Every Second Longer
Luna
The wall banged for the fifth time tonight, and I turned around and screamed into my pillow.
“ Hijo de puta.”
Who the hell fucked that much?
No se rosa?
Did guys not chafe from fucking this frequently? Was he just promiscuous or a freaking sex addict?
It wasn’t one-night stands—I mean, they were, but with the town’s small population, there were a few repeats. It’s not like I was counting or anything, but, come on, some of these girls liked to leave early, and I bumped into them in the hall when I had early days at work.
This had to be my karma for moving out of my mami’s house.
She didn’t get why I wanted to move away, why I would dare move to my own place when I could save money by living with her.
At this, I found that it was a cultural thing.
Sure, I was an adult who made adult monies, but that didn’t mean shit as long as I lived under my mother’s roof. Her house, her rules.
I rarely went out, but if I did, I had to be home by one or two, tops, because what kind of decent woman was out later than that?
It was easier to move out, even if I sometimes struggled, but my mental health and the relationship with my mother improved if we each had our own space.
It had all been great until I noticed just what kind of person lived next to me.
I had nothing against premarital sex; one could say I was even sex positive—if a virgin could even call themselves that—but what I was against was losing sleep.
I wasn’t the one who was being fucked, but I was the one being fucked over.
Que lindo.
How lovely.
Giving up, I grabbed my blanket and a pillow and made my way to the living room.
Whoever designed these complexes didn’t take into account the fact that nymphomaniacs would be sharing spaces with people who valued their sleep.
To be honest, that wasn’t the problem either.
They should have used some thicker drywall or something, because these walls were paper-thin.
Even when I was sleep deprived, I would be thankful that I had splurged on my comfy sectional. It was the perfect spot to chill back and watch movies on a rainy day, or in this case, have a midnight nap.
I’ve been having a lot of midnight naps lately.
I tried not to get angry and instead headed to the kitchen, where I could make myself some chamomile tea to see if that would help me fall asleep faster. I had a big day ahead of me tomorrow, and I wouldn’t let my neighbor ruin it.
When my alarm rang, I groaned.
How was it that it was already morning? It felt like my midnight nap started five minutes ago. I could already tell it was going to be one of those days. With sleepy eyes, I wandered into the kitchen.
Pouring water into a bowl, I filled it with ice, and then, before my sleepy brain could defrost more, I dunked my head.
Fuuuuuuck.
My brain shouted at me as I shocked it back to the land of the living.
With my face dripping in icy water, I made my way to my bathroom and grabbed a face towel.
I should make a bunch of noise now to see how much my neighbor liked it. He was lucky I wasn’t vindictive.
Instead of making noise, I sat myself in front of my small vanity and began to part my hair in half to put it in French braids. Once that was done, I got up and tucked in my scrubs top into my joggers.
Today’s print was a mix of Disney animals. It was cute and worth the splurge.
The bad thing about being an adult was making adult money and spending it on stupid shit for a hit of serotonin. Another reason why I moved out of my mother’s house. She wouldn’t understand that spending twenty extra dollars on a scrub top was required for my mental health.
Her idea of destressing was doing a deep cleaning of the house.
Once I had packed my bag with all the things I would need for the day, I filled my tumbler with water and lots of ice and walked out the door.
“Asshole,” murmured a furious brunette as she jogged down the stairs.
Okay, someone was not having a good morning.
I ignored this and instead turned around to lock my door and just as I was about to leave, a small shadow in the corner of my eye caught my attention.
It took a second to register what I was looking at, and when I first saw it, I jumped back, thinking we had a pest problem, but an overgrown rat was staring me down. But it wasn’t an overgrown rat. It was an adorable, black floppy-eared bunny with the deepest shade of chocolate eyes.
If anyone ever wanted to kidnap me, this would be the way to lure me in. I loved animals, and not to toot my own horn, but animals loved me. I put my stuff down gently as I stared down at the bunny.
“Hola, bebé,” I cooed as I took a tentative step toward it.
Despite their cuteness, bunnies were prone to temper tantrums.
I had to fight the urge to fist pump when the furry creature let me pet it. That was a win for me today. I gently picked up the bunny and then turned it onto its side.
Okay, he was a boy.
“Are you lost, little guy?”
He immediately started to twitch, and I pressed him to my chest and tried to calm him down.
I knew he didn’t belong to my front-door neighbors, so that left two options—but judging by the rushed activities of my neighbor’s overnight guest, I could imagine this little guy saw an opportunity to flee and took it.
When I made it to the other side of the hallway, something I never had done before because I park on my side of the building, I took a look at the door across from my neighbor.
I immediately knew the bunny didn’t belong to them since they had a paper that was beneath the door, meaning it hadn’t been opened today.
Taking a deep breath and hating myself for having a weakness for doe eyes, I began to knock on the door.
“You’re lucky I think you’re cute,” I told the bunny.
A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing a naked guy. Okay, not naked naked, but he was only wearing a pair of black Calvin Klein boxer briefs. His body was fit, he had lean muscles in his arms and legs, and his stomach had defined abs.
I felt my cheeks get hot.
My interactions with men were limited, and they certainly involved clothes. Before me was a supermodel, and I was a shy girl, and this was throwing me into the deep end—all for a bunny.
Then I got a good look at his face, and suddenly all my late nights made sense.
Adam Kane had been in the same year as me in high school. He was popular then, and that hadn’t changed now.
“I’m sorry, Viv, but I’m not changing my—” He stopped talking when he noticed that I wasn’t Viv.
His brow furrowed as he looked at me, then down to where his bunny was curled into me.
“Reaper?” he questioned.
“So, he’s yours?” I asked before I could question what kind of name Reaper was for a cute little bunny.
“Yeah,” he answered tentatively as he took a step toward me—well, to his pet—but instinct had me taking one back.
Adam cocked his head, and the small smile that graced his face did not make me feel at ease with him—it did quite the opposite.
“He was wandering down the hall…” I told him. “I’m guessing he ran after your disgruntled overnight guest.”
This made him wince.
“Yeah, probably… You visiting someone?” he asked.
“I live next door,” I mumbled as I handed him his bunny.
He immediately took him. His hands brushed mine, which shouldn’t have happened by the way I handed him his pet. My cheeks were going to stay red at this point.
“I didn’t realize anyone lived there,” he told me. “You don’t make any noise.”
“Well, you make enough for both of us,” I snapped at him before I could filter my thoughts. My eyes widened in surprise at my outburst. I was mortified, but not Adam. He seemed amused.
God, this was awkward. And because I wanted to fill the silence, I kept babbling.
“Your bunny needs his nails trimmed already. I know they hate it, but it hurts him to walk around like that.”
He wasn’t offended by this.
Instead, he kissed the top of his bunny’s head, and my stomach did a funny flip that it had never done before.
Luna, ya calmate.
“Oh, I know. Reaper hates to see the clippers coming.”
“I bet,” I added lamely.
Okay, time to go.
And because I was an idiot, I waved. “Bye, Reaper.”
I was just about to turn around when Adam spoke again.
“I’m Adam Kane,” he told me, holding the bunny in one hand as he stretched the other for me to shake it.
My mother would smack my head if she ever found out I didn’t shake his hand back.
“I know,” I said, as I turned around and headed for my things so I could get the fuck out of here.