Noisy Neighbours (The Midnight Beast Fanfic)

Part 10: Ash - Quirky

Jay and Natalie came to the door, looking shocked when they saw the pile of rubbish on the floor. They then saw us - God, what a bloody embarassment!

"Aw Maisie!" Natalie began, looking increduously at Maisie. She then looked at us.

"Um... so," she began. This was going to be so bloody awkward...

"Uh, yeah, um," I replied. What a bloody pathetic reply. I couldn't think of anything better to say than a few stutters. A hello would've been fine. But no, being the socially awkward idiot I was I couldn't say a single proper word.

"Oh, um, the Facebook message, by the way," Natalie began.

Oh shit, I'd forgotten. That was the reason I'd come anyway. The reason why Stef was here too, looking absolutey ridiculous, like he was hypnotised or something. That bloody Facebook message - what a total embarassment. I could kill Stef for doing that. Okay, not literally, but you get me. It was so stupid!

"It wasn't me," I said, before I realised I was being echoed. We'd said the same thing.

"Like, I didn't post on your wall," Natalie said quickly, going a light pink colour.

"I didn't comment," I said.

"It was Maisie."

"It was Stef."

What a total joke - I'd thought Natalie had actually asked me out there. Properly, but obviously not. I shouldn't have got my hopes up. But actually, that was a good thing - at least it meant we were even. We both had weird friends who posted weird things using their friends' accounts.

Also, it meant that the whole "Me and Mais" issue was cleared up. "Basically, I came to apologise," I said, feeling myself going red.

"You did nothing wrong, but thanks for clearing it up anyway," Natalie said, smiling. She was so cute. I only then noticed she wasn't wearing her hoodie and jeans she was wearing earlier - actually, she didn't even have her ponytail. Her hair was up in a bun, with a pencil stabbed through it. It was quite cool. I liked it almost as much as the ponytail.

And her shirt - woah, cool! It was a pattern of space invaders. I was kinda jealous actually.

Her and Jay then began tidying up the crap on the ground - Dru and I joined them, leaving Stef and Maisie in their transfixed gazes with each other. Honestly, this wasn't some cringey chick flick girls' movie plotline or anything. They were absolutely pathetic. They still hadn't had a normal conversation - it was absolutely ridiculous.

Dru rolled his eyes when he looked at Stef and Maisie. "Honestly, you two are so bloody weird. Just go for a walk together or something. Like, right now," he said, sighing.

Woah, what was he suggesting? Not that I was against the idea - actually, I was all for it. But it seemed rather unexpected, abrupt. Jay seemed to agree - she was already on her feet, literally shoving them out the door. "Yeah, go for a walk," Jay said, smiling to herself.

"Well, I'm going to go get drunk," Dru said, and before I could go with him, he was already down the stairs.

"Yeah, I've got to do some essays," Jay said quickly, abandoning us. It was just Natalie and me left at the door.

"Well, I'm going to take out the rubbish," Natalie said, scooping up a whole armful of crap. Being the gentleman I was, I took half of it and we went down to the bins. Great date, right?

We were silent, but it wasn't at all awkward. A really comforting silence, so peaceful and smooth. I didn't know about Natalie, but I had rapid thoughts flashing around in my mind. Any way I could somehow ask her out? Okay, maybe that was a bit too far, but maybe just going for a walk. As friends. Just friends. Just get to know each other.