The Other Guy: A Textdoor Neighbor Romance

by Van Wyk, Jennifer

  “Come on, boy.”

  He licks his lips, whines a little bit, and then lies down.

  I smile widely and reach behind me to pet him. “He likes me.”

  “You gave him people food for three days. Of course he likes you.”

  “And played with him. Gave him shelter. Kind of like you.”

  “Apparently, we’re both easy.” I open my door but her words stop me, one foot on the ground, one still in the Jeep.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Nothing.”

  “Not nothing. What did you say?”

  “Just forget it, Jack.”

  “I won’t just forget it. Why did you say you’re easy?”

  She shrugs and looks toward the house. “They’re just words.”

  “Not to me. You’re far from easy, Sierra.”

  “So I’m hard?”

  I want to say no, I am, but figure now’s not the time. “I didn’t say that, either. Although, right now I’d dare to say you’re being a little difficult.”

  She huffs and spins back around, calling for Toby once again in an angry voice. He follows, albeit a little reluctantly, and she starts up the sidewalk toward Kyle’s front door. But she’s underestimated me if she thinks I’ll just let her walk away.

  Especially in a pissed off mood that I can’t figure out.

  I rush after her and gently grab her arm, pulling her to a stop.

  “What’s going on and do not say nothing?”

  “I broke up with my lying, cheating ex-boyfriend last week and practically jumped into your bed immediately after. I need to clear my head and think more clearly. I can’t be with anyone right now.”

  “Okay.”

  She stares at me for a long moment, cheeks pink from the cold temperature and her arms wrapped around herself. “That’s it? Okay? Well, good to know you don’t care!”

  “Whoa. Calm down.” Her eyes widen and I realize the words that just came out of my mouth. “Not calm down, calm down. Like… listen to me and hold up a sec. Can you do that?”

  “I don’t know if I can stay calm long enough.”

  “So were you holding back your crazy the last three days? That the problem? Just gonna unleash it all at once?”

  “Oh my gosh, you’re an asshole,” she snaps.

  “No. Just calling you out on flipping your switch.” Now her eyes are practically slits. Not sure if she can even see me through the small little sliver that’s open. I risk my manhood and turn her to face me, placing my arms on her shoulders. “Listen to me, okay? You’re not crazy. You’re not easy. You’re not hard. I have loved the hell out of having you around these past few days and if I pushed you to do anything too quickly, I apologize for that. I’d never want you to feel like I was only with you for sex.”

  “We never had sex,” she reminds me.

  “You know what I mean, smartass. Can you tell me what happened? When we were at my house, you were relaxed and didn’t seem to even want to leave. Now you can’t get away from me fast enough and you’re snapping at me. When I said okay, it was me trying to make you realize that I’m willing to wait for you to be ready for this to be more. Not that I don’t want that. Because I do. But like you said, you just broke up with your boyfriend and while I still haven’t gotten the full story there, I do recognize that it’s not something you should just ignore and brush under the rug like it never happened.”

  “Okay.” She smirks and takes a step closer to me. “I’m sorry for going a little insane for a few minutes. I’m kind of scared, all right?”

  “About what?”

  “This.” Her voice is barely above a whisper and she’s staring at my chest. I place a finger under her chin and lift her face so she’s looking at me.

  “What do you mean?”

  “This feels… different. And it scares me. I’ve never had this before and I don’t know what it means. But it’s terrifying how —”

  “Right it feels?” I answer for her, interrupting her. She nods in agreement.

  “Yeah.”

  “It’s not lost on you that I’m over thirty years old and single. That means I haven’t felt this way before either. Ever think it only takes one time — one person — to feel this way? To realize that timing might finally be on our side?”

  Her eyes sparkle as she watches me lower my mouth to hers and she places her hands on my chest between us. I pull her close and show her just how right it is. She shivers and I’m not sure if it’s because it’s fifteen degrees out here or because of our kiss.

  “You’d better go in and get warmed up. I’ll call you tonight, okay?”

  She looks nervous when she says, “You don’t have my number.”

  “Shit. That’s right. Here.” I hand her my phone open to my contacts so she can put her number in.

  She types away then hands it back to me. “Now you do.”

  I hold up the phone like it’s an award. “Now I do.”

  She looks at the phone then up at me, swallowing hard. “Thank you for letting me crash at your place for the past few days.”

  “Believe me, the pleasure was all mine.” I wink and give her one more kiss before making sure she and Toby get inside Kyle’s house okay.

  Yesterday I had my friend Neil, who helps manage the gym, open up because keeping it closed one day was enough. He offered to do the same today and I took him up on it, but still want to stop in. It’s not that I feel the need to be there constantly, however, the gym is mine and I’m protective, maybe a bit controlling, and like to be present.

  I spend a few hours checking emails and messages, and cleaning the locker rooms while running a load of towels in the washing machine before drying them. Those are things I could hire someone else to do, but I take pride in ownership and enjoy doing it.

  I check the fridge for our stock of energy drinks and bottled water that my members can purchase as well as protein bars that we keep behind the counter. Then I spend a bit of time working with a few people who came in for some one-on-one help, which is the only thing we offer here. Our coaching is more about making sure our members are using the correct form and won’t hurt themselves, pairing people up who are at the same level to spar with, monitoring the bags and ring.

  Before long, it’s time to close up the gym but it feels good to have spent the day working again. Not that the last few days were a hardship in any way.

  When I get home, it’s quiet. Far too quiet. I’d gotten used to the noise and chaos that Toby and Sierra brought with them. I turn on the TV just so it isn’t silent in the house but it’s not the same.

  Not being able to help myself, I decide to text Sierra. She might need to take things slow, which I’m okay with, but that doesn’t mean I can’t let her know that I’m thinking of her.

  I pull up my messages and hit the little icon to create a new text and choose Sierra’s name.

  Only…

  Me: No problem. Have a good day.

  Unknown: Oh, I’m sure I will.

  I’m a little confused and wonder if she somehow gave me the wrong number because this text thread isn’t brand new, like it should be. It’s from one of Toolbag’s most recent one-night stands.

  “What the hell?” I ask out loud.

  Unfortunately, my brain is having a really hard time catching up with what I’m seeing because this doesn’t make sense.

  Unless…

  The past three days hit me like a truck.

  Cheating ex-boyfriend.

  Not just cheating. Lying, too.

  I don’t even have to look through my texts to recall a conversation that should have been a little more enlightening when Sierra showed up on my doorstep with Toby.

  All hell broke loose last week for me. My girlfriend found out, I had a full glass of beer dumped on my head, and kicked out of my favorite bar.

  And this is my fault, how? And girlfriend? You had a girlfriend this entire time?

  I did. But I’ll get her back. She threw a fit and left but I know her, s
he’ll be back. She took my fucking dog with her, too. Probably so I’d chase her. So if she doesn’t come back on her own, I’ll be able to go after her to get my dog back.

  His girlfriend.

  His dog.

  “What the actual fuck?” I ask aloud.

  I pace in my living room staring at my phone, the most recent text from Unknown pulled up. It doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t Sierra just tell me if she was the person who texted me that day? The same day that she showed up at my house then stayed for three more. Why wouldn’t she tell me her ex-boyfriend was the guy who’s been giving girls my number?

  What irks me the most, is that I thought she and I had the chance to build something. But how can we do that if our relationship — our friendship — is based on a lie?

  I’m not a person who ignores life so rather than brush this new bit of information under the rug, like she so conveniently did, I decide to send her a text. And if she doesn’t respond to that, I’ll call.

  Me: When were you going to tell me?

  I wait for a few seconds and see her reply starting immediately. I take a seat on the couch, my knee bouncing as I wait to see what she’s about to say.

  Sierra: Whatever do you mean?

  I actually smile because if she’d have said anything else, I’d have been a bit disappointed.

  Me: That you stole my t-shirt. What else could I be talking about?

  I actually have no idea if she did, but I did see a bulge in her coat that I thought was a bit mysterious.

  Sierra: Oh, right! That just slipped into my hands and under my coat while you weren’t looking. Completely innocent.

  Me: Here I thought you wanted to keep sleeping in it.

  Sierra: You caught me. I’m actually wearing it right now.

  Given the fact that I texted her to get her to admit she’s been lying to me, imagining her in my clothes is not good.

  Me: Aside from clothing theft, anything else?

  Sierra: ***taps chin*** Nope. I think I’m all out of confessions.

  Me: Are we really gonna do this? Unknown… 19 I think?

  Sierra: ***sighs*** Okay. Okay. I confess.

  Me: What is it you’re confessing?

  I sit comfortably as I imagine her rolling her eyes and squirming. Then I’m startled when my phone starts ringing with a FaceTime call.

  I press connect and laugh when a close-up vision of Sierra’s face making a puffer fish face fills my tiny screen.

  I pull my phone right next to my face and pull the funniest face I can muster, eyes crossed and cheeks sucked in.

  We both laugh.

  When we look normal again, phones at an appropriate distance from our faces, I take her in and am a little disappointed that she was lying earlier about wearing my shirt. Not that I expected her to be, but it would have been an awesome surprise.

  “I should have told you,” she blurts out and winces.

  “Right.”

  “I just… was embarrassed.”

  “About what?” I ask but have a feeling I know the answer. And it honestly pisses me off a little bit. She has nothing to be embarrassed about. Just because the guy she was with is a cheating asshole doesn’t mean anything about her. That’s all on him.

  “The guy I was living with was sleeping with pretty much the entire town, sending his girls your number so you would have to deal with them.”

  “I think that conversation is for another day, when I can show you how asinine that is.”

  “Huh?”

  I sigh. “Sierra, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s on him, not you. Well, the not telling me part is on you but him cheating? He’s an idiot and that has nothing to do with you.”

  “Hard to believe it can’t be.”

  “Put it out of your mind, okay?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  She looks away and murmurs for me to hang on. The phone jostles around a little bit, the screen swaying this way and the next before her face appears once again.

  “Where are you?”

  “In bed.”

  I stifle a groan at the memory of her in my bed last night. We’d worn each other out doing everything but having sex and neither of us had the desire to untangle ourselves. It was the first time I’d actually slept with a woman in years, cuddling had never really been my thing but it didn’t feel forced or uncomfortable with Sierra.

  Like everything else between us, it felt natural and right.

  When I woke up this morning, her hair was spread all over the pillow as she laid on her back, her arms stretched out above her like she was waiting for me to devour her body once again. I couldn’t deny either of us, so I woke her up with my mouth between her legs. Her moans and sated smile when I crawled back up her body and kissed her told me she thought it was the perfect way to wake up.

  “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “The night I went back, Jeff, that’s my ex’s name, and I went out to dinner at this place called Murphy’s. We’ve been there a million times before, it was kind of our favorite. But someone came over and introduced herself. Long story short, it didn’t take me long for the pieces to come together. She was one of the women who you,” she raises a hand and does finger quotes, “broke up with for him.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. She wasn’t pleased.”

  “Whoops.”

  “I have no idea what kind of things he’s been promising these women. Why would they think he’s offering more than just a one-night stand?”

  I shake my head and shrug. “Asking the wrong guy that one. Maybe he doesn’t have the guts to let them down?”

  “He’s not even that good,” she mutters, wrinkling her nose.

  Laughing, I scrub a hand over my head. “Nice, Sierra.”

  “What? It’s the truth!” She waves a hand in front of her face as if to wipe away the thought. “Anyway, she dumped beer on his head, the owner Nick kicked him out. Apparently he’d been going there often to pick up ladies. I honestly don’t know how he wasn’t caught before that night.”

  “Then you texted me?”

  She blushes and winces. “Yeah, that. I don’t know… I guess I was a little irritated to discover it was you? I have no idea why, other than just being confused by everything I was feeling.”

  “Why wouldn’t you just tell me? And how did you get my number?”

  “I may have gotten a little drunk that night and may have walked over to her and gotten your number.” I raise my eyebrows but really have no idea how to respond. If I’d have put a stop to this in the first place, maybe none of this would have happened. Although, I’m glad she broke up with him. He obviously didn’t deserve her. “Nick drove me home, helped me load up all my stuff, and I took off the next morning.”

  “And Toby?”

  “What about him?”

  “Funny thing. After you texted me, I reached out to him because I was pissed he was still using my number. Turns out it was you, but I obviously didn’t know it at the time. Anyway, he mentioned that shit hit the fan and you broke up with him. He also mentioned that you stole his dog.”

  “Oh, that. Yeah, I did that.”

  My eyes widen. “Sierra!”

  “Jack! Do you blame me? Look at him!” She pans the phone over so it’s zoomed in on a snoring Toby then puts her face right next to him, baby talking to him and kissing all over his face. “I couldn’t let him stay there with Jeff. I just couldn’t. He doesn’t love him like I do.”

  “You realize he’s going to want his dog back, right?”

  “No, he won’t. He’ll think he does but I know Jeff and one less responsibility the better.”

  “Next question.”

  “Uh oh,” she says, sitting back up and resting against a wall of pillows.

  “How are you not upset? Your ex was cheating, and not just once, and you seem perfectly happy. Like it didn’t even bother you?”

  “Oh, boy. This is… well,
a long story.”

  I lie down so my head is resting on the arm of the couch, placing an arm behind me. “I’ve got time.”

  “You probably need some backstory here. My parents’ marriage was far from normal. To say they ran hot or cold would be putting it mildly. So I saw passion in a marriage as a bad thing. Having someone in your life that you can’t take your eyes off or keep your hands off only leads to the hot and cold, you know what I mean?”

  “Not really,” I admit.

  She blows out a breath. “My parents, they were either fighting — loudly — or making up — also loudly.” I pull a face that makes her giggle and nod. “Exactly.”

  “But what does this have to do with Jeff?”

  “I wasn’t passionate about him. I was upset, sure. Mostly because I felt like an idiot for not seeing it. I also wondered if there was something wrong with me because I wasn’t all that mad. I lived with him, and liked him enough.”

  “Liked him enough? Sierra, that’s not the way to look at a partner.”

  “Bingo. That’s what I mean. And that’s what I sought out. Until…”

  “Until?”

  “You. You scared me from the beginning because even when we first met, I felt something stronger. This pull that tugged me to you. I’ve never had that before because I’ve made sure to avoid it. Every boyfriend I’ve had, I’ve always had more lukewarm feelings for. Hot leads to cold.”

  I finally get what she’s saying. She thinks that you can’t have passion without the fighting. Because that’s what she grew up seeing. I can’t say that it doesn’t make a little bit of sense, but it is pretty sad. From the little time I’ve spent with her, I can’t imagine her not being passionate about anything in life, including what happens between the sheets. For her to think that you can’t have one without the other… well, shit.

  “So you thought you would protect yourself by being with men who didn’t turn you on?”

  “Yes,” she whispers.

  “Why were you quiet this morning?”