Just a Little Series (Part 1)

by Tracie Puckett

“This is where you live?” Hannah assessed our two-story brick house.

  Matt smiled proudly and nodded, “Home, sweet home.”

  Hannah turned and pointed to the neighboring house. “Then I guess we’re neighbors,” she giggled. “My brother and I just moved in next door.”

  I stared at Hannah, suddenly realizing that she was in fact the same girl who’d watched me that morning as I’d set off for my run with Luke. Just like earlier that day, she kept her green eyes fixed on mine as if she’d taken a special interest in me.

  An eerie chill ran up my spine as I returned her stare; there was just something about her. Something about Hannah Jones didn’t rub me the right way.

  Once inside the house, Matt and Hannah spread the morning newspaper across the dining room table and began assessing the latest articles. As I struggled to fit between them in order to contribute to the assignment, Hannah moved back and looked at me straight on.

  “Julie,” she said with an edge in her voice, “two newspapers are better than one, wouldn’t you say?”

  I nodded as if the answer should’ve been obvious. I hadn’t known the girl for eight hours, and I was already ready to wring her neck. Her attitude just didn’t sit well with me.

  “We don’t use our paper next door,” she said, almost too sweetly. “It might be easier if you just run over and get it from the driveway. That way you can have your own.”

  “Great idea,” Matt put an arm across her shoulders. “Isn’t that a great idea, Julie?”

  I rolled my eyes in complete disgust at how quickly he’d taken to her.

  “I’ll be back,” I said, taking her order, but not doing so happily.

  As I reached the edge of the neighboring driveway and picked up the paper, a loud voice called over.

  “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

  I looked up to find a man somewhere around Luke’s age, I’d guessed, perched against the porch railing and looking down on me with a grin. His short, strawberry-blond hair moved slightly in the wind as he shook his head. Though he was close to Luke’s age, the similarities stopped there. This man was thin and cute, not rugged and handsome. He wore silver rectangular-framed glasses, and a grin that could make any girl fall weak in the knees. In the simplest of terms, he was as adorable as a dorky man could be; he was adorkable.

  “You go around stealing everyone’s newspapers, or you just targeting the new guy on the block?”

  Half-smiling, I stood tall as the man stepped off the porch and met me mid-driveway. He reached forward, took the newspaper from my hand, and nodded in thanks.

  “I’ll take that.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, looking back at our house. I suddenly felt like an idiot. Of course he thought I was targeting him, I hadn’t even tried to explain myself. “You must be Hannah’s brother?”

  I extended my hand to shake his, but he didn’t return the gesture. “That depends,” he said, his expression growing a little grim. “How do you know Hannah?”

  “Oh,” I mentally smacked myself, “she’s in my current events class. She’s working on a project with me and my cousin.” I nodded at our house. “We started working right after school, but only had one paper and well, I guess three was a crowd.” He nodded, still looking for elaboration. “She suggested that I come over and take your paper. I didn’t know it was going to be a problem. She said you guys didn’t need it.”

  “Well, I’m glad she’s getting involved,” he said, ignoring almost everything I’d just said. “She’s never been much for socializing.”

  “Ah,” I shrugged, “she had me fooled. I don’t think her will to work has quite as much to do with the assignment as it does my cousin, Matt.”

  “Oh, boy,” he said, shaking his head. Though he’d just said that his sister was never one for socializing, he didn’t seem too surprised that she’d already found herself a boy to cling to. “She’s not wasting any time, is she?”

  I smiled, but only out of politeness. I didn’t want to give Hannah’s brother any reason to believe that I hated his sister.

  “So between school and robbing neighborhood driveways, what do you find yourself doing for fun in Oakland? Any tips for a newbie?”

  I shrugged, “Sorry to report, but there’s just not a whole lot going on around here. It’s a small town.”

  He looked down the street, back at his house, and then back to me. “It sure is.”

  As I stared into his blue eyes, something vaguely familiar about his appearance struck me; it was almost as if I’d met him before. We shared a strange connection, something almost magnetic, yet I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was.

  “What brings you to town?” I studied his face a little closer. I couldn’t imagine it was a job offer because the economy had fallen in the toilet in recent years, but it couldn’t hurt to be polite (or nosy) and ask. “Job transfer?”

  “No,” he tore his gaze away from mine, “we just needed a new place for a fresh start, you know? Hannah threw the dart on the map, and we landed here in Oakland.”

  The man nodded, still smiling. His round eyes glistened beneath his glasses, and as the wind picked up, he finally extended his hand to shake mine.

  “Derek.”

  “Julie,” I shook his hand, “Julie Little.”

  Derek’s blue eyes widened as he looked down at me with an expressionless stare. A moment went by, and his mouth hung ajar as I stared back at him.

  “Julie,” he said, acting as though my name left a sour taste in his mouth. He pulled his hand back as if the simple touch of my skin would burn him. He stood taller and crammed both of his hands into his pockets. “Well, Julie,” he backed a couple of steps away, “it was nice meeting you, but I’ve gotta get back inside.” He tossed the newspaper back to me and turned to walk away as a police siren bleeped on the curb, and the sight of blue and red flashing lights came into view from the corner of my eye.

  Derek stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, looking from me to the cruiser, and then down to his feet. He stood perfectly still as the car came to a halt, and he looked as though he fully expected to be carted away.

  The cruiser lights flipped off and Luke stepped out of the car dressed in full uniform.

  “Here to arrest me?” I called over.

  With a small grin, Luke looked past me and his eyes landed on Derek. “Who’s your friend?”

  “Oh,” I looked between the two men, “this is our new neighbor, Derek.” I lifted the newspaper a little higher. “He’s letting me borrow his paper for a project. Derek,” I turned to my neighbor, “this is Luke. He’s my… he works with my uncle. He’s my mentor for a school job-shadowing project.”

  “Officer,” Derek nodded before turning back to me. “Again, it was nice to finally meet you, Julie.” He cleared his throat and nodded. “If you could, please tell Hannah not to be too long. She and I have some things to square away before the end of the day.”

  Derek took his porch steps quickly and disappeared behind the door.

  Luke looked at me with wide eyes.

  “Squirrelly guy,” he observed.

  “Yeah, well we were having a perfectly nice conversation before you turned the corner and scared the daylights out of him with your lights, siren, and pompous attitude.” I smacked him in the chest. “What’s with you?”

  “Just making sure you were alert,” he said, still looking at the house next door. “Learn anything interesting about the new neighbors?”

  I shrugged. “Nothing.”

  I traced his facial features with my eyes, taking special note of the way his scarred lip curved up.

  “What’s up?” I asked, still watching him closely. “You still on duty?”

  “I am,” he shook his head as if he’d lost track of where he was. “I was just passing by and thought I’d stop and see how you were feeling. How’re the legs?”

  He smiled at me like he somehow enjoyed the fact that I had underestimated the amount of pain I’d
be feeling after our morning run. After all the complaining I’d done, I wasn’t surprised he’d found it necessary to check in, but it was a sweet sentiment nonetheless.

  “Great,” I lied, too concerned with admiring his brown eyes. “Never been better.”

  He smiled, and for a brief moment, the air between us seemed to take on a heavy magnetic attraction; something had suddenly changed, and I could feel the space between our bodies closing with each passing breath.

  The gap between our bodies closed, and my heart took off on a wild cadence. My chest pressed lightly against his, and I stared up to watch his eyes as his face inched closer to mine. I felt my body jump as he reached up to move a stray hair from my face just before he leaned down and brushed his warm lips across my earlobe.

  I closed my eyes and let Luke’s closeness overcome me; I had no idea why he’d suddenly gotten so close, but I couldn’t even begin to care. He was close enough to touch, heck, he was touching, and every hormone in my little body raged like wildfire.

  “Keep your eyes peeled, Julie,” he whispered, brushing my ear with every move of his lips. But as fast as we’d gotten close, we were apart again. He backed away and winked as if he knew just how badly he’d been toying with my heart. He retreated to his car and turned back long enough to say, “I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”

  Jilted, I rolled my eyes and watched as he settled behind the wheel and drove away. I put my hand over my heart, hoping it would calm itself sooner or later, and turned to head back inside to join Hannah and Matt. But as I turned on my heel, I suddenly noticed Derek standing at his window, peeking through the curtains just as his sister had done earlier that day.

  Keep your eyes peeled, Julie.

  I finally understood what Luke had meant. It was the second time that day I’d been spied on from my neighbor’s window, and I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

  THREE