an affirming nod. "How much do you need?" he questioned grabbing a gallon jug off of a shelf. "Uh....I have no idea actually," I stated. I felt pretty stupid for not having a clue of what I was buying or what I had to do with these materials. "Do you have someone around to help you with this stuff?" He stared at me, waiting for an answer. What the fuck was he? A mind reader or something? This was getting too awkward for me. "No, I don't but I guess I'll figure it out," is all I said in reply, grabbing a container of paint from him. "I can help you. Don't want you fucking up your new room," he said, walking to the cash register. "N-new room?" I stuttered. "Yeah, you just moved in down the street from me, didn't you?" he said confidently, clearly already knowing the answer. "Oh, yeah. I did," was the only thing I could think to say in return, handing him money for the items. Jesus, why is this so difficult for me? He was being nice enough. I mean he even offered to help me out since I clearly had no idea what I was doing. Why did everyone think he was such a monster? "So, do you want some help or not?" he asked, carrying the bags for me. "That would be great, but can you really just leave work like that? I don't want to get you into trouble or anything," I said. I instantly regretted it because what if he realized that he couldn't actually leave and help me? What better way to learn about Louis than from spending time with him? He smirked at me, stating, "Trust me, I don't need your help to get into any trouble. Plus, Phil can cover for me," he said, gesturing to a sweet looking old man. I simply nodded in agreement as we made our way out of the store. We walked down the street together in silence. This was going pretty well so far. I caught myself playing with the necklace that Rory had just purchased for me a few hours before. I couldn't help but feel guilty for inviting him to my house, my room no less, to help me out. I shouldn't feel like I was doing anything wrong but I couldn't stop the feeling in the pit of my stomach.

We reached my house and I lead him up the stairs to my bedroom. I hadn't unpacked much in anticipation of patching up the wall and repainting the whole room. We removed the bed and the small box that was filled with some of my clothes. We prepped the room quietly, barely muttering three words to each other the entire time. Somehow this silence didn't seem so awkward anymore. It was a comfortable quiet, like two friends just trying to finish a job. "So, I guess I should probably ask you what your name is," Louis said, turning back to see me putting up the last few pieces of tape. "Oh, my name is Chelsea. Nice to meet you, Louis," the second the words left my mouth I realized that I had made a critical error. He hadn't told me his name but I was hoping he would forget that tiny detail. "How did you know my name?" he asked with a faint smile on his lips. Clearly, he did notice. "Uh....name tag," I said, pointing to the plate that was, thankfully, attached to his black vest. "Oh. Right," he said, raising his eyebrows and grinning, refocusing his attention to his previous task. He was obviously aware of his affect on me, or at the very least, his reputation. "Come here," Louis said as he opened the can of Spackle. "Let me show you how to fix this." I slowly made my way over to Louis and the enormous crack in the wall. He began to apply the Spackle to the wall and then smoothed it out. He did it a few times so I could see how to do it and then handed me the tool, saying, "Here, you try it." I tried to smooth it out as evenly as possible but it was either too clumpy or too thin. "No, more like this," Louis said as he grabbed my hand to guide me. I felt like I was in a movie; the dangerous neighbourhood boy with his hand on mine, showing me how to complete a relatively simple task. It was making me a little nauseous actually because it sounded like the kind of movie I hated. As we continued to fix the wall together, I couldn't help but wonder what my new friends would think about me inviting this social outcast into my home.

It took us about thirty minutes to finish the job. Louis had to do the top because I wasn't tall enough to reach. At this point, it was about one in the afternoon and I was growing increasingly hungry. I asked Louis if he wanted something to eat and he quickly agreed. We made our way to the kitchen but there was little to be found. Having only been in town for a couple of days, we didn't have a lot of food. No one had really gotten around to grocery shopping. The only decent thing I could find were dinosaur chicken nuggets. Although I did not know Louis's exact age, he seemed to be about 20. I can't imagine him eating very many dinosaur chicken nuggets. I feared that he might think of me as childish. Nonetheless, I set up the oven and took a seat across from him at the kitchen table while I waited for it to heat up. I had the boy I had been thinking about nonstop since I moved here right in front of me and I couldn't think of a damn thing to say. This is so typical. I was caught up in thinking of something to say to Louis when he began to speak to me. "Thanks for saving my board the other day," he said, breaking my thoughts. Surprised by the conversation I responded by saying "What? Oh, yeah, sure. No problemo." No problemo? Why the hell did I just say that? It's like I want to ruin this or something. Surprisingly, Louis didn't hit me with his water bottle for saying it like I would have, though, he actually laughed instead. Maybe I'm a bit more charming than I think. No, probably not, but I'll just roll with it. He followed up his adorable giggle by asking, "Do you ride, too?" I burst into laughter. "I could never. I can barely walk right on solid ground. There's no way I could ever ride a piece of wood attached to four small wheels around if I constantly trip over my own two feet," I say, shaking my head and blushing. "You know, it's not as hard as you might think. I'll have to teach you one day," he replied. That was a good sign. He's sort of making plans to spend time with me again. Maybe it would even turn into a date. What am I thinking? Clearly his beauty was seeping through my brain. Wanting to help out a new neighbour is one thing, wanting to date them was another. A drastically different other thing. I need to stop thinking like that. Seeing him again is the next step in my plan to get to know his story. I can't date him. Well, at least not now anyway.