Noisy Neighbours (The Midnight Beast Fanfic)

Part 2: Ash - You wanted a cheese grater?

ASH

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"Shotgun not getting the door!" Stef and Dru yelled simultaneously.

"Me neither!" Charlotte quickly added.

Stef and Dru then burst out laughing and made immature 'whey-hey-hey' noises.

"It's always me who has to go," I moaned. We didn't have a proper door - we just had a sheet of metal which was a total pain to have to drag open and shut.

"Well, it's your fault for being pathetic and shotgunning," Dru laughed.

I rolled my eyes and groaned. I reluctantly stood up and went to our 'door' and I dragged it aside, sighing and then looked up.

There was a skinny girl with dark shiny hair pulled back into a high ponytail standing at the door, her head bowed down, examining her red Converse trainers. Her arms were folded across her grey hoodie and her black skinny jeaned legs crossed over.

"Hi, I'm Ash. I don't think we've ever met, right?" I said, holding out my hand.

The girl looked up with narrowed eyebrows and a frightening glare, so I smiled as brightly as I could trying to cheer up the atmosphere. Her expression changed, her eyebrows rising slightly and a quizzical look in her dark eyes. She blinked and looked confused but after a slight delay, she shook my hand.

She looked at me with a confused expression, blinking at me up and down, as if she were examining me and judging how many brownie points I deserved. I thought maybe about seven out of ten for hair, ten out of ten for my smile and probably about two for my outfit. I decided I'd rank her too - seven for hair (I'd prefer it down), zero for smile (well, she wasn't smiling AT ALL) and probably eight for outfit.

“I just came… um, to ask if you could, um, maybe, uh… lower the volume of your music? I, uh, we… um, thought it was just a bit loud,” the girl said, in a wavering, high pitched voice with an undistinguishable accent. It was as if she'd mixed all the different accents in the world into one voice. I doubted she was from London, but then again she didn't seem to come from anywhere in particular.

I laughed. She sounded worried even though it really wasn't a big deal - our flat was the loudest flat in probably the whole of London, thanks to our stereo speakers, blasting out our music. We weren't the best neighbours and had had several complaints before, but none as polite as this. They would usually hammer on the door and then yell at our faces, going into full-on rants at our door. Then they'd probably move out within the next day.

“Sorry, we’ll lower it,” I said. “We’re generally pretty loud people. Sorry about that. Do you live upstairs?”

“Um, yeah."

“I’m guessing you moved in fairly recently?”

“Uh, yes."

“You don’t say much, do you?” I said, trying to crack a joke. The girl didn't react the way I thought, or more hoped, that she would. She just looked dubious and a bit lost in the conversation, making me feel awkward. I didn't do awkward! She was quite cute in a quirky way - maybe we should get to know each other? In a friend-like manner? I mean, we were neighbours after all, and she didn't yell at me. That was a good sign, right?

“Do you want to come in? It’s a bit messy but –” I started.

“Its fine,” she said quickly. “But thanks anyway.”

“Sure thing. Well, I’ll see you around,” I said, but she was already gone.

Damn, she didn't seem at all interested. Not that I was interested really either, right?

But she was cute, in a mascot-like way. She only just about reached the height of my chest and that was with shoes on. Plus, I quite liked her ponytail. Her hair was nice. She'd look nicer if she'd smiled as well. And her accent was weird. But kinda cool and -

"Hey, Ash, shut the door!" Stef yelled.

I hadn't realised I'd been in a dazed daydream. I dragged the metal across and went back to join them, turning off the speakers on my way.

"Hey, what's that for?" Stef wailed like a baby. "And who was it?"

"I don't know her name but -"

"Wait, did you have a one-night stand? When?" Stef asked, his eyes lighting up and looking excited. "Story time, story time!"

"Oh shut up."

"Who then?"

"Some girl upstairs."

"Who? Nobody lives upstairs, not since that couple moved out," Stef said in a matter-of-fact way.

"No, she's moved in recently," I said. "She actually came down to complain. That we were too loud."

"Surprise, surprise," Dru muttered. "But she didn't yell."

"I know, right? What's wrong with her?" Stef asked.

"I don't know," I said, and then went to the loo. I sat down, having a ponder. Maybe I should talk to her again, but I couldn't think of a reason to. I couldn't just turn up at her door and be like "Hey, let's chat!", especially since she seemed to be an awkward type. And she probably didn't like me anyway, now that I was the representative of the Noisy Flat Downstairs.

I could hang around outside and pretend to bump into her, right? Or maybe I could go to the buzzers outside to find out her name - hell, I didn't know her name! But maybe I could then try looking her up on Facebook? She looked around uni age and looked like somebody who would study - maybe Facebook could tell me her uni. We could go there and pretend to film a music video, right?

Why was I getting so into this? The easiest way would probably just to turn up on her doorstep. Maybe I could apologise about our loud music - that could be a conversation starter. I don't think she knew about The Midnight Beast, considering she didn't seem to recognise me. I could tell her about our successes - she might be interested?

Oh stuff that, she probably didn't give a damn about our comical parodies. Maybe she -

"Hey, Horne, what's taking you so long? I am busting for a pee!" Stef yelled from outside.

"Out in a bit," I yelled back.

Suddenly, there was a knock on our door. Again? Maybe it was her? What? Yes?

"I'll answer it!" Charlotte called and I heard footsteps.

No! No, I had to answer it! Maybe it was the girl! AAAARGH!

I quickly bolted up from the toilet seat and yanked open the door, greeted by Stef who was desperately crossing his legs and making a strange face. He dashed in the minute I was out and heard a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Dru, do we have a cheese grater?" Charlotte asked, turning her head.

"Um, I don't know. Why?"

I looked through the doorway and saw the girl! Yes!

"We do!" Stef yelled from the loo. "I'll find it!"

He flushed the toilet and came out and went to the door, sauntering over with his head down - I quickly ran to catch up with him so that I could get a glimpse of The Girl again.

The minute he looked up to face The Girl and her two friends, he looked a bit dazed. He scratched his head awkwardly and stumbled over his words. He was looking at a girl in particular - please not The Girl I prayed. I was relieved to find him staring at another girl next to her.

"Um, you wanted a... a, uh... cheese... grater?"