The Girl Next Door

Chapter 7

Jay: Who's that?

Beyoncé: Our new neighbor. Her and Blue
have become fast friends.

Jay: Isn't she a little old for Blue?

Beyoncé: She's seventeen. A senior at
Wilkerson.

Jay: And you let him --
Jay stops abruptly as y/n comes out of the garage. He waits for y/n to go into her house, then:

Jay: And you let her call you "Bey?"

Before she can answer, Blue appears with her PSP, her iPhone, and her laptop.

Blue: You think they have internet?

Jay: You can bring the PSP, that's it.
Blue begrudgingly hands the rest over to Beyoncé .

Beyoncé: Don't worry, it'll all be here when
you get back.
She gives Blue a kiss as she gets into the car.

Jay: You sure you're going to be okay
here all by yourself?

Beyoncé: I'm a big girl, Jay.
Jay gets in the car and pulls out. Beyoncé waves goodbye.

-Later-

Beyoncé lies under the bathroom sink struggling to turn a pipe with a wrench. Water sprays out at her.

Beyoncé: Damn it.
-The doorbell rings.-
Beyoncé opens the door to find y/n palming a basketball.

Y/n : Is Blue around?

Beyoncé: She went camping with her father.

Y/n notices her wet hair, and the annoyed look on her face.

Y/n: Everything all right?

Beyoncé :Yeah, fine.

Y/n: Okay, I'll see you later.
She turns to go.

Beyoncé: You know anything about plumbing?

Y/n lies on her back under the sink. Beyoncé stands above her, her eyes drawn to the narrow slice of her BARE ABDOMEN revealed by her raised shirt.

Y/n: This piece is corroded. See?
Beyoncé bends down to look, her face hovering near her stomach.

Y/n: I can stop the leak for now but
you'll need to replace it.
She turns the wrench and lets out a LOW, GUTTURAL GROAN of exertion. Beyoncé quickly stands, flustered.
Y/n comes out and gets to her feet, her face flushed.

Y/n: Want me to get you the part?

Beyoncé: No, that's okay. I'll handle it.

Beyoncé leads y/n past the bed and toward the door.

Beyoncé: I talked to Mr. Warren about your
transferring to my class. He says it shouldn't be a problem.

Y/n:  Great. Thanks.

Beyoncé continues on, but y/n stops when she sees a DRESS laid out on the bed with the SEXY STILETTOS Beyoncé purchased still in their open box.

Y/n: You going out tonight?

Beyoncé : Yea With Kelly...

She picks up one of the stilettos, examines it.

Y/n: Wow, these are something.

Beyoncé(embarrassed): Kelly... Ms. Rowland talked me into them.

Y/n:I could see her wearing these ...

Beyoncé : But not me?? She asked cocking her head to the side

Y/n:  I didn't mean --

Beyoncé: I'm probably going to return them.
She takes the shoe from her and shoves it back in the box.

Y/n: What I meant was ... never mind.

Beyoncé :What? Tell me.

Y/n: It's just that some women don't need
this kind of thing to be ... desirable.

Beyoncé laughs ,her face flushing with embarrassment.

Y/n: I'm no expert or anything, but I've
always thought true sex appeal is intangible. Something that comes from inside. Women like Kelly try to be sexy by wearing things like this. But it's really all just smoke and mirrors.

Beyoncé: Plenty of people seem to go for that.

Y/n: Plenty of people are idiots. Anybody
who's worth your time isn't going to fall for these gimmicks.
(re: the shoes) Now don't get me wrong These are hot, no doubt. But you don't need them. You're the real deal.

Beyoncé stares at her , at a complete loss for words.

Y/n: I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't
have --

Beyoncé: No --

Y/n: I was totally out of line.

Beyoncé: It's okay. In fact, it's the
nicest thing anybody's said to me in a very long time.