The Neighbor

Home Sweet Home

We were silent for a while after he revealed "Clementine's Residence" identity to me. It was a lot to process. I had so many questions, but I told him I would give him time. I felt I owed him that. He had been a gentleman the whole time I've known him. I felt proud of him for sharing that me, I could tell it was really difficult for him. I was not cruel enough to push it further at the moment. Right now all I wanted was to make him smile.

"I've always wanted a sister." I said, looking out the window.

"Well, I think you found one." The corners of his mouth curved upward.

"I don't know if she'll ever accept me again after I took her man away from her." I laid my head back on the seat. I watched as his smile widened.

"It's nearly impossible to get rid of that girl, ask Smasher." He had his one hand on the wheel his other resting comfortably at his side. I relaxed, seeing him smile.

"I love this song!" I turned up the radio. "The Hills," by The Weeknd filled the car. I began to sing along, giving it my all. I loved to sing. I had been told I wasn't bad by my friends at karaoke, but they were drunk so their opinions weren't the most reliable. I was shocked when I heard Blade join in. He sounded amazing. Just when I thought this man couldn't get any more attractive, he starts singing like an angel.

After the song was over, I shifted my focus to him. I lowered the volume. "What the heck? You can sing?"

"Not really." He laughed. "I just happen to like that song too. I'm the one who should be impressed, I love your voice."

"So modest." I shook my head. "Let's see if it was a fluke." I turned the volume back up and began to sing. We did this the rest of the way home. It turned out there was no mistake, he could really sing. We burst into a few duets, passing our water bottle microphones back and forth. It was a core memory for me, probably my favorite core memory. The day was so chaotic that I didn't know what to feel, but I was so happy to end it on such a high note. 

I was disappointed to see Dream Apartments come into view. I wanted to keep driving, singing with Blade all night. I was tempted to beg him to keep driving but I wanted to check on Nikayla. After seeing Landon earlier, I needed to make sure she was okay. Leaving her with him was extremely hard for me to do, but I knew my being their would've only escalated things further. It was something she needed to do on her own the way my search for Blade was something I needed to do on my own. We were both growing stronger, I could feel it. 

"Home sweet home." Blade said, putting the car in park.

"Here we are." I unbuckled.

He pulled out his phone and looked surprised. "That's weird, some number I don't know called me. I never give people my number."

I felt my cheeks burning red. "Yeah, that was me. I kept my word to only use it for emergencies. This was an emergency. I needed to know where you were, Niki told me you had gone MIA and we both sort of freaked. I knew that would be the fastest way to reach you." I wasn't going to go on until I remembered. "You didn't give Nikki your number?" He just looked at me and smiled.

Smasher's headlights shone as he drove down the road to the apartment building. When he was in a parking spot, he cut the engine and hoped out of the car. We did the same and walked over to him. Right away I learned that Smasher was a lot more talkative and friendly than I'd given him credit for. He started making jokes immediately.

He was reading the sign on the building, skeptically. "Dream Apartments?" He chuckled. "What a cliche'. Not sure I can live in a place that wears that title man."

"Shut up princess." Blade said, walking past him to the door. I found their relationship adorable, they were like brothers. It was so nice to meet one of Blade's friends, it showed me a whole other side of him. A happier, more youthful side of him. I had no idea when I pulled into Clementine's that this would be the end result, but I couldn't be more thrilled. 

We went into the lobby and headed straight for the elevators. I noticed smasher was carrying the duffle bag that Blade had been packing the first time I was in his room. Memories of that night rushed back to me. It had been one of the best and worst nights of my life. I had been closer to Blade than I have ever been with anyone. I had also lost Blade that night. I never wanted to feel that way again. I would never push him away the way that I had that night knowing how it felt. Blade was irreplaceable, I never thought I'd believe in this, but it feels like he's my person. It's insane how quickly your whole world can turn upside down. One person can change your entire perspective. Now I see what the big fuss about relationships is, I wanted nothing more than to be with Blade.

When we were in front of our apartments, I stopped. "Want to come help us get settled in?" Blade asked, putting his hand on my arm.

"I would love to, but I need to check on Nikayla." I smiled apologetically.

He looked at me, worried, "What happened?"

"Landon came by." I had half-expected to hear screaming when we opened the doors of the apartment building.

"Her ex?" He looked dumbfounded. I nodded. "'ll come with you. He might still be there." Blade looked towards her apartment.

"What about your friend?" I asked him. I could only imagine how Smasher felt being on the run in a place that's brand new to him. To ask him to go through that alone seemed cruel.

"I'll just come with you guys." Smasher was looking at a picture on the wall of the owner. I had only seen the owner in person a hand-full of times, but each time he spoke with a chip on his shoulder. "Looks angry." He observed.

"Yeah, he's a grumpy old man." I agreed.

He nodded. "Well, let's go see this neighbor of yours."

We walked to her apartment door. There was silence on the other end.

I knocked. "Nikki, are you okay in there?"

I heard shuffling, then the door flew open. Nikki wrapped her arms around me. "You're back! I was so worried." She squeezed harder, cutting off my air flow. I pulled back a little. Then she saw Blade. Her eyes grew wide. She ran and hugged him next. He froze a minute, then hugged her back. "I thought something terrible happened to you."

"I'm okay, are you?" He asked, searching her face for any trauma.

She smiled. "I'm fine, really." Then in her excitement she ran over and hugged Smasher. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. When she realized she had no clue who he was she blushed, "I'm so sorry, I just got excited. I, umm..." 

He pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her. "Eh, I'm a hugger." Blade and I exchanged glances and smiled. Smasher definitely wasn't a hugger.

We spent an hour or so talking. Nikayla told us that she was able to convince Landon to sign the divorce papers. She had a feeling he would change his mind though, so she planned to get a restraining order but she didn't tell him that of course. Blade told her everything was okay with him, he had just picked up a new roommate, which wasn't a lie. Well, maybe a white lie. We had a sort of unspoken agreement that we wouldn't tell Niki about Clementine's tonight, she had been worrying enough we didn't want to stress her out anymore. Besides I didn't even know the whole story myself, I wouldn't know what to tell her. She smiled over at Smasher as we spoke about him, looking intrigued. I was just happy to have made it through today, there were quite a few close calls. As we got to know each other, it turned out the four of us got along extremely well. It was like we'd been hanging out forever. Maybe that friend group Niki had been telling me about wasn't that far out of the picture. 

I yawned, exhausted. "I think I'm going to call it for tonight. It's been a long day." I waved goodbye to everyone and walked out the door. I went into my apartment and laid down on my bed. I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow.