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LENA
“Ithink I hear something,” I whisper into the phone as I try and peek out my bathroom window. Thinking maybe he has a visitor, I glance toward my neighbor’s driveway. He never has anyone over, but I could have sworn I heard multiple voices.
“That’s just me brushing my teeth,” Kimber mumbles into the phone, her mouth full of Crest and a toothbrush. Then I hear a spitting sound followed by water. I look over to my phone that’s propped on a shampoo bottle on top of my bathroom sink. Kimber’s face comes into view as she picks her own phone up. I don’t even know why we bother FaceTiming while we’re in the bathroom. One of us is always busy doing something and out of view. Yet we always do it. She smiles, holding up her toothbrush. “I’m adulting.”
“I’m adulting.” I glare over at her.
“Well, how about turning off the bathroom light so your next-door neighbor doesn't see you, clear as day, peeking out to stalk him?”
I gasp at the thought and jump off the toilet to hit the light switch. But I stumble over my own feet and grab the towel hanging on the rack. The metal pulls free from the wall, causing me to lose my balance. I fall to the tile with the towel lying next to me. A second later the towel rack hits me in the face.
This is what I get for being a nosy neighbor.
“Ouch.” I reach up to touch my cheek, but I don’t feel any blood.
“That’s going to leave a mark,” Kimber says through laughter.
I roll over onto all fours. “Jeez.”
She can’t even see me right now, but I’m sure she knows what happened. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I mumble as I push up from the floor to look in the bathroom mirror. There’s a small scratch on my cheek. I roll my eyes at myself before flipping off the light.
“You think he heard that?” I ask, going to sit back on the toilet.
“Everyone heard that.”
“Whatever. The houses aren't that close together.” I peek out the window. I can see him through a side window. He’s not looking this way, so I’m not busted. I’m way too clever to be caught, no matter what Kimber says. “He didn’t even notice.”
“Notice what? That you’re as graceful as a baby giraffe?”
I stick my tongue out at her, but I know she can’t see me now that I’ve turned my light off. She always says that giraffe bit because I’m all legs and part clutz. I’m used to it. It’s a good day if I don’t break anything or trip over myself. Honestly, it’s a small miracle I’ve made it this far in life. Though squatting in my dead grandmother's house may not count as making it on my own. I never met her, but I’m not living the sort of life where I can turn down free accommodations.
“You got a concussion?” Kimber asks.
“No. I’m adulting in a far more adult-type fashion than you. I brushedandflossed.”
She makes apfftsound. “You spend your days and nights stalking your new neighbor. Not sure that puts you into the adulting category.”
“Don’t get all snotty because you got into a fancy school in Paris.” I hate that school. It took Kimber away from me. Okay, so maybe it’s one of the best culinary schools in the world. Fine. I try not to blame her for leaving me behind. Kimber and I have been tight since we were little. She should be here stalking with me, but she’s a whole world away, truly living her best life. I’m here drifting. Most people have their path figured out by now, but I’m not most people. I spend my days taking a few online classes, though nothing has kept my attention. Maybe because my new neighbor has taken it all. I squint and stare across the driveway again, looking for his shadow on a curtain or his face in a window. I can’t stop wondering what the heck is going on over at his house.
I should be focusing on my future, not playing amateur sleuth. But it’s not like I don’t do anything. Sometimes, I pick up extra hours at the local daycare whenever a staff member calls and they need extra help. It doesn’t pay much, but I enjoy being around the babies. Kimber thinks I’m insane for working with them, but I actually enjoy it. They’re cute and squishy and for some reason whenever I have one in my arms I’m not so clumsy. The money is just an extra. My deceased grandma was apparently a saver. Along with her house, she left me a little nest egg. So I’m not exactly under a lot of pressure to get a steadier job just yet. Her frugal habits are now enabling my stalking.
“What’s he doing now?” Kimber asks.
I glance back to my phone to see Kimber is snuggled in bed. She acts like I’m the crazy one, but she’s totally into this. She asks for stalker updates on the regular. Before she ditched me for Paris, neither of us could figure my neighbor out for the life of us. He comes and goes at all different hours and always seems to be going on these quick trips. It doesn’t hurt that he’s easy on the eyes too. I tell myself that I only watch him because of his suspicious activity, but deep down, I worry it’s much more than that. The mystery only makes him more appealing.
I jump when I catch movement on his screened-in porch. “Ah ha! He’s running.”
Kimber sits up. “From what?” Her eyes have gone round with excitement.
“No. I mean he’s just running. Working out on his treadmill that has no sides to it. I don’t know how he doesn't fall off.”
“Oh.” Disappointment clings to the one word as she falls back onto her bed. “You’d kill yourself on one of those. Rails or not.”
I nod in agreement.
