This was a late update, I know. But it took a lot of time to plan things out! I'm still navigating through this and making sure I can keep things consistent. But it's here, finally. So enjoy!
"Where have you been, Leaf?" May interrogated. "I've been calling you all day!"
The brunette remained on her balcony, the breeze of the night becoming a bit too chilly.
"I was taking care of something!"
May scoffed. "All day?"
"Yeah."
"Leaf, that's so…" she struggled to find a word for it. "Suspicious."
"May, there's nothing suspicious about…"
She listened intently as she anticipated what her friend would say. Not answering your phone? Disappearing for an entire day without a valid excuse? Essentially going missing?
"…anything—"
"Leaf."
Her friend finished the rest of her sentence incredibly quickly. "—that I did or didn't do today."
May took multiple seconds to process what she said. "What—"
"Let's talk about your cute neighbor friend."
"Let's… not do that."
May leaned on her balcony and peered at the street below her. Because of her position on the second floor, the height wasn't dizzying.
"Please, May," Leaf begged.
The brunette rolled her eyes. "He's not my friend."
"But he is your neighbor," Leaf confirmed.
May paused slightly. "Yes."
"And he is cute."
She rolled her eyes again. "Leaf."
"May," her friend mimicked.
May looked to her right to ensure that his balcony was indeed empty before giving in to her friend's request. She sighed and lowered her voice.
"He has a girlfriend, Leaf."
She listened to her friend gasp at the news.
"Yeah," May said. The night air lapped against her skin.
"What?!"
"I know."
"But he was perfect."
May decided she'd had enough of the cold breeze and stepped back into her living room. "He's not perfect. He's just—" May sat down on her sofa. "Green."
It might have been her imagination, but she thought she heard muted laughter. She narrowed her eyes in the direction of Drew's apartment and wondered if he could hear her from the living room, too.
"Do you know his name yet?" Leaf asked.
May whispered her answer. "Drew."
"Why are you whispering?" Leaf whispered in response. She gasped. "Oh my god, he's in your apartment, isn't he?"
"What? No—"
"He's totally in your apartment."
May laughed lightly. "No, he's not—"
"Oh, wait," Leaf interrupted. "I can't talk right now. I'll call you back later."
"What?" May asked, confused at the sudden change of pace. "Why?"
"I really have to go, May!" Leaf said again. "Love you! Bye!"
The line went dead and May stared at the blank screen of her phone.
"Bye," she said softly.
She glanced at the three walls in front of her and sighed. What was going on with Leaf? She turned her attention to the counter and spotted the uneaten loaf of bread. The weight of her awful day was still on her shoulders. Not even her friend at the park could help her feel better now.
May lifted herself off of the couch and padded down the halls, turning off light switches as she went. Upon reaching her room, she turned on her lamp and shut the door. Carefully, she crawled on her bed and sat cross-legged facing the wall.
Apparently, her room and Drew's room shared a wall. Which meant he was probably less than ten feet away from her right now. She listened intently to hear anything at all, but heard nothing.
Was he even there? Maybe he lied about the whole thing.
"If you want to talk," came Drew's muffled voice, "we can talk."
May's eyes widened. Did she say something out loud?
She chose to stay absolutely silent.
"I can practically feel you staring at me through the wall."
She instantly looked towards her window, embarrassed by something he couldn't entirely prove. Again, she said nothing.
"So do you want to talk?"
Without turning her head, she slowly looked in the direction of the wall they shared. May tried to battle the smile that was tugging at her lips.
No. Absolutely not. Never again.
"Yeah," she said.
She heard him laugh lightly as her fingers drummed against her thigh. A smile graced her own lips and she ran a hand through her hair. Leaf would be so proud of her.
After digging through her closet to find a sweater, May opened the door to her balcony and waited for her neighbor to join her.
His door opened just as hers was closing and he stepped out onto their meeting place. May hugged herself to stay warm and watched him emerge from his apartment. His hair was slightly messy. Maybe he had just tugged on a T-shirt before he left his room. He softly shut his balcony door and met her eyes. She couldn't believe she agreed to do this.
"Hi," May said softly.
"Hi," he reciprocated.
She let her eyes dance across the contours of his face. She could feel the wind blow her hair in the direction of the city streets. The night around them was still very much alive.
His eyes were soft and his lips were curved slightly.
"I'm going to talk to you," May said.
Drew waited for her to finish her sentence, but she said nothing else. He gave a curt half-nod and held back a chuckle.
"Alright," he said, clearly amused.
May held up a finger briefly before returning it to where it rested on her arm.
"Just this once," she said.
He grinned. "Okay."
She could still see how long his eyelashes were, even in the darkness of the night.
"One time," she laminated.
He said nothing.
She pointed downwards.
"This is that one time," May explained at the same time he said, "Never again. Got it."
They stared at each other in silence, May cautious and Drew entirely enthused. A car below honked its horn, but neither of them looked.
May sighed and looked down at her feet before switching her weight to her other leg. "So."
"So," he said.
"I have some questions for you," she challenged.
He briefly returned her stare before bending down to pick up the paper ball that still rested on his balcony.
"Alright."
She watched him grab it and stand back up.
"Do you have any questions for me?" she asked.
"Yeah. I do."
"Okay. Well make them count, because this is it."
She could feel her resolve crumbling the longer he looked at her with that stupid smirk.
"Alright." Drew tossed the paper ball at her. "What was burning this morning?"
She caught it and examined it in her fingers. It had somehow been crumpled so that her last name was exposed on the outside of the ball. That must have been why he didn't call her 'May' earlier.
"This is the one chance you get to talk to me—" She tossed it back at him. "And that's what you want to know?"
He caught the ball and shrugged. "It's been bugging me."
Toss. Catch. May debated keeping the answer from him, but decided it wouldn't hurt, given they would never speak again after tonight.
"Pancakes."
Toss. Catch.
"Oh, interesting," he said.
He threw the ball back at her and she caught it, a smile breaking across her lips.
May tossed the ball back without saying anything at all.
He almost laughed. "What?"
"Why aren't you asking me serious questions?"
He tossed the ball back at her. "That was a serious question."
Catch.
"This is your only opportunity," May sang before continuing their tossing pattern.
Drew held onto the paper ball instead of throwing it back at her. "Okay. The next one's going to be really serious."
May felt herself relaxing into their conversation as she leaned onto her railing with one arm, still facing his direction.
"Okay."
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah."
Drew jerked his head towards the cityscape. "Do you see that apartment over there?"
Intrigue suddenly washed over her. Was there something she didn't know about this part of the city? Was he going to tell her a ghost story?
He must have seen the interest on her face because his smirk returned.
May looked across the way and tried to see which apartment he could have possibly been referring to.
"The one with the curtains or the one with the lights on?"
"The one with the lights on."
She watched intently as she tried to see something wrong with it.
"Every night," Drew started.
May gave him her undivided attention as she impatiently waited for him to finish his sentence. He paused for dramatic effect and May felt like exploding.
"The lights go out," he stated.
She stared at him and let that information sink in before realizing what was actually happening.
Drew held onto the railing and laughed as quietly as he could. May clenched her fists as her cheeks burned.
"Drew!" she yelled out of frustration.
He looked up at her suddenly, still holding onto the railing. May realized her mistake and immediately covered her mouth with her hand. The two stared at each other for multiple seconds. A car with a loud engine whizzed around a corner below them.
"I can explain," May said quickly through her fingers.
Drew leaned on his railing and awaited her explanation.
"It was on your letter," she said, hugging herself again.
He rested his head in his hand and placed his fingers along the side of his face.
"That I didn't read, by the way," she added.
He nodded, clearly amused.
"And…" May struggled to find something substantial to add to her argument.
"I just don't think it's fair," Drew murmured, "that you've known my name this entire time and you won't tell me yours."
May's eyes flicked to the paper ball that was still in his hand. "You're holding my resume."
"I want you to tell me."
At some point, May had moved to the corner of her balcony closest to Drew's apartment and had leaned on the railing as well. Drew had done the same. The two were as close to each other as their restrictions would allow.
"Not going to happen," she said.
May watched as the moonlight illuminated Drew's hair and graced his skin with a light glow. His eyes were slightly lidded and she could feel their conversation entering a softer territory.
Drew shifted his weight and leaned on his forearm. He looked out into the city briefly before capturing her again with those dragon-like eyes.
"You didn't ask me anything," he said.
He was right. She'd somehow failed to ask him any of the things she wanted to know about. But now didn't really seem like the time anymore.
"When's your party?" she asked.
He grinned at her.
Their next words overlapped.
"Not that I'm going—"
"I thought you weren't coming?"
"I'm not."
Drew patiently waited for her to explain.
"I just need to know when it is to avoid it."
He nodded slowly. "Oh, to avoid it."
"Right."
The way he was looking at her. She could feel herself falling, against her will.
After a couple of seconds of heavy silence, he still had not answered her question.
May tried her best to keep from giggling. She'd quickly gone from never wanting anything to do with him to wishing she could stay out on her balcony for the rest of the night.
"So, when is it?" she asked.
He waited half a second before answering. "Saturday."
"That's in two days," May murmured.
"It is," he confirmed.
He didn't ask again if he'd see her there. They both knew the answer.
"I have some bad news," she said to him.
"And what is that?"
"You wasted your last conversation with me," May said softly.
The cool night air rippled through her, though Drew didn't seem to be bothered by it.
He shook his head slightly. "No, I didn't."
May smiled. "You don't think so?"
Drew knew close to nothing about her. And she definitely knew almost nothing about him. There was still so much about him that went unanswered.
"No," he said.
"Why not?"
His gaze jumped back and forth between her eyes. "Because this wasn't our last conversation."
The brunette felt a smile tug at her lips. He was probably right. No matter how much she promised herself she would have nothing to do with him, something about him warranted her attention.
The two shared a brief comfortable silence before a sharp whisper pierced through the night.
"May!"
The brunette jumped slightly and made eye contact with Drew to confirm that he'd heard it, too.
"May!" came another sharp whisper.
Drew's eyes widened as he made the connection between the name and his new neighbor.
May peered over the railing of the balcony and saw a figure waving at her in the darkness. Her heart soared immediately, and she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Can you let me up?" the person whispered loudly.
"Who's that?" Drew asked, leaning over slightly to see over the edge of his balcony.
May waved back at the person below before breaking into a smile.
"Leaf."
Oooh, here we go! I hope this was worth the wait! Let me know what you think. Review!
Thank you for all of the support for this! I'm trying to live up to the expectations.