The Boy Next Door

Chapter 2

Edited as of 8/24/15

I wandered back into the house, my longboard in hand. I just went for a final joyride through the neighborhood before leaving it forever.

I went up to my room, finding it to be completely bare minus the bag I had set aside for the car ride. Inside were some of my favorite going away gifts, along with things to keep me occupied during the torturous drive.

Don't get me wrong, I love long car rides, this one being the sole exception.

I grabbed my bag, going back downstairs, finding Seth carrying a few things to his car.

"Ready? You're riding with me." He says, nodding toward a box for me to carry. I pick it up, groaning at the weight of it.

"What is in here?" I demand, lugging it to his trunk, where he took it easily.

"Either books or weights, I'm going to guess books since you could carry it though." I scowled at him, going to the front seat. I tossed his trash to the back, making a face when I touched something wet. I wiped it on his seat, sitting down in the passenger seat.

-

"Welcome to Surf City, North Carolina, population, can I go back to Los Angeles yet?" I whine, my butt sore from the two days of sitting I've had to endure.

"Such a princess, you know that?" Seth asks me, glancing over.

"Watch the road." I say automatically. He sighs, looking back at the road.

"It's been two years, Sammy, you're going to have to forgive yourself one time or another." He tells me, turning onto a street with large houses.

He stops in front of a grey one, shutting the car off. "Welcome to our new home." He says, getting out and going to the back of the car. I help him unload everything, moving it to the garage for now, then I take a good look at the place. It was huge, and it didn't look outdated like a few of the houses did.

My phone buzzed, Dani sending me a text. I pull it up, seeing her sending me a sad face of her sitting alone at the mall.

I text her back, telling her to suck it up, that someone was probably with her and she was hiding them.

She responded with an embarrassed emoji, and I laughed, walking back toward the house.

"Watch out!" A voice shouts, making me jump back toward the curb, my heel slipping and making me tumble backward into the street.

In front of me was a guy, maybe my age, sprawled on my new front lawn, his skate board a few feet away from him.

"Watch where you're going next time." He snaps, standing and getting back on his board, continuing to go down the street. I watched him until he turned and I couldn't see him anymore.

"Remind you of anyone?" I jump, letting out a short shriek. I whirl around, Oliver standing in front of me.

"You ass." I mutter. "But yeah, Cameron." I sigh, glancing over where the boy had been.

"Isn't today the two year anniversary?" He asks, wrapping his arm around me as we walked back inside.

"Mhmm." I nod slowly.

"You really shouldn't blame yourself for what happened, he would have looked anyway, you know he's obsessed with cool cars." He says, leading me upstairs.

"Close your eyes." He orders, stopping at the top of the stairs. I close them, feeling him lead me forward, slowly.

"I swear, if you push me off a balcony, I will haunt you for the rest of your life." I warn him, tripping over something. He laughs, then stops me.

"Open." I do, and I see a large room. With my things in it.

"Wait, this is my room?" I ask. He nods, giving me a push inside.

It seemed even bigger once inside, two windows overlooking a large backyard, a balcony through a door in the center of the windows, then on the wall to my left, there were two doors, one to the bathroom, another to my walk in closet. On the other wall was a single window looking at a house, a window could be seen at that house, the curtains drawn. My bed was in the corner, pushed against the wall, so I had the entire center of the room open.

"This room is amazing!" I gush, looking around at everything.

"Well, considering everything here is probably half the price as LA places, we could afford a bigger place." He shrugs.

"Maybe I could get used to this place." I mumble.

"What was that?" He asks with a smirk. I gave him a playful shove, trying to hide the smile on my face.

"It really isn't bad moving, yeah, it's bad timing, but I do think you'll like it here." He tells me, then heads toward the door.

"Also, moms friends with the neighbors, so we are having dinner with them, I think she said they have a son my age, and twins your age."

"Yay. People I have to be civil to." I fake enthusiasm, rolling my eyes.

Oliver laughs, leaving my room. I take a better look at my view, going out on the balcony.

I could see a family walking across the yard, a familiar SnapBack running through the gate to catch up with them before they disappeared inside the house.

No.

He can't...