Balcony Confessions Are So Overrated

There really wasn’t anything that attracted me to the apartment, besides the fact that the rent was within my price range. There was mould growing between the tiles and limescale in the shower, unknown brown stains on the carpet and peeling wallpaper. In short it was disgusting; although there was one thing that redeemed certain aspects of the pit I would soon call home, the balcony. It may have been a little too close to the neighbour’s veranda but the apartment being on the fifth floor had a spectacular view.

I couldn’t help but imagine the fun times my boyfriend Joel and I would be having in this apartment.

“So, Eve, the rent is $225 a month,” my land lord Elicia explained to me, “I’ll keep my eyes open for anymore apartments within your price range, but I think that for now you’re stuck here.”

I shrugged from where I was standing in the grotesque washroom. “This place could be worse, it can always be worse, I guess, although, I appreciate you keeping an eye out.”

“I’ll be back in a month to collect your rent. Until then I’ll see you around the building.” She turned to leave but seemed to remember something. “By the way, there’s a guy next door who is a little… different, for lack of a better word.”

“Well, thank you, Elicia. I’ll be sure watch out for him.”

“Again, I have to say before I go, please call me Elle.” With that she turned and left through the thin wooden door.

About twenty minutes after she left I had my first encounter with the boy next door.

“Without a sound I took her down
and dressed in red and blue I squeezed.”

My Chemical Romance blasted from the apartment next to mine as I was unpacking my clothes into the small dresser. Now, I like MCR as much as the next girl but right now I wasn’t really in the mood, so I went onto the balcony and leaned across the small space between the two railings.

“Hey!” I yelled through the crack in the door that was slightly ajar. No answer. “HEY!” I exclaimed louder this time, still no answer came from the door. I got fed up quickly and hoisted myself up onto the railing and climbed over the open space and landed heavily on my noisy neighbour’s balcony.

I pulled open the door and walked in. The music was much louder in here. I covered my ears not wanting to hear Gerard Way’s voice at such a volume. I glanced around the painfully similar apartment to my own and located the stereo; the volume control wasn’t hard to find after that. I jabbed the button repeatedly until it got a normal volume.

“Hey, who’s doing that? Ace, are you… You’re not Ace.” The guy standing before me was beautiful. His black hair was sopping wet and his green eyes peered at me curiously… also the fact that he had no shirt on didn’t hurt, his perfect stomach muscles mesmerized me. I also noticed he only had a towel clinging to his hips, he seemed to notice too. “Wait here for just a second, I’ll be back…” He turned back around the corner that led to the bathroom but reappeared suddenly. “Don’t move.” He disappeared again.

While I waited, I stared at the many bookshelves that lined the walls. In fact, the walls were basically all covered in bookshelves, not all of which held books. The one closest to me was filled to the maximum with CDs. The one next to that had DVDs occupying the shelves, and the one to the right that seemed to contain screenplays. Other than those three the rest held books. I walked to the CD bookshelf running my index finger across the rows of disks; his taste in music was quite eclectic. There was some classic rock, some heavy rock, some classic pop, and there were even a few Broadway soundtracks. All the music a guy living in Toronto could need.

I was still following the lines of CDs when the boy, well more like man, reemerged from the bathroom, now fully clothed, much to my disappointment.

“Ah, I see you’ve found my collection of CDs,” he commented. I snapped my hand back to my side.

“Oh, uh, yeah, quite the accumulation you’ve got there,” I stuttered nervously. He stood with his hands in the front pockets of his old jeans. I remember I saw this movie once where a woman found out that whenever a man had a sexual fantasy he would adjust his belt or put his hands in his pockets. I giggled at this thought.

“What? What’s so funny?” he questioned, a confused looking crossing his perfectly sculpted features.

“Nothing, I’m just remembering this old movie.”

“Oh, because it’s completely normal to laugh randomly at your own thoughts,” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“More normal than listening to My Chemical Romance at top volume,” I retorted.

“I’m being lectured on normalcy from the stranger I just found in my apartment?” he snapped.

“Oh, I’m sorry if I wanted to be able to hear my own thoughts instead of Gerard Way’s!”

“Gerard Way probably has better thoughts than you!” he exclaimed. Jackass.

“This from the guy who hasn’t even thought to introduce himself?!” I cried back.

“Oh… uh, right. My name is Ainsley Porter, wait a minute. Why should I tell the girl that I found in my apartment my name?” he muttered the last part to himself.

“Because I’m your new neighbour,” I stated simply.

“Well, isn’t that just wonderful? I have a girl whose hobbies seem to include breaking and entering living next to me. Not just that, she doesn’t even like My Chemical Romance.”

“Okay, first, I never said I didn’t like My Chemical Romance, I just said that I wanted to hear myself think over Gerard Way. Second, your music was just pissing me off, I’m not exactly in a My Chemical Romance mood, and since you were blasting it too loud to hear my yelling I had to do something. And third, I have to go now, so, pleasure meeting you Ainsley, but I really hope you won’t blast your music again or, at least, you’ll get some better taste in what to blast.” I gave a tiny wave to Ainsley and turned back towards the balcony.

“Wait!” I turned back again at his voice, most likely looking impatient, “I didn’t catch your name…” he trailed off.

“Evonna Pearson, but people call me Eve.” I spun on my heel and climbed back into my apartment.