The girl next door

Chapter 16 - Heather

When the doorbell rings about an hour later, I literally jump up from the sofa and run to the door. It may sound silly, but I have been looking forward to our meeting this evening since I said goodbye like a little child in the park of Ava. I sent her my address hours ago and since then I've prepared everything. Fortunately I wasn't stopped again by Sebastian during this time and so I hardly thought about him.

I open the door and see Ava. She has a friendly smile on her lips and seems to be looking at the hallway. When I open the door she looks at me and it is clear to her that she is looking forward to the evening: "Hey." "Hey", I reply and this time I am the one who embraces her: "Good to see you. She retorts my fleeting embrace: "I think so too." I ask her to come in with a gesture of my hand. She enters and takes off her jacket, which she takes off to hang it on the temporary hanger.

Together we go into the living room and I relax on the sofa: "And? Have you done everything you had planned for today? "Yes, everything worked out quite well and now I have time to make a relaxed film evening with you," she announces and lets herself sink a little into the sofa cushions. I grin broadly: "That sounds good." I'm really happy that she takes so much time for me, even though we don't know each other so well. Maybe we are on the right track to build a real friendship. I know it's too early to say that, but I like the thought. After all, everyone needs someone with whom they can spend time and to whom they can confide.

"Do we want to make the pizza now or just start with the film", I ask, since I am personally already a little hungry. Probably because my last meal was the apple in Central Park. "How about if we put the pizza in the oven and pick out a movie in time," she suggests and I nod in agreement. The idea isn't bad, especially as we haven't actually agreed on a movie yet. I don't really care what we watch, as long as I can sleep quietly afterwards.

"Well, then I'll preheat the oven", I get up again and make my way to the kitchen, which is fortunately open and merges seamlessly into the living room. So I can continue talking to Ava without having to shout through the whole apartment. "I hope salami pizza is okay," I ask when I take the pizza boxes out of the freezer. She hadn't told me before what she liked when I asked and instead meant that I should just buy something. "Perfect," she gives me a friendly smile and then makes an effort to get up from the sofa, but sinks back into the pillows: "Man, why is your sofa so damn comfortable?

"I know," I say laughing. The soft cushions can be really treacherous. So on my first evening here I had real problems getting up and going to bed after my movie was over. "Stay seated calmly. I'll do it here," I reassure her: "You better pick out a film in that time.

She lets her back sink completely against the sofa cushions again and looks at me questioningly: "Where do you have your films? "I only have a few DVDs," I tell her while I take the pizza out of the box and put it on the tin: "If you turn on the TV, you can also go to Netflix. "Where's the remote?" she looks at me questioningly. I point to the shelf under the wooden living room table where my remote is.

As I push the two pizzas into the oven, I can hear her reach for the remote: "Which button? "Just press the red button in the middle and then go to 'Netflix'," I explain to her as I close the oven door and regulate the temperature before I set my mobile alarm clock to twenty minutes. Then I return to Ava and watch her zap through the suggestions. "Dear romance or action," she asks after a few minutes of looking at the most popular suggestions.

"Hmm," that's a hard decision to make, especially when, like me, you can't make up your mind about movies, "romance?" "Okay", she clicks on a film: "What do you think of 'After Passion', Heather?" "Doesn't sound bad," I shrug my shoulders: "I saw the trailer, but didn't go to the movies to see the movie." "These are good conditions", he looks at me pleadingly and I nod in agreement.

"I'm going to rely on my good knowledge of film", I reply and look at the film poster that can be seen on the television screen. "What knowledge?" she grins and I look at her in shock. Then she grins and presses 'Play'.

We watch the first few minutes before my alarm clock loudly alerts me that maybe I should get up slowly and take a look in the oven. Quickly I scurry over to the kitchenette and take a look into the oven. To my astonishment our meal is already ready. Normally I still have to set a second alarm clock and wait a little unnerved for me to finally satisfy my hunger. That this doesn't seem to be the case this time, however, makes the apartment even tastier for me, although it probably has little to do with it. I pack the pizzas on plates for and check again whether I really turned the oven off before I return to the sofa and hand Ava one of the full plates. She takes it without hesitation and I drop down next to her again to look at it further. The film is actually really good - actually such teen dramas are not for me. However, this Hardin reminds me a bit of Sebastian. In one moment he is charming and in the other a rejecting asshole. And no matter how hard I try, Sebastian really doesn't make sense to me.