Neptune: Love

Chapter 2: Neighbour

My ceiling was never this interesting. I live in an apartment near the campus. On Neptune, apartments for students are free. It was a facility available on every human colonized planet other than Earth.

I can say I made progress in my social life. I spoke to many new people; juniors and seniors. I let guys flirt with me but I was obviously not impressed yet. And I am never mentioning that to Mila.

Those were not what circulated in my head then. It was him. Tove Baner. What shampoo do I use? Hmph! I scoffed out loud. Was he trying to flirt with me? I slightly blushed at the thought. But then I mentally slapped myself to throw those sorts of thoughts away. He is hot though.

I fell asleep like that.

Next morning, I heard heavy moving sounds outside of my apartment while I was pouring milk in my cereal bowl. I put in my favorite cereal, Strawberry Wheat Flakes, and headed towards the door to check the noise. Somebody was moving into my adjacent apartment. I heard sounds yesterday from my empty neighboring apartment. That must be it. The rest of their luggage probably arrived today.

"New neighbor?", one of my existing neighbors asked, passing by with their grocery bags.

"I guess", I chuckled, replying.

By the time I turned back, I saw a male figure coming out of the door of my adjacent apartment. He was shirtless in his black joggers. He was drying his wet hair with a towel so I couldn't get a glance at his face. But lord, the abs! He had such a toned body. He took the towel off his head and my god! Tove Baner?

His eyes shifted towards my widened ones. "Ms.Rekoba?", he nearly smirked. He remembers my name. I was literally standing there dumbfounded with my oversized t-shirt and booty shorts which were buried underneath.

"Mr.Baner?", I spoke. He chuckled, "Yes."

"You live here?", he asked. "Yeah I do", I replied.

"Nice", he commented, looking at me from top to bottom and licking his lips. Licking his lips?! What's with that gesture?

"Call me Tove, though", he spoke, smiling. "What are you like 2 years younger?", he inquired.

"I don't know. What's your age?", I asked him. "I'm 22", he replied.

"I am 20", I shrugged.

"Great", he smiled, licking his lips again. He didn't do that even once in class yesterday. He knows how to act professionally, as well as unprofessionally.

"Alright, I'll see you Mr.Baner", I said. "Tove", he corrected me.

"Yeah! Tove", I said, clicking my lips. He smiled kindly, waving at me.

I shut my apartment door behind me. "Why?", I closed my eyes and breathed out.

I finished my cereal and packed my bag. I needed to take a shower and get ready for college. It was 7.45 am already. It was Tove’s class at 9.

Tove's abs. That's all that came to my mind while showering. Lord, stop! At this point, I'll start sinning at the thought of him. I was wrong when I said no guys impressed me yesterday. One guy did. Tove f*****g Baner did.

I sighed, getting out of the washroom with a towel wrapped around my naked body. Thinking about him gives me butterflies. They tingle right at the core. And I damn well know where this is leading to. I seriously need to get my life together.

My calling bell suddenly went off. I went near the door to see a panicking Tove outside the door on my screen.

"Hey, this is Tove. It's an emergency", he said. He looked like he was going to piss in his pants.

I opened my door without a second thought, worried at his state.

"Hey-", he said, trailing his gaze from my face to my body as his voice went low. I just then realized my attire. I slightly panicked but I was more worried about him. You flashed me your abs this morning, sir!

"What happened?", I asked immediately.

"My kitchen sink tap isn't turning off and I don't have the maintenance number. Can I get it please?", he asked.

"I'll get my phone", I ran inside and grabbed my phone.

"Should I contact them first and then I'll give you their number?", I asked.

"Yeah. That'd be great", he replied.

I called the maintenance and began informing them about the situation. He watched me speak. Something about his gaze felt off. It was as if he was checking me out.

I cut the call and smiled at him. "They'll be here in a minute. This is the number, by the way". I handed him the phone with the maintenance services contact open.

"Thank you", he nodded his head once politely and took my phone. By the time he saved the contact, the maintenance robots were on our floor.

He thanked me again and rushed into his apartment.

I got back into my apartment and set off to college. Mila is going to c***k if I tell her that Mr.Baner is my neighbour. I internally smiled.

I was walking towards the Student Hub to play table tennis, when a hand grabbed me and pulled me towards a corner.

"Hey", the voice said.

"Felix?", I asked in shock. Felix was one of my closest friends in high school. I truly missed him.

"Sigrid", he smiled widely. "Oh my god! What are you doing here?", I hugged him.

"Haha! I am a transfer", he smiled. "I thought of texting you before coming but I held back for a surprise."

"You did surprise me. Never in the universe would I have thought you would be here", I said.

"So", he spoke smirking. "Introduce me to your world", he smiled slyly.

I laughed, hitting his chest. "Come one. Let's go to the Student Hub"

I took him to the Student Hub. It was lively as usual. I spotted Mila near the pool table. I waved at her in an attempt to catch her attention. A guy next to her alerted her.

She ran to me as soon as she saw me.

“Oh my god! You already made a boyfriend?! I didn’t know you would make it this fast”, she gasped.

What the hell is she saying? This is embarrassing.

“Hey Mila. Nice to meet you too”, I chuckled, gritting my teeth.

“This is my high school friend, Felix”, I laughed awkwardly.

“Oh never mind. I’m sorry”, she apologized, scratching the back of her head.

“Hey Mila”, he flashed his signature heartthrob smile.

I forgot to mention but Felix is actually pretty popular for his looks, ever since high school. Green eyes, tanned skin and black hair that has light natural shades of brown under light. He had a thin boyish frame, which absolutely disappeared when he removed his shirt. He had perfectly tanned abs under, just like Tove. Ugh! What am I thinking?

“Hey Felix! I am sorry about that”, she said laughing awkwardly.

“Hey it’s okay haha. I won’t really mind that either”, he said winking at me. I laughed frowning.

“So I’m guessing your new”, she said.

“Yeah I transferred here from Solar Plexus University Continent E”, he spoke.

“Oh cool!”, she said. “What are guys doing now?”

“We are here to play Table Tennis though”, I answered. “You can play Pool if you want though”, I told Felix.

“No I wanna play table tennis”, he said.

“Alright guys I’ll see you in a while”, Mila smiled getting back to her pool table.

I turned to check the table tennis tables. We had four of them. Unexpectedly, I spotted Tove, staring right at me. He looked expressionless. A girl was standing next to talking something. She looked whipped for him. But why is he staring at me? Should I wave?

I walked towards that table since the students playing there looked like they were about to finish. Felix came along with me commenting on how the tables looked very new.

I reached the table and looked at Tove again. He was still looking at me, with a slight smile on his face now. I gathered courage and finally waved at him. He waved back. Thank god. I gave him a slight smile and continued what I was doing.

Felix took a bat and I took one. We began playing. “Ten points”, he said.

“Yeah”, I smiled, agreeing. My back was faced against Tove.

Felix was good at this game, but I was better. I won first five points in a row. I was basically pushing buttons for him.

Felix was really determined this time and he scored a point. The ball went off the table.

By the time I turned around, Tove was already picking the ball. He lifted himself up and handed me the ball. His face had no real expression. But his eyes looked heavy, like he was thirsting. Wow, now I’m imagining things.

“Did your sink get fixed?”, I asked.

“Yes”, he finally smiled. “Thank you very much”

“No problem”, I smiled back.

I got back to my game scoffing at Felix. “You’re dead meat now”, I warned him.

Finally, I won by 7 over 3. “Whatever”, Felix scoffed smiling.

“When’s your first class?”, he asked, coming to my side.

“At 9”, I said. “What about you?”, I asked him.

“Same. Do you want to go to the cafe and grab something?”, he asked.

“Absolutely”, I chuckled.

I took a last glance at Tove. He was talking to a bunch of people. I left the Student Hub with Felix.

“So you seem to know a lot of people huh?”, he asked while walking.

“Kind of. That guy back in Student Hub is a teaching assistant though”, I said.

“Oh a senior!”, he exclaimed.

“Yeah that too a topper”, I said.

“Damn. He’s hot though”, he commented.

“He is”, I agreed.

“Hotter than me?”, he raised an eyebrow.

“Yes”, I laughed.

“Huh?”,he gasped with puppy eyes.

“Fine. It’s you”, I sighed. He smiled like a puppy.

We got ourselves fresh fruit juices and headed to our classes.

“By the way, which course are you in?”, I asked him.

“Space Engineering, you?”, he said.

“Wait what? Me too!”, I exclaimed.

“Wow! We are gonna have so much fun”, he smiled innocently.

“You missed the classes yesterday though”, I said.

“Yeah I arrived here last night”, he said.

“You must be tired from traveling”, I said.

“No I had a good night’s sleep”, he assured me.

“Great”, I smiled.

We walked to our morning class sipping our fruit juice. As usual, we were five minutes early.

Tove was already in the class talking to the girls who now gathered in front of his desk.

“He’s popular”, Felix smirked, commenting.

“Yeah”, I smiled.

We sat next to each other, talking about random things.

Our professor, Dr. Sharp, began talking at sharp 9. So sharp, huh!

“Good morning students. Today will be a lab class. I know you might be thinking, ‘oh already!’. But we’ll that’s how our course will be. Since I’m present for the theory part most of the time, I won’t be there with you. Mr.Baner will take the lead today. You can contact me or Mr.Baner, if you have any questions after the class”

He left the class announcing the on the mic. Mr.Baner, Tove, came to the mic.

“So, seems like you’re left with me today”, he chuckled.

Few students chuckled along, though most were giggles from female students. He acts way too professional with them. It was like as if he is unapproachable. I don’t how far is that accurate.

“Once again, good morning students! We will be headed to the Space Manufacturing Lab now”, he said clapping his hands together. He left the classroom indicating us to follow.

The lab was near our class today. I was actually looking forward to have this course this year. This course always had very good reviews and was the first course to include a huge level of hands-on activities. We were doing the real thing beginning from this course.

After everyone has arrived near the lab, we entered it. I have never really been here before. It was a huge workshop area.

My eyes almost came out of my face when I entered the lab.

There were around mini-two seater latest interplanetary vehicles. Are we dealing with them today?! Oh my god, I’m going to cry!

Tove went to front of the lab where there was a mic stand. He put on a small mic on his shirt.

“So”, he clapped his hands together again. “I have seen some of your eyes glowing like never before when you entered this room”, he said laughing lightly. God, he looks angelic to me now!

I don’t know if it’s because he brought me here, or because he does look like an angel. Oh my gosh! What am I thinking? Focus! Focus-

“Well you aren’t riding them today. But, we are going to learn the basic operations. They’re all in learning mode. Since we learnt about past yesterday, today we are looking at one of the latest technologies. Though we do have more advanced ones, this is where we start”, he said smiling occasionally.

“Now”, he came forward. “You will be paired in two for today. We had even number of students till yesterday. But today, we have a new student”, he looked at Felix.

“Would you introduce yourself Mr.-“, he said.

“Felix Beauden”, Felix replied.

“Beauden?”, Tove frowned smiling slightly. The smile didn’t reach his eyes though. “My mother was a Beauden”, he said, now fully smiling. That smile looked so fake. Anyways, why do you care Sigrid?

“Oh, nice”, Felix smiled.

“So you can form pairs on your own. I’ll take a student to demonstrate along with me”, he said.

“Ms.Rekoba?”, he suddenly called out my name. Me? Why me?

“Yes”, I said ignoring the slight jealous glares I was getting from the girls around me.

“Would you like to volunteer?”, he asked, smiling at me slyly.

“Yes”, I gulped.