It had been two weeks since senior year started, and so far, nothing had happened that was worth remembering. Which was fine by me. Some people wanted their senior year to be unforgettable. I wanted mine to pass quietly.
Alice and Jesse had become almost inseparable, though they were still apparently committed to pretending there was nothing romantic about it. Lucas remained exactly who he'd always been—loud, arrogant, impossible to read when it mattered, and somehow always involved in things that had nothing to do with him.
The dynamic of the group hadn't changed much.
At least, I thought it hadn't.
Then I noticed the moving truck.
It was parked two houses down from mine, outside a house that had been vacant for months. I hadn't realized anyone had bought it. Curiosity got the better of me. I stepped outside and opened the mailbox even though I already knew there wasn't going to be anything inside. In short, I was pretending to check the mail. Very convincingly, I'm sure.
"AJ, come help me with this couch!"
The voice came from the driveway. I looked up.
A tall man with dark hair was struggling with a piece of furniture near the back of the truck. He looked somewhere in his late thirties or early forties, broad-shouldered and clearly in better shape than most people who spent their weekends moving furniture.
"Kay, Dad."
The response came from somewhere behind the truck.
I waited.
A few seconds later, someone appeared. He was tall. Not just tall enough to notice. Tall enough that I instinctively looked twice. He had short black hair, tattoos covering his arms, and the kind of build that made it obvious he spent a considerable amount of time in a gym. He wore a black muscle shirt, black shorts, white sneakers, and a backward baseball cap. He looked intimidating. Then he looked at me.
Our eyes met.
For a second, neither of us moved. Then he smiled. It was small. Almost hesitant. And somehow that made it worse. I immediately looked down, shut the mailbox, and walked back inside. The second I closed my bedroom door, I leaned against it.
What was that?
I hadn't even spoken to him. I'd barely known he existed five seconds earlier. Yet somehow that single smile had managed to occupy an unreasonable amount of space in my head. I walked over to my window and looked outside.
He was still there.
I stepped away from the window.
No. Absolutely not. I wasn't doing this. It had been a smile. A friendly smile. Nothing more. At least, that's what I told myself. And because I was apparently incapable of leaving anything alone, I spent the rest of the evening wondering whether I should have smiled back. It was ridiculous. I didn't know him. I didn't owe him anything. Still, the thought lingered. Maybe he thought I was rude. Maybe I should've said hello. Maybe—
I stopped myself.
"Get a grip, Ony." I shut the curtains.
Tomorrow was Monday. School would be normal. Life would be normal. The mysterious guy next door would become nothing more than another face in the neighborhood.
At least, that was the plan.