Paradise City

It was April.

I had been living in this apartment for two months and I still hadn't gone to the pool.

The weather had been in the ninety's all week, and today it had cooled down to a high of seventy-six. It was the perfect day for reading a book and "working on my tan", which Alisha said was vital. I couldn't be the color of loose leaf paper and live in Vegas, apparently.

God forbid.

I lathered myself up with tanning lotion, pledging to do it the right way, and not a spray-on tan like Alisha's was. She should really be thankful that I was stepping this far out of my comfort zone. I really hated the idea of tanning. If I end up with skin cancer from this, I'm going to blame it all on her. I grabbed a book off the shelf and stepped out into the hallway, thankfully there was no Dean. No sarcastic remarks, devilish smirks, and mind games. After last night, I was glad to be rid of him for another month.

Surprisingly, earlier Alisha texted me saying that she had fun last night, and that her friends liked me, and wanted to know if I would like to go out with them again. Basically she was pressuring me into it, because she felt like it would be good for me. When I called James last night, after filling him in on all the childish shenanigans I pulled, he felt like it would be a good idea for me to implement myself in the group as well. Especially if Dean was apart of that group.

Personally, that was the reason I would want to stay away.

I couldn't tell if I hated Dean or if I actually enjoyed when he was around. If I was being completely honest with myself, and I'd never admit this to anyone, ever, but this back-and-forth banter was the most fun I have had since that day. Was last night too much, though? I tripped a waitress and caused her to spill two whole baskets of hot wings right in his lap, followed by a cold beer.

My lips formed into a tight line as I suppressed a smile.

Nah, that wasn't too much.

It felt good to lay in the sun. It was almost noon, the kids were still in school, and all that I could hear was the breeze flirting with the palm trees. It was such a beautiful day. I relished in it, knowing James was almost 2,000 miles away suffering in the cold April showers that hit Tennessee every year. I sent him a picture of the pool, my toes were sticking out in the bottom of it, with the caption "It's a beautiful day in Vegas! What are you doing with your day?"

He replied with the poop emoji.

I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the Vitamin D settle into my pores. I had my ear buds in, the sounds of Passion Pit went perfectly with the sweet breeze. But suddenly, the sun disappeared. That was impossible, because there wasn't a cloud in sight. I peeked an eye open and quickly shut it, hoping that when I opened them again the person standing in front of me would have magically disappeared.

That wasn't the case though.

His lips were moving, but I couldn't hear him over the music. I pointed to my ears and shrugged, signaling to him that I couldn't hear what he was saying, and that I really didn't care for that matter. He rolled his eyes and turned his back to me, allowing me to scope out his muscular build. He was wearing a pair of black trunks, obviously about to take a dip in the pool.

He probably saw me down here from his window and decided to continue torturing me, I thought to myself. I looked up at the building and could see my room from where I was, which meant that Dean definitely would have been able to see me from up there. That little shit.

Just as I turned my head back to Dean, I saw that he was mid-air, cannonball position, and I was suddenly drenched with cold, chlorinated water.

I sat there for a minute, jaw dropped, stunned.

"What is wrong with you!?" I yelled as I yanked my earphones from my ears. Everything was soaked. My towel, my book, my cover-up. Everything.

He was laughing hysterically and paused only for a minute to say, "payback's a bitch."

I stood at the edge of the pool. "Don't you have anything better to do? Don't you have any friends? Are you so lonely that you have to make a poor girl's life a living hell every chance you ge-"

Before I could finish my rant Dean had jumped up, grabbed my arm, and yanked me down into the pool.

I scratched and clawed my way to the surface, coughing and sputtering. "You're a piece of shit."

He laughed again and slicked his dripping hair back on his head. I paused for a moment, letting the waves settle, just looking at him. He held my stare for a moment before he winked.

"Ew." I groaned, sending a splash his way.

"Aw, ya breakin' my heart here, sweetheart!" He replied as I waded over to the pool steps.

"You're a creepy, old man, and I don't like you." I walked over to my wet towel and wrapped it around my petite frame, cursing under my breath the whole time. "You ruin everything."

He held a hand over his heart as if I had actually hurt his feelings. I knew better. Jackasses like him don't have any feelings. "Hey, Callie, wait." He used to side of the pool to lift himself out and shook the water from him like a dog.

My arms were across my chest and I stood there impatiently. "What?"

"Don't leave, come on! You came down here to tan, or whatever-"

"And you came down here just to fuck up my day."

"Alright, I did happen to look out of my window and see you down here." He confessed. "But, look, swimming's no fun alone."

Dean placed his rough hands on either side of my arms, I felt a blush creep up my neck, but only for a moment before he picked me up slightly, and dropped me in the pool a second time; towel and all right in the water. When I came to the surface, Dean was already walking towards the back entrance of the building as he laughed.

I quickly pulled myself from the pool and rung out my towel, slipping on my flip flops which squeaked with each step I took and made my way back inside. I noticed that Dean was standing at the vending machine by the elevator. He had a bag of Sun Chips in his hand and was making another selection.

"Fuck you." I said, swatting the bag of chips out of his hand. I stomped on them with my foot. "Fuck your Sun Chips, too."

Dean stifled laughter, but I meant business.

I moved around him and pressed the button on the door to the elevator. When I turned around, I watched Dean stand there smirking as the elevator doors came to a close. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed as I leaned up against the wall.

These games were getting old real fast.

Can't he just go out of town again and do whatever, wherever?

I got my stubbornness from my dad, and as much as I wanted to keep playing these little games, I know he would be scolding me right now and telling me that I was a grown ass woman and needed to act that way. I didn't want to surrender that easily, but I was coming to realize that maybe Dean was only doing these things to get a reaction out of me; like a typical bully.

Maybe I should just ignore him. Ignore all the comments and the smirks. Swallow my pride and move past all of this bullshit.

When I got up to my apartment I stripped out of my bikini and threw it in the washer, along with my towel and cover-up. Before I stepped in the shower, my phone vibrated on the counter.



The keywords in that text were "drinks on me". I couldn't refuse. Regardless of how much I hated people, and hated crowds, and hated being grinded on by random, sweaty men as I try to walk through a club, I loved free booze. And right now, I could really use a good party to take my mind off of my dumb, stupidly attractive, jerk neighbor.



At this point, I really didn't care. And if Dean was going to be there, which I'm sure he had already gotten the invite, I knew exactly what I was going to wear.