the boy next door • jenzie

8 | It's Not Him

"She thinks my tractor's sexy!" Kenzie sings at the top of her lungs, the words coming out almost as a scream of utter pain than the lyrics to her new favourite song. "It really turns her on!"

Johnny, tending to his mother's vegetable garden in his backyard next door, looks towards the wooden fence that separates the two houses. He straightens up, wiping the dirt from his hands onto his jeans, and walks over to the fence, peaking his head over it. A smile forms across his lips as he watches Kenzie jamming out to a country song, singing like nobody is around to hear her and dancing like nobody can see her. ⠀⠀⠀

The song ends, and Kenzie's performance does too. Johnny breaks out into a round of applause. She jumps, unaware of the fact that anyone was able to see her, and when her eyes land on Johnny, she narrows them.

"How much did you see?" she asks.

He unlocks the gate of his fence and enters her backyard.

"Enough," he replies.

She crosses her arms over her chest. "We never speak of this."

"Why not?" he asks. He pinches her cheek. "It was so cute. You acting like you can dance while singing a country song. A country song! What happened to you hating country music?"

Kenzie scoffs. "You want to insult my dancing? As if you can do any better."

He cocks an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge? Because I am a master two-stepper for your information."

He grabs her hands and begins to dance, doing some fancy footwork that she can't figure out and twirling her around a couple of times. The dance ends in an explosion of laughter... Which somehow leads to Kenzie pressing her forehead against Johnny's, him having to hunch over to close the height gap.

Time seems to stop for both of them as they realize how close they are to each other. Their bodies are pressed up against one another's. The slightest movement would result in their lips connecting. When she blinks, Johnny can feel Kenzie's eyelashes brush against his skin. She can smell the mint on his breath.

Kiss me, she thinks to herself. Forget about everything and kiss me.

The doorbell of Kenzie's house rings and the moment is over. Everything is back to reality. They break apart, and she says, "I'm going to go get that."

Johnny is still standing on the back patio, unsure of what had just happened and what to do next, when he hears Kenzie squeal from within her house. He opens the back door and steps inside to find her wrapped up in the arms of a guy Johnny has only ever heard about, their lips connected and a suitcase by his feet.

It's Ashton, in town for a week for Thanksgiving.

Johnny backs out the doorway he is standing in, returning to the backyard. She's with the boy she loves, and it's not him.