Carlos
The pounding on the door had just started, but it was messing up my rhythm that I was already struggling to keep up. Cassie was underneath me, screaming as she always did over the music blaring, but none of that was loud enough to drown out the hard knocks that I heard at the door. I couldn’t concentrate and after yelling at whoever it was to go away, there was a moment of silence that made me think that they had gone away.
When it started up again after a few moments, I cursed and got up, not even bothering to cover myself with more than the sheet that had fallen off of the bed.
Cursing to anyone that would listen, I told whoever it was that there better be a good damn reason that they were disturbing me. It was almost three in the morning and the last thing I wanted was someone there to visit.
“What?”
I opened the door quickly with a hard jerk and it made the person on the other side almost jump out of her skin. I hadn’t ever seen her before up close and all of the anger left me when I stared into her bright blue eyes. Eve’s face was alarmed and I could see her taking a step back from where she had knocked from. I was making her nervous and I didn’t like the reaction I got from her.
“Um, sorry, I…”
“Sorry I was so short. Can I help you with something?”
I leaned against the edge of the door on the frame and took in the small woman in front of me. She was petite, but curved in all of the right places. It was hard to not to smile in a suggestive way. It didn’t matter that I already had a girl in my bed. I would have easily traded her out right then if I could have.
“Yes Sir, I uh, live downstairs.”
My demeanor changed because it finally clicked. It was the blonde that I had seen from the balcony and I realized then that she was something special like Joel had said. How could I have not seen it? This woman was living beneath me the whole time and I never even knew it. She was absolutely beautiful and the way her eyes kept leaving mine to look down like she was bashful just made her even more so.
“Yes, I was meaning to come down there and say hello. Been busy though.”
It was then that I saw how stiff her expression was. She was not looking up at me with coy eyes. She was tired and upset by the looks of it and I knew that it was because of me.
“I can tell you are busy Sir and I won’t keep you long.”
Her voice was loud because of the music and I told her that I would shut it off so that I could hear her better. When I got back, she was avoiding my gaze and asked her what was wrong.
“You are out.”
“Out?”
Covering her eyes a little, she pointed down and I saw that it was part of my body that was out, having slipped between the tan sheet that I had pulled around me to answer the door.
“Do you like what you see?” I said it as a joke with a grin on my face, but Eve didn’t take it that way. Instead she was blushing and stepping back.
“No Sir, not particularly. I just need some sleep, so can you put a muzzle on your girlfriend for the night or at least hurry up? I am tired from just listening to you.”
The change in her mood was quick and I didn’t get to say anything else as she was already turning to leave and go back down the stairs. My first inclination was to yell something back to her, something derogatory, but I was transfixed by her small waist and round behind. I just watched her walk away silently and didn’t say a word. I was still asking myself what had just happened. Did that sweet little woman upstairs just tell me to muzzle my bitch? It wasn’t her words, but it had the same meaning. I don’t know why the thought had me smiling, but it did.
“Carlos? Are you coming back to bed?”
She didn’t even ask who it was. Cassie was just worried about if I was going to come back to finish her off. Cassie knew not to ask questions and I liked that about her. I called back that I would be there in a minute, but I found myself not as eager as I had been about it. I wanted Eve in my bed all of a sudden, my cousin and his sensitive heart be damned. The new neighbor was my kind of woman, even though I was starting to get the feeling that I was not her type of man.
***
I knocked on the door and pushed the brown hair back from my face, trying to calm it down from where it was springing up from rolling around the night before. I wasn’t sure what I was doing there, but I knew that I wanted to see Eve again. I had a coffee in my hand that I had retrieved from the coffee shop down the road. I was looking at it as a peace offering.
“Hello?”
The door didn’t open, but I could hear her voice on the other side of it. I had a feeling that she was looking at me through the peephole and part of me wasn’t sure what to think. Why wasn’t she answering the door?
“I thought I would bring you some coffee, my way of apologizing for last night. I hope we didn’t bother you too much.”
The door still didn’t open and I was starting to think that it wasn’t going to. After another long pause I heard a couple of locks move over and she cracked the door open finally. “You didn’t have to bring me anything.”
“Just muzzle her next time huh?”
The red in her face was back and she opened the door a little wider. “I’m sorry I said that. I just haven’t been getting a lot of sleep is all and I just popped off at the mouth. You didn’t have to come by here Carlos.”
I insisted that she take the coffee and she refused, telling me that she didn’t drink coffee that late in the day. “It’s only noon.”
“I’ve been up working since five. It is about the only time I can while you are here and it actually quiet around here for a little while.”
“Is it really that bad?”
I don’t know why I expected any other answer but the one that I got. “Yes it is. I am looking into moving because our lifestyles are just not compatible together. I don’t think it would be wise to stay living in the building, but I thank you for the apology. I hope you have a good day and I am once again, sorry that I was so rude with you last night.”
The door closed and I was left standing there holding two coffees like an idiot. I don’t know what I expected from her, but it wasn’t what I got. Instead I had been dismissed like I was a child and I now had an extra coffee that I wasn’t going to drink. I didn’t like it to begin with, but I didn’t think my normal shot in the morning was going to do well to share with a woman like her.
Getting back up to my apartment, I silently the girl downstairs that was taking up too much of my attention and mind. I wasn’t used to caring and I could tell that I still didn’t really care for the sentiment. I didn’t like having to care and I certainly didn’t like it if I was going to have to live next to her, not able to get into her panties. That was all I could think about when she came by last night and it was the first thing I thought about when I woke up this morning. I didn’t need this in my life.
Now, I was left to call Cassie if I wanted something and when I thought about it, I didn’t find myself too enthused to see her. While I should have been, I just wasn’t. What I wanted I couldn’t have, so instead I turned up the music and tried to forget her. I didn’t even think about going down to the bar and picking up someone new. It was only Eve that had me going.
There was no noise from downstairs and I had to wonder what she was doing. It seemed to me that a woman like Eve would come around eventually. I had never met someone that I couldn’t have and I was sure she was no different. The only thing that could stop me was her moving and I had to make sure that it didn’t happen. I could be quiet if I wanted to be…
I looked over at the radio and felt the floor underneath me moving. I was already being too loud, but I hadn’t thought about it that way. I had always been a little loud, but now I was starting to realize how much. Going to the stereo, I turned it way down and sighed deeply. I wasn’t doing this because she asked. I was just doing it to get on the right side of her. That was all this was, just until I convinced her to give me a chance and then I would run with it. I’m sure as soon as I have her the way I want her, I will be able to get her off my mind once and for all.