My Bad Boy Neighbor (Now on Radish)

Episode 10

My Friday passed without any interesting developments until Saturday morning came and brought with it a ring of the door bell. It was my mom's day off while my dad was at work. Connor was on a second date with a girl from college and took her to an amusement park two hours away. A luxury he could have since he owned a drivable car. The girl was three years older than him but my parents didn't mind. My dad gave him a pat on the back for being a rockstar. If I pulled the same stunt, they'd ground me for life and forbid me to date until my thirties.

I heard mom's voice calling my name shortly after she answered the door. I was in the process of making myself an Instagram account when a short walk towards the staircase almost made me drop my phone.

"You've got a visitor," my mom said, pleased to see that the boy next door came to pay me a visit. In her mind, that made me seem almost ordinary. Because if I had friends and potential boyfriends, I wasn't such a lost cause after all.

Hiding my surprise, I walked down the stairs and watched as she retreated to the living room to give us some privacy.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, overly-cautious. I was just beginning to think that things went back to the old ways and he forgot that I existed after that one initial day. The only oddity was that his friends now kept glancing my way and occasionally saying hello, catching me off-guard and fear-stricken because that was apparently my defense mechanism whenever people approached me. I was used to snide remarks.

"Get ready and take your paper. I'm taking you out for breakfast and we can go through the questions," he said striding through the doorway, inviting himself in.

"I've already had breakfast," I told him.

"Then we can still go out for a drink," he replied, not fazed at all.

"Why?" I froze, definitely suspicious.

"Well, the submission date is on Monday and I realized that you weren't going to call because that's not your style. It was unfair to put pressure on you and I won't have you fail a class after you helped me with Bio."

"Wow, I never thought you'd ever apologize for giving a girl your number," I said, teasing him but the tone in my voice was dead-serious because I was too taken aback.

"Oh, I'm not sorry for giving you my number. You can use that number any time you want," he said unapologetically, stepping even closer to me to whisper in my ear. "When you're in bed... or in the shower... thinking of me..."

He was trying really hard to make me hot and bothered and while it might have worked, I mustered the courage to step back and raise an eyebrow, forcing my face to not betray anything while my insights were engulfed in flames. His proximity and low voice did something to me and I wasn't yet ready to think about that.

"It's called multitasking. Can't let mundane things distract me from what's really important," I told him.

"Sex?" He asked, unable to believe what I was saying.

"Plotting your murder."

He burst out laughing and even I cracked a tiny bit of a smile. Being the one to make him laugh filled me with a weird sense of joy. But then again, Kai was always so cheerful and happy.

He shook his head and then told me to go get my stuff so that we can leave. I did as he said, leaving him alone downstairs with my mom against my better judgment. Of course, I could hear her talking to him while I was in my bedroom getting ready.

"How long have you known my daughter?" My mom asked.

"As long as I've been on the football team with your son, ma'am."