The girl next door

Chapter 9 - Heather

Surprisingly, I meet Aiden on the sidewalk. Sebastian informed me that his friend was coming today, but I honestly didn't expect to meet him.

"Hey, Aiden", I greet him briefly and then he recognizes me as well. "Hey, Heather," he gives me a friendly smile and tries not to let on how he looks at me: "Nice to see you." "The joy is all mine," I say to him with a quick glance at the street, as I ordered a taxi. But this will probably take a little longer anyway, as the traffic is particularly dense at this time of day.

"You want to see Sebastian, don't you?" I ask, although I already know the answer. Nevertheless I try to keep our conversation going somehow. "Yes, we wanted to order from the delivery service tonight and watch a show on TV," he explains almost as naturally as if it were something they do not exactly rarely.

When I hear that, I realize how badly I need friends again. In my high school days I did this quite often with friends, but now I don't have anyone I could use for such a relaxed evening. Hoping to meet a nice woman of my age that night is growing even more than it already is.

"Sounds not bad", I admit a little longingly. "If you want, you can come over sometime, if we do that again," he offers, but we both know that Sebastian will hardly like this suggestion. "Thank you', but I reply anyway, because it is already friendly of him to offer me that.

"Say, Aiden", I bite my lip insecurely, because it is somehow uncomfortable for me to ask that. "Yes," he raises his eyebrows asking. "Can I have your number?", I look at him seriously. Sebastian didn't want to give it to me and said that I should ask him myself. So now I do that too. After all, the two boys are the only ones I really know and this question is understandable.

Actually I would have expected an embarrassing silence between us, but he pulls out his cell phone without hesitation and taps on it: "Give me your cell phone". With a questioning look I pull the object out of my handbag and hand it to him. He receives it and starts typing in his number. After some time he gives it back to me: "So, now you have my number." "Thank you", I say and put the smartphone back again.

"Will we see each other later?" he asks. I shrug my shoulders because I really can't guarantee: "Depends on when I get home." "Then we hope for the best," he winked at me before heading to the front door of the house. "We see each other," I say goodbye and suddenly notice that my taxi is stopping just at this moment on a parking lot a few meters away.

I quickly sit down in fear that the taxi driver wouldn't be up for it if I dawdled. That's why I don't turn around anymore to catch another glimpse of Aiden. Instead, I simply tell myself that he must have disappeared into the house anyway.

I quickly open the door of the yellow car and get in. "Where to?" asks the driver, briefly tethered and I quickly tell him the street. I could remember the house number pretty well for a change, but I probably wouldn't find my way there alone.

The woman nods and steers the vehicle purposefully out of the parking space. I lean into the seat and look out of the window. Traffic is slow, so I'm glad the bar isn't so far away.

When we arrive at the location in question, I pull the money from the wallet and hand it to the driver. Then I get out without long detours and walk towards the bar.

In the evening light the location looks really interesting and I don't regret coming here in any way. Already through the windows you can see that it seems to be quite full already. So I quickly walk towards the entrance, hoping that not all the stools at the bar are occupied yet.

As soon as I have set foot in the building, loud music is already roaring towards me. But this is in no way unpleasant for me, but rather I feel directly comfortable. To be honest, in my high school days I was quite often at some party of my classmates. But in real clubs or bars I was only after high school and even then not really often, because there was only one bar in our small town and it wasn't really attractive.

After a few seconds I straighten up to the bar. Fortunately there is still one or two places left, so I drop on one of the dark wooden stools with a wine red seat and support myself with my elbows on the counter.

"A Tequilla, please", I order without hesitation from the bartender and spend my waiting time looking at the people around me. Suddenly a person next to me drops onto the chair: "Hey."

With a slightly surprised look, I turn to the person and notice a woman who seems to be my age. She gives me a surprisingly friendly smile: "Can I buy you a round? At first I'm quite surprised because I don't know her. But I don't say no to a drink, so I shrug my shoulders: "Sure, I'd love to." "I'm Ava, by the way," she imagines, before she gives the woman behind the bar a hand movement to finish another round for both of us. "Nice to meet you," I say. "My name's Heather."

She gives me a friendly smile and I return it. After all, I'm here to make new friends and it doesn't hurt to be open.