A/N-

hey so i decided to write ANOTHER story (i know you all are totally sick of me XD). This is based off of one of those "my crush lives next door to me" AUs and its Kowen so i hope you'll enjoy it! this probably wont be anything long, but i really love writing modern aus so we'll see :) (And don't worry I'll still be focusing mostly on Reality Check)


It was mid-August when Owen's mother told him the news: that someone would be moving in next door to him. He'd been genuinely excited, hoping that it would be someone who loved books as much as he did. Someone who was his age, preferably. He kept his hopes up, but he knew it wasn't likely.

The chances of his new neighbor being his age — sixteen-years-old — were slim, but the probability of that person liking books? That would be even rarer. As he got older, Owen noticed that kids his age just didn't care about reading. It disappointed him, but that was okay!

Everyone had their hobbies, even if those hobbies only included playing sports and dating. Owen was the only person he knew who loved reading, aside from his best friend, Bethany. He didn't know how he'd get through school if it wasn't for her. Whether it was at the library or school, they were always hanging out. Bethany was Owen's greatest friend, and he was her's.

Up until seventh grade, he'd been sitting alone at lunch everyday. Back then, he'd had books to keep him company when he felt alone. Owen had gained a small circle of online friends, but obviously, they had never met him in person. If they had, they might've called him a nerd, and ignored him, just like the rest of his classmates.

That all changed on the day that he took a leap of faith, deciding to sit next to Bethany at lunch. She'd happened to be sitting alone, too. At first, she'd been extremely reluctant to be his friend. But, against all odds, they'd become fast friends. Owen was still unsure how someone like him could become best friends with someone like her, but it made sense, since they both loved books.

But Bethany wasn't the only friend he'd made.

Kiel, a boy who he'd met the following year, was the exact opposite of Owen. He was popular, funny, and probably the coolest person that Owen had ever met. Hands down. He even was in the magic club, which made him even cooler. Owen wasn't sure how they'd become such good friends, exactly, given how different they were. Kiel didn't even like reading, but that didn't matter to Owen.

Even still, the idea of making another friend was enough to lift his spirits. Between working at the library all summer, Owen hadn't had much of an opportunity to see his friends as much as he would've liked. Since Bethany lived closer, they hung out a couple times each week. He saw Kiel less often, since Kiel had been on vacation with his family for the past few weeks.

That would change when the school year started up again, but it didn't hurt to hope that maybe, just maybe, he'd make another friend. It would be nice, especially to have someone who lived a walking distance away.

Owen sat on the carpeted floor of his bedroom, a half-eaten ice cream sandwich in one hand as he scrolled through book theories on his phone. He kept looking over at the window, expecting to see the family's car pull up. They never did. His mom had sworn they'd be moving in this week, but at this point, Owen was almost positive that the whole new neighbor thing was a myth.

At this point, he'd be ecstatic if anyone showed up. He'd peppered his mother with questions, asking if she knew who the neighbors were, if they had any kids, how old they were, etc. But every time, she had replied that no, she didn't know. That left Owen in the dark, leaving his imagination to conjure up what his new neighbors would be like.

And then, he heard it. The sound of car engine humming, which grew louder with every passing second. At first, he'd assumed that it was only his imagination. It wasn't uncommon for his imagination to get out of hand, especially at nighttime. And even if there was a car out there, it wouldn't be the new neighbors! There was no way . . . was there?

Curiosity overtook his doubts. He set his ice cream sandwich on a plate and finally forced himself to stand up. His movements were slower than normal, as the summer heat caused him to feel slightly drowsy. He strode across the room to peer through the window, which had fogged up from all the humidity that had been happening lately. Even with the fogged-up window, he could make out the unmistakable shape of a car, which was slowly pulling into the driveway next to his.

His eyes widened. The driveway next to his. He rubbed the window, trying to get a better view. It was hard to see in the dark, but he knew that it was a car. There was no doubt about it. He felt excitement rush through him, and for a moment, he only stared. He watched as the car came to a stop, and two figures stepped out, carrying several bags as they walked to their house.

That was when Owen came back to his senses.

"Neighbors!" he shouted, throwing open his door and racing down the stairs, where his mother was reading a book on the couch. She was a librarian, so it came to no surprise that Owen found her reading in her free time. Not that he judged her for it, because he did the same thing at every chance he got, when he wasn't spending time with his friends.

He barreled down the stairs, leaving him barely enough time to catch his breath. "Mom . . . I saw . . . neighbors . . ."

His mother turned around to glare at him, but the look was far from angry. It was more out of annoyance, probably directed at Owen for interrupting her reading. Her expression shifted into confusion, and she crinkled her eyebrows. "Owen? What are you talking about?"

"Our neighbors!" Owen said, gesturing to the window for emphasis. When she continued to stare at him blankly, he added, "Our new neighbors. They're here. They're moving in right now."

She gasped. "They are?"

"Yeah! Come see!"

His mother slid a bookmark into the page, then set down her book down at what seemed like a snail's pace. Feeling too impatient and jittery to sit still, Owen drifted into the kitchen, where he stared out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of the new neighbors. From what he could tell, the lights were on in the house, which meant that someone was clearly living there.

"Owen," his mother said, and he turned to see her walking into the kitchen. "Can you grab the flour?"

"The flour?" Owen repeated incredulously. "We can't bake right now. We have new neighbors! Shouldn't we say hi?"

She rolled her eyes, chuckling as she ruffled his hair. "This is for the neighbors, not us. And once we're done baking cookies, you're going to be your nice, friendly self and deliver them to their house."

Well, that wasn't comforting to hear.

"What?" Owen asked, hoping he'd misheard her. "I have to go alone? That's not fair! Why can't you deliver them?"

"Owen."

"Sorry." He sighed, glancing back at the window. "But still, why can't you do it?"

"It's better when children do it," his mother replied, as she opened the bridge and took a few sticks of butter out. She smiled warmly at him. "And who knows. Maybe you'll find someone else who loves books! You could point them in the direction of the library. I'm sure they'd love that, since they're moving to a new area."

"Yeah, yeah," Owen said absentmindedly, his excitement wearing off a bit. He felt more nervous now, as the idea of greeting the neighbors alone formed in his head.

Not that he was shy, but he did tend to get embarrassed easily. It was all the more embarrassing that he'd have to deliver the cookies by himself, to people who he'd never met before. Who'd come up with the idea of giving food to neighbors, anyway? If these neighbors happened to hate his mother's cookies, he would definitely be the one who was insulted for it.

After they got out the rest of the ingredients, they got to work, Owen mostly watching as his mother did the actual baking part. The most he'd contributed to was dumping half of the chocolate chips into the batter, which had probably been too much, since he didn't know if the neighbors actually liked chocolate chip cookies. But nearly everyone he knew liked them, so he hoped that they would, too.

Unlike his mother, he was never very skilled at baking. He and Kiel had tried making a cake together once for Bethany's fourteenth birthday, but that had failed miserably. After that, Owen just didn't trust anything he baked to turn out good. If his mother hadn't been there to help make the cookies, Owen doubted anything would've turned out right.

The next twenty minutes seemed to go by painfully slowly, and Owen leapt out of his chair as soon as the oven dinged. Remembering how easily Kiel had once burned himself when he'd forgotten to put oven mitts on, Owen pulled on oven mitts from where they'd been sitting on the counter. He wretched the oven door open, and the scent of cookies wafted into his nose.

Grinning, Owen placed both hands on either side of the tray and pulled it out, placing the cookies on the counter. His mouth began to water at the sight. He was tempted to reach out and grab a cookie, but his was almost certain that his mother would notice, so he didn't. "Mom! The cookies are done!"

"Okay!" A moment later, his mother came back into the kitchen. Her eyes landed on the cookies, and she smiled in approval. "They look great! Let's get these on a plate."

No less than five minutes later, Owen shuffled outside with a plate of freshly baked cookies in his hands. The sound of crickets chirping filled his ears, which had heightened considerably as night wore on. It was late, but the air was still sticky and hot, providing no relief whatsoever. Even though the heat was an obvious excuse, he could guess that the sweat on his body wasn't only from that.

Everything will be fine, he assured himself as he made his way towards his neighbors' house. All he had to do was deliver the cookies to the neighbors, and then that was it. The conversation would be less than a minute, and if it turned out embarrassing, Owen wouldn't have to talk to them ever again. How bad could it go?

He crossed the grass that separated his house from theirs before climbing up the porch steps. His heart thudded in his chest, at a faster pace than it had any right to be. What was he so nervous about? It would be fine! All he had to do was deliver the cookies, and that'd be it. That was all. He'd be okay.

Taking a deep breath, Owen hesitantly lifted his hand, hovering it in the air for a moment before he pressed on the doorbell. Even when standing outside, he could clearly hear the familiar chime of the doorbell, followed by muffled voices from inside the house. He quickly straightened up, feeling strangely stiff for some reason. He heard footsteps, and before he knew it, the door was swinging open.

He almost dropped the plate of cookies.

It felt like time had stopped, if only for an instant. Owen wasn't sure if he was still breathing. There was a certain feeling in the air, almost like magic. And there was a girl standing in front of him, who seemed to be about the same age and height as him. What caught his attention the most was her hair, which was dyed pink and fell just above her shoulders. He thought that she was one of the prettiest girls he'd ever seen. Maybe the prettiest.

There was a surprised, wide-eyed look on her face, and the two of them stood there for a moment, simply gazing at each other. It occurred to him that he could stare at her forever, and he probably would've, if it weren't for the realization of what he was doing to hit him square in the face. One glance at the plate of cookies, and he suddenly remembered the reason that he was here.

"Oh!" Owen spoke up, rather dazedly. A blush formed on his cheeks, and his mind felt like it'd stopped working. His eyes were as wide as saucers. "Sorry. Hi, I'm Owen. Owen Conners. I live next door to you. You must be, um, the new . . ." She continued to stare at him, and he cut himself off entirely before he could make an even worse impression.

"Sorry, here." He shoved the plate of cookies in her hand, blushing hard. "What's your name?"

The girl glanced at the cookies in her hands, and he began to panic even more, wondering if he'd been too pushy. But then, she looked up at him with a light laugh. "I just said it."

"What?" His jaw dropped. "You did?"

"Yeah." She grinned. "It's fine, though. I always need people to repeat their names. I'm Kara Dox."

Kara Dox. It fit her perfectly. From her pink hair and quirky attitude, it just seemed like her. Owen found himself grinning back, almost uncontrollably. It felt weird to smile this much, especially when it was directed at someone he'd just met. But he didn't really care. Somehow, she hadn't run away from him by now. That could be a good sign!

"Cool," Owen said, his voice coming out quieter than he meant it to.

"Thanks for the cookies. I really wasn't expecting—"

Suddenly, a woman's voice shouted from inside. "Kara! Who are you talking to?"

Kara's smile faded, and she quickly turned back to the inside of her house. "Don't worry, it's no one!" She looked back at him, and this time, her smile was apologetic. "Sorry, I gotta go. But it was incredible to meet you, Owen." She grinned again. "I'm totally eating all of these cookies tonight. No doubt about it."

"Oh. U-Uh, that's good to know," Owen said, hoping she wouldn't notice how much he was blushing. "Well, I hope you enjoy them! We weren't sure if you liked chocolate chip cookies."

"Yeah, I do. Who doesn't like them?"

"People with bad taste?"

She giggled. The sound sent shivers down his spine, and for some reason all he wanted to do was say something else to make her laugh like that again. "Very true. We're the smart ones." Still holding the cookies in her arms, she backed away from the doorway. "Uh, I should go. I need to help my . . . mom with unpacking. I never thought moving to a new house would be so hard!"

"Right." He nodded, although he didn't have any experience with moving himself. "Um, if you need any help adjusting, I'm right next door. I'll usually be working at the library during the day, though, so you could probably find me there."

She tilted her head. "You work at the library?"

Mentally, Owen kicked himself. Why had he mentioned that? Kids his age usually didn't work at libraries, especially boys. Owen loved working there, but whenever he told other kids, they just gave him weird looks. He wouldn't be surprised if Kara did, too.

"Yeah," he said sheepishly, his eyes drifting towards his feet. "My mom is the librarian there."

"Oh, so you like reading?"

There was no point in hiding it. Reading was Owen's life. He couldn't lie, not about something like this. He nodded, glancing up at her. "Is that a bad thing?"

Kara's eyes widened, and she shook her head vigorously. "No, no! It's not a bad thing at all. Don't get me wrong, I like to read too." He smiled at that. "I just think it's really cool that you have a library near you. My old house didn't have a local library, so the only time I got to read books was at my school's library. And not all of my schools even had a wide selection of them."

Owen almost had to pinch himself to prove he wasn't dreaming. She actually thought that it was cool that he worked at a library. That never happened. He'd never heard anyone say that libraries were "cool". Well, aside from Bethany. He didn't know of many people who liked being in libraries in their free time.

Another thing about what she'd said stuck out to him, and he paused. "Not all of your schools?" he repeated slowly.

She blushed at that. "Yeah. My family moves around a lot, so I've gone to plenty of schools for way too short of a time. Not only that, but I've been . . . kicked out of a few."

"Oh, okay." His eyebrows shot up in surprise. He hadn't been expecting that . . . at all. He would never have guessed that someone like Kara would've been kicked out of school before. And several schools? How had that happened? Although he wanted to, Owen chose not to ask. He'd just met Kara, and he didn't want to accidentally insult her.

"Do you know how long you're staying here?" he asked, choosing to switch directions.

Kara shrugged. "No idea. But I hope it'll be more permanent. I'm kinda sick of moving." She chuckled a little, and Owen felt a fluttery sensation in his stomach.

"I can't even imagine," Owen said, shaking his head. "I've always lived in one place for . . . pretty much my entire life."

"You're so lucky."

He laughed, feeling his face heating up once again. "No!"

"You are!"

"I'm lucky that I don't get to travel?"

"Kara!" the woman's voice shouted again, and Owen felt a jolt of concern as the smile on Kara's face melted away. "What did I say? Who are you talking to?"

"It's no one!" Kara shouted back. She glanced back at him. "Sorry, I gotta go. My mom's already flipping out. I totally lost track of time. It was really nice to meet you, though."

Owen could only nod as he backed away from the door. "You too!"

She gave him a genuine smile, then, and Owen caught one last glimpse of her before she closed the door behind her. For a moment, Owen stood there, half-believing that his encounter with Kara had only been a dream. He'd been completely worried about what would happen when he talked to the neighbors, but it seemed that everything had worked out. More than he could've imagined it to.

There were butterflies in his stomach that definitely hadn't been there a few minutes ago. He didn't know what to expect with the whole having-a-new-neighbor thing, but there was a nervous excitement in his veins, and he knew that things were going to be okay. Turning around on his heels, Owen walked back down the stairs, almost in a trance. The sound of crickets was louder, now, and it echoed across their quiet neighborhood like a peaceful melody.

He smiled the whole way home.