The Neighbor (boyxboy) [On Hold indefinitely]

Chapter Five

"Hey!" Joey said as he opened the door. Of course he was smiling that smile. "Ready for your first lesson?" He stepped aside. I took that as a gesture to come in. I didn't even see him at school today. He was wearing a bright blue polo and cargos. He smelled nice too.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I said as I stepped inside the house. I noticed it was extremely quiet. "Are your parents home?"

"No, they're visting my grandma in El Savador for two weeks" he said. "Did you bring your book?"

"Yeah, got it right here." I said as I lifted the book from under my shoulder.

"Good. Just go upstairs in my room. It's the first room you see when you're up the stairs. I'll be there in a second, I just have to take care of a few things."

I did as I was told. I went upstairs. This part of the Mendoza's house was new to me. They had family pictures up and down the walls. My family had family pictures too, but the Mendoza's pictures looked real, like they were happy. Our pictures looked forced. I finally reached Joey's room. There were pictures everywhere of musicians. People singing, playing an instrument. They were people I've never seen before, and they must've not been new. The pictures were in black in white. "So he likes music," I said to myself. I noticed that there was music playing in the background. It sounded eerie. Fiddles started to play. Then violins that sounded demanding came in. Then a piano played a few off key notes. Then a woman started to sing.

"You're my thrill. You do something to me. You send chills right through me when I look at you, cause you're my thrill. You're my thrill. How my pulse increases. I just go to pieces when I look at you, cause you're my thrill."

"Hey." Joey said. I felt myself jump up, he startled me. "I see you were looking at my wall."

"Yeah," I chuckled nervously. "who is that singing?"

"Billie Holiday." he replied.

"Oh, I thought a woman was singing." I felt embarrassed and blushed.

Joey let out a roar of laughter. Damn, I didn't mean to be funny about it. "It is a woman singing," he replied, "her name is just Billie."

"Oh," I said, my blush reddening on my face. "It's a nice song. I like the arrangement to it."

Joey smiled. "Me too. I like the lyrics." He started to sing along with the woman. "Where's my will? Why this strange desire that keeps mounting higher? When I look at you, I can't keep still. You're my thrill." The song ended. He was looking at me now.

I swallowed the lump that was in my throat. My body got warm.

"So," he said breaking the silence, "what did you learn today?" His face was still serious looking. He didn't even smile. Before I could answer, another song started to play on the radio, with a saxophone and a trumpet playing wildly together. He turned the music off. "Sorry."  he said and smiled nervously. That was a new one.

 I just remembered what he asked me. "We didn't go over anything today. We just got our books and took a questionnaire. He told us what were going to start tomorrow though."

"What are you guys learning tomorrow?" he asked.

"Introducing yourself and other people and describing yourself/them."

"Oh that's easy," Joey said. "Mi nombre es Joey y yo soy hermosa." He smiled. I must've had a blank expression on my face, because he started to laugh. "I said, 'My name is Joey and I am beautiful.'." I couldn't argue with that. "Repeat it." he told me.

"Mi num..numbre-"

"Nombre, noooom, no num like number." he said cutting me off. He laughed again. It sounded like music to my ears. "This is going to take awhile." he sighed smiling.

He was right. Four hours was a long while.

***

"Okay, before you go. Let's try this again." He smiled at me. He was so patient with me. I can't pronounce anything to save my life, but at least it was getting better.

"Mi nombre es Isaías y yo soy inteligente." I don't know if I said anything right, but when I saw Joey's smile, I knew I did.

"You did it!" he exclaimed. He grabbed me and hugged me. Tight. I instantly grew warm. He suddenly let go. He blushed. "Um..."

"I-I-I think I should be going it's getting late." I barely managed to say.

He was nodding his head in agreement. "Yeah, yeah, you should be going." He walked me downstairs.

When we reached the front door, I turned around. "Thank you for taking time out to teach me Spanish. I'm not really a good learner. I'm surprise I actually haven't said something offenseive towards" I laughed and he laughed along with me. It was true though. I'm surprised he didn't rip my head off for mispronouncing so many words.

"It's no problem, practice makes perfect." he said simply as he opened the door for me.

As I walked out, a car pulled into his driveway. I looked at him. "Shit," I heard him mumble under his breath. A guy walked out of the car. He didn't look like a high schooler, and I never saw his face around Paradise Springs. He walked up to the door, acknowledged me with a nod, and turned to Joey. He was extremely attractive.

"Hey Joe," the man said. His voice was manly, seductive.

Joey's face was blank. He looked at me. "Isaiah, this is my friend Jordan Killigan. Jordan, this is my friend Isaiah."

Jordan looked at me. "Nice to meet you Isaiah." his voice was extremely seductive.

I just nodded since his voice would probably make mine sound like a mouse screeching.

I could tell that Joey was uncomfortable, and I hated being in awkward situations. I broke the silence. "Um, Joey. I'm going to head out. See you at school tomorrow?"

He didn't smile this time, his face was still blank. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." 

I walked off the porch and went back to my house, while Joey and this Jordan guy went in his house. Who was that guy? Joey said they were friends, but a friend showing up that late on a school night? It left me wondering. I went upstairs, threw my textbook in my room, took a shower, and went in my room. Instead of going to bed like I planned, I went on my computer on iTunes. I looked up the song I heard in Joey's room. I downloaded it on my iPod, and went in my bed.

This song seemed relatable to something about Joey. I don't know what though. And I honestly don't want to.

***

A loud song began on my iPod and it woke me up out of my sleep. I must've fell asleep listening to music. I took my ear buds out of my ear, took my iPod and turned it off, got up from my bed and placed it on my desk.

I heard a car door close. An engine started. I looked outside the corner window that looked out into the street and part of the Mendoza's driveway. A car pulled out of the driveway and drove off. "That Jordan guy just left?" I said to myself in disbelief. I looked at my alarm clock on my nightstand. It was 150am! Then the front porch light turned off.

Apparently Joey was still up. What was he doing? What was he up to?

What was he doing with that guy?

I really wanted to know, but it really wasn't my business. I just went back in my bed and fell asleep.