The Neighbor

Chapter 3: Put Your Head On My Shoulder

Robyn tried to clear her voice, just like last night. "Oh no.." he thought. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but no...I can't." she said as she looked up at him

Aubrey froze for a little bit. Slowly realizing what just hit him. "Wait what? Did I just hear that right? No? What the fuck, women don't say no to me." he thought. He especially didn't want her to say no to him. She was...different.

She instantly saw how his facial expression changed. All night, it's been calm but now it's just confusion. She definitely needed to explain herself. Guilt was her most definite feeling right now. Of course, you can't force yourself to go out with someone right? She said no for a reason.

"Ouch.." he said, "That stings a little."

It was true, he was almost sure she'd be okay with just a dinner at least. How cold was it of her to blatantly just say no. He looked around the hall to just shake off what happened. He didn't know what else to tell her. What the hell do you expect to say after you've been rejected? "Damn, that really sucked. It's like she led me on, though. Not one person could spend an entire night talking and just walk out of it casually. At least, I think so." he thought.

"Don't get me wrong, I think you're amazing. You're so attractive, your smile is so cute. I seriously had a great night, I haven't talked for that long just for the sake of conversation, it was nice..." she started but she notice his eyebrow crunch from confusion

Aubrey could not believe what he was hearing. He really didn't want to hear an explanation. It's the typical it's not you, it's me reasoning. It was one of the typical lines he'd use for women he wasn't interested in seeing anymore. Karma is hitting him right back and it's bitter.

"No, it's fine. I was just wondering, if anything you know? It's not a big deal." he tried to save himself and at the same time, he didn't want to hear more from her out of embarassment.

"No, I mean trust me when I say you don't want to date me."

That quickly took his attention again. "Why wouldn't I?" he thought to himself.

"Hmm.." he crossed his arms, "go on.."

"I'm selfish. Not in that kind of way but I'm selfish of my time, attention, or whatever. I don't know, I'm at a point in my life that I'm growing as a woman and a designer. I have to be selfish." she paused

He immediately understood his rejection and his shameful bitterness about it went away. It makes complete sense. The drive this woman has is really strong, it's admirable and unfortunately for him, still attractive.

"Like I said last night, I want an empire for myself. I'm not there yet. I'm not satisfied with what I have so far, that part of my life cannot fall short at all. I don't have time to spare for anything so that's why you don't want to date me, especially now that I've gotten to know you more. So with that I'm not saying no for some random excuse, umm..it is kind of an excuse but not that way at all. I don't want you think that-" she stopped after she heard Aubrey chuckle

"Excuse me?" she asked as she raised her eyebrow. She couldn't understand the where he saw some kind of humor from what she said. Is he mocking her or was he simply just wasn't listening? Either way, she thought it was rude, she was actually being serious.

"You're babbling, Robs." he told her

Robs. That was the nickname she allowed people to say only when they've gotten a certain level of closeness with her. Only Melissa and a previous boyfriend have used it before. She liked the fact that it wasn't really used, it's sort of like an exclusive thing she has with those people. Almost everyone will just call her by Robyn, Rihanna, Rih, or Riri. Never Robs. It didn't seem to bother her when he said it, though. It felt so natural.