The Guy Next Door

Chapter Eleven (James): I LOVE YOU!

To be continued...

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"WHAT THE HELL JAMES!" mother yelled running up the stairs. I slammed my door, not wanting to deal with it.

"James Matthew McCall open this door right now!" she pounded on the door, as if that was going to get me to open the door.

"You cannot hide in here forever! You have to pee at some point!" I heard her stomping back down the stairs.

I stared at the wall. I really needed to paint my room, like really bad. Right now it's this awful off-white that the previous owners had it as. I walked over and grabbed my laptop. Clicking on the engine, I entered paint samples and spent the next hour sifting through thousands of different samples and narrowed down a few that I liked. Two blues, one tan, and three brown.

Mother is gonna be pissed when I walk back down there. Oh well, gotta face the music at some point, right?

Grabbing my jacket and keys, I hopped down the stairs.

"Hey mom," I said, walking into the kitchen and jumping up on the counter.

"Hey mom?" she questioned, looking at me.

"Hey mother?" I questioned back, raising an eyebrow.

"You came in here, all pissed off. Ignored your father as he left for work, pushed me out of the way, and slammed your door in my face. And all you have to say to me is 'Hey mom'?"

"Look, I'm sorry. Okay? While I was up in my room, however, I was going over some paint swatches-" she cut me off.

"Seriously James Matthew!?" she yelled.

I groaned, got up, and walked to the door.

"I'm going out!" I yelled back into the house.

"Be back before curfew, James," I heard my mom yell back, "and I'm not kidding this time, be back before curfew," I heard her add. I could just picture her hand on her hip looking towards the door when she said it.

When I shut the door, my vision came into focus and I realized that I may have spent more than a hour looking at paint swatches. It was pitch black out. It never really got this dark out in any of the other places I've lived before, or if it did I never realized it.

Looking around, I need something to keep me busy. Is Thea okay?

Maybe I can just drive for a while and clear my head. Is she just sitting in her room by herself right now? Certainly she knows this isn't her fault.

I've been meaning to re-polish my bike, I could always drive up to the store real quick and pick some up. I could literally beat that kid again. What was his name again? Toby? Tony? No, I think it was Toby.

Okay this isn't working. I need to talk to Thea. I can't just go up to her room and talk to her though, can I? No, that's weird. Too awkward. What would a person in her position want?

A dog? No, she doesn't want a dog.

A fish? No, not a fish.

Flowers? Hmm, maybe? Probably not though.

Candy? Maybe, but she'd probably just have to like it a lot. Does she like candy a lot? What does Thea like a lot?

Grey's Anatomy. Bingo.

Immediately jogging over to my bike, I hopped on and drove to the closest Walmart (which by the way, was 35 minutes away). After a few lost turns and confused employees, I found their section that contained some Grey's paraphernalia and I stopped, looking at my options. Let's see, I could get her a "It's a beautiful day to save lives'" sweater, the Grey's Anatomy board game, a "You're my Person" necklace, or a M.A.G.I.C. coffee mug. They were all relatively cheap.