2. Neighbours?

BLAKE

As a former model and actor (sorta), I've met a lot of girls, banged quite a few too and I'm not going to lie and say they were all pleasant but Rylie Myers definitely had to be one of the most annoying girls I'd ever met, maybe one of the most annoying persons period. And in the span of just three encounters (four if you count the one we're having right now), I'd come to dislike her deeply.

Judging and disliking people I barely knew wasn't something I liked to but any girl who poured soup on me because she claimed I stole her “spot” was definitely not someone I would want to relate with... ever!

And now as fate would have it, what was supposed to be a nice dinner with my family over at our new neighbours' place had brought me face to face with the snarky snob.

"Oh, fuck no. This can't be happening right now," I groaned under my breath, trying hard to resist the urge to palm my forehead.

"Tell me this isn't happening…tell me this isn't happening!" I muttered repeatedly as I came face to face with her.

"What are you doing here!?" she'd exclaimed on seeing me, her smile quickly turning into a dark scowl. I had no response for her because I was still trying to wrap my mind around what this meant.

We were neighbors! The annoying girl that had ruined my first day at a new school was my my next door neighbour. Go fucking figure.

RYLIE

"Welcome, Mr and Mrs… Wait! What are you doing here!?" I exclaimed as I found myself staring at Blake on the other side of the door.

I quickly realised what this meant, what this could only mean but I didn't want to accept it. Why the hell was this happening to me?

"Um, sorry to break up whatever this is but do you guys know each other already?" I heard someone ask, breaking I and Blake's heated stare and bringing me back to reality.

"Oh! Um yeah. Yes, we do," I replied, staring at his mom, trying desperately to rein my emotions in." Forgive my manners. Please come in," I said, opening the door wide for them to enter.

"Thank you," his mom said as she, Blake's dad, a girl who I presumed was Blake's sister and Blake himself walked in.

As Blake walked past me, I caught a whiff of his cologne, the same one I'd smelt when he brushed past me on his way out of the bathroom in school and involuntarily cringed. Why couldn't he smell of tomato soup forever?

"Hello! Welcome!" my mom said, walking out of the kitchen.

"Oh hello Janice," Blake's mom said hugging my mom who responded, "Thank you for gracing our home with your presence, Nina."

Afterwards, Nina introduced my mom to Blake's dad as well and then his sister, Ava and finally Blake who'd lost all signs of his earlier shock.

"Blake and Rylie seem to know each other," Nina announced and my mom turned to me, eyebrows quirked up.

"Oh really? You didn't mention that, Rylie."

"Yeah, we met at school but I didn't know that Blake lived next door. He didn't exactly mention that. Then again, he was a little preoccupied, I guess. Weren't you, Blake?" I asked, facing him with a tight smile.

"Yeah, well it's not like you exactly gave me any chance to bring it up. If I remember correctly, you were a little too busy pouring soup all over me."

"Only because you wouldn't move from my seat and then had the audacity to call me a snob!"

"It was a public cafeteria and a public classroom. You can't claim spots in public places but my bad out to Her Royal Highness," he responded derisively.

"Oh, and is that why I found you in the girls' bathroom this morning? Because it's a “public space”?" I asked in the same derisive tone he'd taken with me.

Blake's face turned red in response to my comment and I was still basking in coming out on top in that argument when I heard someone snickering beside me. I saw Myles standing by the stairs doubling over in laughter and my eyes slowly took in the other people in the room who'd witnessed my showdown with Blake.

"Well..." my mom said, clapping her hand loudly, "sounds like you had an eventful first day of school. Shall we move to the dining room now?"

"Of course..." Nina said and she, Ava and Blake's dad made their way to the dining room, leaving just Myles, Blake and I behind.

Myles walked over to both of us and slapped an arm over my shoulder while extending his hand to Blake.

"I don't think we've met yet. I'm Myles Myers, Rylie's more attractive twin and the most annoying person she knows but I'm willing to concede my crown to you."

Eyes still locked on mine, Blake took Myles' hand and shook it tight. "Blake Weston. Happy to meet you, Myles and I'll gladly take that crown. Do you have any tips for me as your successor?"

"Oh, do I ever! You're about to learn from the best!" Myles said, slipping his arm off my shoulder and leading Blake to the dining room like they were long lost friends.

My twin was a fucking traitor.

"Rylie," my dad said as he walked in, having just arrived from work.

"Hey Daddy. How was work?"

"About as fun as you find school."

"You do know I like being at school and learning, right?"

My dad's face turned and he shook his head. "Sometimes I forget what a weird... I mean, smart kid you are."

"Yeah, whatever," I chuckled, rolling my eyes.

"Judging by the sounds I'm hearing, I'm guessing our new neighbours are here."

"Yeah..." I muttered, glancing in the direction of the dining room.

"Rylie? Are you doing okay? I know having people living next door won't be the easiest thing on you."

"Oh, yeah. No, it's not that at all. Of course I knew people were going to move there eventually. He used to live there and now he doesn't. I'm fine."

My dad took my face in after I'd responded and for a moment, I thought he would continue to dig but he just smiled and said, "If you say so. Let's join them then." He extended his hand to me and I took it with a smile.

* * *

When I got over the fact that Blake Weston happened to be sitting across from me (no thanks to Myles), dinner actually went pretty well. If it was any indication, we were going to be good neighbors.

Both families seemed to hit off and I was glad dinner happened. I almost didn't want it to end, key world being almost! Eventually it did end and even though I was happy to have met the Westons, I was glad when they left because Blake left too.

The childish jerk had taken great pleasure in hitting my foot with his during dinner and despite how much I wanted to yell at him to stop, I didn't because I didn't want to make a scene. We'd already given our families enough of that before dinner. Instead I “accidentally” tipped the salt into his food when I was reaching for the potatoes and then also accidentally pushed the plate onto his legs. Blake accused me of doing it on purpose but everyone else thought that it was a mistake so the rest of the dinner went by with no more kicking, just Blake glaring at me the whole time. And honestly, my mom's lasagna had never tasted better.

After the Westons left, I cleared the table with my mom and did the dishes as well. I was exhausted afterwards so I retired to my room.

I decided to take a quick shower and pulled down my zip. I took off the top and was about pulling the rest of the dress when I heard someone comment, "Nice bra."

Alarmed, I glanced over at the window which I'd been standing directly in view of and saw Blake staring out the window that was directly opposite mine, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

Gasping, I grabbed a blanket from my bed and yelled, "You fucking pervert!"

He snickered as he turned his back to me.

"How much did you see?" I asked as I hastily pulled on my pajamas.

"Enough!" he replied, his tone letting me know how funny he found all of this.

"You're disgusting. Do you know that?" I growled, fixing him with a dirty look.

"How am I disgusting? I was over here staring out MY window, minding MY business when you walked in and started taking off your clothes. How is it my fault that you chose not to close the blinds?"

I hesitated to respond, remembering why I always left this window open and gravitated to it even without meaning to. When my ex boyfriend, Asher still lived next door, he stayed in that room and we always used to spend so much time at the window, talking about everything and nothing. And even after he left, I guess I was still attached to the window and maybe more...

"Earth to Rylie!" Blake yelled, jerking me back to the present.

Oh, right. I still had to deal with the jerk across the street. And it was just my luck that he moved into Asher's old room. Why couldn't it have been his much nicer sister?

"It's the middle of the night. Obviously I didn't think I'd have to deal with a peeping Tom by this time. Don't make a habit of this or I'll tell the girls at school you like taking pictures of people while they undress."

"That might not have the effect you'll want it to have," Blake chuckled, his eyes gleaming mischievously.

I frowned, realising he was right. With the chokehold he had over our school's female population, he'd probably have girls sending him invites to come take pictures of them while they got undressed.

"Well, you might be right but I imagine it might be harder for you to get into the pants of the girls if their parents get to know about your perversions."

This time, he was the one who frowned. Then a few seconds later, he smiled. "Touche. You got me there. I'll get a microphone so I can make an announcement whenever I want to look out my window."

"You do that, Blake," I said, stepping away from the window. He did the same and that was when I noticed that he was shirtless. I arched an eyebrow. "You sleep shirtless... Of course you do."

"Yeah. Like what you see? I could come over there and show you more, of course. If you asked really nicely."

"Would you really?" I asked, averting my gaze from his gaze so I looked shy.

"Like I said, if you asked really nicely."

"Well, in that case..." I tucked my hair behind my ear and looked straight at him as I gave him the middle finger. "Pigs would fly before I ever let you get anywhere near me. If you're that horny, you have two hands."

And then I closed the window before he could think of a response.

I couldn't stop grinning as I slipped under the covers of my bed.

I'd say that's RYLIE, 3, BLAKE, NIL.