The Neighbor

To be continued....

Amaya's POV

I focus everything into picturing him, my dream guy. I try to think of what his smile should look like, how deep his voice should be, what color eyes I should give him. I think hard about his personality qualities. Should he be a bad boy, or super smart, or a sweetheart? Is he a romantic? I get flustered, how can I decide something like this? I don't even really want a boy, not long term anyways. However, as much as I don't want to admit it, I'm lonely.

Have you ever had a dream that's so vivid you'd swear it actually happened? For me, this happened almost every night. I suppose it's considered lucid dreaming when you get to narrate what happens in your dream. I love lucid dreaming because I get to control what happens, I don't have to worry about anyone surprising me or disappointing me. I get to tell them what to do. In real life you have no choice, you have what you're given, but in my dream world, I decide everything. Last night I was at a party and saw all my close friends happily in love, everyone had someone. Everyone except me. So, I wanted to try and see if I could give myself a someone in my dream world, someone who couldn't hurt me. I can't do it though, I have no idea what to make him like. I'm fast asleep when I hear yelling from across the hall. I fight to stay in my dream world to no avail.

"Shut up! Just shut your lying...." She screamed.

"I had a bad feeling the day I married you! I could've been something. "A male voice cut her off.

"You think any of your side-chicks are going to put up with you and your pathetic, cheating, manipulative...." Her voice rose.

I pulled the covers over my head. I need to get out of here, I thought.

"I hate you!" She cried and then BAM! Something hit the floor hard. Okay, time to intervene I decided.

I jumped up and made my way to the door, tightening the robe I was wearing. I only had a silk sheet of a nightgown underneath. I sprinted to the apartment next to mine and banged on the door.

"Everything okay?" I said between breaths. All I could hear was sobs. I banged louder on the door.

"Open up or I'll call the cops!" I threatened. I heard the knob turn slowly and the door was slit open. I saw her sunny blonde hair and one of her ivory eyes peeking out. I pushed against the door and barged in.

"Umm, hi Amaya." She said shifting uncomfortably and looking at her feet. I lifted her head gently to meet my gaze and felt heated. I looked over at the source of the black and blue eye she was trying to hide. I felt dizzy. I remembered her saying this is the last time.

Nikayla and I were 21 years old, but that is where our similarities ended. We were quite literally like night and day. She was tall (5' 7")and thin with shoulder length bright blonde hair, fair skin and ivory eyes. I was 5 feet tall on the dot with jet black hair down to my waist, a slight tan and ice blue eyes. She dropped out after her first semester of community college and got married at 19 years old after dating Landon for 6 months. I take my dream of being a big time lawyer very seriously, and have always had a quest for knowledge. I had plenty of boyfriends, but none of my relationships lasted more than a few months, I had a lot of trouble committing to anything. We moved into Dream Apartments around the same time; Nikayla a newlywed and I an excited college student. I love to go out and party with my friends and am hardly home, whereas Nikayla hardly ever left the house. I wasn't sure if this was a choice or because of her controlling husband. Despite our differences we had become pretty close. I would always come over when Landon went off the rails to comfort her. No matter how badly he hurt her she was never able to leave him and I knew it was not my decision. All I could do was be there for her. So, that's what I did. No matter how hard it was.

"I think you should go Landon." I miraculously kept my voice even as I stared at him. He was looking at Nikayla, waiting for her to intervene, tell him to stay. I gave her no chance. I walked to the door and opened it, keeping my eyes on him. He looked shocked.

"Ask her what she did to me." He muttered, defeated.

I did not respond, and he walked out. I went directly to the fridge, then went back to her. I held an ice pack to her injured eye.

"Are you okay?" The words felt lame coming out of my mouth. Of course she isn't! I silently chastised myself. She looked directly at me.

"I love him." She managed and then broke into heavy (and I'm sure painful) tears. I pulled her into me.

"I know." I whispered. My heart was sinking.

"What's going on here?" A deep voice hit my ear. I looked around, confused. I saw a man standing in the doorway looking at the floor covered in glass. I hadn't even noticed I left the door open. I wondered how long he had been there. Nikayla looked panicked. I could tell she was searching for an excuse. He stood, hesitantly. I turned to her, deciding to deal with the mystery intruder later.

"Let me make you a bath. We can talk about this later, okay?" My eyes pleaded with her.

"Thank you." She grabbed my hands. "You shouldn't always be drug into my problems! You're my neighbor, not my therapist." Her eyes became watery. She tried feebly to wipe them.

I shook my head. "No, don't do that. I want to be here. None of this is your fault." I feigned a smile and stood up. "I'll get your bath ready; I'll be right back." She nodded and wrapped a blanket around her. The guy was still in the doorway. I gave him a warning glance, hoping he understood that meant not to say anything to her right now. I sighed and went into the bathroom turning on the hot water. I threw some bath bombs and bubbles in and laid a towel out. I hurried out of the room to see the guy sitting beside her, his arm around her. He was saying something to her, but I could barely hear him. I walked closer, listening quietly.

"Ever think of hiring a hitman?" His voice was silky, raining down on me like water. She started laughing, hitting him playfully.

"I wouldn't do well in jail." She giggled.

I felt myself smile. I walked over. I put my hands on her shoulders.

"You ready for your bath?" I smiled at her. She looked up at me with her black eye and my smile went away. I noticed she had a wine cooler in hand. I squinted at it and took it out of her hands, looking over at the guy accusingly. He was busy taking a sip of his own, much stronger beverage. His muscle were exposed through his tight black shirt as he lifted the drink to his face. I looked away and helped Nikayla to her feet. Then all of the sudden she was in the air; the guy had picked her up and was walking to the bathroom. I found my eyes tracing the muscles on his arms and back.

"Do you even like baths?" He asked her, and I almost hit him.

She was giggling again. "I don't even know." This guy was sure making quite the impression on her. I was happy she was laughing, but I worried it may be too soon for her to start crushing on someone new.

He sat her on the edge of the bathtub. "Guess I should get out of here, huh?" He was facing away from me. I suddenly felt irritated. What kind of guy hits on a girl who was just hurt by her not even ex-HUSBAND? I reminded myself that there was no way he could have known, but it didn't make me feel any less annoyed for some reason.

"Yes." I said shortly, opening the door. He turned to face me. He looked me up and down. I watched his face scrunch up in concentration. I forced myself to look down, steadying myself against the open doorway. He was so breathtakingly hott I was taken aback. I looked at his feet, he was wearing black slippers.

"Did you just acknowledge me?" He seemed amused. 

"Don't get too excited." I scuffed, nodding towards the door.

"To be continued." He whispered as he walked past me. Hitting me with his amazing smelling cologne.