The girl next door

Chapter 6 - Heather

Sebastian leads me through the rising twilight down the street to a café, not far from the supermarket. In fact, maybe it wasn't a bad decision to let him show me the neighborhood. Otherwise I would have been lost looking for food in the big city. On the way, my neighbour tells me a little about the city and shows me other shops that he says are quite good. But as soon as I try to ask personal questions again, he avoids me and raises a completely new topic. Although this behavior is really funny, I don't want to talk to him about it. I'm sure I won't get an answer anyway. After all, I don't tell him much about me either.

"We are there", Sebastian stops in front of the café and gives me a few seconds to look at the restaurant. Even the appearance of the café doesn't necessarily look bad. The facade is made of brown brick and through the windows I can see several tables and chairs, as well as a comfortable sofa in some of the seating areas.

"Are you hungry?" he asks and nods towards the entrance. I shrug my shoulders: "Yes, a little." Well, then let's go inside," he asks me and walks towards the door. I follow him indifferently. Even with the bags in his hands, he holds the door open for me, which surprises me quite a bit.

"Since when have you been such a gentleman," I ask teasingly. "I am not. That was just an exception," he explains, but grins: "But I have to behave well now and then so that I can be an asshole in good conscience afterwards. I make an affected face: "Those are great prospects." He grins amusedly, but says nothing about it.

We choose a free table and sit down together. "What do you want to eat?" he asks directly and I start looking for a card. But when I don't find it, I look at him helplessly: "If you tell me where there are cards here, I'll tell you". "There are no cards here. We have to order our food with the tablet here and then it will be brought to our table as soon as it is ready. As in a fast food restaurant, only better," he explains to me and then nods first towards the counter, then on the tablet firmly installed at the table: "There on the tablet it says what you can find here.

I smile gratefully and begin to fly over the table. After a short time I decided to have a baguette, a portion of Twister fries and a cappuccino. I lean over the tablet and type in my order. When I'm done, Sebastian does exactly the same and I use this moment to explore the restaurant with my gaze.

When he has completed and shipped the order, he raises his head again and leans on his chair again. I use this opportunity to ask him a question that has been on my tongue all along: "Say, does Aiden actually live with you? He pulls his eyebrows together: "No, why should he? I live alone. But why do you care at all?" So he has neither a roommate nor a girlfriend who lives with him, so he is just as alone in his apartment as I am.

I shrug my shoulders insecurely. For the most part, I just wanted to know whether I had more neighbours on my floor than I did. However, I am also interested in whether I will see Aiden more often in the future. "Aiden is really likeable", I try to make a casual remark. "Well", he wrinkles his nose a little: "He can be a little pushy every now and then. " "What do you mean? I look at him in surprise. To be honest, Aiden interests me already, because he made a pretty interesting and friendly impression when we first met. "He made a very nice impression on me," I honestly tell him.

His expression on his face tells me that somehow he doesn't like my words. But he doesn't get a chance to say anything in return, because at that moment an employee comes to our table and brings us our food.

When the waiter has disappeared again, he takes the chance to answer me: "You like my best friend? I scratch the back of my head slightly: "I wouldn't say "I like it now". He just made a good first impression. Contrary to you." "Hey, I'm just making it up to him", he raises his hands defensively and then devotes himself to his order.

"Yes, I know," I admit to him and put one of my fries in my mouth: "And you don't do so badly at all." "He pinches his eyes a bit, but he doesn't seem to be really angry with me.

"But seriously," I try to come back to the subject of Aiden: "Can you give me Aiden's number?" He shakes his head firmly: "Forget it. If you want his number, ask him yourself. I look at him questioningly because I have no idea what he might have against it. "Well, I'll do it", I shrug my shoulders.

When I notice that he obviously doesn't like this topic, I try to cut a new one, but after he hardly answers me, I let it go and we eat in silence.

As soon as we have finished eating, I take my coffee in my hand: "Do we want to pay or do you want anything else? "No, I'm done," he says quickly, whereupon I get up and go with the receipt to the cash register to pay for both of us.

Fortunately, it's not full there, so after less than two minutes it's my turn to pay. Since the cashier seems to be new, the whole process takes a little longer and I sink into my thoughts. Why did it seem to bother Sebastian that I approached him about Aiden? Are they having an argument or something?

The woman presses the remaining money into my hand and I leave the snake again. However, I still can't free myself completely from the world of my thoughts, which is why I realize much too late that I'm running against Sebastian. I quickly stagger back slightly and think I'm about to stumble, when two strong arms put themselves around my waist and keep me from stumbling.

It takes a few seconds until I realize it properly, but as I lift my head, I see Sebastian's face, who has his arms around me and pulled me to himself, so that I now stand safely. I swallow and have no idea what to say. There are only a few centimetres between us and I can feel his breath on my cheeks. From this position I notice again how hot he actually is. My heart begins to beat faster immediately and I curse it for it in this moment.

I clear my throat briefly: "Thank you, but you can let me go now". "Yes, of course", he looks at me for a few seconds and then follows my request. I push a strand behind my ear and then move on to the exit without another word. How embarrassing!