My Next Door Mate

Lisa's eighteenth birthday was coming up and she had been restlesslly delighted. She had lots of plans for it - one, was to finally move into her own apartment, - Two, was to throw a big party and - three was to own her ground for the next prom queen.

Being eighteen for her meant more than freedom and she was ready to exercise that exclusive rights bit by bit.

She had arrived in her new quiet apartment and was settling down, but she picked up her phone to FaceTime her friends and share the good news.

"18 BITCHES!" She screamed when they picked up, Lisa filled the empty room with echos and squeals as she made a victory dance, fawning her wiggly body while giggling along--paying no attention to the muffling sounds from her friends. This was a dream come true for her and she really wanted a life changing situation in her life after the party.

"What are you wearing Gianna?" One of her friend, Audrey grumbled on what to wear for Lisa's party. "I have nothing to-" she tried to talk but another friend cut in.

"-Vaffanculo!" Gianna cursed in an Italian accent. "We just went shopping yesterday" Gianna said in an irritating tone. How could Audrey not know what to wear?, She thought.

"My mum says-" Sofia who seemed left out in the conversation tried to talk too, but Lisa interrupted again.

"Girl, girls…" Sweating extensively, Lisa stopped dancing and jounced on the single couch just beside the opening wood-aluminum window of the new house and she raised her phone to her face, with the screen splitted into four corners and three different charming girls stare back at sweaty Lisa.

".. whatever... you're wearing, just.. stay OUT of the birthday girl's HOT LANE!" Panting, Lisa warned her friends, forgetting not to point fingers at each of the face time boxes on the screen and then curving her lips, she gave a satisfactory smile as she sighed.

"Tell that to Audrey, she's the show off queen, I'll be okay with a comfy sweatshirt and shorts," Gianna said again picking on Audrey.

"Eww" The rest of them almost chorused at the same time and then laughed at Gianna's choice of cloth.

"Can I say something-" Sofia tries to talk again but got interrupted by Lisa.

"Not at my party Gianna, C'mon girls, you know how much this means to me. We're comin in hot. Everyone is gonna be at this party. All the boys too…" Lisa whined.

"All-the-boys!" The girls spelt out with another chorus and giddy laugh.

"We would all be meeting tomorrow at Sofia's house, Sofia we'll tell your mum we have a group project and we would all come over to my house immediately. Cheese, I'm excited" Lisa squeaked.

"Oh." Sofia sighed and then smiled mischievously seeing how Lisa already figured it all out. She had wanted to remind them of how her mum can be, but -guess the girls got her covered.

Lisa, Gianna, Audrey and Sofia were close friends. They've known each other for as long as they wanted, although Gianna was more closer to the birthday girl Lisa, but they each had how they related with themselves mutually.

"Show us your new apartment Lisa, I bet it's better than that witch's!" Audrey spat.

"You can say that again" Gianna who has been at both Lisa and the 'witch's' house defended.

"I've never been to her house though," Sofia said.

Lisa stands up from the couch and walked close to the walls as she switched on all the lights in the house, changing her camera to the rear view. She screamed again in excitement of the beauty of her house and turned the phone to every corner of the room for the girls to see and admire.

"I paid a fortune for this!"

"Oh my goodness, I wish I was living alone" Sofia groans and joins the other girls screaming as they admire the beautiful and large room with high class setting, walls painted white and some purple glitters and milky dots.

"Your party is gonna be the talk of the school. I'm excited too" Audrey shouts.

"You know what girls, I can't wait to be the new queen bee of the school and probably win prom queen too!" Lisa changes the camera back to the front view as she walks to her kitchen counter just at the side of the large living room in the middle of the open kitchen, she goes to open the fridge and takes a wine.

"I'll be allowed legally to buy this now" she laughs and puts it back in the fridge, then taking a juice, she serves herself in a cup while the other girls chatter about petty things.

"It's late girls, bye bye" without letting them say one more word, she hang up the phone and slides her screen to the side as she resumed the song she was playing before she called the girls, her phone was already connected to all the speakers in the house and Lisa didn't care if it was at the loudest, her agent already told her the house was sound proof, she paid extra for that!. She picks her cup of juice as she moves little by little, slowly to the rhythm of the song, waiting patiently for the song to hit the right spot.

"Yeah! What're you gonna do?!" She lip sync loudly like a drunk teenager trying to pick up a fight at an adult club in the middle of the night and her horrible dance move best complimented the scene.

"Whoo-hoo!" Her scream was faint in the air this time because the whole house was moving to the rhythm of the song and she could hardly hear herself.

Lisa was the happiest girl on earth presently, she had always wished to leave her parents house and stay alone, she had saved up for it and after successfully picking up a fight with her parents, she rented one of the most expensive apartments all by herself.

She had also spent a fortune on the preparation of her 18th birthday tomorrow and with a boffo invitation to almost all the important students in the school, she was eager to be tagged the next big thing; independent, beautiful and popular.

******************************************

It was the third time he was trying to arrange the puzzle and still he failed again, he groaned in frustration and with his fist he swept the puzzle off the table and the little puzzle boxes spread to different corners of his room. He rested his back on the roller chair he was sitting on as he looked at the ceiling, his hands weak and his eyes tired. On a normal night he should have been done with more than three puzzles, but now he was struggling with one because it was hard for him to concentrate.

The whole B-complex apartment was always quiet!

What changed!

"..to the dance flooooorrr- oooooorrrr- ooooooooooorrrrrr" he could hear her voice as she modulates pitch by pitch, it was as clear as crystal only that it suck in melody, it was obvious she couldn't even hear what she was singing due to the loud music.

He groaned again, it felt like there was a party in his own house.

This lady had better not be moving in!

He didn't even want to imagine how he would cope if this lady decides to move in finally. He was sure he was going to move out if this happens! He didn't even have headphones or something to cover his ears.

For once in his entire life, he cursed his wolf side for the unnecessary super hearing senses. All apartments were sound proof, but he couldn't relate since his ears weren't. And she wasn't even playing his favorite songs, which made it worse.

He was churned-up, his bare legs on the floor and he rolled on his chair.

His ruffled thoughts troubled him as he tried to search for a solution to this. This was the first night he was experiencing this and he didn't want it to happen again. Maybe the lady had no idea that she had neighbors. It could be her reason for causing a nuisance.

He needed to inform her.

He stands up from the chair and then takes a long walk to his bed. His room was just like the rest of the apartments, a large space with little or no demarcation, you just needed to fill your space with whatever you want. His bed was at the end side of the room, just beside the window, he loved the view at that corner.

Getting to his bedroom, he wears his flip flops beside his bed and then buttoning up his shirt, he walks up to his door and holds the knob. He had not been outside for weeks and he hates that his new neighbor has to make him do this.

He opens his door and surprisingly he sees a lady sitting on his front door.

**