The Neighbor Girl

Jamie

Staring up at the ceiling, I considered the possibilities. One: Tell her the truth about my feelings. I snorted, like that would happen, she would probably laugh about how a big bulk like me could like her. I quickly shoved that out of my mind, she was to nice to think that way. She would never hurt someone's feelings, I knew her well enough yo know that.

Two: Make up a girl or tell her the name of someone at our school. Nah, then if I did find out what to do and I did woo her, then she would still think I liked this other girl. I would be totally screwed.

Three: Convince Nikki to forgive me.

That was it, three was the way to go. Running a hand through my tousled, brown hair, I considered the possibilities of how to go about doing this.

I whipped out my phone and dialed her number, which I had committed to memory. "Hello," her irritated voice rang in my ears. She had obviously checked her caller ID. It stung that she could be so upset, instead of anger- which I would feel with anyone else- I felt hurt.

"Nikki, we need to tal-"

"About what? We're obviously not close enough for you to tell me who 'This Girl' is, so why would we need to talk?" Bitterness crept into her tone. I felt as if I had been slapped.

"Come on, Nikki. Please, I can't just not talk to you. You're one of my closest friends, you know that, you know I love you." She probably thought I loved her in a friend way, but to me it was so much more than that.

She went silent and for a moment, I thought she had hung up on me. A small sigh escaped her lips. "Alright, let's talk about it tomorrow." She hung up without saying goodbye.

***

Nikki

'I love you' It was the words I had always wanted to hear from him, to bad he didn't mean them in the same way I wanted him to. It was so hard to stay mad at him when he was so sweet to me. The way he treated me and his other friends with such care.

I wanted so bad to go and stab this other girl and steal Jamie away from her. I knew it wouldn't be fair, he loved this girl and I couldn't just get in the way of his happiness for my own selfish reasons. Besides, if I did stab her, I would be in prison and that wouldn't be very good for a relationship.

I sighed as unshed tears gathered in my eyes. Why steal him away from this girl who was so lucky to have caught the heart of Jamie Luttrell, the sweet, gorgeous guy who could make any girl stop and stare.

***

Jamie

It was Friday afternoon with the sun beating down on me as spring was coming to a close. I swung the bat through the air and a deafening crack broke through the air, the breath being held by the crowd was slowly let out.

I was the star of the baseball team and I was slow to disappoint. I ran for the base.

We won the game, it was sort of a given, our school hardly ever lost and no one expected it to for a while. I knew I should feel pride and happiness that I had brought the game to a close, but I was to busy thinking about the talk me and Nikki were about to have.

I walked to Dairy Queen and plopped down on a bench, I checked my watch about every twelve seconds. I was staring intently at my watch when a soft thud came from beside me. Sitting next to me, licking a strawberry ice cream, was Nikki.

She was distractingly beautiful and a few of my teammates were giving me envious glares. She never realized it, but she captured the heart of pretty much every guy she has ever come across. I'm surprised she doesn't have psycho stalkers or something. Not that I want her to. That would be bad.

"So, what did you want to ask about this girl?" She sure wasn't one to beat around the bush. I stared into her captivating eyes, the shone like freshly polished gold in the sunlight. She had eyes that would change to every color from brown, to green, to amber.

"How do I get her to like me?" I was nervous as she focused all her attention on me.

"Um..." She shrugged, "It depends on the girl."

'Well, Nikki!' I wanted to scream, but I held my tongue. 'You're the girl! Why do you think I asked you?!'

Instead, I said, "Well, what about you, how would a guy wiggle his way into your heart?" Dumb question, I chastised myself. I couldn't let her figure it out. It would be a cataclysm waiting to happen.

A flicker of something swirled through her words and I couldn't place what it was. Oh well, probably nothing important anyway.

She then proceeded to plunge into how to get a girl to like me.

***

Nikki

I couldn't help but tell Jamie how to get her to like him. Just the way love shined in his eyes, I couldn't help but make it easier for him. So I could see him happy like that all the time.

Don't they always say "If you love someone, let them go?"

***

Nikki

As much as it killed me, I knew. I knew I had to move on, it was over, done, ended, squashed. Jamie was in love with someone else, plain and simple.

So as Travis fidgeted in front of me I considered it. Travis was going to ask me out, I knew it, it was pretty obvious. By the way he got a nervous glint in his gray eyes and the way he wouldn't look straight at me, anyone could tell what he was going to ask.

He finally managed to choke the words out. "Will you go out with me?"

Travis was a nice guy, smart, somewhat funny, kind of cute and about average height. Why not? I didn't have any other guy right now. I needed to get over the fact that Jamie just wasn't coming around. What could happen? He might turn out to be an amazing dude.

"Alright. How about we hang out Saturday?" I shrugged.

"I guess you already have plans-" Then it seemed to strike him like a bullet right between the eyes. "Whoa! What did you say?" He had an utterly bewildered expression on his face, as if he had never had a girl respond that way before.

"I said that we should hang out on Saturday." I repeated myself and I had to refrain from giggling at his dropped jaw. He was quite thoroughly amazed.

"Okay, I'll see you then." He murmured.

"'Kay, call me. I have to get to class." I wandered off as the bell was about to ring. I left him behind me, looking around, dumbfounded.

Who cares if I never really felt anything for him? Why not give him a chance? What can I lose?

***

Jamie

I heard giggling as I traipsed through the hallway on my way to lunch.

"Did you hear?" A blonde girl said to her friend.

"What?" The other replied.

"Nikki is going out with Travis Greer. I mean, can you believ-" The rest of the conversation was whisked away in the bustle of the crowd.

A cold, cruel hand took hold of my heart and jabbed it's pointy nails into it. It twisted and turned and knotted my heart, trying to make me suffer.

How could that be true? My Nikki with Travis? He didn't deserve her, he kind of gave me creepy vibes.

And then, there were the rumors.

***

Nikki

A warm spring breeze tousled my blonde waves as I pushed open the glass door to the bowling alley. Travis sat at a lane sipping a coke, staring at me intently.

Cold fingers gripped at the irrational part of my brain and a shiver ran down my spine. I quickly dismissed the random instincts of fear that gripped at me, tearing at my skin.

I traipsed over to the counter and got my shoes. I could feel his eyes trained on my back, at least, I hoped it was my back he had been looking at and not something a bit lower.

"Stop it." I chastised myself under my breath, something was wrong with me, I didn't know what was coursing through my veins- it was scary.

I stomped over to our lane and we began to play.

***

Nikki

We played through a whole game and Travis wouldn't even talk to me. He just leered at me and I got a creepy feeling he was undressing me in his mind.

Something tugged at the back of my mind. I heard on a show once about survivors that a lot of women gets creepy feelings from someone before they get raped.

This particular story had a woman who had a creepy feeling about a guy who got on an elevator with her and she didn't want to get away from and be rude. The man had ended up raping and trying to kill her.

I had a feeling that this was the sixth sense they had talked about women having. I decided then and there that this was the last date I would have with him.

After the game I said some polite goodbyes and called my mom to come pick me up. I was only fifteen so I couldn't drive yet.

A few minutes later my step-dad, Carlos, pulled into the parking lot to pick me up. Seeing the smiling face of the man who had raised me, I felt a deep yearning for him to be my real father. He loved me just like he loved my half-siblings, the children of him and my mother, even though I wasn't his.

I thought of my biological fathers searing blue eyes and what had happened the last time I had seen him. I sighed and climbed into the passenger side seat of the Ford.

"So how did the date go, Honey?" Carlos inquired.

I fingered the wicked scar along my neck, absentmindedly. "It was fine, I guess."

Something flickered in his black eyes and his jaw clenched. "What happened?" He knew me well enough to know that that wasn't a normal response for me.

"Travis... he just... I don't know... just kind of gave me this... weird feeling." I barely stammered out this response.

Carlos's fingers clenched the steering wheel. His normally dark skin turned bone white. "You should stay away from him." The words sounded like a suggestion, but the way he said it made me know it was one of those things. The things you do, no questions asked, a demand.

"I was planning on it."

***

Jamie

I slapped my pockets, searching for my phone. I pulled it out and let out a very unpleasant, "Hello?" I was pretty pissed off about Nikki's date.

"Hi, it's Carlos." The friendly, but nervous, voice stated. "I need to ask you a favor."

My heart started beating faster, when Carlos asked a favor it had to be important. "Yes?" I was thrilled to hear it.

"Well, Nikki..." Nikki, I thought, what happened? "...She went out with this guy and I saw a thing in the papers about him. He was harassing this girl and... some other thing." There was an unmistakable worry present in his voice. "And, I just wanted you to watch out for her."

"Sure," I said a bit to quickly.

"Oh, and one more thing, try to be inconspicuous, we both know how stubborn and self-reliant she can be." Yes, I knew quite well. "She wouldn't want someone trying to help her with something."

"I'm your man..."