Neighbors - 1. Neighbors

“Not my problem anymore!”

I shift on the couch and turn the tv volume down a bit. My neighbors have been fighting for what seems like hours, mostly at an indistinct rumble level of noise, punctuated by louder words and the occasional slam. I pay just enough attention to be sure I won't have to call emergency services. They're usually such nice guys, quiet to live next to and cheerful when we see each other in passing. In fact, until today, the last two years had been uneventful. We pass each other fairly often as they have the end unit condo and I the one directly to their left. We use the same driveway, each with an assigned side. It's quiet again, so I slump back down and attempt to give my favorite southern ladies my attention. I mouth the lines along with Shelby extolling her signature colors. Another slam, louder and followed by the distinct sound of someone sobbing yet trying not to through gritted teeth floats to me through the open front window. I call myself a nosy old meddler but I still get up and peer at our shared driveway. The taller neighbor is throwing luggage and obviously swiftly packed bags and boxes into his car. I grunt softly in surprise. I don't know them well but from what this looks like I'll only need to be neighborly to one now. I hear the door to his place open again and quick feet coming towards the driveway, so I tuck myself back behind the curtain a bit. No need to let the show go to waste because there is an unpaid audience after all.

“Anything you've forgotten you can call for next week. I'll have my sister come here and put it on the porch for you.” I hear the shorter, slimmer guy say. I think his name is Dan. I can't see him but I can see Tall Guy. He looks frustrated and angry more than sad. He turns to face his unseen ex.

“Dan listen” ha I was right I crow in my head “we can work this out. I can go stay with friends, give you some space yeah?” he pleads but even I'm not convinced as his posture and voice radiate affronted sulkiness.

“No Seth. No, we cannot just work this out. You know why?” as the cold voice pauses I see tall Seth shuffle and glare at the ground while a shamed grimace steals across his pouting face. Dan, still out of my line of sight as I lean against my living room wall continues “You not only slept around on me again while I was trying to build us a better life, but my welcome home after an exhausting week across the country was a prescription for antibiotics because you've picked up a little passenger from your walks on the wild side. I told you last time was the last time. I meant it.”

“What am I supposed to do Dan? You can't just leave me!” Seth whined and stomped like a toddler. I hastily smother a snort. Man, he would be getting a lot more than strong words from me if I were his boyfriend. Jesus, cheating on your man and bringing home disease to boot? Then act like you're the wronged one when it all catches up to you? Not likely. He would be lucky not to catch these hands.

“Like I said before Seth. You are not my problem anymore. You're an adult. You have a job. You moved into my place, and now you're moving out. Don't make this harder than it needs to be.”

I watch as Seth curses and stiffly marches to his car, glaring at Dan from the driver's seat. He backs down the driveway, stops at the end and yells out the window to his now ex-lover.

“You're an asshole, Dan. If you had ever paid any attention to me then maybe I wouldn't have to go looking for bigger dicks than yours!” before peeling away from the curb. My breath hisses between my teeth at such a low blow.

Even though I'm embarrassed to know so much detail about my neighbor's love life, a part of me is pretty well entertained by the drama. I'll be honest, it's a pretty big part.

“Fuck!” a guttural yell rings out before the sound of Dan walking away and slamming back into his apartment leaves the driveway silent once more.

I shake my head. I want to offer Dan a beer, but that would mean revealing I was avidly watching their relationship's curtain call. I flop back down onto my well-loved sofa, still caught up in other people's love lives as I play my movie once more. Dan is cute. Maybe I'll have to work his singleness into conversation next time I see him.

Next time I see him however he isn't alone. About a month after the public split, a very pretty young thing drunkenly hangs all over him as they clumsily exit an uber at a bit past midnight. I'm on my miniscule front porch, lights off, just breathing in the night and trying to come up with new answers to one of my client's design issues. I've always been somebody who thinks best in the night time, the stereotypical creative night owl. I watch as Dan and the skinny dark-haired person I couldn't tell the gender of tangle together as they move up the path. The loud shushing and giggling take me back to my college years. Hell, picking up such a young bedmate would take me back to my decades past college years too. I figure Dan must be roughly thirty, quite a few years younger than myself, but his date can't be much older than the legal drinking age. Ah well, who hasn't tried to get over a lover by getting under a new one? And huzzah to him for snagging such a cutie. I shake my head at myself and my nosy musings before turning in for the night. The angles and lines of The Date (as I've named them) has solidified a beginning design in my head and I need to go in and capture the burgeoning thought.

Sunday dawns with sunlight fingers tickling my eyes open and unwillingly I roll over. I should have closed the curtains last night, but my laziness had won. A feeling of deep loneliness pushes out from my core, as I think about how many Sundays now I have woken up alone. My libido isn't dead, but ever since Tom had gone, I haven't wanted anyone else enough to do something about it. I feel all my years pressing on me, like an old man, but in my case, the old adage was reversed. My body is willing, my spirit wasn't. I ached with missing Tommy. I wonder how much longer it would hurt?

Straightening my spine resolutely I take a deep breath. Tom's absence is a path of thinking leading into terrible days, as I have found more than once. I struggle to my feet, my covers doing their best impression of a boa constrictor. Once freed I start my normal routine, and keep thinking of ways to distract myself from my low mood.

The day is still young and fresh when I walk onto my porch, holding an icy crisp soda. Other people might drink coffee for a morning fix, but I'd never liked anything about coffee but the aroma. Well, that and the smile on Tom's face when he had his first sip. No, give me an effervescent holy water of cold caffeine please. Gazing at the brick-lined walkway and the shrubbery, I muse on working on the Tennyson account. Given the fleecy clouds up above and the warming air however it seemed sacrilege to waste such a beautiful day in work. And being as it was the weekend, I should probably try and enjoy it. For once. A sound to my right catches my ear. A moment more and the sound becomes the appearance of the slim and prettily disheveled young man from last night. Ah, The Date. In the bright sunshine, he is revealed to be definitely male, if a smooth and fine boned example of one. He looks petulant, maybe last night hadn't gone well?

“Kaylen look..” Dan was following him down the path barefoot.

“Its JAYLEN” the pouting angel sighs. I shake my head in sympathy. Forgetting a lover's name is a dick move.

“Oh. Sorry. Look Jaylen. I didn't mean to lead you on, but I'm not wanting to date anyone. It's not you. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression I did. Owen said…” Dan's rambling explanation was cut off by a short laugh and a roll of the eyes by Jaylen.

“Owen. What does he know? I knew I shouldn't have gone home with one of his friends.” Jaylen's voice is too young to resonate such bitter and sad tones.

“I'm sorry. Had I known I would have made it more special. Or maybe not have done it at all. I'm sorry.” Dan looked regretful, and I'm not sure what happened but I feel like I can pick up the pieces and make the story out. It definitely sounds like something they both would cringe at me knowing so I resolve to try my hardest to be silent and still. The bright morning seems duller now in the midst of all the sad hurt feelings. I watch as a hire car pulls up and Jaylen gets in without a backward glance. Dan huffs with frustration and laces his fingers behind his head. He catches my eye and visibly starts.

“Oh. Hey. Cory right?” he asks, biting his lip.

“Yeah. Hey Dan. You've had some rough goes of it lately.” I wince as I realize he probably doesn't realize I know as much as I do.

“Ah yeah. You heard Seth and I the other week then? Sorry. I know people hate dramatic neighbors.” Dan twists his lips wryly as he offers his apology.

“No worries. I'm sure most of us have been there before. So um. You doing ok?” I ask awkwardly. I hardly know him well enough to get involved in his personal life. It just seems ruder not to ask than to ignore it.

“Sure. Everything's coming up roses.” Dan responds dryly and abruptly turns and walks away. Shit. Maybe I should have ignored it. A wrinkling busybody like myself has no part in the lusty dramas anymore. Those things just weren't my problems anymore, for better or for worse. I lean back and concentrate on the feel of the smooth porch planks under my toes, inviting the peace I'm searching for to find a foothold. Peace doesn't come, but an idea for a new design does. Perhaps that's close enough for me.