All the Sad Little Things

Chapter 4: Third Times a Charm

Present

“Who are you?” was all I could say, frozen dead in my tracks. The three large men stood there in silence, looking a bit confused. I finally began to feel my feet beneath my legs and was just about ready to turn and run when I heard Lilly and Kelly come up behind me. Instinctively I tried to herd the girls back toward the living room, praying we could make it to one of the rooms in time to lock the door behind us. Then I noticed Lilly and Kelly were smiling. They were looking right past me and smiling at the three men standing in our kitchen. What was going on here?

“You made it!” Lilly beamed from ear to ear and pushed her way past me, walking over to the strangers. Kelly gave me a smile and squeezed both my shoulders as if to tell me that everything was ok.

“Sorry Emma! We forgot to mention that we invited some new friends over. We didn’t think they were coming so we didn’t say anything.” Kelly was genuinely sorry and could see I had been frightened by the encounter.

“We wouldn’t miss it.” one of the men spoke behind me. “We love Rock Band! Right guys?”

“Right!” the other two chimed in unison. I turned around to face Lilly and her new friends. Now that I knew what was going on, the three men didn’t seem so intimidating anymore.

“I’m so sorry.” I said, voice shaking just a bit. “I thought you guys were breaking in. I’m Emma by the way.” I waved nervously.

“Our bad! We were knocking but you must not have heard us. So, we let ourselves in.” The shorter of the three stepped forward and extended his hand for a shake. “I’m Zander and these two are Lincoln and Mike. We’re your new neighbors.” I had completely forgotten that the apartment next to ours was up for rent. We had briefly met our last neighbors, another group of boys, once at a party they had invited us to at their place. All they did was try and get in our pants the whole time so from that point on we avoided them entirely. What a bunch of fu***** scum bags. Hopefully our new neighbors were a bit more civilized. The breaking and entering was strike one though. So far things weren’t looking good.

“It’s nice to meet you all.” I said as I took Zander’s hand and accepted his greeting. I was finally getting a good look at all of them, moving my eyes from Zander to Lincoln and then to Mike.

Zander was the shortest of the three with curly, sandy colored hair. He was sort of cute in a dorky kind of way. I could tell right away he was the goofball of the group. He laughed after everything he said and continuously cracked jokes at everyone else’s expense.

Lincoln was tall and built like a basketball player. He also had sandy brown hair but his was short and freshly trimmed. He was quite handsome but gave off “pretty boy” vibes. He probably had a better skin care regiment than me and a closet full of Abercrombie & Fitch.

Then there was Mike. I hadn’t really been able to get a good look at him yet due to him standing behind Lincoln in the open doorway. I reached out to grab the handle and said, “Here. Let me get that.” Our hands interlocked around the handle at exactly the same time. We both quickly pulled away and that’s when I met his gaze. Oh, his eyes were so beautiful. I could feel myself stuck there just staring into those hazel pools on his perfectly manly face. Everything about him was mesmerizing. He stood at least six foot tall and had a strong muscular build. His jet black wavy hair and the stubble on his face gave him the appearance of a sexy lumberjack. He was all man. Not going to lie. In my mind I pictured him taking me right there in the kitchen.

“Sorry!” he said quietly in his low voice as he stepped out of the way and into the kitchen a bit more. Even his voice was perfection. Strong but low like the roll of distant thunder.

“Oh God no! Please don’t apologize.” I begged. I shut the door and locked it this time. “I just want to make sure the door gets locked so we don’t get anymore weirdo’s walking into our place.” I joked, trying to ease the tension and awkwardness. When I turned back around Kelly and Lilly were already leading all three guys into the living room. I took a second to compose myself before joining them. I wasn’t sure if it was the scare that had me feeling out of sorts or if it was the way I had completely lost myself in those gorgeous eyes. The girls were sitting in the middle of the couch with Lincoln on one side and Zander on the other. Mike was standing in the corner, watching me as I entered the room. I could feel his stare piercing right through me, examining me. I looked down at myself and suddenly remembered that I had no bra on under my pajamas. I clutched my chest instinctively to cover my n*****s that were clearly visible through the silky material. Mike’s eyes and mine met again and both of our faces flushed bright red. I hurried through to my bedroom and shut the door behind me. I quickly threw on a hooded sweatshirt and rejoined the group.

The girls and our new neighbors had started playing by the time I returned. Lilly had reclaimed the microphone of course. She was ready to perform. It was her way of showing off and trying to woo any male that passed through our place. Zander had the guitar and Mike was sitting in my spot at the drum set. Kelly and Lincoln were now sitting on the loveseat and were playfully flirting with each other. I perched on the arm of the loveseat, leaned over and asked, “So, how did you all end up meeting each other earlier.”

“We met the guys at the liquor store this afternoon.” Kelly smiled at Lincoln and continued. “We were grabbing the drinks for our girl’s night when the guys came over and asked if we were throwing a party.” So, the guys were creeping on the girls at the liquor store. Strike two. “We told them our plans for the evening and invited them over if they had nothing better to do. When they asked for our address they realized that we were neighbors!” Kelly giggled. “Isn’t that hilarious?”

It felt a little creepy to me but then again, it was a small college town. Stranger things have happened. I looked over at the other three and noticed Lilly was cozying up to Mike now. She must be tipsy already. She kept reaching over and brushing his hair out of his face and gently placing her hand on his knee. He smiled at her politely but seemed a bit uncomfortable. Zander looked a bit jealous of the attention Lilly was giving Mike so he stood up and walked over towards me. We talked for a bit about the town, college life, what we had majored in, and stuff like that. It was hard trying to talk to Zander though. He was one of those guys who mansplained everything and hardly let you get a word in edgewise. Strike three. I peered over at Lilly and Mike again. She was practically in his lap now.

“Excuse me. I think I’m going to head to bed now. I’ve had a really long day.” I made my way back toward my room and said, “Goodnight girls.”

It had been a long day. I wasn’t completely lying but I found myself getting annoyed by everything. Especially the way Lilly was hanging all over Mike. I don’t know why it bothered me so much. She did this all the time and it wasn’t like I knew Mike all that well. We had literally just met. As I went to close my bedroom door, I heard Zander say,

“Sad little thing, isn’t she?” A couple soft chuckles followed and moments later the music started back up.