Next Door Neighbor

Part One

I walked up the last flight of stairs before reaching the third floor of my apartment building. I walked down the hallway to room 323 and quickly got out my keys. I opened the door and plopped down on one of the five pieces of furniture I actually had in my new home, a plain grey couch.

I had only been living in New York City for a week and barely had anytime to do some furniture shopping because of my busy work schedule. I worked as a intern at a major finance corporation and the snobs there had no intentions of giving the new interns any breaks.

I slid off my black heels and changed out of my uncomfortable clothing into one of my brother's old t-shirts that I probably stole from him years ago. I slipped on some sweats and put my dirty blonde hair into a bun, if you could even call it that.

I then walked into my kitchen and opened the fridge just to realize all I had in there was a half empty jug of milk and a moldy sandwich I had meant to eat before it went bad. Good job Erin.

I tossed it into the garbage and looked in my pantry to find that I had absolutely nothing that could help solve the hunger that was growing inside of me. This meant I had to go grocery shopping in order to pick some things up for dinner. I grabbed my keys and slipped on some tennis shoes before walking out of my apartment.

After I locked the door I quickly turned around but was immediately stopped by a tall, strong figure.

"I'm so sorry that was totally my fau—" I started to say before I looked into the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. They were a medium green with a darker green outline. They had brown specks in the middle and their stare was so deep it was mesmerizing. He was a tall guy with curly messy brown hair and a couple tattoos poking out of his clothes. He was perfect.

"Hello?" the man asked with a British accent mixed with a little something I couldn't recognize.

"I'm sorry what?" I asked, guessing I had missed something whilst losing my self in his eyes.

"I asked if you were okay," he asked with a look of concern plastered on his gorgeous face.

"Oh my goodness yes I'm fine, are you okay I ran into you?" I managed to scramble out.

"I'm alright," he answered with a chuckle, "My name's Harry by the way. You must be the new neighbor."

"Uh... yes, yeah I am." I stuttered.

"And your name?" he asked with a smug grin.

"Right. My name's Erin," I told him.

"Erin. I like that name. Nice to meet you, Erin," he said with a little grin playing on his lips. He had the cutest dimples I had ever seen.

"Well I was about to go to the grocery store to pick some things up for dinner. I have absolutely nothing in my apartment right now so I guess I'll see you around?" I blurted out hoping to step away from this embarrassingly awkward interaction happening in the hallway of my apartment complex.

"I'd hope so," he replied. My cheeks quickly turned a nice shade of pink and I tried to hide it by looking down at my hands but I was pretty sure I was too late and he definitely noticed. "I mean if you don't have anything in your apartment you might need help carrying back groceries because you'll be buying a lot, right?" he asked me.

"Well... uh yeah... I mean that's true," I said a little confused on where this was going.

"I could come with you. You know, just to help you carry things," he replied.

"Oh no I couldn't ask you to do that," I replied shaking my head.

"It's no big deal really. I don't have any plans so it's either sit at home alone or help out the cute neighbor girl," he said with a cheeky grin.

Did he just call me cute?

I must have heard him wrong.

"I'll be fine actually, but thanks for the offer," I said.

"Alright, love. If you need anything I'm room 325. Right next door," he replied with a quick wink. It was so subtle that I wasn't sure I had seen it.

"Have a good night Harry," I said with a smile.

"You too Erin," he said before unlocking his apartment and closing the door behind him.

How the hell am I going to be able to live next door to him.

• • •

I woke up to my alarm the next morning notifying me that it was time to get up. I rolled out of bed and turned on the shower to get it to warm up. As I waited I made my way to the kitchen to figure out how to use the coffee machine I bought while I was out last night. I made myself an iced coffee and added the creamer and took a sip to test it out. Not bad.

I returned to my shower and was out in ten minutes. I blow dried my hair back to its natural state: pin straight. I added some light makeup and went to my closet to pick out an outfit. I decided on a dark gray pencil skirt and a white blouse with matching white shoes to finish it off. I added some minimal jewelry and then went to grab a banana and my coffee before heading out the door. I was never a big breakfast person so this will be able to fill me up until lunch.

I walked down the stairs and out to the street to wave down a taxi. As soon as I got in I was able to relax and eat my banana. I didn't mind New York so far but I did kind of miss driving myself places. I used to live in Oregon before I moved here so it was definitely a major change. My parents are dirt rich so they're paying for my apartment but just until I move up from an intern to an actual supporting position in the company I'm currently at.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not a snobby rich girl who gets everything she possibly could want. My parents are strict as hell and would beat my ass if I ever whined about not getting something I wanted. They were just very supportive of me and my career aspirations so they decided to support me until I got on my feet and I could never be more grateful for both of them.

It took about thirty minutes to get to my work with all of the morning traffic. I payed the taxi driver and walked into the big building I got to call my work. I was finally living my dream after four long years of college. Well, I would be as soon as I wasn't an intern anymore but you know what I mean.

I didn't hate my job but being an intern was definitely not something I wanted to do for longer than I had to. I pressed the elevator button and waited for it to open. When it finally did, I was met with none other than my next door neighbor, Harry. Shit.

• • •

A/N: Hey guys!!! This is my first story ever so please go easy on me! Hope y'all like it so far :))))