Boy Next Door

Party of One

"Can you grab those last four bags for me, babe?"

"Sure thing!" Camila went around to the trunk of the car and picked up the remaining four grocery bags as her boyfriend, Zachary, headed up to their apartment. Living on the fourth and highest floor of their building was great when it came to the balcony and the amazing views, but carrying their weekly groceries up the stairs was nearly enough to make her want to move. Go figure he left the heaviest bags for her. She struggled her way up the three flights of stairs while the handles of the plastic grocery bags dug into her skin.

Shawn popped his airpods in and opened up his favorite running playlist before stepping out of the front door of his apartment. He had just moved in the night before, and although he still had pretty much his entire apartment to unpack, he was committed to getting his morning run in. Just as he was getting ready to head down the stairs he saw a small brunette slowly trudging up the steps with her arms full of grocery bags. They looked heavy, and for a moment he considered offering her some help but he quickly realized she had already made her way to the top floor, so offering her help now would probably be pretty useless. Instead, he gave her a friendly smile and a nod before making his way downstairs. She smiled in return, but it seemed more annoyed than friendly. He shook it off and carried on his way.

Camila stepped into their apartment and plopped the bags down on their kitchen counter as she caught her breath.

"Out of breath from carrying four bags? Really, Mila?" Zachary said as he unpacked the five bags that he brought up.

"Did you leave me the heavy bags on purpose?" she huffed. Her boyfriend laughed and shook his head.

"I'd hardly call them heavy. Maybe you just need to get back in the gym..." She instantly started to feel self conscious as his eyes judgmentally scanned her body. She never was one to feel insecure about her body. She was hot—she knew that. Still, his comment had her feeling like maybe she saw herself differently than he saw her. She crossed her arms over her stomach and did her best to ignore his comment. He noticed her change in demeanor and made quick work of walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her small waist. "Hey...I was just kidding, babe. I think you're so hot...you know that." He moved her hair away from her neck and pressed his lips to her soft skin. "Let me show you just how hot I think you are..." he breathed against her neck as his hands moved down to unbutton her jeans. She grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands away.

"Maybe later, okay?" He let out a disappointed sigh and rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to punish me for making a joke," he muttered.

"I'm not punishing you. I'm just not in the mood right now. Like I said, we can do that later." They finished unpacking the groceries in silence and Camila hated it. Her and Zachary started dating their freshman year of high school. They had been together for nearly nine years. Granted, they had been on-again-off-again for a good chunk of those nine years, but they would leave that part out if anybody asked. When things between them were good, they were so good. However as the years went on, those times when things were good seemed few and far between. Their relationship often felt juvenile—likely since they had been dating since they were barely teens. She often found herself wishing she had something more mature, something she felt more sure about. But Zachary was her first love, her first...everything. And at the end of the day, the idea of not having him made her heart ache. She loved him, even if he was a major pain in the ass sometimes.

Shawn on the other hand, his "relationships"—if you could even call them that—were anything but long term. It's not that he was opposed to the idea of a serious relationship, it's just that no girl in the past was capable of keeping his attention long enough for him to even consider it. So he opted for flings and causal hookups. As he ran, his mind kept wandering back to the petite yet deliciously curvy girl he had seen on the stairs. She was off limits. As much as he may want to have some fun with her, he had made the mistake of hooking up with his next door neighbor at the last apartment building he lived at and he wasn't about to make that mistake again. Besides, he was pretty sure he heard a male voice coming from the apartment she walked into and as much as he may like a casual hookup, he was anything but a home wrecker.

Later that afternoon, as he jammed to some music and unpacked the boxes that had been stacked up in his new place, there was a knock at the door. He turned down his music and and rolled his eyes as he made his way over to answer it. Great. He hadn't even been moved in a full 48 hours yet and he already had somebody at his door to complain about his music.

"My apologies, I already turned it down," he said as he opened his door.

"What? Oh, no—I wasn't here to complain about the music, dude," the guy standing in his doorway said. He was tan and tall, but still shorter than Shawn. He had black hair that was apparently long enough to be pulled into a man bun, icy blue eyes and some light stubble along his jaw. He clearly spent some time at the gym, but still wasn't super built. "I'm Zachary," he said as I held his hand out to Shawn. "My girlfriend and I live in the apartment across the hall. She mentioned that she saw someone new had moved in here so I thought I'd come and introduce myself.

"Ah, yes. Is she the short one with long brown hair? I saw her carrying some bags up earlier."

"Ha! Yep, that's her." Zach couldn't help but roll his eyes slightly when he remembered the conversation that had taken place with her moments after that. "Sorry if she was rude. She was in a mood today." Shawn awkwardly laughed and shook his head.

"No, she was fine. No worries." She did seem a bit annoyed when he saw her, but he figured it had something to do with the heavy bags in her hands and the lack of her boyfriend around to help her.

"Do you drink? You should stop by for a beer later tonight and the three of us can hang out. Feel free to bring a chick if you want."

"Uh...yeah, maybe. I might stop by if I get to a good stopping point with unpacking. It'll...it'll probably just be me though, no...chicks." Using the term "chicks" made him cringe slightly, but he also didn't have many friends around here and wasn't about to turn down someone's offer to hang out.

"You like guys?" Zachary asked bluntly.

"Uh...no—I like chicks...I just don't have one at the moment."

"Oh," he said in surprise. "Well I'm sure Mila has some girlfriends she can hook you up with. Besides, I'm sure a stud like you could just walk outside and pick any puss he pleases." Shawn once again tried to hide the cringe and secondhand embarrassment he felt upon hearing his new neighbors choice of words.

"Ha...yeah..." he awkwardly chuckled.

"Alright, well I've gotta get going dude. But seriously, feel free to swing by later for a beer or two." The conversation ended and Shawn returned to unpacking his things, turning his music back up to its previous volume.

Hours later, Shawn looked around his new place and beamed with pride. Somehow he had managed to unpack nearly everything in a single day by himself. Feeling sweaty and gross, he hopped in the shower and washed off. After getting out and getting dressed he looked at the clock and it was just past 7pm. He initially didn't think too much of his neighbor's offer earlier that afternoon, but right now a beer and some company didn't sound too bad. He grabbed his phone and slipped on his shoes before walking over to the apartment across the hall. Just as he lifted his hand to knock on the wooden door that separated them, he heard a few muffled moans and gasps. He sighed and dropped his hand. Now was clearly not the best time to interrupt. Instead, he headed back into his place and ordered a pizza to be delivered while he flipped through some Netflix documentaries trying to find one that was both intriguing and one he hadn't seen before. He debated going out and finding a girl to spend the night with because as much as he might've hated his phrasing, Zachary wasn't necessarily wrong. It was a pretty easy task. He was tired though, so the idea quickly became unappealing.

"Pizza and Netflix, party of one..." he mumbled quietly to himself as he stuffed a piece of pepperoni pizza into his mouth and pressed play on a new crime documentary.

A/N: Coming soon.