Out of the Flames

Chapter 2. The Neighbours

Chapter 2.

Enrique Mendez's POV

I plopped down on our new couch.

I hated it. It was too hard. Sighing I let my eyes drift closed. Today was hard, my mother decided that we need to get everything completely unpacked in four days. We had moved in all the big things today like couches, desks, beds, tables, TVs and shelving. It was the hardest work out of my life. I heard giggling coming from upstairs and covered my ears. Knowing my parents, they were probably trying out their new bed. I groaned and tried to block out all the sounds coming from upstairs. I tried to think of something to do, dye my hair again? No, that would require going upstairs to get the bottle.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when the doorbell chimed. I jumped up and ran to the door eager for the distraction. I opened the door, and I saw... A whole family standing on our small doormat and, they were all smiling at me. There was a girl standing in the front, my heart fluttered at the sight of her light blue-green eyes, a color that put my cornflower blue contacts to shame. Her hair was a dark brown, almost black color that contrasted with her creamy skin. And her lips, her lips were so red that a rose would be jealous. I found myself instantly jealous of all the colors she possessed. I was brown. I had brown hair, brown eyes and brown skin. I was monotone.

"Hello." I said after a moment to long, I managed to tear my eyes away from the girl and take in my other guests.

"Hi, we're your neighbors, we saw you moving and so we made you cookies to welcome you to the area." Another girl said as she pushed her way to the front if the group. She held out a plate of cookies proudly.

"That is so nice of you, please come in and I will go find my parents." I flashed a smile at them as I headed up the stairs. I closed my eyes as I approached my parents half open bedroom door. "We have guests, time to get downstairs." I said quickly before walking away. I strolled over to Luis's room and told him to get downstairs wearing appropriate clothes. I scurried down the hall and told Virginia that our new neighbors were downstairs before I hurried back downstairs to attend to my guests. I strode gracefully down the mahogany staircase and smiled at my guests as I reached the bottom. I did a quick tally of the people standing in the entrance way, two males, three females, five altogether. Along with my family of five that would be ten.

I smiled before speaking, "Please take off your shoes and follow me." I waited so they could follow my instructions before I continued to the dining room.

"What a lovely home." The mother exclaimed looking around. "How long have you been here?" She asked me.

"Thank you, we have been living in in this house for two days." I replied keeping the smile on my face.

"Two days? Wow! And you're already this settled in?" The mother addressed me again.

"Yes, my mother did not want to postpone the unpacking and insisted we finish unpacking in four days. She is quite a determined person." I almost laughed at the understatement.

"Who is quite a determined person?" My mother asked striding into the room her hand entwined with my father's.

"You are mother." I replied walking over to greet her with a kiss on the cheek. She smiled at me fondly before turning to our guests.

"Hello, I see that you have met our son Enrique, this is Roberto Mendez and I am Jasmine, his wife. We have two other children, Virginia and Luis. They will be joining us in a moment." She said smiling the perfect welcoming smile. I had the same smile as her and for that I thank my God everyday.

My thoughts jumped back to the room as the father started talking. "I am Matthew Sterling and this is my wife Rachael, our three children are Jamie, Marisa, and Christine." My eyes skipped over Jamie and Marisa and settled on Christine. I quickly ripped my gaze away when I saw her looking back. We all sat down and I placed myself straight across from her. Marisa started passing the platter of cookies around the table and when it came to me I took one. Virginia joined us and sat down next to me, I smiled at her and passed the cookie tray back so that she could have one. She thanked Marisa quietly and then turned her attention to the grown up's conversation. I on the other hand turned my attention to stealing glances at Christine. She was so very intriguing, the way her eyes sparkled in the light like only real blue eyes do. The way she smiled and then let the smile gently fade off her face.

I jumped a tad as Luis smacked the back of my head with his hand as he sat down. I glared at him for a moment before causally looking at Christine. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jamie take another couple cookies. How did he do that? I could swear he had eaten half the plate of cookies. If I ate that many cookies I would have thrown up.

"How about you children go and play somewhere else?" My father suggested as he took the last cookie. Virginia and I stood at the same time, Luis took his time and was a half second late making sure to scrape his chair on the new wood floors. My mother shot him a death glare and I new that she would inspect the hardwood floors after the Sterlings left. If there was a scratch she would probably get the flooring ripped up and the scratched board replaced. Then she would cut Luis' skateboarding allowance for the month. We waited for the Sterling children to join us and we left as a group. I knew that I should go with Luis and Jamie, but I wanted to stay with Christine.

I felt someone tap my shoulder. "Excuse me, um Enrique, could I use your washroom?" Christine asked me.

"Of course, follow me." I said as I turned to lead her away from the others. I waited until I heard the bathroom door lock before walking through the french doors to my gorgeous studio across the hall. I flipped on the lights and watched the room light up to reveal three walls which were covered covered in mirrors halfway up the walls and then blended smoothly into the magnificent vaulted ceiling.

The fourth wall of my studio was all windows which reflected most of the light back to me now that the sun had gone down. I walked to the center of the room and sat down in the middle if the floor. I closed my eyes and started visualizing my latest dance. Just as I finished going through it in my head I heard the soft steps of socks on hardwood. I looked up and saw Christine. She crossed the floor and sat down next to me.

"Do you dance?" She asked quietly. I nodded in response. "Show me."

"I need a partner. Care to join me?" I asked.

"Sure, but I have to warn you, I've been dancing since I could walk. Would you mind if I stretched out a bit first?" She smiled at me with excitement, I could tell from the look in her eye I was going to be impressed. I took off my turquoise dress shirt and tossed it to the side so I could stretch in just an undershirt. We both started stretching, splits first, then back, then feet. Just by the stretches Christine was doing I could see that she was probably as good as me.

"What kind of dance do you do?" She asked.

"Ballroom, ballet, hip hop, jazz, Latin, pretty much anything that sounds fun. What do you do?"

"Ballet, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, rhythmic gymnastics, and a bit of ballroom."

"Are you ready now? I was thinking we could do a mirrored version of the piece I was working on because then I could lead easier." I walked over to the mirrors and pressed the corner of one of the sections. It opened up to reveal a large stereo system. I flipped through a couple of CDs before I found the right one. I placed it in the brand new player and skipped to the right track. I walked back over to the center of the room where Christine stood and held my hand out to her. She gently placed her delicate hand in mine and I suddenly I found it very difficult to pay attention to the music, as all my focus was on the small point of warm pressure in my hand where we were touching. I looked into her eyes and froze. She had beautiful blue eyes but what caught my attention was the small white line around her pupil. It was strange and fascinating and captivated me like nothing I had ever seen before.