Chapter Five

Angie.

"You don't know how much I hate him, Em." I groaned while talking to my best friend. She laughed at my predicament,

"You don't mean that Angie. Do you hate someone? That guy must be a real pain in the ass for you to loathe him this much."

"You can't even begin to imagine Em. He's so stuck up and full of himself." I said. Brandon was working me up more than I'd ever been.

"I can't wait to meet this neighbor of yours who has gotten under your always smooth and chill skin Angie," she teased. "Is he at least good-looking? Please tell me he’s at least a good-looking asshole. " She asked. I could sense the smile in her voice the minute she knew she’d cornered me in with her questions. My mind went back to my annoying, grumpy neighbor, Brandon. I couldn't lie to myself that he wasn't good-looking. Fair enough, he was the most good looking guy I had seen in a while. His raven black hair was tired in a low ponytail, pinned neatly behind his head. The intense look he had in his eyes whenever he was mad at something, his frame was lithe and strong. Overall, the guy reeked seriously of hot sex, something I hadn’t had in a long time.

"He's not bad-looking though," I muttered softly.

"So why are you so bothered then? Maybe he just has a crush on you?" I laughed hard. Brandon? A crush on me? Pigs would probably fly before such a thing could happen.

"Oh please Em. That guy is as stiff as a board."

"But he is a man Angie. A man made of flesh and bones. There's no way he's not at least attracted to you. Everybody is." I laughed some more.

"Not this guy Em. Brandon is one man I can't wait to get rid of. Ugh, I hate him so much." This time Em laughed at me

"I know how annoying he must be Angie. But you can just ignore him. Ignore him so hard, he doubts his own existence." I gave her a mental high five. My best friend always had the best advice in store.

"You're right. He isn't worth it."

"And that right there is my girl!" She hyped, and I laughed at her statement.

"So any more dates?" I piped up, changing the topic. I spent all morning complaining to her about Brandon that I didn't even get to ask about her well-being. She had some problems of her own too and didn't need me adding mine to it, even if she didn't mind listening to mine. "You know I wanted to stop the whole dating thing..." She trailed off. Obviously, I already knew where this was going. "But there's this guy. Everything about our profiles matched perfectly well." she paused.

"Ok?" I mumbled,

"And well, we agreed to meet up." She finished off. I exhaled a breath at what she said. "Won't you say anything Angie? You know I need your advice on this." No, she didn't. If she did, they won't have agreed on meeting up already.

"You're not going to like this Em." I heard her take a deep breath from the receiver.

"Shoot."

"Ok...so. You know I love you, Em. More than I love anyone else. You're not just my friend, but my sister." Without seeing her, I knew she had a wide grin plastered on her face. "Can you get to it already? Stop making me emotional." she teased

“Ouch! Someone is being grouchy today" she just laughed at me instead. "Ok. Straight to the point, I guess. It's just...you've been on that dating site long enough to learn the ropes Em. What if this guy is using that same Shawn Mendez trick you used?" I asked. She released a breathy laugh.

"Oh. Yeah, I remember. Mr. Boring Shawn Mendez you mean." We had a light laugh, remembering the memory.

Emma had seen Shawn Mendez's profile on her dating site, and he was looking for love. At first, we were happy, but then I got worried that it was a lie. And Emma said she had a gut feeling that he was the one. But there was just one little problem. Their profiles were very different, by a lot. So being the little conniving girls we were. We doctored Emma's profile to suit Shawn's. And boom! They had a date. It was nothing having a date with celebrities and Emma realized that she didn't like Shawn in any way. In her words, he was just too "boring."

"My point exactly is, what if this guy just tailored his profile to match yours? He could be a stalker."

"Like we were when we stalked Shawn right?" I laughed again.

"Hey! We weren't stalking him. We just happened to stumble upon his profile." I defended.

"Well, you're right. But you know I'm too curious to not find out who this guy is."

"You're right. I would also have been curious."

“Exactly Angie. Now I've got a date to prepare for, talk to you later chica." She cooed at me, before adding "Smooches from here." I laughed at Emma's playfulness.

"Love you too!" I said before she hung up.

Now, all alone with my thoughts, I glanced out the window, staring at the beautiful scenery of Finland. My home. My eyes caught a redhead woman standing on my neighbor's front porch. She seemed familiar but I just couldn't place a finger on it. I watched her for a few minutes while she rang the bell, expecting him to come outside. Unfortunately for her, no one came out. Oh! He must have gone for his usual evening run. That guy could put Dwayne ‘D Rock' Johnson to shame with how hard he worked out, not as I stared at him with my binoculars from my window when he left for his run…ok maybe I did, but it was perfectly harmless and I was a normal hormonal woman. I can’t help but admire a very attractive man. The woman looked sad and turned to walk away. That was when I noticed the plate she brought with her. The disappointed look on her face was obvious. Before I could stop myself, I am walking to Brandon's front porch to stop the woman.

"Hey," I call out softly to her, and she turns to me with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Rita," she says. I give her a warm smile of my own "Angie, Brandon's neighbor." Her face lights up some more.

"Oh. I already know you. Your real name is Angie?" She looks confused.

"Yes."

“I'm a huge fan of your movie. You know "Passion for Revenge". " she replied.

Oh, that!

“Well, thanks. I see you've got something there Rita." I make a sign for the plate she has with her. She blushes

"Yeah. I heard of some new bachelor that moved over and came to say hi." Oh. Brandon.

"Want me to keep that for you? At least till he comes back. He usually returns late though. " she gave me a shy smile in return

"That would be lovely Angie. You're nice." My cheeks tint red at her compliment.

"It's nothing please," I say.

"Ok then. I guess I'll be on my way then." She gives one last lingering stare at Brandon's door before walking away. I felt bad for the woman, she definitely set her eyes on the wrong man. This grumpy-ass neighbor of mine didn't seem like someone who would be interested in her advances. Poor Rita.

*******

I glanced at the alarm clock hanging on my wall. It says 5:45 already. Brandon would soon be back. He was always back before 6:30. I took a quick shower while the apple pie was getting heated again. All I had to do was walk over there, hand him the pie and be out of his hair before he even knew it. I put on a white tank top and yellow shorts. Perfect. It is already 6:17. I shut my door behind me as I walked briskly to Brandon's front porch. I realized that I'd never been to Brandon's apartment, while he's been at my house twice, and even seen me topless. Great going Angie! I contemplated marching right in but decided against it as I saw Brandon's tired frame walking toward his place. He didn't even spare me a glance as he walked inside, I trudged behind him too. When he was slumped tiredly on the couch did he finally speak up,

"What do you want?" His voice was as grouchy as usual, with a tint of exasperation lacing it. Rude, as expected, I tried not to stare at his broad expanse of flesh which was glistening with sweat from his run.

"I came to give you this," I replied with a fake smile. Handing him the apple pie Rita dropped off earlier. He gave a small laugh, and I found it weird. His laugh was rich and soothing to the ears. He had the kind of laugh you wanted to hear every day.

"What's so funny ?" I asked.

"I don't know. Maybe how you're trying to flirt with me. Piece of advice: it won't work." He said. I felt the familiar anger seep through my veins whenever I was with him.

"What do you mean by that?"

“It just won't work Angie. I don't fall for women like you." This time I was beyond furious. What did he mean by women like me? Was there anything wrong with me? "You prig. I won't go for someone like you either, even if my life depended on it, Brandon." He eased himself off the couch he'd been resting on lazily.

"Ok. So why are you here then,? Why are you trying so damn hard to flirt with me? Bringing pies and whatnot?". I want to hit him so badly, how can he even think that of me?

"Brandon. I may love to shop, but there's no way I'm buying your bull shit. Why would I want to flirt with you? For fucks sake, have you been with yourself lately? You bring so much joy to people when you leave the room." His look darkened at my comment. Good! I hit a soft spot. He caught my look of satisfaction and gave me an unnerving smirk of his own.

"It was fun watching you try to put all your vocabulary into that one sentence Angie, but I'm tired and want to rest. So can you please see yourself out?"

"You know you don't always have to be rude Brandon." I spat out.

"When it comes to you, princess, I always have to use all my charms" he gave me a smile that didn't even come close to reaching his eyes.

"People like you are the reason God created the middle finger. Cause you always need to be told to fuck off." He chuckled at my comeback.

"Yeah princess, if I wanted to hear from an asshole, I'd fart." This guy is so infuriating!

"Says the biggest asshole in the world. You know I'll never forget the first time we met, but thankfully I'll have to keep trying." He scowled at me.

“Girls like you, who enjoy being fanned over are what I hate seeing. Can't you just leave and never return?" He said. I gave a small laugh.

"And let assholes like you, be happy. Never Brandon." He took an intense step close to me. His breath fanning my face, as he inched closer. "You know, for someone who came here to try to get in my pants, you're doing a ridiculously bad job at it." He muttered lowly, his voice just a seductive whisper in my ears. Was he making a pass at me? The conniving scumbag! For a minute, I stood transfixed, staring at his chocolate irises. His eyes darkened as my breath quickened. But the intent of his words finally sunk in, and before I could stop myself, I slammed the plate of Apple pie on his chest.

"Fuck!", he growled as I stomped out of his apartment. That guy really brought out the worst in me.