Love At First Glance (Love At Firsts Book 1)

by Garcia, Muriel

  I walk through the door and am greeted with the amazing smell of Spencer’s Bolognese sauce.

  “He, Love, you’re home late tonight.” He walks out of the kitchen to hug me. Again, he’s wearing just his sweatpants, no top, no socks. This is an unsettling habit! I mean, is he trying to get me to jump him? Him parading this body around is not fair when he’s like my brother.

  “Ah, uh, yeah.” I’m stumble over my worlds, I’m sure I look guilty, not for my ogling, but for viewing apartment behind his back.

  “What’s wrong?” He looks at me with a worried expression.

  “I was viewing apartments.” I sigh. I nibble my lip as I wait for his reaction.

  “You don’t like living with me?” He looks hurt and I hate that I caused the sadness in his eyes.

  “No, I love it bu-”

  “Then why are you moving out?” He cuts me off.

  “I love you Spencer, I love living with you and being around you. You know I do, you’re my best friend but I need some privacy and I feel like I’m invading your space. I know you’ve turned away some of your usual fuckbuddies because I’m here. I don’t want to be a burden.”

  “Don’t be silly, you could never be a burden.” He shrugs.

  “So what? You’re going to be a monk because I live here?” I chuckle.

  “Of course not, I love sex way too much for that. I just don’t want to miss you and you’re safer here with me.” He crosses his arms over his chest, making his muscles and tattooed sleeve seem even bigger.

  “Safer? Spence, I’m not moving into some old decrepit building where crack heads live!”

  “Oh so you’ve found a place already?” He pouts and hugs me again, squeezing me tightly.

  “Yes. I just did.” I hug him back. “Can you squeeze less hard? I can’t breathe.” I fake gasping for air.

  “Sorry. I’m just trying to keep you all to myself.” He grins at me and softens his grip.

  “By choking me to death?” I raise my eyebrow at him.

  “That’s one way to do it. No?” He grins and shrugs.

  “Weirdo.” I chuckle.

  “Where are you moving?” He asks as he helps me out of my jacket and leads me to the kitchen where I’m hit full force with the smell of dinner. It smells heavenly. I close my eyes, inhale and moan. My stomach grumbles in desperation, that’ll teach me not to eat. “Don’t moan like that or there’ll be consequences!” He chuckles.

  “Well it smells heavenly! You can’t blame me, I’d make love to that sauce if I could. Mmhmmm.” I burst out laughing when I see his face looking at me as if I’ve grown a second head.

  “You’re fucking weird.”

  “You love me that way.” I shrug and grab a block of cheese from the fridge to grate some whilst he finishes the pasta.

  “I do. So? Where are you moving?” He smiles sadly.

  “Don’t look so sad. I’m only moving a couple of streets away, 17th Street at the Bank and Boston Loft Apartment?” I chuckle as he sighs in relief.

  “I thought you were moving to the other side of the country.” He chuckles.

  “Not sure when I’d have been able to view apartments all the way over there but okay, drama queen.” I say and roll my eyes.

  “True, but you never know with you. So what’s the new place like?”

  I pull my phone out and show him the pictures of all the apartments.

  “I’m glad you picked the last one, the first two aren’t you at all. This last one is though.” He smiles and hands me back my phone.

  “What do you mean?” I ask before quickly forwarding all the pictures to Matt before I forget.

  “Well, you’re a pretty normal girl, wi-”

  “Are you trying to say I’m boring, Spence?” I raise my eyebrow and cross my arms. I see his eyes zero in on my chest and realize that my arms have pushed my already cumbersome boobs, even higher.”

  “Sorry.” He shakes his head to snap himself out of his daze and looks back up at my face. “As I was saying. You’re a classy girl. You love your comfort and your space. You’re into simple things with a bit of luxury. This place looks like it’s just that. When you look at the outside of the building, you see a normal, albeit old building, but when you take the time to look inside, you see the real beauty. A real hidden gem. Plus, that little blast of color definitely reflects your crazy moments when you act like a complete weirdo and dance around naked.” He grins. Well fuck, I didn’t expect him to say something this nice or profound. The last bit is more like the Spencer I know.

  “Who knew you could be so sweet?” I smile and hug him. I know he’s always been a sweetheart, I just love teasing him about it.

  “Hey, I’m always sweet. Just don’t forget to buy blinds or curtains so the people living across the street don’t see you wiggling your ass and tits.” He laughs and I slap his chest.

  “You’re just jealous because they would get to see my naked dance moves.” I glare at him and try a bit of pasta.

  “I’ve already seen your naked dance moves, Love.” He grabs us some plates whilst I drain the pasta.

  “What? When?” I ask mortified and I drop the pasta in one big blob into the drainer.

  “I believe it was last Friday after we went out for drinks and you got wasted. When we got back you put on some music and started to dance and strip.” He tries not to laugh and I just want to slap him.

  “And you didn’t try to stop me? Was there anybody else?” I look at him, my eyes ready to pop out of my head.

  “Nah, it was too entertaining and it was just the two of us, don't worry. Who knew you could twerk?” He loses control and lets out a loud laugh.

  “You’re such a dickhead. Please tell me you just made all of that up.” I beg.

  “Oh no, Princess. It’s all true. I don’t have any proof, I knew you’d kill me if I had taken any videos or pictures of your drunken antics and I still wanna live for a couple more years.” He taunts and ducks as I throw a handful of pasta at his face. “Now, now, don’t waste good food.” He shakes his head and dishes the food onto our plates as I stare at him in disbelief. “Don’t look at me like that, it wasn’t that bad. It was actually amusing and you were having fun. Besides you have a banging body, it was quite difficult restraining myself, but I love you too much for that.” He walks around the kitchen island to me and pulls me into his arms.

  “This is a fucking nightmare.” I groan.

  “Oh no, it was heaven.” He grins and moans when I elbow him in his ribs.

  “That will teach you to be a dick to me.” I frown and pour the sauce.

  “You’re talking about my dick again.” He chuckles.

  “Careful, I might cut it while you sleep.” I narrow my eyes at him and grab the big butcher knife from the knife block.

  “Put that down and step away from my dick,” he rationalizes and holds his hands up as he backs away from me.

  “Smart thinking.” I wink and sprinkle the cheese onto our plates before grabbing some spicy sauce and heading into the living room with Spencer following behind.

  “I’ll miss having you around all the time.” He sighs and kisses my shoulder after sitting next to me on the sofa.

  “I’ll miss you too, but I’m not that far away. We’ll still see each other a couple of times a week at least, probably even more than we did before and we will still dedicate a night for Spencer-Haven movie night. Just like we used to do when we first lived together.”

  “I was about to suggest that.” He chuckles and we dig into our food.

  “How about Friday nights?” I smile as he wipes some sauce that I managed to get on my nose.

  “Sounds good to me.” He smiles and we eat in a comfortable silence whilst watching our favorite show, American Horror Story.

  Tonight is my first night alone in this apartment and surprisingly I don’t find it weird or creepy. I thought I'd be lonely but I don't, which is both a good and bad thing. I love my independence as much as the next woman, but I al
so miss being with my friend.

  It’s already getting dark outside and I have a lovely picturesque view of the beautiful orange and purple streaked sky. I lean against the wall next to the window, still in my coat and shoes, and take in the beautiful scenery. Bernard meows and rubs against my legs, pulling me from my daydream. I pick him up and cuddle him to my chest.

  “How was your day, Bernard?” I ask him, fully expecting him to answer. Luckily, I’m not completely crazy because he starts meowing at me. I listen and reply to him. “Me too, Bernard. I had a long day but it was fun.” I kiss his furry head and he rubs against my chin. I smile. If anyone who could see me now they would think I was insane.

  Who would have thought that two weeks ago my life had turned to shit? Now look at me. I don’t mind Mondays as much, I’m still struggling to wake up and go to work, but that will forever be a war between me and mornings, and I’m happy. When I think about it, my life before that fateful Monday wasn't as perfect as I thought it was. I thought I was happy but it’s clear now that I was just going through the motions. I wasn’t having fun, I wasn’t intimate with my boyfriend, I wasn’t seeing my friends as much as I wanted and I was surrounded by the wrong people. Losing everything was the wakeup call I so desperately needed to get my life back on track. I wouldn’t have wanted to wake up one day and realize that I let life pass me by and hadn’t done all the things I wanted to do like going sky diving, mountain climbing, hiking, travel the world with my friends, or at least go on road trips. I’m only twenty seven; I don’t need to live my life as if I were fifty. I need to go out, have fun and meet new people, even if I am socially awkward. I just want to live my life and have fun and today is the day I start over.

  I smile to myself and set Bernard down on the floor. I take off my coat and hang it in the small closet that’s built into the wall by the front door. I take off my shoes and pull my hair into a messy bun. On my way to the bathroom, I pour myself a glass of red wine. I place my iPhone in the docking station, put on some music and strip. I turn on the shower and dance around whilst sipping my wine as I wait for the water to warm up.

  I step in after a few seconds, singing along to Meghan Trainor’s 'All About That Bass' and wiggling my ass to the music. I take my time washing and deep conditioning my hair, I shave my legs and everywhere that needs it and use my cotton candy sugar scrub. I take my time to pamper myself. I feel happy, probably the happiest I’ve been in a long time.

  I step out of the shower and grab one of my big fluffy towels and pat dry myself before wrapping it around myself. I feel good, I smell good, and damn it, I look good despite what that dipshit always told me about my extra weight. I smile at my reflection in the mirror and brush my hair before wrapping another towel around my head.

  I pick up my half empty glass of wine and my phone and walk back to the kitchen to make a start on dinner. When I was unpacking on Sunday Spencer took the time to go out to buy some groceries for me and I’m not sure if it was a good idea or not because, from what I can see in my cupboards and fridge, he’s only bought healthy stuff. All of the snacks are either low carb, low cal or low fat and my fridge is stocked with vegetables. I look in the freezer section and grin when I see a tub of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia. He knows not to mess with my ice cream.

  I grab what I need from the fridge and make myself some grilled lemon and mango chicken with sautéed vegetables. I had all of the stuff so I might as well eat healthy. I could’ve ordered a pizza, but new life, new me, right?

  I fill Bernard's bowls with some of his wet and dry food before walking into the living room with my dinner. I sit in my big L shaped couch and turn on the TV. I settle on watching the TV series Scream whilst eating and texting Spencer. I must admit I felt slightly lonely not seeing him when I walked through the door, we had gotten into our own little routine that I actually miss, but I need this. I need to live on my own, at least for a little while.

  I finish dinner, wash the dishes and allow myself a small bowl of ice cream before declaring to Bernard that it was time for bed. I’m exhausted; no doubt my hectic weekend is finally catching up with me. I hang my wet towels on the warm rack in the bathroom and walk to my bedroom, fully naked; completely forgetting that I still don’t have blinds, that the light is on and that people across the street will have a front seat view of me in my birthday suit. I run to my bed and jump under the duvet, covering myself up to my chin as if they can still see me naked.

  I set my many alarms for tomorrow morning and snuggle down in bed, relishing in the feeling of the sheets against my bare skin. Before Adam I always slept nude but he thought it was weird, so I had to wear pajamas. Now that I’m on my own again, I can sleep naked all I want.

  I sigh happily as I feel a small breeze coming in from the open window and wrap myself up like a human burrito. The soothing sound of falling rain lulling me to sleep in no time.

  I absolutely adore my new apartment. It was quite literally love at first sight and now that I’m all moved in, I feel like I’m home. Whilst I loved living with Spencer, I couldn't live with him forever and interrupt his life. I'm not the only one who seems to love this place, Bernard seems happy here too. He spent the first day exploring the entire place; it was quite fun to see him roam around and hide from Owen whenever he was close when him and Spencer helped me move in. Guess Spencer is the only big muscly guy he likes.

  It only took me the weekend to sort everything out. I suppose I could have moved in as soon as I had signed the contract, but I waited until the weekend. With work I didn’t have much energy at the end of the day or the time to really move everything in. I love my new job but constantly interviewing bands, fashion designers or models can be exhausting. Especially the driving, they don’t come into the office for the interviews, oh no, I have to go to them. I’ve had to drive four hours for a thirty minute interview with a model, who was late herself and was a right bitch. Then let’s not forget the four hour drive back, which turned into six hours thanks to the rush hour traffic.

  We had a 'house warming party' on Saturday. Not sure you can call it that when a bunch of boxes are scattered all over the place and I say party, but there weren’t very many people. There was Spencer of course, Owen, and a few of their friends. Thanks to Adam, who liked to keep me all to himself, I don’t have many friends and all my co-workers were already busy since it was such short notice.

  We ordered loads of food and spent the evening drinking and talking. At one point, Spencer pulled out my karaoke machine and we all had a go. It was such a fun night but I feel slightly bad for my neighbors. We were quite loud but no one has complained, so I don’t think we disturbed anybody. Hell, I’m not even sure the two apartments either side of me are occupied as I haven’t heard a peep from them so far. My guests left around two in the morning. I laid in bed and fell asleep pretty much instantly considering the stressful week I had, the moving in and the alcohol.

  Tonight it’s cold and rainy. Nights like this are my favorite. I fall asleep in no time listening to the rain hit the window. Bernard had fallen asleep by my feet a while ago and would probably stay there for the whole night.

  CHAPTER 5

  2 AM

  I groan when I hear a noise from next door that has rudely woken me up. I don’t think much of it at first; it’s probably just a neighbor, I didn’t know I had, dropping something. Maybe they were away over the weekend and have only just returned. I look at my phone to see what time it is and I’m ready to scream.

  Two fucking am!

  Who in the hell makes this much noise this late?!

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  The noise is coming from behind me.

  Thud. Moan. Thud.

  Oh hell no! They can’t be fucking. Not in the middle of the night.

  I bang on the wall with my fist, hoping they’ll get the message and shut up, but it only seems to spur them on.

  At first, I could only hear female groans, but now I can hear a very distinct low voice moaning and they
are fucking going at it like crazy.

  I cover my head with a pillow to try and muffle the sounds but after a couple of seconds I have to come out for air.

  I told Matt I’d end up with a couple fucking in the middle of the night. I fucking called it and now I’m stuck here. Is there a rule that lets you get your money back if you’re not happy less than seven days after signing the lease? Because if there is, I’m so moving out!

  Five minutes pass and the only thing they’ve managed to do, besides pissing me off, is make me horny. I’m all hot and bothered but I don’t want to be touching myself whilst listening to my neighbors fucking, that’d be fucking perverted. I sigh and climb out of bed, might as well get out of the room before they drive me mad.

  I stumble to the kitchen and pour myself a glass of cold water and grab some more ice cream. When you’re like me and haven’t had sex in a long time, you turn to food. I hope they’ll be done by the time I go back to bed, I can’t listen to that when I'm trying to sleep.

  Thirty minutes later, thinking they had time to finish up and fall asleep, I head back to my room and to my horror, I can hear them still going at it. Her moans getting more and more high pitched by the second. Please be close so my nightmare can be over soon, I beg you! I snort at Bernard who’s still curled up in a tiny fur ball at the foot of my bed completely undisturbed by our neighbor's antics. I climb back into bed and settle down again. There is complete silence next door and I start to drift off again.

  Just as I’m on the cusp of sleep, they start their giggling and moaning all over again. I’m ready to cry. I’m horny, frustrated and tired. I want to go and break down their door, punch the woman and then fuck her man. That’d satisfy all my current needs but no, I don’t do that. Instead, I grab my phone and my headphones to tune out the outside world and curl up into my tiny bubble like I used to do when my parents would yell at me for no reason. Hello old habits, we meet again.