"Nathan…it's not that bad." The curly blonde turned towards her irritated friend, "Besides…I already told you I'd handle the cleanup."

His sapphire eyes rolled while he rearranged the bags in his hands to find his keys, "Peyton, I just don't think this is necessary…"

"It's a house warming party Nate…not an execution."

"Whatever…"

The two entered the apartment that still had a few boxes that needed to be unpacked, but other than that everything was where it should be. Nathan carried the bags of food into the kitchen with Peyton close behind.

"I told Brooke to be here around eight…have you talked to Julian or Tim?"

"Ya, Tim will be here right around the same time…Julian's coming later."

"What about your neighbors?'

"What about them?"

"It'd be a good way to meet everyone Nathan."

"Maybe I don't want to meet any of them and the people here just seem…stuck up anyway. I'm good with just the regulars."

"The regulars?..." Peyton starred at him blankly, "Seriously?"

"Whatever…"

"Your arguementative skills challenge those of the greats my friend."

Nathan shook his head and grabbed the food containers that Peyton had emptied onto plates, "I'm gonna take these down…"

"Whatever…" Peyton mocked in her best Nathan tone.

Nathan walked out of his apartment and closed the door, leaning on it for a brief moment and closing his eyes. Between the move from Colorado and his bed not arriving till that morning, he was to say the least…tired. When he opened his eyes he starred at the apartment door across the hall. The gold number "twenty-three" slightly faded. He took a deep breath and hesitantly walked over to the wood frame, "Why am I doing this?" He held his breath before reaching out and knocking.

Silence.

He knocked once more, but was greeted by the same silence. He shrugged his shoulders, "At least I tried…" He continued on his way down the stairs.

Haley felt as if she was walking with cinder blocks attached to her feet. It had been a grueling day. Not only did Lucas drive her absolutely crazy babbling on about some game she had no interest in, but the other man in her life had proceeded to disappoint her yet again. Haley knew they weren't serious, she knew how Chris was. Flakey, was putting it nicely. But she had looked forward to an evening out, so when the plans fell through…she figured what were a few more hours at the office?

Her bag hung loosely over her shoulder, her curly blonde hair was thrown up in a messy bun and her exhaustion clearly showed on her face. As she made her way up the stairs to her apartment the sound of music became more apparent. With a heavy sigh she reached her door, "Great."

After a long shower and a stop in the kitchen for a much deserved glass of wine, Haley sat comfortably on her couch, sifting through numerous notes she had taken throughout the day. As she began to mumble to herself, the sound of the music from across the hall continued to pass its way into her apartment.

She shook her head in aggravation and tried to drown out the noise but it was persistant on taking her concentration away. She finally decided enough was enough. Haley slammed the loose pieces of papers on the couch and marched her way out of her apartment to her unconsiderate new neighbor. After a few figerous knocks the door finally opened.

She was taken aback by the man standing in front of her, he was shorter than she remembered. She quickly rid her mind of her observation and got back to the reasoning behind her little visit, "Look I know you just moved in but this is ridiculous…"

"But-"

"No. There are other people in this building and I for one have no interest listening to your mix of bad 90's rap."

"This isn-"

"Just turn the music down. Thank you." Haley took a deep breath before turning away not giving her annoying neighbor a chance to get a word in edge wise. She quickly returned to her apartment and slammed the door.

"Nathan…" Tim slowly closed the door still starring in the direction where the bold woman stood.

Nathan sat around his kitchen table dealing cards out to those around him, "Who was at the door?"

Tim made his way back to the table, "A short…very scary woman."

The room fell silent with everyone giving Tim the same odd glance. Nathan chuckled a bit, "Oh ya? You get her number?" he joked.

Tim sat back in his chair, "Crossed my mind. Hot…but scary. Still hot though."

Nathan's brow now furrowed, "What?"

"Apparently she lives across the hall…didn't appreciate my ode' to Snoop."

"Ya, I had a run in with her yesterday…" Nathan didn't give it much thought, "Ok, where'd I leave off?"

Nathan continued to deal the cards not thinking about his irritating neighbor for the rest of the night.

"Shoot!" Haley balanced on one foot while trying to put on her other shoe. Papers hung from her mouth and the blouse she was wearing wasn't tucked in, "Stupid alarm clock…" She mumbled with the papers still held by her lips.

She made it out of the apartment with both shoes on and fumbled with her keys to lock the door. When she turned around she shrieked in surprise, "Seriously!"

"But-I-"

Haley rolled her eyes and groaned in disapproval before walking down the stairs, leaving Tim standing in the hall, reaching down to grab the newspaper on the floor…wearing only his boxer.

Tim walked back into the apartment as Nathan was walking out of his room, "Jesus Tim! Where the hell are your pants?"

"I got hot."

Nathan just shook his head and walked into the kitchen.

"Had another run in with the neighbor…"

Nathan grabbed the gallon of orange juice from the fridge, "In your boxers?

"Ya…" Tim dryly answered.

"Whatever…where'd you get the newspaper anyway?"

"It was in the hall."

"I guess whoever was here before forgot to cancel it…" Nathan put the orange juice back in the fridge, "Hand me the sports section."

Tim tossed Nathan a few papers and looked through the remaining sections himself.

Nathan let out a small chuckle after reading a few paragraphs.

"What?"

"This Roe guy…he writes this crap about a team when he's obviously biased. He's going on forever about how Denver isn't going to be able to beat Chicago…if he even bothered looking at the stats…he makes it just a little too obvious that he's from the Midwest." Nathan tossed the paper to the side. "Hand me the rest."

"But-"

"My house. My paper and for the last time, PUT ON SOME DAMN PANTS."

Tim sighed in defeat before tossing the paper towards Nathan and retreating to the bathroom.

Nathan skimmed through the rest of the paper when an article caught his eye, "Words of Wisdom from the Peanut Gallery"

Games. I've had such a fond memory of them since childhood. I mean you have the classics, "Monopoly, " "Checkers," "Life," but when did a mass produced game, such as "Life" claim such a hold on how one feels. Let me explain. You move throughout the board…yet no matter what you roll, you are forced to marry. Is this a subliminal message telling America's youth that unless you are married you are not considered successful? Well I boycott. Not only are we single ladies reminded every time we turn on the radio or television, but as I sit down with my niece for that "quality family time," I have a six-year old interrogating me on why she doesn't have an Uncle. So parents I warn…before you go out and buy the ne…

Nathan skimmed through the rest until he came to the author's name, "H. James." He put the paper down, "Who actually believes this crap…"