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“Yeah. One night and this was after he ignored me politely asking him to keep it down a few times, I’d had enough and called the cops. Like I said, they've got nothing to do in this town, really, so I think they were kinda excited to actually have something to deal with. They showed up five minutes after I called. I don’t know what they said to this guy, but he never played drums at night again. Not even once.”
“Really?”
“Really. So, I'm telling you, if your jerk neighbors start making a racket late at night again, don't even talk to 'em. Go straight for the phone. Get the cops around, and they'll shut those guys up in about two seconds.”
“Yeah, maybe I should.”
“Hey, Brooke, um, we need to schedule a time to do this week's practicals.” The familiar voice interrupted the conversation.
Emerson.
I froze. I could practically feel my face turn crimson. I wondered if he’d been sitting behind me the whole time. I had to assume he’d overheard the entire conversation. I prayed for the earth to open and swallow me up. Garrett, however, jumped right into the conversation.
“Oh, are you two lab partners?” he said, turning around to face Emerson.
“Yeah, we are.”
“Nice to meet you, man, I'm Garrett.” Garrett extended a friendly hand to Emerson.
I sat and watched in mortified silence as Emerson took Garrett's hand and shook it. I wondered if he was going to tell him that he was the “jerk neighbor.”
He didn't. “Hey, man. I'm Emerson. You new here?”
“Yeah, just transferred.”
At that moment, the professor walked in.
“I'll, um, I'll talk to you after class about a time to do lab work,” I mumbled to Emerson. My cheeks still felt like they were on fire, and there was no way I could bring myself to make eye contact with him. I turned and quickly opened my book, hoping he wouldn't notice the flush in my cheeks.
After class, Garrett said he had another class to get to, but that he hoped he would see me again soon. He wrote his Facebook contact info in my notebook and invited me to add him.
As I walked out of the lecture hall, Emerson was waiting for me. If he was upset about what he'd overheard me saying earlier, he didn't show it. Instead, he smiled coolly and walked up to me. “Hey, Brooke. Sorry, again, about the noise last night. Me and Chris, we just had a bit too much to drink, you know? He just got a new sound system and was really eager to see how loud it would go. He's learning to be a DJ and stuff, so, yeah… Anyway, now that we know just how loud it is, we won't turn it up like that again, I promise.”
“Um, okay, thanks. Sorry I complained about it.”
“No, no, don't apologize. We were wrong for turning it up so loud that it bothered you guys. You've got a right to peace and quiet in your own place. Totally understandable.”
“Thanks.”
“Anyway, about this lab we have to do, when's good?” he asked.
“Um, are you free tomorrow afternoon at three? I'm pretty sure the lab is available then.”
“Yeah, that works for me.”
“Great, I'll go book the lab right now.”
“Okay. I'll see you there at three tomorrow,” he said with a smile, and with that, he turned and walked off.
“Yeah. See you then.”
Chapter Ten
Emerson
“Dude, that was such a bangin' party last night! Damn, bro, I'm surprised you managed to get up in time for class today! ‘Course, it would have been even better if little Miss Noise Patrol from next door hadn't come over and bitched about it.” Chris chuckled and shook his head. “Man, she's got a stick up her ass. I mean, don't get me wrong, she's smokin' hot and I'd bang her without a second thought, but, dude… such a whiner.”
I shrugged. “It was kinda loud, dude.”
