Girl Next Door (GIRLXGIRL)

4

Lexi's POV:

The unsettling sound of a severe weather warning blares from my phone, waking me up.

I quickly realize it's a tornado warning judging by the raging storm outside my window.

I glance at my messages and see texts from my mother, asking if I'm safe and everything's okay.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a tiny be afraid. Storms are a beautiful, but terrifying power.

The lightening lights up my room and I hear pounding coming from downstairs, but it's not the storm. It can't be. Storms don't knock.

I make my way down the hall and flip the lights, but the power is out. I blindly maneuver down the stairs and to the door, seeing a figure wielding an umbrella standing on the other side of the glass.

Do I open the door? This is a scene straight from a horror movie.

I try to make out a face, scared I'll be opening the door to more danger than the storm poses.

"Open up!!" The voice on the other side yells.

I make the connection quite quickly at that point. Evan.

I unlock the door and she comes in, dripping rain from the ends of her hair, her nose, and her jacket.

"Get dressed. You're staying with me." She demands, not giving me a chance to speak.

"What?"

"It's storming like crazy, Lexi. There is a tornado warning. Hurry up." She demands.

I look down and realize I'm in a t-shirt that just barely covers what it needs to and underwear.

I nod and head up to my room to slide into some sweatpants and I grab a hoodie too.

"Lock up." Evan instructs as we walk into the violently-spitting rain. I turn my key and she ducks under her umbrella, making her way back across the flooding yard.

I walk into the home adjacent to mine and it's dark. The only sounds are the hail pelting against roof and windows, and I see faint shimmers of light coming from the stairwell leading to the basement.

"Where are the kids?" I ask Evan as she closes the drenched umbrella and slides out of the raincoat.

"It started storming before they even left, so they stayed with his mom for the night. Too dangerous to drive." Evan says.

He left her in this big house all alone? That sucks.

"Where are we going?" I ask her, watching her turn down the stairs.

"Basement is the safest place. Come on." She says and motions for me to follow.

I find myself in a room being lit only by a few candles. The mixing scents from them nearly send me into a sensory overload, but I manage.

"You're soaked." I grin, noticing how dark her hair turned once it was exposed to the rain. "You didn't have to come get me." I say.

"Your mom texted me." Evan informs me. "She said you'd likely be sleeping... and that you're a heavy sleeper." She smiles, sitting down on a blanket.

"She worries too much." I shrug.

"No, she's being a mom. A tornado warning is plenty of reason to worry." Evan says and pulls her knees into her chest.

My eyes crawl over her shins, to her knees, and down the exposed bit of skin on her thigh. The orange glow from the candlelight makes her look even tanner than usual.