Neighbor-Boy & Neighbor-Girl
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"And then the old man threw the bodies into the stream. After that he went back into his house. Some people say he's still out there, waiting until there's another dark night when he can make another kill." Claire whispered in a spooky voice, holding Massie's lavender scented candle near her face.
"Gawd, Claire. These stories of yours freak the crap out of me." Massie lay back onto her purple sleeping bag. She threw the magazine across the room and called Bean over.
The girls, sans Alicia, were gathered in Massie's room for their Friday night sleepover. (Alicia was in Spain for a wedding.) Claire had suggested they tell scary stories after the power had gone out, and they had lit all of Massie's scented candles. Dylan and Kristen were sitting on Massie's bed and braiding each other's hair, while Claire sat in Massie's white modernist chair, telling scary stories and Massie read the October issue of Vogue.
"Sorry. I have a high tolerance for fright." Claire smirked. The flickering flame demonically illuminated her blue eyes.
"Yeah, well we don't. And if you haven't figured it out, you are making the creepiest face ever right now!" Dylan squeaked and huddled against Kristen.
Just then, the intercom buzzed, signaling there was someone at the door. Claire, Kristen, and Dylan all screamed at the top of their lungs and Claire lunged on top of them and forced her way between them.
"Claire, I thought you weren't afraid." Massie rolled her eyes at her friend's immaturity.
"I can't believe you aren't scared. We are ah-lone in the dark, both of our parents are in the city tonight, and the electricity is out so if there is a murderer at the door, we are so screwed it is crazy!" Claire breathed in heavily. She pulled out her LG Voyager that Massie bought her and held it up to see if she could get a signal. "No signal! Now I can't even call Cam!"
This remark caused the other three girls to giggle. Ever since Claire and Cam had gotten back together at the school's science fair the previous month, they had been inseparable.
The intercom buzzed again, and the girls screamed for a second time. Dylan, Claire, and Kristen turned to Massie with looks of fear in their eyes as the buzzing of the intercom subsided.
"You better go get it. Do you have a baseball bat?" Kristen suggested. Massie shot her a look. Kristen looked around the room. "Okay, take your big standing up lamp thing."
Massie scampered over to the purple floor lamp and unplugged it. With surprising strength she lifted it up and held it like a spear. Massie quietly tread out of her bedroom on the balls of her feet. She crept down the stairs in complete darkness, and took a deep breath as soon as she reached the huge, oak front door. Massie turned the polished knob and raised the lamp above her head.
The door creaked open to reveal a shadowy figure. Massie leapt backwards, and prepared to attack with her lamp.
"Massie?" A familiar voice came out of the darkness. "Are you holding a lamp?"
"Plovert?" Massie asked, surprised. "Why are you here?"
"I live next door, remember? We've been neighbors since we were four! Anyways, my parents took the excuse of the blackout to get drunk, so they sent me over here to make sure your okay. I think they just wanted to get rid of me." Chris explained.
"Not surprised." Massie guffawed a little. Massie's parents were always going next door to the Plovert's, "for drinks." They always came back talking loudly and giggling. Massie always thought it was hilarious.
"Can I come in? I'm getting soaked out here." Chris asked Massie. Massie realized he had been standing there in the pouring rain. She ushered him into the house and he continued. "And do you want to put down the lamp? You're making me a little nervous."
"Dylan, Kristen and Claire are in my room upstairs and we have a few candles, but we haven't looked for any flashlights yet." Massie slowly lowered the lamp, and then closed the front door. "Ah! Where did you go?"
"Still here." Chris replied. Massie reached out her arms and started walking around the foyer in the fashion of a zombie, in an attempt to locate Chris. "Just follow my voice."
"Achh!" Massie grunted as she crashed directly into Chris. "Sorry about that."
"It's okay." Chris laughed. Massie realized she was still hanging onto him, and she delicately extricated herself, but still hung onto his sleeve.
"Alright. I think we start looking in the kitchen for flashlights." Massie decided. "I am pretty sure Inez keeps them in there."
"Okay. Here. How about you hold my hand so that we don't get lost or whatever." Chris reached out and caught Massie's hand.
"Fine. But if I crash into something and it's your fault, Gawd help me, I will kill you!" Massie squeezed her eyes together in an attempt to make out where they were. "I can't see anything."
Massie and Chris edged along through the extensive downstairs of the Block's estate. They reached the kitchen, which was completely dark, save the small patch of light from the window that the rain pounded against.
"It's raining so hard out there." Massie stared at the rain pounding against the window.
"I know. You left me standing out there for about an hour!" Chris playfully reminded Massie.
"That's because we thought you were a murderer!" Massie laughed and pulled open one of the drawers and started looking for a flashlight.
"Oh, of course." Chris snickered and rummaged through the kitchen drawers, looking for flashlights. "That's the most logical explanation."
"Watch it, neighbor-boy. You don't want to be on my bad side." Massie semi-joked.
They started walking towards the other side of the room, and Chris tripped over the leg of one of the bar stools at the granite island in the kitchen. He fell down on the ground, bringing Massie down with him.
"Oww." Massie whined. She whacked Chris on the shoulder. "I told you not to make us fall!"
"At least you had me to cushion your fall." Chris mumbled from his position underneath Massie.
"What's that smell?" Massie crinkled her nose, even though Chris couldn't see it in the darkness.
"I can't smell anything." Chris sniffed the air.
"Oh, I know what it is. It's the stink of smart ass!" Massie burst out giggling at her own joke.
"Wow. Clever, Massie." Chris rolled his eyes. "Well, at least your jokes are better than they were in middle school. I can't tell you how happy I am that you aren't going around saying, 'Are you a gardener? Then why do I give a crap?'"
"Okay. It was really, 'Do you sell fertilizer? Then why do you think I give a crap?'" Massie corrected Chris. "And it wasn't like you were so cool in middle school either!"
"What? I was, and am, the definition of cool!" Chris exclaimed.
"Yeah, remember when you went through that phase where you thought you were a 'playa' and you were those white tracksuits?" Massie snickered and made air quotes. "You and Kemp thought all the girls were in love with you."
"Hey! I take offense to that! Some girls thought I was cute!" Chris sniffed with an air of his pride being injured.
"Like who?" Massie countered.
"Well, you don't seem that repulsed by me." Chris' face was lit up by a sliver of moonlight that came through one of the windows.
"How do you get that, neighbor-boy?" Massie pushed her dark bangs out of her eyes and looked at Chris.
"Hm. Maybe because you have been lying on top of me for the past seven minutes and haven't moved." Chris pointed out.
"You didn't move either. Or ask me to move." Massie retorted, realizing that they really were in a compromising position.
"Do you really think I am going to ask the hottest girl at O.C.D. to get off of me?" Chris asked Massie incredulously. "No way neighbor-girl. And anyways, you might have hurt yourself in the fall and just been lying on me as way of recovery."
"Since when do you call me neighbor-girl?" Massie inquired, ignoring the rest of what Chris said.
"I figured since you call me neighbor-boy, which is probably the lamest nickname in the history of humankind, that I get to call you whatever I want." Chris answered with a smirk, which was imperceptible in the darkness. "And I want to call you neighbor-girl."
Massie and Chris both lay there in silence for a minute. The rain was lashing against the window, with short bursts of intensity. Massie felt her heart rate increasing with the rain.
Chris leaned towards her, and his lips lightly brushed against hers. Massie pressed against him and kissed him harder. She felt like the lightning that was striking outside was shooting electrical currents from her lips all the way down her body.
"Massie? Who was at the door?" Kristen appeared at the door, holding a flashlight. Claire and Dylan were following her closely. Upon seeing Massie on top Chris, they all gasped collectively and stood dumbstruck.
"It was…um…Chris. We were looking for flashlights. He was kind of banished from his house." Massie rolled off of Chris and they both awkwardly stood up and dusted themselves off. "Oh. You found flashlights."
"They were in the hall closet." Kristen's eyes were as wide as saucers. She gave a small wave. "Uh. Hey Chris."
"Sup." Chris coughed into his elbow. "So. What were you guys up to?"
"We were playing Candy land upstairs." Claire snapped out of her shock and answered. Massie raised her eyebrows.
"I love that game!" Chris exclaimed. "Can I play?"
"Sure." Claire nodded. She looked over at Massie who was smirking.
"Candy land?" Massie shook her head and giggled. "How did you guys find that?"
"It was in your closet. And I have to say, it looks very well loved." Dylan teased Massie.
"Whatever, dweebs. Let's go." Massie signaled for them to head upstairs.
Once Chris, Dylan, and Kristen were halfway up the stairs, Claire pulled Massie back and motioned for her to be quiet.
"What was going on back there?" Claire widened her big blue eyes.
"He tripped over a chair leg when we were looking for flashlights, and I tripped over him. That's how I ended up on top of him. Then you guys walked in." Massie shrugged her shoulders and continued up the stairs, leaving a confused Claire in her wake.
"Last one up there has to use the ugly orange person to play!" Chris yelled and started racing up the stairs. Massie started up the stairs two at a time, and sprinted past him into her room.
"I guess you lose, Neighbor-boy." Massie grinned and hooked her pinky through his.
A/N: I was in the mood for a Massie and Plovert pairing. Its not an AU, because the only thing that is different is that Massie lives next door to Plovert. This takes place after Bratfest. I guess I was just feeling like writing like writing a little one-shot. Review if you like it, review if you don't.