Once Upon a Neighbor

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Thatcher (takes place before Declan comes over)

Thatcher’s phone buzzed in the pocket of his black hoodie. He whipped it out of the pocket to find one new facebook message. From a "Jamie Muffin". Jamie, Thatcher thought with a smirk. Jamie and Thatcher stayed in contact even though she moved all the way to Minnesota. Sometimes they would text but other times they would message on facebook with messenger, which was strange.

"Did u move recently?" The message asked him. Why would she be asking that? "I haven't moved at all. Y?" He typed back.

She didn't answer even though it clearly said seen at 12:04pm, so Thatcher took that as her having to do something. Maybe she was doing the laundry? The knock at the door surprised Thatcher, but then he realized that it might be Jamie. That might be why she asked him if she lived in the same place? Thatcher's heart swelled at the thought of Jamie coming all the way from Minnesota to see him. Before she left, they were like two peas in a pod, or rather "peas and carrots" like Forrest Gump says about him and Jenny.

Thatcher swung the door open to find a box of pizza on the ground. His eyebrows knit together in confusion as he crouched to pick it up. Cautiously, he raised the lid to find a fresh pizza, full of anchovies.

"Nasty." He muttered, looking around. Jamie's favorite pizza had been anchovy also. "Well, I guess I will just take this ANCHOVY PIZZA inside!" He called out, emphasizing the anchovy pizza. He peered around the corner of the 1st floor. Shaking his head after seeing no movement, he retreated inside the apartment again.

Thatcher had just barely tossed the pizza on the counter when the landline started to ring. Thatcher ignored it, guessing it was probably just some tax company. But then it continued to ring. Thatcher hit the green phone icon on the landline, and then just as soon as he answered it, pressed end. He shuffled over to the gaming room and turned on the Xbox 360. The phone rang off the hook again and Thatcher groaned. Whoever it was, they could just go suck his-

His phone vibrated in his hoodie pocket again and he pulled it out. Sighing, he answered the call.

“Hello.” Thatcher murmured into the speaker.

“Hey, honey bunny! I just want you to know that I am at your Aunt Cece’s so I won’t be home tonight. She needs me to babysit little Tony, so she can go work off that extra baby weight.” His mom’s chirpy voice greeted him on the other end.

“And that will take all night?” Thatcher groaned. His mom hadn’t been home all week since school got let out. First it was she was having a date night with Arthur, then it was a business trip and now it was babysitting his Aunt Cece’s latest baby, Antonio. Tony, for short. His Aunt Cece had 4 kids already, no more than 3 years apart. And she was only 31.

“Honey.” She sighed into the phone, her breath clouding out the sound. It cleared away in the next second. “Cece just wants a night off, working out, getting her hair and nails done, you know. She just needs a break from all the kids.”

Yeah, all 4 of them. After tonight there might be 5, Thatcher thought to himself. Then he shook at his head at how bitter he sounded, and sighed just like his mother did the moment before.

“Okay. Well, we can catch up some other time I guess.”

“Thank you baby, thank you so much! You know how much I love you. I promise, we will catch up soon.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

“I left two twenties in the cookie jar for you to pick up some groceries. We need more paper towels. I left a list on the counter. Love you honey!” She hung up before he could even tell her he loved her back. Sighing, he tossed his phone onto the leather black couch and turned off the Xbox 360. He wasn’t in any mood to play games anymore. The knock at the door made Thatcher take long strides until he reached the awaiting person.