The Boy Next Door | L.P. [COMPLETED]

Part 8

AUTUMN'S POV:

THE NEXT DAY: I awoke at seven as usual, quickly got ready, grabbed a yogurt to eat in the car, and headed out the door. I stared out at Liam's house longingly. Then I yelled at myself, "You don't have time in your schedule to love someone! Last time you only got hurt!" I got in my car and started for my office. I thought about my previous boyfriend that I had had two years ago, when I still lived in my home town.

I was in college at the time, that's where I had met him. His name was Elijah and he was just the type of person I hate today. He was controlling, rude, obnoxious, stupid, crass, and selfish. The only thing was, he was desperately handsome.

At the time, I had the stupid, yet common idea that the only reason to go to college was to have fun and do things that never would have dawned on you until a drunken twenty year old suggested them. That was wrong, but even though I half knew this to be so even then, I continued to live by that idea. If Elijah liked me, then I liked him. It took me ten months to realize how wrong I was about him, how he was as low as you could get. Then I cleaned up my act, and graduated proudly, with Elijah completely in the past.

He was always in the back of my mind, however, never letting me forget how wrong I was about college, and him, and everyone of his nature. Even though I had learned my lesson, I was afraid of getting hurt once again, and liked to think of myself as to busy to do so anyway.

I worked until 3:30 and got home fifteen minutes later, giving me an hour and fifteen minutes to get ready to go to meet Liam's buddies. I quickly showered. Then I got dressed into a little blouse and some jeans. I straightened my hair and put on a little mascara. I never liked wearing a lot of makeup. Then I put on my sandals.

It was only 4:45 when I was done getting ready. I wasn't one of those girls that took four hours just to get ready for the day. I had fifteen minutes to rush to the store and pick up something for the get together.

I never liked to show up as an empty handed guest. I quickly walked into the market and picked up two bags of chips. I went to self-checkout, then hurried back to my car. I parked in my driveway and walked to Liam's door. I was right on time. There were two cars already in font of his house. I rang the doorbell and waited for a response. One of the boys from the picture that Liam showed me on his phone answered the door. I couldn't remember which one he was. The boy welcomed me warmly. "Hello! Come on in! You must be Autumn, I'm Zayn!" "That's right, he's Zayn," I remembered. Then Zayn hugged me which I wasn't really expecting. Liam and the blonde boy walked into the room. "You're here!" Liam exclaimed happily. "And you brought food!" the blonde yelled, and took them out of my arms. I laughed and he introduced himself as Niall. I couldn't help but smile at the amount of energy that all the boys shared. We walked into the kitchen. Liam's whole house wasn't the neatest or cleanest, but what could I expect from a boy in his early twenties living alone? I didn't mind the mess so much, I was just so glad to be there. I hadn't been invited to one single thing since I moved here, with the exception of one work party, and I declined the invitation because I had a dentist appointment. Soon, Harry showed up and Niall went to get the door. Harry walked in and greeted everyone. Two minutes later Louis knocked, and all of us headed to the door. Louis looked surprised to see all of us at the door at once. "Wow," he joked, "I must be special!" We laughed and we both introduced ourselves. Then we walked back into the kitchen. Everyone was laughing and talking. Then Harry started telling me a hilarious story about all these crazy things that had happened to them one day when they were in the city. About how an old woman had hit Niall with her purse repeatedly when he hadn't opened the door for her at a store, how Louis had gotten lost for three hours and how when he came back he didn't have a shirt on, but couldn't for the life of him recall ever taking it off. About how Liam had bought a gun in one of those spur of the moment decisions, but then thought better of it and returned it an hour later. About how Zayn had lost his wallet on the subway and they had to track the subway down to get it back with the help of an eighty year old subway worker on the last day of work before his retirement. And finally how Harry thought he had won four hundred dollars on a scratcher, but he had only won four dollars. When Harry had finished the story, Niall told it again.