Neighbor Dearest

by Penelope Ward

  “Damien wouldn’t mind if you stayed here, but I’m still under lease at the other place. We can just stay there together and have a girls’ week.”

  “Maybe I should just stay with the hot brother instead,” she joked.

  Jade didn’t even know what Tyler looked like. She was just basing her opinion on what I’d told her about his resemblance to Damien. She also knew that he, too, was an actor.

  “I have no doubt that Tyler would love that. He’s apparently dating someone now, though. I’m supposed to meet her over Christmas.”

  “Well, nix that plan, then.”

  “Yeah, she might not appreciate a six-foot tall, gorgeous blonde who looks like a model shacking up with her boyfriend.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time I shacked up with a guy and girl,” Jade said. “Except I was the girlfriend getting screwed over in that scenario.”

  “What an asshole.”

  “I don’t want to talk about him. Change the subject.”

  “Okay...well, back to my living with Damien, I don’t want to assume it’s official, so let’s plan on you staying with me at my place when you come visit.”

  “Okay. Sounds like a plan.”

  Three weeks later, Damien would finally make it known where things stood as far as my living at his place.

  I’d been enjoying spending time there with no expectations for however long it lasted. It wasn’t uncommon for me to wake up in the morning with Damien’s face in between my legs. I loved rolling out of bed on weekends and having breakfast with him and the dogs. I loved everything about spending time with him, and it didn’t matter to me if he put a label on it.

  One thing I learned over time about Damien was that when he did something important or made a big decision, he typically did it in a spontaneous way. Case in point, the first time we’d made love when I found him painting the wall.

  So, when he finally decided to acknowledge our living situation, it also wasn’t in a way that I ever could have predicted.

  One afternoon, I returned to his apartment after work to find a massive pile of rubble where his office used to be. Damien was with two other men and wore a mask covering his face. There was dust everywhere, and the wall separating our two apartments was completely gone. It was all just one huge open space.

  “Damien? What did you do?”

  “We’ll go get your stuff next week when the dust settles. I talked to your landlord—mentioned some more violations on his property that I happened to notice. He said he’d be happy to let you out of your lease.” He pulled down his mask, flashed a huge smile and gestured to the massive space around us. “I’m giving us a penthouse suite.”

  And that was how Damien asked me to move in with him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  UNDER THE CAMEL TOE

  I had to wonder what I was thinking when I’d insisted on hosting a Christmas Eve get together at our place for a few of our closest friends and family members. It seemed like a great idea at the time, but with only three hours left to prepare, I was seriously kicking myself.

  There was a lot to be thankful for this year, and that made me want to do something to celebrate. Everything seemed to be going our way. Damien’s most recent checkup turned out okay, and he was feeling well most days.

  The apartment was looking spectacular—totally fit for a party. Damien had done most of the renovation work himself after the initial wall demolition. It was now basically one gigantic love nest. He’d removed my old kitchen altogether, and my former bedroom was now part of our living room. We kept the other bathroom as a spare, and he’d closed off an area into a small guest room. The dogs had more space to putz around the house, too.

  The door swung ajar to reveal Damien shoving a freshly-cut Christmas tree through the opening. The scent of fresh pine filled the air. It definitely smelled like Christmas all of a sudden.

  “It’s huge!”

  “Why thank you. So, is this tree.”

  “Seriously, that tree is massive!”

  “Don’t you know by now that I do everything big, baby?”

  “Yes, but we didn’t need one that big.”

  “Actually, all the small ones were gone. Most people have their Christmas trees set up by now. This is what happens when you procrastinate until Christmas Eve.”

  “That’s true. We’ve been bad. And I have to send you out to the store again, too, because I forgot a few things.”

  After setting the tree down in a corner, Damien brushed off his hands. “Where are the Ds?”

  “They’re playing with some wrapping paper in the other room.”

  “Okay, good. Maybe they’ll let me set up this tree in peace.”

  “Is Jenna coming to pick them up before the party?”

  “She was being kind of a bitch about it because she has a party to go to herself, so I’m not sure if she’ll show.”

  “So, let them stay. I’m in no mood for an Ex-mas anyway.”

  “I want her to show up just so she can get a load of you in that little white dress. Steam is going to be blowing out of her ears.”

  “You like it?”

  “Yes. I love it. In fact, I’m thinking this tree decorating might have to wait.”

  “We don’t have time.”

  “Yes, we do.”

  “No, we don’t. Look at the clock.”

  “Fuck. Alright, but I’m gonna need a quickie later when everyone’s too drunk to notice us slipping into the bedroom.”

  “You’re nuts.”

  “You love my nuts.”

  “I do love your nuts. Oh, speaking of which…I need you to get some mixed ones to put out on the table. I also never bought soda. We can’t only have alcohol and water with nothing else to drink. So, get some cans of Sprite and Coke. They have the ones with the Christmas logos at the store.”

  “I’ll give you a Christmas Coke can right now.”

  “Why oh why did I ever put that idea in your head?”

  “You’ve just said nuts, Coke can and head in the past thirty seconds. How the fuck am I supposed to focus on decorating a tree?”

  Damien began opening the packages of bulbs and other ornaments he’d bought along with bags of tinsel. It was going to be a half-assed tree, but at least we’d have one.

  I really needed a glass of wine to relax while I finished preparing all of the appetizers. Normally, I drank white, but since Damien had decided to open a bottle of red last night, I just took from that. The bottle somehow slipped out of my hands, shattering to the floor and splattering red wine all over my new white dress.

  “Shit!”

  Damien dropped his tinsel and immediately began to clean up the mess from under me. One of the things I loved about Damien was his take-charge attitude. He never wasted time taking care of things. He continued to clear away the glass and mop up the floor as I stood there in shock.

  He stood up. “Fuck. Alright. We gotta get you changed. I’ve been dying to get you out of that dress anyway.”

  “Are you serious right now?”

  A smirk spread over his face. “Let’s go pick out something else.”

  We entered the bedroom, and the dogs fled like bats out of hell. They’d shredded tons of wrapping paper and were probably thinking Damien was going to reprimand them. They didn’t realize that my hornball boyfriend had nothing on his mind besides figuring out a way to take advantage of my undressing situation.

  “I have nothing to wear now.”

  “I’ll pick something out for you.”

  Damien actually had pretty good taste. Whenever I got stressed about what to wear, he’d often take over and pick out my outfit.

  Perusing through my closet, he chose a pair of fitted black pants that were almost like shimmery leggings along with a flowy red shirt that had a sequin neckline.

  “Those pants are really tight on me.”

  “I know. I love your ass in them.”

  “We don’t have much time. I’ll just wear them.”

  Dam
ien stood with his arms crossed, watching every movement as I undressed.

  “Let me shave your pussy,” he blurted out.

  “What?”

  “It’s getting a little bushy. Let me do it real quick.” Without waiting for my answer, he rushed to the bathroom.

  I yelled after him, “This is not the type of bush trimming you’re supposed to be doing right now.”

  “I know.” He clicked the razor buzzer on. “This is way more fun.”

  Damien shaved a neat landing strip onto my vagina. After he finished, he looked down at me. “Fuck. I can’t wait to hit that tonight.”

  Placing my hands on his broad shoulders, I pushed him out of the room. “Okay, you really need to leave. I have to get dressed.”

  He snickered. “I’ll go finish the real tree trimming.”

  As he was leaving, I called out, “Damien?”

  He turned around. “Yeah?”

  “Thank you.” I smiled.

  He blew me a kiss and ventured back out into the living room. Not even a full minute passed before I heard him swearing.

  “Fuck!”

  I ran to the living room, still buttoning my shirt. “What happened?”

  “The dogs apparently took it upon themselves to pee in the bushes like they normally do, but in this case, said bushes would be our fucking Christmas tree. There’s a massive puddle, and I just stepped in it!”

  “Shit.”

  Dudley and Drewfus were now hiding in the corner of the room.

  His anger turned to laughter. “I can’t even get mad at them because I think they were confused. We’ve been so busy, we forgot to take them out. They thought we were bringing the bushes to them.”

  “Well, they were spreading the holiday cheer.”

  “At least it wasn’t Christmas logs of shit.”

  I cracked up. “True.”

  “Well, I guess I don’t have to take them for a walk anymore.”

  “Have they ever done that before?”

  “I’ve never had a Christmas tree with them.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Jenna is Jewish and to be honest, I probably wouldn’t even be celebrating Christmas if it weren’t for you.”

  “Why not?”

  “I never really got into it. After Dad died, Mom didn’t celebrate it anymore. The holidays always sucked. This will be the best Christmas I’ve had since childhood.” He walked toward me and fixed one of my buttons that I’d apparently put into the wrong loop, then said, “Christmas is about happiness and love. When you’re lacking those things, it can be one of the most painful times of the year. But when you suddenly realize that you’re happier than you’ve ever been, Christmas comes alive again. So, fuck the spilled wine and the dog piss. It’s all good, because this is the best Christmas ever.”

  As if on cue, one of the dogs barked. “Woof!”

  He chuckled. “They agree.”

  “I’m lucky to have found you guys. Last Christmas was the worst of my life. What a difference a year makes.”

  “Anything can happen in a year, sometimes horrible stuff, sometimes amazing things. I’m glad this year was the latter for me.”

  “This year was life-changing.”

  Returning to the kitchen counter to finish arranging the appetizers, I admired Damien’s body as he decorated the top of the tree. His fitted red shirt rode up every time he reached his arm out to position an ornament.

  Mixing some onion soup mix into sour cream, I said, “It’s not every day I get to watch a hot man in a Santa hat decorate my tree.”

  Damien turned toward me and raised his forehead. “Stop looking at me like that, Jameson, or the only thing wrapped under the tree will be your legs around my back.”

  I’d better change the subject.

  “So, who’s coming tonight for sure from your end?”

  “Tyler is picking up my mother and bringing her here along with his new girlfriend.”

  “What’s her name again?”

  “Nicole.”

  “Hmm. Okay. I’ll try to remember that. Who else?”

  “I invited Murray and his wife. That’s it. You know me. I don’t need a big crowd.”

  “My parents are coming a little late. They have another party to stop at first. I also invited my friends Laura and Courtney from the youth center. We’re only talking ten or eleven people max.”

  “It’ll be nice to see people, but personally, I’m looking forward to our Christmas morning alone more than anything,” he said.

  “Me, too.”

  We planned to spend tomorrow morning together, exchanging our own presents before heading to my parents’ in Sausalito later in the day for dinner with Claire and Micah. So, my Christmas morning would surely consist of an awesome homemade breakfast and lots of sex.

  Damien had finished the tree just in the nick of time. While he was out buying the few items I’d forgotten earlier, the doorbell rang.

  The first to arrive were Tyler and Nicole.

  Tyler looked really handsome in a fitted black collared shirt and dark jeans. Nicole was cute. She was petite like me, except she had long brown hair and big brown eyes. She was beautiful, everything I would expect from someone Tyler would bring home, although she seemed even sweeter than I might have imagined. I didn’t know why, but I kind of pictured him with someone a little bit more stuck-up.

  “It’s so nice to meet you,” I said.

  Tyler looked beyond my shoulders. “Where’s D?”

  “Out getting some last minute stuff.”

  “I was telling Nic the story of how you and Damien met.”

  “There were lots of ways Damien and I technically got to know each other. Which story?”

  “The time you almost burned down the building.”

  “Ah, yes, my most famous claim to fame.” Turning to Nicole, I asked, “How did you guys meet again?”

  “I’m a makeup artist for Tyler’s show.”

  “Oh, okay. It must be a tough job making that face look presentable.” I winked.

  “Actually, it’s tougher making him look ugly for certain scenes.”

  “It seems like it would be fun to work in that environment. My younger sister is a stage actress in New York.”

  Tyler nodded. “Damien was telling me. Is she on Broadway or off-Broadway?”

  “She’s done both, actually. Right now, she has a starring role off-Broadway.”

  “When this run is over at the Bay Repertory, I was thinking of moving to L.A. or possibly New York if an opportunity was there. I really don’t want to leave California. It’s not easy in this business, though. You sort of have to take what you can get.”

  Nicole looked at him affectionately. “At least I can do makeup anywhere.”

  “I might take you with me if you’re good.”

  “I just might go.” She smiled.

  It sounded like this was getting pretty serious.

  The door opened, and Damien emerged. “For my lovely lady, I come bearing Christmas Coke cans, nuts and sticky balls.”

  I took a small box from him. “Donut holes. Great. Those weren’t on the list.”

  “No. But I couldn’t resist completing the trifecta just so I could say sticky balls.” He turned to Tyler’s girlfriend and extended his hand. Glancing down at it, he joked, “I promise it’s clean. Nice to meet you, Nicole.”

  Looking between the two brothers, she said, “Wow. You guys look so much alike.”

  I chuckled. “Your reaction reminds me of mine the first time I saw them in the same room. I thought I was seeing double at first, but they actually look less alike to me the more I see them together.”

  Damien turned to Nicole and cracked, “We look alike, but surely you find me the better looking one?”

  “It’s a toss up,” she said.

  A twinge of jealousy crept in at the thought of her finding Damien attractive.

  Damien smacked Tyler on the shoulder as he addressed her, “I’ll help you figure it out. I’m t
he better looking one, but I’ll give my little brother the distinction of having the better personality. He’s way more outgoing than I could ever be. And he’s a great actor.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short,” Tyler said before looking over at Nicole. “Damien here has been playing the role of an elusive artist quite well for a few years now.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” Damien laughed.

  Nicole whispered to me, “Do they spar a lot like this?”

  “Yes. It’s kind of cute. You can smell the testosterone like burning rubber whenever they’re together.”

  Damien looked around. “Where’s Mom?”

  “I couldn’t get her to come. She said to tell you she was sorry, but that she wasn’t feeling very festive. I think she’s in the middle of a depressed episode.”

  “Fuck.”

  Rubbing Damien’s back, I said, “Shit. I’m sorry.”

  “Christmas is really tough for her. She doesn’t want people to look at her and be able to tell she’s sad,” Tyler said. “So, she chooses to stay away.”

  Damien looked at me. “When we went to stay with her, she was actually having a really good couple of days. This is more typical.” Taking a deep breath and wrapping his arm around my waist, he said, “Anyway, you guys are probably hungry. My little lady made a bunch of stuff, none of which she burned, so help yourself.”

  ***

  Everyone seemed to be having a great time. The appetizers were getting gobbled up, and the drinks were flowing. Damien had even put on Christmas music in the background.

  Jenna never did come for the dogs, so we made the best of it, throwing some reindeer antlers on them. They hadn’t pissed in the tree again and were having a field day fetching everyone’s scraps; we would likely be paying for it tomorrow.

  I was in the midst of listening to a conversation my parents were having with Tyler about the play he was in when Damien came up behind me. The heat of his breath in my ear gave me chills.

  “I’m ready for all these people to leave. Those pants are so tight on you that they’re making my pants tight.”

  “Behave,” I whispered, even though I wanted nothing more than for him to stay pressed against my back.