When a Grace Jones moves in to the house next to James, his summer is flipped upside-down and finds himself head over heels for the ultimate Girl Next Door.
It was Tuesday afternoon and I was in my bedroom, watching an episode of The Office on my laptop while eating a poppyseed muffin. I barely noticed when the light in Grace's bedroom across the gap flipped on and she came in. I did, however, notice when she chucked an acorn at my half open window.
I turned my head and she pointed to her phone, signaling me to call her. Today she wore denim shorts and a white tank top. I picked up my phone and answered her call.
"Welcome home." I said, making eye contact through the glass as I spoke.
"Thanks, James." Grace smiled. "Raincheck on that date?"
"How about tomorrow at 6?" I suggested.
"Sure, but lets make it casual. Is there an Olive garden or something? I've been craving pasta..." Grace suggested.
"Yeah." I laughed. "I'll pick you up in my fancy car, don't stress about it, but it's a very nice, state of the art vehicle," I raised an eyebrow and I saw her smile from her window.
"Sounds good, Neighbor boy." She said. "Meanwhile, I'm going to complain about my cousins and your going to listen."
"Gladly... how long will this take?"
"A while, so get comfortable." Grace said. I sat down on my bed and watched as she talked. As she did, it felt like we were in the same room. I wish we were in the same room...
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At exactly 5:00pm on Wednesday I changed into a light gray button-down shirt and some casual jeans. I combed my hair and put on cologne. At 6, I grabbed my car keys and pulled my small, dented, Subaru out of the garage and several feet over to Grace's house.
Thank God both our parents were out until 10ish. I got out of the car and rang the doorbell, standing at the front porch. The door opened several moments later. Grace had her hair down, but she was wearing makeup. She had on a peachy pink shirt and light jeans.
"You look nice." She smiled at me.
"Right back at you." I said, grinning. She smelled like cinnamon again, it was like her signature scent.
I led Grace out to my car, where she got in shotgun, buckled, and we started to drive away. The sun was still setting, leaving a blue glow over the night sky.
This was my first date in a long time, and I was nervous. I'm not good at dates in general, especially first dates.
I help open the door to the restaurant so she entered first. I took a deep breath, swallowed my fear and walked in behind her.
