[chapter two]
Disclaimer: If you've heard of
them, I don't own them. Everything else is mine, so no stealing, pretty please.
;-)
**
Bloody hell, Nya thought to herself. He's only owned the house for a month, and already she can tell he's going to be a nuisance.
With a flourish of her red ball point pen, she put the finishing touches on the note she was about to deliver to his door. The cars and trash were one thing, but music in the middle of the night?
Quite another thing. And she wasn't standing for it.
She'd worked too damn hard to get this job, to make it so she could work from the comfort of her home, and she wasn't about to lose sleep by listening to a rock concert next door every sodding night.
Jamming her feet into her shoes, she strode out her front door and towards his, the note clenched in her hand. Just as she was about to tape it to his front door, Jamie unexpectedly opened the door and caused Nya to squeak in surprise.
"Hi, Neighbor." Jamie said with a cautious smile. "I moved my car, that was my friend Casey's car, and I made him move it." He added very quickly.
Nya looked at him quizzically for a moment, then registered what he was talking about - the cars she had berated him for the first and only time they had met. A car had been parked in front of his house earlier that day, though she'd scarcely noticed through the haze of editing and writing she'd done. Her facade breaking at his quick and fearful explanation, she found herself smiling back at him before realizing she'd done it.
"I...I hadn't noticed." She said haughtily, pulling herself together. "However, I did notice rather a disturbance last night at one in the morning."
She'd also noticed he had the loveliest eyes and charming dimpled chin, but was trying not to focus on that.
Jamie flinched. "I told Donnie not to crank the stereo. I'm really sorry about that. You know, if you tell me your name, I can threaten them with your name, instead of saying 'The hot chick next door is going to be pissed if you don't quit it'."
Nya couldn't help but laugh out loud a little at his earnest face as he referred to her that way, no matter how much like the ice queen she wanted to be. Looking down, Nya felt her cheeks warm a little under his gaze before she looked up and met his eyes, her facade returned. "I'm Nya Williams." She said curtly.
"I'm Jamie." He replied.
"So you said."
"And what is it you do, Nya Williams?" Jamie asked, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaning against the doorframe, the picture of relaxation and charm.
"I'm a book editor for Random House. I work from home. I assume you can read?" Nya asked sarcastically.
"Oh yeah. I just got throught my first Clifford book the other day." Jamie shot back seriously.
Nya bit her lip at the image of that before smoothing her features. "Quite the accomplishment. And what is it you do, Jamie?" She asked.
"I'm a race car driver." Jamie said, looking down sheepishly.
Nya raised an eyebrow. This...this boy was a race car driver? The only racers she knew were much older, much more European and much less humorous. "What sort of cars? Big Wheels?"
"NASCAR." Jamie replied sheepishly.
"Ah."
"You've heard of it, right. I know you're...what? English, right?" Jamie suggested. "I mean, it's a pretty big sport around here."
"Yes, I've heard of it. Unsophisticated, loud, country roots, loved by the uneducated masses of this country, and impossibly gaudy. Am I close?" Nya said defensively. Her race car drivers were men with names like Shumacher, Coulthard, Montoya and Button.
"To people like you, yeah." Jamie said, his back straightening, his shoulders squaring, making him seem more imposing, more intelligent, more...
Nya shook her head to rid herself of such thoughts. "People like me, yes." She repeated. Deciding now was the time to make her retreat, she gave him her stoniest look. "Keep the music down, please."
As she glided away, head held high, she could hear Jamie call out behind her. "Okay, but only because you said please."
She found herself having to bite
back another laugh.