The Girl Next Door

 Chapter Two

I took a deep breath before knocking on the door. I was flustered. Who were his friends? Were they also famous? Would I recognize any of them? I mentally prepared myself when the door opened and a short man with black hair greeted me.

“Uhm, hi,” he questioned. Apparently Jared hadn’t said he was having another guest over. Jared peeked around the corner to find out who it was and smiled widely when he saw me.

“Aleks!” He exclaimed, rushing to the door. “Misha, this is Aleks, my neighbour from across the street.” The shorter man, Misha, nodded as they both stepped back to let me inside. I smiled and nodded politely as I walked into the grand entrance. Jared looked so giddy.

I followed them through the house, taking note of the colours and decor from what I could see. We walked out to his backyard, which seemed a little bigger than mine, not that I was jealous. I had what I needed in mine. There was a man standing out in the sun next to a pool, a beer in hand, looking out at the setting sun. 

“Jensen, come meet Aleks,” Misha called out while offering me a beer. I declined it, stating that I didn’t drink, but thanked him for the offer. 

Jensen walked over and smiled, holding out his hand while he eyed my tiny frame. I took his hand and gave him a slight smile. 

“Jensen Ackles,” he stated, pulling his hand away.

“Aleks Keter. You played Tom Hanniger in the 2009 remake of My Bloody Valentine, right?” I asked, clasping my hands behind my back. His eyes widened in surprise.

“You watched that? No one knows that movie!” He smiled a little while I nodded.

“It wasn’t the greatest, by any means, but I love horror movies. For a psychological horror, it was definitely alright.” He nodded and gave Jared a look, who glared back at him in response. 

“So, and I don’t mean to be rude, but why are you here?” Jensen asked, looking between Jared and I.

“Well, I went to welcome Aleks to the neighbourhood this morning and we had a little bit of an argument,” Jared trailed off and Misha and Jensen both started laughing.

“You argued with a neighbour you had just met?” Misha asked, trying to contain more of his laughter.

“He gave me a look and I just knew there was something going on, and I told him that if he ever needed someone to talk to, I’d be there to listen, it’s just who I am. Then he went off on me about how I was probably a fan and just trying to dig into his personal life. To which I responded asking how I knew he wasn’t doing the same,” I rambled, looking at all of them. Misha and Jensen kind of looked at me. I sighed and pulled out my phone. I opened TikTok and showed them the video of me singing “Carry On My Wayward Son”. They watched the video and then looked at me, both of their eyes wide.

“You’re A.S.K.?” Jensen asked. I nodded, putting my phone back into my back pocket.

“Holy fuck,” Misha muttered under his breath. Jensen gave Jared another one of those looks, to which the latter responded with another glare.

“I don’t mean to be a burden or anything, but can we not talk about me?” I asked, trying to get off the subject of me. I didn’t like talking about myself. They all looked at each other before grabbing chairs and sitting in front of me.

“Tell us a story… About yourself,” Misha said, sitting crisscrossed in the chair he had pulled up. I groaned inwardly and wondered if coming over here was a good idea.

Jared got up and brought me a bottle of my favourite lemonade and I gave him a confused look.

“It’s your favourite, right?” He questioned, looking at me with eager eyes.

I nodded. “How’d you know?” I opened the bottle and took a sip of the deliciousness. 

“I did some research. You don’t drink alcohol and your favourite beverage is Lemonade. Specifically Calypso.” The taller of the brunets said. I blushed, wondering why he cared enough to make a stranger feel welcomed in his home. I thanked him and took another sip, savouring the sour, yet sweet flavour that entranced my taste buds every time I poured the liquid into my mouth. 

“Well, if you know so much, what else do you know?” I asked, staring at the way the tallest brunette sat on his chair. With his legs on either side of the back of the chair, he rested his head on his elbows which sat on top of the back. 

“There’s not much. You don’t like to open yourself up on any form of social media platform. In fact, any social media I can find of you was created in the last few years. It’s like you didn’t even exist until about 4 years ago.” All three of the men stared at me, slightly alarmed.

“Or, I just didn’t use social media until I graduated high school,” I commented, trying to give a valid excuse as to why I was practically nonexistent.

“You’ve never had social media?” Jensen asked, looking perplexed. “Everyone has at least had a FaceBook or Twitter account.” I attempted to drown my worried face with another gulp of my lemonade, trying to think of lies.

“Social media has a tendency to corrupt and unbalance priorities and concentration. I finished high school a year early with not only my diploma, but a few college courses under my belt,” I replied, not entirely lying. I had finished early, and I did have a few of the basic college courses completed with straight ‘A’s. They looked at me astonished. 

“You must have graduated college early then, too,” Jensen states, more in the form of a question. I nodded.

“I mastered in music education, with a minor in astronomy.”

“Where’d you go to college?” Misha piped up, his head in hands as his elbows rested on his knees. He looked like a child being told a story. 

“NMU,” I said proudly. They all looked at me like they’d never heard of the college before. “Northern Michigan University.” The three nodded. I smiled slightly, vaguely reminiscing about the memories I had there and the joy I felt while playing in their many bands. 

“So, where are you from?” Misha then asked.

“Wisconsin!” I exclaimed excitedly. I loved the mitten state. The waterfalls, the small towns, the hiking spots, and the cows! 

“What in the world are you doing on the other side of the country, in Austin, Texas?” Jensen’s voice rang through my ears.

“I’m,” I thought about it a little bit. “I’m starting a new life. Far away from it all. Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends and my family. I love where I grew up and the experiences I got to have, but I was born and raised in a dead end town that’s extremely difficult to get out of. Same faces all the time, Same asshole guys I grew up with. That’s why I went to college out of state. To meet new people, see different things. I ended up back at home with my parents after college. No one needed a high school band director. At that point however, my first and second book had already come out. With it I had saved enough money to buy a nice house and move. My TikTok and my singing videos on YouTube were also starting to gain some popularity. I could have stayed in Wisconsin. I could have stayed in my hometown, but I wanted a fresh start. So, I bought a house here and finally moved in a few weeks back.” I left out quite a bit, starting to feel uncomfortable with all the questions. 

Jared finally noticed because he finally opened his mouth with, “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I left my soon- to- be ex-wife my house, packed all my shit and bought this pretty little thing.” My eyes widened and I looked at Jared with sympathy. Jensen and Misha looked down. 

“Jared,” I started, but he just smiled sadly at me.

We all stared at the fire for quite a while, drinks in our hands, before Misha piped up. 

“Truth or dare?” he asked.

“What are we? 12?” I asked as Jensen and Jared got mischievous grins on their faces. I sighed, playing with my long hair. I had since switched to the same position Jared was sitting in, my thigh length hair thrown over the back of the chair. 

“Who goes first?” Jensen asked. Jared deadpanned and they all looked at me. I sighed.

“Uhm, Misha, truth or dare?”

“Truth!” Misha exclaimed. The other two snickered.

“When did you decide to start acting?” I asked.

“I was young. Probably middle school?” His answer sounded like a statement, but I took it. 

The truths and dares went round and round for a bit before Jensen asked me.

“Dare,” I hummed, still playing with my hair. At this point I had taken my tank top off and was only in my flannel, not that anyone noticed. They had definitely been drinking. I assumed it was mostly for Jared to get rid of his emotional pain for a small while.

“I dare you to jump in the pool,” he grinned. I saw a glint in the shorter brunette’s eyes that told me he didn’t think I’d do it. 

“Jared, could you go get me a towel?” I asked sweetly, staring Jensen in the eye. 

While Jared went to get a towel for me, I unbuttoned my flannel and hung on the back of my chair. I threw my hair up into a high pony, facing away from the fire so I wouldn’t burn any of my hair off in the process.

I opened my eyes after putting my hair into a bun to find Jared staring at me. I blushed and thanked him for the towel. I removed my socks and shoes and took a deep breath. I looked back at the boys before jumping into the freezing water. 

I came up for air to find them all at the edge of the pool making drunk comments about how great that was and such. I rolled my eyes and pulled myself out. 

As I dried off my body, I picked my next victim. Truth or dare was played until it came back to me, when they had decided I had ‘calmed down enough’ to allow me to do something.

“Jensen, truth or dare,” I smiled innocently, but he didn’t seem to catch on as he picked the latter. “I dare you to blow dry my hair.” His eyes were wide. I smirked.

“Oh, it’s so long!” He whined. I just chuckled. 

“Are you chickening out?” I asked. He shook his head ‘no’. We moved to the living room where I was told to sit on the floor, on a dry towel because my shorts were still damp. I wasn’t going to argue, it wasn’t my house. The boys had finally stopped drinking and we talked while Jensen blow dried my hair.

“I had this coming,” Jensen finally said after he finished my hair. I looked up at him as the others laughed.

“You dared me to jump. You face the consequences,” I laughed. 

After a few more hours, Jensen and Misha snuck away to two of the four guest bedrooms Jared had in his house, which just left the two of us.

“Thank you,” he said, rather quietly at that.

“I should be thanking you, Jared. You’re the one that invited me over,” I replied, leaning back as I ran my fingers through my knotted hair. 

“One more round?” He questioned, staring intently at my frame curled up next to his couch. I nodded in response. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth, I whispered, looking up at him. He moved closer to the edge of his chair.

“Will you come over for breakfast tomorrow? Say 10?” I blushed and nodded

“It’ll give me time to get a run in and potentially finish my first rough draft,” I murmured, suddenly very tired. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Brush my hair”

Jared’s P. O. V.

I got up to get a hair brush, checking on the two sleeping beauties. When I walked back into the living room, Aleks was asleep sitting up with her head on her arms, resting on the seat of the couch. She looked so peaceful, yet uncomfortable. I felt terrible for keeping her up so long and for having her here much longer than I expected. I leaned back and forth on my legs, not knowing what to do. I set the brush on the arm of the couch and turned to go back to Jensen’s room, but he was already behind me, staring at the sleeping girl.

“What do I do?” I whispered as he stared at her. He looked at me and shook his head.

“You can either wake her up and send her home or you can throw her in one of your guest bedrooms. I would side with the latter.” I nodded and stared at her myself. “Don’t get attached so quickly either. We don’t know much about her.”

Jensen walked back to his chosen room. I soaked in the words he said while recalling the conversation from earlier. As I went to pick her up I whispered, “Who are you?” 

I wrapped an arm under her knees and the other around her waist and picked her up. She weighed pretty much nothing. She stirred a little and snuggled into my chest like a child. I smiled down at her and walked up the stairs. I put her in the guest bedroom that was right down the hall from my room then went to mine. 

I changed into basketball shorts before crawling into bed, setting my alarm for 8 A. M. since it was already after midnight and fell asleep worrying about the girl I had just let into my life.