Torn

AS SOON AS PAUL PULLED INTO MY DRIVEWAY I felt every muscle in my body relax. The thought to finally be able to just lay around and watch television rushed through my head, and I found myself smiling as we both got out of the car and walked over to the trunk of his black SUV.

“You want a ride to the game tomorrow night?”

“Oh nah man.” I replied as I grabbed my duffle bag and slung it over my shoulder, my muscles screaming from the weight of the bag, and my nose twitching from the smell. Hockey sweat was one of the most lethal smells in the world, and when you weren’t covered in it, the smell got to you. “I need to learn how to get there myself.” I chuckled as I glanced up at him and then let my eye wander to the house across the street from me.

The happenings from this morning rushed through my head as my lips pressed into a firm thin line. “Alright man, well.” Paul glanced across the street at the house and then turned to me, his lips smirking a little as he nodded slowly and gave me a pat on the shoulder. “I’ll talk to you later, have a good one, alright?”

“Yeah man.” I responded as I tore my eyes away from the huge front window of the house and forced them back to my teammate. “I’ll talk to you later.” My voice fell to a whisper as I turned around and gave him a small wave as I headed to my front door, my eyes tracing the lines on the sidewalk as the vision of the girl in that huge window danced through my mind.

A part of me thought she wasn’t real. When I first saw her, sitting there with her wide eyes and smile, I thought that my mind was playing tricks on me. I thought that maybe the house was haunted or that I was just plain out losing my mind, but the second I saw her laugh and then turn away from the window and hug whoever that guy was, I knew that it was real. Partly because I wouldn’t be lucky enough to have a beautiful girl like that live across from me and not be married.

The thought of marriage poisoned my stomach as I finally reached my front door. Stomach swirling with anger, I shuffled my feet closer to the door as I fumbled with my keys, and felt something stop my foot. Dropping my eyes down, they came into contact with a white box with red string wrapped around it, and a little envelope stuck under the string with extremely neat cursive writing on it.

‘Welcome!’ The envelope read in the fancy script letters. Tracing over the box, I quickly pushed the key into the doorknob and pushed the door open. Stepping over the box, I dropped my duffle bag onto the floor and then quickly bent down and picked up the box and pulled it inside, letting the heavy front door swing shut as I headed to the large couch in the living room, my fingers quickly opening the envelope and pulling out the sheet of paper.

‘Hi!’ I chuckled at how simple and enthusiastic the greeting was. ‘I noticed that you moved in this morning – sorry if that was a bit creepy by the way, I had no intentions of creeping you out. Anyway, I decided that since you were new that I would get a little welcome gift. I planned on delivering it to you, but you weren’t home when I stopped by, so I decided to leave this little note and the gift. So welcome to the neighborhood! I hope you enjoy the gift! I’m sure we will meet sooner rather than later, and have a great day!’ As I reached the end of the note, I felt my heart thump loudly in my chest. ‘Your friendly but creepy neighbor, Anna Cooper.’

“Anna.” I whispered to myself as I looked up through the window in my living room and let my eyes fall on the house across the street, the huge window that once contained the view of the girl, now empty.

Curiosity rushing through me, I grabbed the red string and quickly maneuvered it off of the box. As soon as I opened the top, the strong smell of butter, sugar, and artery clogging goodness filled the air causing my eyes to flutter shut as the delicious smell filled my head. The box was filled to the top with pastries and other baked goods, and as I looked up at the lid, the familiar Prantl’s logo was pressed into it.

Prantl’s was hands down, no doubt about it, the best bakery in Pittsburgh, and arguably the best in Pennsylvania. During the previous offseason, I found myself stopping in there every weekend, grabbing two or three pastries and finishing all of them within an hour. Sure, it didn’t help my offseason training, but they addicting.

Now I had a full box right in the middle of the season.

I groaned in self-loathing as I grabbed one of the items from the top of the box and took a huge bite from it, the powdered sugar falling from the top and staining my black sweatshirt and the skin around my face. As I chewed, a huge smile surfaced on my lips. I felt a little guilty, but it was just so damn good.

After I had finished the pastry, I had a strong urge to dive into the box and grab another one, but instead, I grabbed my duffle bag and headed down to the basement. Flipping open the washer, I unzipped the duffle bag and empties the contents into the large machine. Tossing my skates to the side, I poured in some detergent, twisted the knobs and then hit the start button as I shut the lid and let out a long yawn.

With a shake of my head, I pulled my cell phone from my sweatshirt pocket and grumbled when I noticed it was only four in the afternoon, and it was too late to take a nap, and much too early to go to bed, which meant I would just have to struggle to stay awake the rest of the day, which was hard when the only thing I could do was eat pastries or sit and watch television.

I could do both, but I would be in hell tomorrow. A game against the Philadelphia Flyers was not a game that should include pastry eating and lounging the day before.

Making my way back up stairs, I went to head back into the kitchen for a bottle of water when a light knock on the front door quickly grabbed all of my attention. With a heavy sigh, I headed to the front door and ran a hand through my already messy hair. Before I pulled the door open, I figured it was Paul telling me I left something in his car, but the second my hand twisted the knob and yanked the door open, everything seemed to stop.

The woman standing on the other side of the door smiled brightly at me, her eyes turning into small slits as a huge smile took up more than half of her face. After a short period of silence, she cleared her throat and stuck out a hand toward me. Ripping my gaze from her eyes and looking at her hand, I noticed the dark black/green ink or a tattoo on her skin, and I instantly felt my body grow warm.

“Anna Cooper, the creepy neighbor?” She tilted her head to the side a little as I kept staring like a complete idiot, my lips parted like I was about to speak. “I see you enjoyed the pastries.” Her eyes danced down to my sweatshirt that still had the powdered sugar and crumbs on it.

Eyes widening, I quickly brushed my sweatshirt clean and laughed nervously, my eyes instantly connecting with hers as she chuckled a little and then covered her mouth with her hand, the loose sleeve of her sweatshirt falling down more, exposing more of the design that covered her arm.

“You have tattoo’s?” I blurted out as I took her hand in mine, shaking it a little and then flipping it over so my eyes could connect with the design that was showing.

“Oh!” Anna blushed as she looked down at her hand and then back at me. Bright eyes holding mine, she chuckled a little and nodded. “I have about twenty.”

“Twenty!” I exclaimed, my eyes widening as I took in the girl standing before me. She looked do proper standing at my doorstep with her long brown hair, wrapped up in a Boston University Sweatshirt and a pair of skinny jeans topped off with a pair of combat boots. Sure, she gave off the artsy vibe, but everyone kind of did these days.

“I’m a tattoo artist, actually.” She smiled proudly as she brought her eyes up to mine. “I’ve been told I don’t look the part in the winter, but once the summer rolls around and these beauties are in the sun, people tend to shut up about it.” Anna smiled up at me, causing my heart to explode in my chest.

There was something so simple yet absolutely stunning about her. I wasn’t sure if it was the way her light brown hair complemented her dark brown eyes, or the fact that her just standing there instantly made me smile. It was like just her presence was enough to make me smile and forget how my muscles ached or how exhausted I was.

“Oh, I never introduced myself.” I mumbled as I kept staring at her. “James, James Neal.” I smirked as she shook my hand and then gave me another smile.

“Nice to meet you James.” A small yawn passed her plump lips as she twitched her nose and then looked back up into my eyes. “What do you do, anything as exciting as tattooing people?” She smiled slyly, causing my lungs to stop working.

Shrugging, I leaned against the doorway and felt my ego start to take over. “I play hockey, for the Penguins?”

“Oh! That sounds like tons of fun!” Anna gave me a wide smile and then pushed up her sleeves, revealing the intricate and bright designs that smothered the smooth skin of her arms. As I let my eyes trace over them, my mind wandered to where the others were and thought of that they looked like.

As soon as I thought of them, I thought of her, standing there showing them all off. Not a second later, my whole entire body grew warm, and I was suddenly hyper aware of every tiny movement and interaction between us. She spoke softly about how she used to play hockey in high school, but stopped when she went to college. Her eyes were bright as she talked about how close she used to follow the Boston Bruins, but stopped when school and work got too much, and then completely dropped it when she moved out to Pittsburgh with her fiancé.

The last word was what caused my mind to stop. The sudden memory of the girl and the man in the huge window earlier this morning rolled through my head, and as my eyes landed on hers, I watched as her lips twisted into a frown.

“Brady’s not much of a sports fan in general. It’s not much fun watching sports when you’re the only one interested, ya’ know?”

“That doesn’t mean you should give it up.” I responded, my lips copying the way hers twisted downward.

“Yeah, he said it’s not very feminine to watch hockey like a drunk old man anyway.” She rolled her eyes and frowned for a moment before sucking in a deep breath and looking back at me, forcing a smile onto her lips despite the sadness that was drowning in her eyes.

Inspecting her eyes, I quickly shook my head and opened my mouth, letting words pour out that came straight from my heart, something that had rarely happened to me in life, especially as of late. “Come to my game tomorrow tonight.” I blurted out, my eyes connecting to hers as she quickly looked up at me, her dark brown eyes wide. “I can get two tickets, I can’t promise they’ll be good seats, but they’ll be free.”

“Oh no, no, no, no.” The brunette responded quickly, shaking her head as she laced her fingers together and blushed a little. “I could never, that’s really nice but-“

“It’s the least I could do for you being so nice. I’m sure none of the other stuck up people on this street even care that I moved in.” I replied, my eyes connecting with hers as I practically begged her to say yes. “Take your fiancé, maybe if he goes to a game he’ll change his mind on the whole sport.”

Anna paused for a moment, her big eyes examining mine before she smiled a little and shook her head. “James, that’s really sweet but Brady has an overnight shift at the hospital.” Her words were light as she pressed the toe of her shoe into the cement steps. “I-“

“Take one of your friends.”

“James, I-“

“I would really like it if you went.” I instantly felt tense as I spoke, my eyes darting around the front yard as I waited for her to respond. I knew she was engaged, I knew that she loved this guy enough to give up watching her favorite sport, but I couldn’t help but to fall in love with ever little mannerism and inch of her. There was something about her that was intoxicating, and even though all of those things were screaming in my head, I wanted to be around her.

After a moment of silence, she sighed heavily and then looked up at me, her big eyes swimming with emotions. “You… You really want me to go?”

Instead of responding, I simply nodded and watched as a small smile tugged at her lips. “Okay.” She nodded a little, her eyes running over her shoes as a light blush crept onto her cheeks. “Okay, I’ll go.”

“I’ll run the tickets over as soon as I get them, alright? The game is at seven-thirty tomorrow night.”

“That sounds great”, she whispered and looked up at me, smiling softly as she opened her arms for a hug. As my eyes traced over her, I felt my heart race in my chest as I leaned into her, her thin arms wrapping around my waist as she gave me a tight squeeze and then took a step back. “Enjoy the pastries James, and thank you so much again, this is probably the nicest thing anyone has done for me.”

“No problem Anna”, I breathed, my heart rate slowly decreasing as she headed across my front lawn. “I’ll see you later.”

With a soft smile and another nod, I watched as the girl turned around and walked back over to the house across the street from me. Once she opened the front door and walked in, I turned my back to the house, slammed my front door shut and pressed my back against it, slamming my head into the wooden rectangle as I shut my eyes and let out a small, aggravated, tired scream.

What the fuck was I getting myself into?