The Girl Across the Hall

by Thayer King

  He smiled. “You love to say it.” He pulled away and sat up. “Thanks.” He rubbed his eyes. “I’m exhausted. I barely got any sleep last night.”

  “Do you want a drink? I have a bottle of my father’s bourbon if you’d like a glass.”

  “No. I’d fall asleep and I’d never make it home.”

  “You could use my guestroom.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but no.”

  Avery leaned against him. “So what now? We hit the club on Friday night?”

  “Kill me now,” he groaned. “No, I’m not ready for that.” He had no desire to hit the club. All he really wanted…. Damn it, he wanted Zoe. There had to be some way for them to work around this. They were both reasonable people. And they were in love. He stood up, suddenly anxious to talk to her. “I have to go home.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I need to talk to Zoe.”

  Avery stood as well. “I repeat, what and why?”

  “There has to be a solution.” He hugged her. “Don’t worry. No matter what, we’re good.”

  “Okay,” she said, but she didn’t seem happy. Maybe she still doubted that he would stay firm about remaining her friend. He wanted to reassure her, but he needed to go now. “I’ll call you later to check on you.”

  “Sure thing,” he said, already heading for the door and trying to figure out what he could say to Zoe to fix this. He was a little angry that she didn’t trust him, but then she had seen him with numerous women in the months prior to their dating. She should know what he had with her was different, special. He’d never told another woman aside from his mother and Avery that he loved her. Hell, he’d never spent the entire night with another woman.

  Noah stepped off the elevator with every intention of going straight to Zoe’s apartment. But he paused at the sight of a cardboard box in front of his door. He bent and opened the flaps. Inside were a toothbrush, some hair supplies, a half empty box of condoms, a t-shirt, and the remains of a six-pack of beer he’d left in Zoe’s fridge. There was no note.

  He crossed the hall and knocked on her door. There was no answer. He didn’t hear any sounds on the other side nor could he detect any light. He couldn’t imagine where she could be other than with her cousin Felicia. But she had to have been home recently when she packed his shit up. He took his phone out of his pocket and called her. He shouldn’t have been surprised when the call went directly to voice mail.

  Noah closed his eyes and sought patience. “Zoe, I’m outside your apartment. I’d like to see you.” He paused. “Call me, please. I want to talk to you. I don’t want things to end this way…. I…I love you.” He waited a few minutes to see if she would open the door. Finally he accepted that either she wasn’t home or she wasn’t going to let him in.

  He picked up his box of stuff and went into his apartment. He placed the box on the floor next to his couch and took out the beer. Opening it, he stared at his black television screen.

  His cell rang and he almost dropped his beer in his hurry to get it out of his pocket. But it was only Ty. “Hi, Ty.”

  “Don’t sound too enthused to talk to me.”

  “I was hoping you were Zoe.”

  “Why? Did she escape your back pocket? Last I saw, the two of you were practically attached at the hip.”

  “Zoe dumped me.” Man, he was getting tired of saying that. It didn’t seem to be getting any easier.

  “What? What did you do?”

  Noah emptied his first beer and lay back onto the couch cushions. “Why do you assume it was me? This was her fault. She had a problem with me and Avery being friends.”

  There was a long pause. “What did she say?”

  “It was nonsense about Avery being in love with me. I told her it was ludicrous and we should take a break. But I meant from the argument and she got mad and said it was over.”

  Ty sighed. “Noah, do you love, Zoe?”

  “Yeah.” He covered his eyes and waited for Ty’s advice on how to fix this.

  “Shit, I really didn’t want to have to do this….”

  “Do what?”

  “Noah, Zoe’s right.”

  “About what?” Noah frowned. “You think she was right to break up with me? Because you weren’t there and-”

  “No. She’s right about Avery. She’s in love with you.”

  “Avery loves me and I love her, but she is not in love with me.”

  “That’s just it. She is in love with you. She has been since senior year of high school. You’re the only one who can’t see it.”

  Noah sat up, his body going rigid with anger. “Ty, what the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Don’t get pissed with me for telling you the truth. Why do you think she can’t make a relationship work? Why do you think she keeps trying to cut you out of her life but not me?”

  “You’re always with someone. Guys don’t see you as a threat.”

  “No, they see you as a threat because she can’t get over you. Sooner or later, they pick up on it. Do you know Patrick asked her to marry him? That’s why she broke up with him.”

  Noah’s mind was spinning. This couldn’t be true. But then why would Ty lie to him? “But…but when I got out of college….”

  “Yeah, you wanted to fuck her for about five minutes and you moved on. For you, it would have been a temporary fling, but it would have wrecked Avery. So, of course, I talked you out of it. I’d hoped she would find someone else.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? How long have you known about Patrick?”

  “I ran into Patrick a week ago. And I didn’t tell you because Avery is my friend, too.”

  Noah groaned. “I don’t know what to say. I was over at Avery’s place earlier. She’s supposed to call me later. What am I going to say to her?”

  “The only thing you can do is be honest with her.” Ty swore. “I hate this. You know this is it for the three of us hanging out right? She’s going to have to get over you and that means not seeing you.”

  Noah hated that. He knew a moment of sympathy for Avery. If she felt about him the way he felt about Zoe, she had to be hurting.

  He groaned suddenly. Warren was right. He was going to have to do some serious begging to get Zoe back. “Ty, I need to call Zoe again.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Thanks, dude. Talk to you later.” Noah disconnected the call and found Zoe’s number. Of course it went straight to voicemail. “Baby, I’m sorry. Please talk to me. I was wrong. Shit, I still can’t believe…. I never knew. I love you. Call me.”

  He must have fallen asleep on the couch because next he knew he was being awakened by his cell ringing and vibrating in his lap. He snatched it up and answered. His gaze was too blurry from sleep for him to read the caller ID. “Zoe?”

  “No,” Avery replied slowly. “I guess you haven’t talked to her yet.”

  Noah groaned as he sat up. He’d been lying at an awkward angle and his neck ached. He stretched to try to relieve the tension. “No. She’s not taking my calls.”

  “I’m sorry, Noah.”

  He sighed. “Are you, Avery?” he asked sadly. He didn’t want to have this conversation—ever, but there was no point in delaying it.

  “What do you mean? You’re obviously upset so, of course-”

  “Why did you break up with Patrick?”

  “I don’t want to talk about him.”

  “Is it because he asked you to marry him?”

  “Noah-”

  Some part of him was still hoping she’d deny it. He didn’t want to lose her as a friend. “Avery, are you in love with me?”

  She inhaled so sharply that he could hear it over the phone. She didn’t speak for a long time. “Noah….” Her voice was thick with tears.

  Noah closed his eyes. “Shit.” How could he have not seen it? He reviewed all their time together over the years, looking for some clue. But she’d always been with one guy after another. Avery was openly sobbing over the line now. “How do we
handle this?”

  “Do you…do you love her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I waited too long.”

  He sighed. He didn’t know if timing would have mattered. He’d never felt drawn to any other woman the way he was to Zoe. Though he loved Avery, he’d never been in love with her and he couldn’t force those feelings to change.

  “Did you…?” He cleared his throat, finding this question as difficult as confirming her feelings for him. “When you slipped and let Zoe know that I’d told you that we hadn’t been intimate, was that really a slip or were you trying to break us up?”

  “I wish I could deny it,” she said quietly. “It wasn’t planned. Some devil on my shoulder pushed me to it.”

  Noah felt anger at Avery bubble up. Though he couldn’t really blame Avery for Zoe dumping him, her actions precipitated it. If she’d only been a good friend to him, the confrontation with Zoe never would have come about. He couldn’t talk to her anymore tonight or he’d end up saying something he’d regret.

  “Good night, Avery.”

  “Noah, wait!”

  “What is it?”

  “Just once I wanted to tell you. I love you, Noah.”

  He paused. He couldn’t give her the love she wanted but he did love her. “I love you, too, Avery.”

  She took a deep breath. “And-and there’s no chance…that maybe one day we could have more?”

  He closed his eyes. He hated hurting her. “I’m sorry,” he said softly.

  For a while she said nothing. Then she cleared her throat. Her voice sounded choked as she said, “Good night, Noah.”

  “Good night, Avery.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  It was difficult to avoid one’s neighbor, Zoe reflected as she stepped off the elevator. But luck was on her side. It was Friday and she hadn’t seen Noah all week. She’d taken to leaving for work early in the mornings. Aside from Monday when she’d left work early so that she could return his belongings, she’d stayed away from home until late. She went to Felicia’s place. It was strange, but she felt closer to her cousin than she ever had before. Zoe didn’t know what she would have done without her support this week.

  She’d changed the settings on her cell so that each of his calls went to voicemail. She listened to the first two messages from him, but after that it was too difficult and she deleted them without listening. He called every day. Several times a day. He sent text messages. And he sent her flowers every day. Their little IT office had the best smelling trash can in the entire building.

  It was Friday and she was tired. So tonight she had come home. She could spend the weekend holed up in her place. Hopefully, she could do so without Noah noticing. He was probably out anyway—picking up his next two-day fling.

  Holding her bag of takeout close to her chest, she prepared to tiptoe to her apartment. Only his door was wide open and Noah sat in a chair facing the hallway. Startled, Zoe jumped. “Zoe,” Noah called.

  She was shocked enough to stand still for all of a second but her feet got moving fast enough when he stood. She fumbled with her keys, wondering why she didn’t have them ready.

  “Zoe, you have to talk to me some time.”

  “We’ve said all we have to say to each other.” She shoved her key into the lock. She was turning the knob with he caught up with her, his arms going around his waist.

  “Please, Zoe, you have no idea how sorry I am.”

  She’d heard his apology. But it hadn’t been complete in her opinion. He’d never apologized for calling her insecure. But that probably wasn’t an oversight. That was how he saw her and that hurt almost as much as his choosing Avery over her. She’d never lied to him about being shy.

  “Noah, you made your choice and I made mine.”

  “I never fucking chose any of this. Please, can we talk?”

  “I don’t want to talk to you.”

  “Zoe, we love each other. Don’t you think that you owe it to us to make this work?”

  “No,” she said stubbornly, twisting the knob to her door while simultaneously managing wriggle out of his arms. She held onto the door, blocking him for following her. “You made it clear how you feel about me. You think I’m weak.”

  He frowned. “I never-”

  “You called me insecure—too insecure to wear jeans in public. That’s where you’re wrong. The one thing I’ve never been is weak and I won’t be with a man who believes that I am.” She closed the door in his face while he was still thinking up a response.

  He immediately began pounding on the door. “Zoe, I don’t think you’re weak.”

  “Go away, Noah.”

  “Baby, please, I didn’t want to break up with you. I love you.”

  Her eyes were stinging. She closed them tightly and bit her lip. She was barely breathing. “Y-you n-need to go away,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Zoe, please-”

  “No!” She cut him off. “I won’t listen to any more of this.” She couldn’t. “I’m going in my bedroom and I’m shutting the door,” she said hurriedly. She grabbed utensils and got a bottle of water from her refrigerator. “I’m going now,” she shouted so he’d stop wasting his time trying to talk to her. She turned off the light in her kitchen and retreated to her bedroom.

  ***

  Noah didn’t sleep well. When he woke up on Saturday morning, he got out of bed and showered, shaved, and slicked down his hair. Then, despite the fact that he doubted Zoe would leave her apartment, he opened his door so that he could watch the comings and goings in the hallway. He’d angled his recliner so that he could have the perfect view. He realized that his behavior was verging on stalkerish, but he couldn’t think of any other way to get Zoe to talk to him.

  He could kick his own ass after his last conversation with her. His thoughtless words had seriously hurt her. He didn’t think of Zoe as weak. She was shy, yet she’d allowed him to take her to several events where her only friend was him. He knew how hard that had been for her. When he’d called her insecure, he’d been angry. And while she did have some insecurities, everyone did. He didn’t think less of her because of them. But apparently, that’s the way she’d taken his comments.

  He’d never thought about how quiet their building was before. He saw precisely one person pass by before noon. It was midafternoon when Zoe’s cousin Felicia stopped to lean into his doorway. “You’re not concerned about security?”

  Noah placed a bookmark in the book he’d been reading and put it aside. He stood and stretched. “Not really. You’re only the second person I’ve seen all day.”

  “Well, Zoe asked me to stop by and pick up the baking dish she used for the baklava. She said you still had it.”

  “Why doesn’t she come and get it herself?”

  Felicia tilted her head to the side and gave him a look. “Really?”

  “I’d really rather give it to her in person to make sure she gets it.”

  Felicia sighed impatiently. “Don’t behave like a child.”

  “I just want to talk to her—to straighten this out.”

  She lifted her brows. Then she shook her head. “I knew you were going to fuck this up, but I really thought it would be cheating not utter stupidity. You don’t look stupid.” She entered his apartment. “Zoe is not good with social situations. She’s more cautious than most when it comes to relationships and letting people in her inner circle. She took a risk by dating you and you proved that it was a bad risk. You hurt her. And once she’s been burned she won’t willingly stick her hand in the fire again. She will go out of her way to avoid it. She’s running scared. She may forgive you, but she won’t take you back. That means it will take an act of divine intervention to get her to talk to you again.”

  Noah’s shoulders slumped. He’d really fucked up. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him and he’d blown it all in the course of a few minutes with some thoughtless words. “I’ll get you that pan.” He opened the dishwasher and pulled
it out. “It’s already clean.” The handed it to Felicia. “Tell Zoe….” What could he tell her? He’d said he was sorry. He’d told her he loved her. She wasn’t willing to give him another chance.

  Felicia sighed. “You really love her, don’t you?” At his brisk nod, she sighed again and rolled her eyes. She grumbled under her breath and then seemed to come to some sort of decision. “Fortunately for you, my middle name is Divine. I’ll help you win Zoe back.”

  Though he hadn’t particularly liked Felicia before, Noah could have happily grabbed her up and kissed her in that moment. “What do I do?” he asked eagerly.

  ***

  Zoe quickly closed and locked the door behind Felicia. She took her casserole dish from her and put it back in its place in the cabinet. “Thank you for picking this up for me.” She’d been afraid to ask Noah for it. He would have used her request as an excuse to see her.

  “You’re welcome. In exchange, you can tell me what kind of freaky things you did to that boy to have him so hooked.”

  “I didn’t do anything to him.”

  “Girl, he’s sitting over there guarding the hallway hoping to catch a glimpse of you.”

  She didn’t want to think about Noah. If he’d cared so much, he wouldn’t have immediately dismissed her concerns as a byproduct of insecurity. If he’d cared, he should have followed her when she left and not waited until the next day to contact her.

  “He’ll get over it soon. I’m sure he’ll be picking up women in bars in a week or two.”

  “You didn’t see his face. He’s heartbroken.”

  Zoe bit her lip and tried not to let that affect her. Though the idea of Noah having sex with other women was enough to make her sick to her stomach, she knew that it would happen. He enjoyed sex too much to remain celibate. He would recover much sooner than she. “Can we not talk about him?”

  “Sure. You know me. We can always discuss my wedding plans. We’ve picked a date. Hiring a wedding planner was a stroke of genius. Otherwise, Henry’s mother and I were going to come to blows. Some of the girls and I were thinking of having a girls’ weekend next week. Would you like to come?”