The Boy Next Door...

**Natalie POV**

After I get some comfortable clothes on I head downstairs to make sure everything is picked up and I start dinner for tonight I think I’m going to make meatless chili. I get everything out and begin and in no time everything is in the pot and going. I take this time to head upstairs and get on Facebook for awhile. After I check all my personal stuff and reply to a couple of comments I decide I would finally look up Jamia. I click to Frank’s Facebook and start searching for her and ah there she is I think. I click her Facebook and I start scanning some of the recent comments people have left her and oh wow I guess she is pregnant. That’s pretty shocking I wonder why she was calling Frank. I wonder if they are really good friends because he did have some pictures of her on his Facebook.

I decide to look deeper into her Facebook and as I do so I have to admit she is really beautiful. As I’m looking and being nosey I see something I really didn’t want to, it was a relationship status stating that they were together and broke up somewhat recently. Oh my gosh I think over and over in my head. What does this mean? Is the baby his or I just don’t know what to think anymore? Maybe I should text him and tell him that I’m here for him if he needs anything just like he told me, but maybe that would be weird out of nowhere?

Hmm I wish there was a reason to text him right now, as I think this I look down and see Frank’s bag that he brought over last night. That’s perfect I should tell him that I still have his stuff, but what if he’s still on the phone? Wait I shouldn’t say anything at all he doesn’t know I know about Jamia and he doesn’t know I know she’s pregnant maybe he already knew and just didn’t tell me? How could he though we have only known each other for 2 days. My brain is kicking into high gear and I’m thinking all of these things, but ultimately I go back to what frank said to me, that I should tell him my past when I’m ready, and if this is something he wants to explain to me then he should do it when he’s ready too.

How can I expect Frank to not judge me and not jump to conclusions when I myself am doing that right now? I don’t know his past just like he doesn’t know mine. If he’s willing to not judge me and shame me then I won’t either. I decide not to say anything but maybe I should tell him I do have his stuff so I get my phone out and instead of calling him I text him instead.

Natalie: Hey Frank I just wanted to let you know I still have your stuff.

**Frank POV**

“No, No, No, No, No this can’t be!” Jamia is quite on the other line but I do hear a bit of crying coming from her end. I sigh really hard trying to get my frustration out “Jamia do you really think it’s mine?” there are sniffles before she answers “Frank I really don’t know that’s why I didn’t know if I should tell you or not” she pauses for a second then continues “Where the doctor says I’m at in the pregnancy and the date he says I could have gotten pregnant are so close to when I cheated on you.” I’m so furious at this point I just want to scream, but I know that is not an option at the moment.

“Jamia you need to set up a paternity date and until then I don’t want to hear from you.” she starts to cry harder “but Frank I’m all alone, I have no one to talk to about this, Ryan doesn’t want anything to do with me or the baby, I feel as though my parents are disgusted with me. I just don’t have anyone to be supportive for me.” I huff in anger “Jamia I don’t care it was you who betrayed me and until I know this is or isn’t my child I don’t want nothing to do with you! Don’t tell anyone you think it’s mine either Jamia, that’s the last thing I need right now.” I guess my anger got the best of me and I kind of regret being so hostile but I stick to my guns, not only for my benefit but maybe for the benefit of Natalie and the relationship I hope to have with her. In this whole conversation I couldn’t think of anyone else but Natalie and that reassured me of the feelings I had for her, it sounds crazy but I really do think she could be the one.

She just continues to cry and I gently tell her “Jamia I can’t take anymore heartbreak so please don’t call me until you have a paternity date for me to come in I just can’t take anymore disappointment.” She sniffled and tried to stop crying I guess knowingly of how I felt and what I meant “I’m sorry Frank I didn’t mean to drop so much on you I’m just so overwhelmed.” I feel a bit sadder for her “I know Jamia I just can’t respond to your feelings right now I hope nothing but the best for you, but I just can’t deal with this drama.” My phone dings in my ear signaling I have a text message I look at my phone real quick and it’s Natalie I decided that this is where I would end my conversation with Jamia so I quietly say to her “Jamia I got to go.” She whispers to me “Okay Frank bye.” It was the saddest I have heard her voice all evening.

As I hang up the phone with her I look at the text message from Natalie.

Natalie: Hey Frank I just wanted to let you know I still have your stuff.

Oh shit I did leave my bag there didn’t I? I think if there is anything important in my bag and remembered I did have a couple of things.

Frank: I completely forgot all about that. Can I come over and get it later?
Natalie: Sure you can come get it whenever.
Frank: Well in that case I’ll come get it now.
Natalie: Okay the door is unlocked I’m just cooking dinner come on in.

I take this time to get dressed into something more comfortable so I put on some black baggy sweatpants, a grey wifebeater, my big black zip up jacket, and my checkered vans grab my phone and walk out. As I’m walking over there I’m trying to put everything that has happened this evening away, but before I do I contemplate if I should tell her about everything or not. As I get to her door I hesitate for a second and finally decide that I would. Not only to resolve my own feelings but to show her that I am a person to trust all of her secrets to maybe my opening up to her would make her feel more at ease when she’s ready to talk to me.

I open the door and smell a very pleasant smell and it makes me remember I haven’t eaten since the morning. I walk to the kitchen where Natalie is and look at her stirring whatever it is she’s cooking I sit down silently at the island bar knowing she hasn’t acknowledged me yet and I just wait for her to turn around, and when she does she jumps and holds her chest and yells at me “Damn it Frank do I need to put a bell on you?”

**Natalie POV**

After I text him it takes him a minute or two to reply but I’m happy he does.

Frank: I completely forgot all about that. Can I come over and get it later?
Natalie: Sure you can come get it whenever.
Frank: Well in that case I’ll come get it now.
Natalie: Okay the door is unlocked I’m just cooking dinner come on in.

After our short conversation I close out my Facebook, look at myself in the mirror, adjust some things, and head downstairs to make sure everything is going good with dinner. I look at it and its coming along great I take my spoon and stir it for a little bit then turn around to see Frank and it scares the hell out of me so bad I jump and hold my chest to make sure my heart doesn’t beat out of my chest I then continue to yell at him “Damn it Frank do I need to put a bell on you?” he just laughs at me and I just tell him “It’s not funny I about had a heart attack.” This just made him laugh even more at me I get frustrated and just huff at him.

Frank gets up walks around the bar and hugs me “I’m sorry Natalie forgive me?” I pretend to think about it and say “Well maybe.” He gives me that heart melting grin and I just feel like I’m turning to putty. I then here his stomach growl and I laugh “I’m so sorry we didn’t eat anything this afternoon.” He brushed it off like it wasn’t a big deal “it’s alright I’m not dieing.” He walks over to my dinner on the stove and breaths in real hard “That smells amazing Natalie.” I blush a bit “Oh that’s nothing it’s just something I make from time to time.” He looks at the spoon in my hand and give me a little sad puppy dog face I laugh at him and give him the spoon he takes it from me and tries a bite “Oh my god I just want to marry it.” I laugh and ask him “Do you and your mom want to come for dinner?”

His eyes light up and he said “I would love to but I’ll ask my mom.” As he texts his mom I decide to set the table for 4 anyway. As I do so Frank just looks at me with a fond face and gets up to help me and after we both set the table Frank’s mom text him and said that would be fine. So having a little time to kill before our parents get here we just sit at the island bar and talk. “So are you ready for school tomorrow?” I ask as though I don’t already know the answer and he just replies in a nonchalant manor “As ready as I’ll ever be.” I make a small laugh at him “Well I leave for school around 7:30 if you want to walk with me.” he gives a smile “That would be great.” I smile at him too “I’ll take you to the office to get your schedule and show you to your classes.” As I say this I hear laughter and talking coming through the door.

As both of our parents walk to the kitchen my mom drops her bag and says “It smells great Natalie thank you for cooking dinner sweetie.” Frank’s mom was just as eager to say her thanks “Thank you so much for inviting us to come eat.” She paused and then put her arm around Frank “Ava this is my son Frank.” I took Linda’s lead and put my arm around my mom and said “and Frank this is my mom Ava.” We all kind of just laughed, so I told everyone to sit and I would serve them but Frank seemed determined to help so I just let him.

The rest of dinner was just spent talking about what we did today, I lied and said we just hung out and talked about school and just watched some movies they both seemed happy about our answers and we all just had a great dinner when it was time for them to go we all said our goodbyes and Frank hugged me on the way out whispering in my ear “I’ll be back later for my stuff I got to talk to you about something to.” This made my heart skip a beat not only because he wanted to talk to me but because he was so close to my ear that I could feel his warm breath tickling it. After our hug I walked to the kitchen where my mom was and I started helping her put dinner away she looked at me, smiled, and said “Well that was a nice hug” she then nudged me and laughed. “Mom he’s just a friend.” As true as that was I wish it were more.

After we cleaned up the kitchen and got the dishwasher going I told mom I was ready for bed and I was off she agreed she was tired as well and took off to her room too. As soon as I was up to my room I decided that I needed to get everything ready for school tomorrow so I went to my closet to get my clothes out and I decided on my black and white long sleeve striped shirt, charcoal waist suspender vest, my charcoal dark wash skinny jeans, and my black converse I continued to pack my bag find my jacket and hat and put it all in reach for the morning, when all done I lay in bed and think about what Frank meant when he said he needed to tell me something, some time had went by and my phone finally went off

Frank: Can I come over now?

Notes

this is a bigger chapter then normal and i'm actually working on the next chapter too, almost done with it to be exact! i might upload it tomorrow or save it for next week! what do you think? well any who Comment Rate Subscribe! would really love some feedback guys!