The wind from the door blew my hair back, causing the curls to tangle with each other. Standing my ground, I begin to pound on the door again. "Hello! I am your neighbor! I want to say hi and meet you! Please let me in, I don't bite! I'm a very nice person! Hello!" I say, maybe just a little too annoyingly. After a minute, I hear nothing, so I try again. "Hey! Hey Ryder! I don't know if you remember me from, oh, I don't know, 2 minutes ago, but I'm your new neighbor, Corina! Corina Hamilton! Remember me?" Still nothing. Okay, time to get serious. I pound on the door as much as my little fists allow me, all while yelling, "Ryder! Ryder! Please let me in! The rain... it's so cold! I'm so lonely! Please! I'm freezing!"

Slowly, the door cracks just enough to see a peak of a sparkling green eye. "You're in fucking Daytona Beach. The rain isn't cold. Please shut up," I hear a low, raspy voice say. I flinch, expecting the door to slam again, but instead it opens ever so sightly, with a hand motioning me in.

When I said Gina and Steve's apartment was drastically different from mine, I was over exaggerating. This place... it was like a whole new world. The plain white furniture was replaced with dark leather couches, almost too big for the small apartment to hold. The whole place was just as dark as the couches, black blinds preventing the outside light from making its way in, minimal black and dark brown decorations, even the cabinets in the kitchen were stained a deep chestnut, completely opposite of the light colored ones in my kitchen. The only light came from two small lamps with - you guessed it - black lampshades.

"Not like your place, huh?" I hear from behind me. I turn around to see a tall man, at least 6 foot, hovering over me, so close that it should be uncomfortable. But, for whatever reason, it feels natural.

"Quite the opposite actually," I respond in a whisper, as my voice is unable to boom at its usual obnoxiously loud volume. "I didn't know we were allowed to replace the furniture, or stain the cabinets."

"We're not." He's a little closer, his breath slightly moving my hair. Before I can say anything, he casually sits on the couch, as far away from one of his lamps as possible, allowing almost no light to shine on him. "So, what makes you think you can just come here, interrupt my nap, and be so, well, annoying, honestly," he says while holding back a chuckle.

"Curiosity killed the cat, I guess," I say with a little more composure. "I've lived here for 2 weeks, and have never even seen you, let alone heard from you, or have had any indication that someone lived here. I only knew the place was occupied after Gina, on the other side of me, told me. I thought you died or something."

"Alive and healthy, as you can see," he states, now standing up. He meanders over to the kitchen, which gives more light to see him. He's very tall, like I noted earlier, with dark brown, tousled hair, and built. Very built. His biceps look like they can tear out of his black t shirt at any moment. He bends down into the fridge to retrieve what looks to be a bottle of water when I notice something else - his ass. I'm jealous. "Stop staring," he says, turning around with a smirk.

"I- I," I start, unable to form words.

"No excuses. You were caught red handed," he interjects, smirking even more. Oh, please tell me he isn't like the boys in the books, always having a stupid smirk on his face that just screams cockiness, but the stupid girls fall in love with that damn smirk anyway.

I blush a little. Wait, why am I blushing? I don't blush. I don't get embarrassed. I'm strong, confident. As a matter of fact, I never act like this at all. I don't blush, I'm never at a loss for words, and I'm NEVER this dumbfounded. I need to regain my composure.

"Sit. You wanted over here. You wanted to meet me. You wanted to say hi, so get to." I look over to see him patting the seat beside him on the couch, and of course, he's still got that stupid smirk. I tiptoe over, only to panic at the last minute and sit in the armchair facing the couch, as far away from him as I could. "Whatever, weirdo," he says, propping his feet onto the couch where he had just offered me a seat.

"What if I changed my mind and wanted to sit there?" I motion to his feet, trying so hard to be my normal self.

"Too late. The spot is for my feet now. You should've acted on it when you had the opportunity." He sounded so serious, but I couldn't hold back a laugh. He deadpans over to meet my amused gaze, then rolls his eyes, replacing that God forsaken smirk.

"So," I pause, waiting on him to remove his eyes from mine, which is making me so comfortably uncomfortable in some weird way. "Hi, I guess."

"Hey," he smirks again, eyes still glued to mine. I finally break the stare, staring down to my fingers. "I make you uncomfortable, don't I?"

"No," I start, but I realize I'm whispering again. Taking a deep breath, I begin again, this time at a volume slightly closer to my normal voice. "No, I guess I'm just awkward." Wrong. I'm such a people person, always socializing and talking up a storm, whether it be with an old friend or a complete stranger. Why am I acting like this?

"Uh huh," he drags out. "I bet." To that I just nod, still staring at my fingers. A few minutes pass by in silence, but it feels like hours. Before I know it, Ryder is up at the door, slowing opening it. "I think you should go," he states monotonously. He's avoiding my gaze this time, and I slowly walk out the door without so much of a goodbye. I turn around to get a final look, but instead see the familiar door being slammed in my face, yet again.

I look up to see the sun is finally back out, and it looks like it's going to be staying that way. I grin, and scurry off to my apartment, open the garage, and easily guide the Nightster around my car, down the driveway, and down the quiet road, letting the sound of the exhaust erase the whole odd encounter with my neighbor.

----------

The moment we've all been waiting for! We finally met Ryder!

Okay, that's all. Thanks for reading!

Catch ya on the flipitty flip!