Still sitting, hiding under the window I contemplated if I should even listen to her. I could pretend I didn't hear her? No, that wouldn't work. I sighed, as I got to my feet and slowly walking out of my room and down the stairs. I could feel the heat of my embarrassment reaching my cheeks the closer I got to stepping out onto the lawn. Seconds later my feet were planted on the green grass in front of the man and my aunt. My face was probably bright red by now and my aunt pointed it out. "Are you hot"? She asked as she felt my cheeks like I wasn't the 22 year old woman I was.

"Just a little bit." I said as I looked up at the man. Our eyes locked and I immediately looked passed him as if something else more interesting caught my attention. He just grinned down at me.

"Oh Jerry, I'm sorry, this is my niece, Brooke. Brooke, this is Jerry our next door neighbor." He reached his hand out towards me and I shook it. His grip on my hand was tight. This man was strong. Serena then came over to join us. "Hi Re-re. Did you meet Jerry yet?" I asked her as she came up beside me. She gave me a dirty look for calling her by the nickname I gave her. She simply said hi to him and she shook his hand, as well. I wondered if she thought his grip was kind of strong.

"Jerry offered to help us carry our stuff in. He said we could probably get it done by late tonight." Jerry smiled and started to move more furniture and luggage out of the U-Haul. The two chubby U-haul guys weren't much help. They looked quite weak compared to Jerry's buff physique. Another hour had passed and all of our things from the U-haul were out and sitting on the lawn-some things were already in the house which were mostly boxes. My aunt paid the two men and sent them on their way. Another two hours passed where we just kept bringing things into the garage and house. I couldn't help but, sneak peeks at Jerry as he worked. Once in awhile he'd catch me but I'd quickly look away. I kept embarrassing myself. It was 10pm when we finally finished. I was exhausted and I hated moving. But, I wasn't so mad this time because I was in a great climate and couldn't wait to check out the strip. Serena and I were in the garage when my aunt walked over to us. She had a white towel in her hand and was wiping her face. She sighed, "Girls, we are finally done! Jerry was so kind to help us wasn't he?"

"Where is he?" I asked looking behind her to the front lawn. "Oh jesus, I told that poor man to go home and rest!"

After that was said we closed up the garage and headed into the house. It was now my aunt's turn to walk around and finally take a look at our new home. I walked into the kitchen and took my cell phone out of my pocket. It was late; I wandered if my mom would even pick up. I dialed her number. After three rings she finally picked up. She sounded like she was sleeping. Our conversation was short and kind of awkward. I think she was mad and jealous I had decided to move with my aunt to Nevada. What else was I supposed to do? I was contemplating on calling my dad, even though I knew he wouldn't pick up. He never answers his phone after 5pm. Jackass.

"This place is nice!" My aunt said coming up beside me. I nodded. "Well, I'm gonna go up to bed. I'm exhausted." We said good night and I made my way upstairs. As I entered my room I remembered I had left my screen open. Luckily, I didn't see any bugs in my room. I quickly closed the screen as I looked out the window into the night. It was a warm night; it was the beginning of September. I looked out upon the new neighborhood. It seemed like everyone was asleep; only one or two lights shown from a couple houses. I heard a car start and looked down towards Jerry's driveway. He backed his black pickup truck out of his drive way and headed down the street. Where was he going? I thought. He was probably heading to a strip club of some sort. I'm sure most of the men here in Vegas did that. It was Vegas!

I woke up the next morning around 10:30am and slowly got out of bed. I noticed my windows had been shut. Did my aunt come in and shut them before I woke up? I reopened them and walked down the hall to Serena's room. I opened the door and peered in- she was still sleeping. I rolled my eyes and closed the door. I heard my aunt rustling about downstairs so I went downstairs. I found her in the kitchen with a big box on the counter putting blue plates into the cabinets. "Hey!" I yelled, scaring her enough to almost drop a plate on the door.

"What the hell!" she yelled and I started to laugh. She grinned at me. "Um, can you please go and see if there is anything else sitting on the lawn that needs to come in. Oh, and check if we have any mail yet."

"We're getting mail this early? We just moved in yesterday." She didn't respond so I walked outside with my arms covering my chest. I didn't bother to put a bra on… yet. I started to walk down the drive way towards the mail box when I felt someone looking at me. I waited till I reached the mailbox and turned around. Low and behold it was our nice neighbor, Jerry looking at me with a green apple in his hand. I smiled and waved to him. He smiled back. "Good morning." He said, staying under his shaded porch. Thank god he's not walking over. I thought making a mental note to get a shower and brush my teeth once I got back in the house. I looked in the mailbox- no mail as I expected. I shut the mailbox and started to walk up the driveway, arms still folded over my chest.

"How do you like the neighborhood?" I stopped walking and turned toward him. He still was standing under his shaded porch with that same green apple. I was grateful. "It's nice! I don't have a problem with it yet."

"Are you guys going to be busy tonight?" He asked taking a hungry bite into his apple. I preferred pears, to be honest.

"Well, I don't think so… Are you going to be busy tonight?" Why did I ask that?

He chuckled. "Not particularly. I was wondering if you, your aunt and your cousin would like to come over for dinner tonight. I just bought a new grill and I haven't used it yet."

"Okay, yeah, sure. Let me just go in and ask my aunt real quick. I'll get back to you." He smiled and said okay as I hurried back into the house. I found my aunt still putting the blue plates away.

"Well that man has a nice smile." I said, after I had shut the front door behind me.

"Who?"

"Jerry, you know our neighbor. Oh, and he invited us to have dinner with him tonight. I think he's going to barbeque." She stopped putting the plates away and looked at me wide eyed. "Oh my god! How sweet of him. I should be inviting him over for dinner for helping us do all that moving." She reached for her cell phone that was on the counter and started to go through it. "Let me call him up right now."

"What, you have his number? How did you get that?"

"Oh, he gave it to me yesterday. He told me to use it in case I needed help with anything. He's a handy man apparently and does construction on the strip at night." I nodded and laughed. Well, that explains his blacked out windows. I sat on the couch in the living room and listened to the conversation. It seemed like my aunt didn't win the argument and we'd be heading over to Jerry's tonight for dinner. This should be interesting… what will I wear? I thought as I went to go wake Serena's lazy ass up.