The boy next door

A soft knock echoed through the rooms of a small apartment of Colmar, France. In the kitchen, a young girl the age of 18 was slaving away at the dishes she had forgotten to do the previous night. She threw a strand of her curly hair behind her head sighing. She dropped a glass and a clatter rang on the metal sink. Stumbling to the front door, she checked her buzzing phone. Her mother had called,

'I'll see you in 3 days! Miss you.' said one of the many text messages. Her mother was visiting a sick family member back in their hometown of Miami, Florida. They were used to moving. However, this time required her mother to move to France. A new country, new school, new home.

Finally making it to the door, The person outside knocked again. In annoyance, the young girl opened the door.

"Hello?" said the tired girl. Her American accent stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Are you Alice Grendel?" The person responded. It was a boy. Instead of the suspected french accent, He spoke as those do in the motherland. English. An accent easy to mimic and somewhat normal to the girl. In his arms was a bouquet of light yellow dahlias mixed together with dainty baby's breath. All-together tied in a brown paper with white ribbon.

"um yes," the girl stated, "and you are?"

He fumbled a hand from under the bouquet. He jabbed it out in front of her, symbolizing for her to shake it.

"Percy Reynolds" he stuttered out. His face was dotted with freckles. They matched his smile perfectly. Alice shook the boy's hand.

"My father works with your mom. I live a few rooms down. Your mom asked my dad to come to check on you to see how you're holding up" He explained.

"Oh..um I guess come in then?"

Her phone buzzed again '

did Mr. Rynolds' son come over? it asked.

'well, that's good. I didn't invite a total stranger into my house.' Thought Alice.

"um well, I thought since it's the first day of spring, we could walk down to the market?" He asked "Oh and these are for you" he handed Alice the bouquet. His hands were cold and his fingers were blistering.

"Yeah sure um let me just grab my shoes" Alice smiled. She set the dahlias down and laced up her sneakers. Thinking back, a crimson wave of red flooded her face. The gestures were sweet, plus the boy was quite adorable. Maybe this spring season would be the best it's ever been in a long-long- time.

The pair walked outside the building into the no longer brisk environment.

"So, how long have you been living here?" Alice questioned the boy.

he seemed to think back as to count in his head.

"I moved here when I was 6 so more than half my life." He breezed. The two passed a quiet-looking coffee shop.

"You hungry?" he asked the blonde girl

she smiled

"I could eat"

The coffee shop, La rose, had large wooden bookshelves lined with old novels. Flowers to indicate the coming of Spring danced around the shop. A tall waitress directed the two to a table. She set two menus onto the booth. Alice watched the boy chat with the waitress. He looked over to her and asked what she wanted to order. Scanning her eyes over the menu, she simply said,

"A caramel latte" The waitress scribbled down the order

"make that two" Said Percy. He smiled again at Alice. She smiled back trying to fight a blush. '

'I just met him, how am I already head-over-heels for him?' she thought angrily

The waitress came back with the steaming hot cups of coffee and grinned at the two. Alice pulled the coffee up to her mouth and inhaled the sweet and bitter smell of the latte. She took a long sip and smiled gleefully. Percy snickered at the girl's excitement.

"what?" she asked at his laughter

"Nothing," he lied as he continued to smile at her.

truthfully he didn't know why he was so happy, he just couldn't stop smiling

'I can't get this stupid grin off my face.' he thought. 'i barely even know this girl why does she make me so happy?'

"seriously what?" she asked. Percy noticed he was standing

"Your accent is cute" he shrugged. not wanting to seem like a creep.

The girl's eyes widened she smiled again.

"o-oh thanks" she choked out. She set down the warm porcelain cup.

"Okay... I'm assuming you're American" started Percy. Alice nodded. "so where are you from?" he asked taking a sip of the hot drink.

"Florida" she answered simply. The boy nodded listening to the girl.

"It's a lot different from here. Florida is hot and humid. Here it's pretty and actually has four seasons" rambled Alice.

Slurping up the remainder of the drink, Percy gazed at the blonde girl. She continued to speak about the past life she was now far away from. He awoke from his trance when the waitress came back with the bill. Alice stuck her hand in her pocket to fish out enough money to pay for her drink.

"it's fine, I got it" Percy quietly said watching the girl struggle to pull out her money.

"Are you sure? I can-"

Percy just smiled. He handed the waitress the money and stood up. He offered his hand to Alice helpfully. The two made their way out of the small shop and continued to walk down the road.

Alice felt as if she was in a romance movie or the girl in those boy band songs. A feeling Alice has never felt, being wanted. Yeah, She just met this boy and he could be so much different than she thought. She doesn't know what secrets he has. But then again, he doesn't know hers.

'maybe' thought Alice as she stared at the tall boy next to her.

'maybe this new life will be better than I thought'

-Spring Secrets, Ava Lynn

A/N: this is just a short segment of a novel I started I was going back and forth between the plot but I'm starting to really like it now. That's all. Have a nice day.