The Boy Next Door

We’ve never been through a time like this. A new virus has taken the world by surprise and changed our lives drastically. People are getting sick everywhere and all we can do is wait for this chapter of our lives to end.

Meanwhile, we stay at home. To protect ourselves and others, we made that sacrifice.

I usually spend most of my days in my bedroom practicing the piano and composing songs. I’m in my second year of college right now, majoring in music, but, since school was canceled, I’m back at home with my parents. It’s somewhat nice being back in town and spending time in the room I grew up in. I have so many memories of this place. Most of them are attached to me playing in my old keyboard, having friends over for sleepovers and wasting hours sitting at my desk and looking through my window in hopes of seeing him. Aaron Donovan, my next door neighbor. We were best friends from kindergarten all the way through the sixth grade. After that, he progressively started to hang out with me less and less until one day, in seventh grade, he stopped showing up at my door. I was sad at first, but when high school time came and I noticed that he didn’t even look at me in the hallway, I realized that for him being popular was more important than being friends with the band geek.

One morning during lock-down I sat in my bedroom’s balcony and saw a piece of paper taped to my neighbor’s window. I got a little closer and I read it. It said “Stop playing piano so loud”. I was embarrassed at first because I felt guilty for disturbing the people in my neighborhood, but then I found the notice to be a bit rude. He could’ve just message me on Facebook- the only place we’re still friends. So, as an act of revenge, I spent all day and night translating sheet music and playing the piano even louder. The next day there was another notice on the window with the same phrase, but this time written with a bold red marker. Instead of being petty about it, I decided to write my own message “Get some earpods”.

I guess he didn’t take it very well because in that same afternoon, when I was relaxing in my backyard, Aaron came over to the fence to talk.

“Why are you doing this Zoey?” he said.

“Nice to see you still remember my name after all this time.” I replied.

“What do you mean? We live next to each other. Now can you please stop ignoring my notes and playing so loud?”

“Oh you mean like how you ignored me for six years?

“What do you mean? I didn’t ignore you, we just grew up and went our different ways. It’s not my problem you’re still mad about that”.

“I’m not mad. What you did was stupid, but I’m really not bothered. It was probably for the best” I said, trying to seem indifferent.

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, clearly you wanted to be popular and hanging out with me wouldn’t help your reputation.”

“That’s not why I stopped hanging with you.”

“Oh so you’re admitting there was a reason!”

“No. No I’m not” he continued as he looked troubled. “Look, just stop making all of that noise. I can’t concentrate on my work.”

“I’m allowed to play. It’s my work too, you know?”

“Alright. Can you just not do it after 10 PM?”

“Ok. I can do that.”

“Thank you.”

As he walked towards his house, he turned around and said “I’m sorry for ditching you in middle school. You were my best friend and I was an idiot”.

I nodded and let out a tiny smile and watched as he went through his front door. I felt bad for making him feel guilty after all of this time, but I guess having some closure was nice.

The following day I got a message that said “Hi!”. It was from Aaron. I was very confused so I peeked out the window and saw him laying in his bed with his headphones on, staring at the screen. I told myself I was going to wait a few hours before responding, but ten minutes later I was already typing.

We chatted for a few hours and then we started talking about our old days together. In the middle of the conversation, he confesses:

“There was actually a reason for why I stopped being your friend.”

“What was it? Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you didn’t. We always had lots of fun, hanging out with you was the best part of my day”

In that instant I was glad we were having that chat over text, because I couldn’t help but smirk for a bit.

“Do you remember your 13^th birthday party? When I gave you that ring as a gift?” he asked.

“Yes, I think I vaguely remember that.” I totally knew what he was talking about. I still have that ring in one of my drawers.

“Well there was a card that I drew and wrote on a message as well.”

“I don’t remember that.”

“That’s because I never gave you the card.”

At that point I was very confused as to what the story was leading up to, but I let him continue before asking any questions.

“Before handing out the gifts, I was talking to Stacy Price” he continued. “I showed her the card and she told me not to give it to you.”

“Why? Why would she do that?” I asked, very confused.

“Well...The message I wrote wasn’t just a birthday message. I wrote about my feelings for you, because I liked you.”

In that moment, I stepped into the balcony and so did he.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” I asked, face to face. “And why did you listen to Stacy Price? She had a crush on you since the third grade.”

“I found that out a couple of years ago, but at the time I didn’t know. I ended up listening to her advice because she told me you liked Kyle and I didn’t want to embarrass myself.”

“I never liked Kyle, he was just in out friend group so we hung out, but nothing more than that. But that doesn’t explain why you stopped talking to me.”

“I knew that if I told you I liked you our friendship would be ruined. But I also knew that I couldn’t be your friend without telling you how I felt. So either way out friendship was doomed.”

“So you took the easy way?”

“I took the way that wouldn’t leave me heartbroken and humiliated. If I ignored you I wouldn’t have to hear you say you didn’t like me or have to listen to you talk about any crush you might have had on someone. I know it probably wasn’t the right thing to do, I was only thinking about myself.”

“I understand you. And, if I’m being honest, I think the reason I was so mad at you for ditching me was because I had a crush on you too.”

“Really?” he said happily.

“Yes. I’m glad we can talk about this as adults now.”

For the next two weeks we texted every day, always said good morning and good night to each other from our balconies and even had lunch in our respective backyards, where we could only see bits of each other through the cracks on the fences. Even our parents were commenting on how close we’d gotten.

In one of our “picnics”, Arron told me:

“You know, after graduation I asked my mom about you.”

“You did?”

“Yes. I wanted to know what school you were going to and if you still wanted to be a musician. Since our parents are still friends, I figured she’d know.”

“I had heard around high school that you were going to LA on a sports scholarship, so I never asked much about it. I always knew you could do it.”

After a while, Aaron looked at me and said “When we get out of lock-down and everything is back in order, would you consider going out on a date with me?”

“Yes, I would” I said as we smiled at each other.

However, tragedy struck the following week. Because Aaron’s dad has a heart disease and his mom still has to work, Aaron is the one that has to go out to buy the groceries or go to the pharmacy. Because of this, he’s much more exposed. He had been feeling unwell for several days, so he drove himself to the hospital. The doctors thought it he should get tested to see if he’s infected by the new virus. He stayed a couple of days at the hospital waiting for the results, which ended up being positive. I was distraught when I heard the news from him, over the phone. But I knew that I had to be strong for him. I couldn’t even imagine how hard it was for him to be alone in there, not knowing if he was going to be alright. I usually talked to him over the phone and sent him playlists for him to listen and relax. As worried as I was for him, I had to put on a positive front and help him in anyway I could, so I’d check up on his parents.

A week later, his symptoms weren’t as severe so he was sent home. All I wanted to do was to walk through his door and hold him, but I couldn’t. We had to stay separated for everyone’s health. That’s when I realized how much a single touch is underrated. In a normal world, a touch would be something banal and usual to us, but in this reality, it’s not even a possibility.

One night, he had an episode where he couldn’t breathe. We all thought it was the end. We rushed to the hospital but luckily it was nothing.

A couple of weeks later Aaron was fully recovered. It went by really fast but it felt like months not knowing if he was going to be alright. We started seeing each other in person again, but still keeping a distance. His touch was all that I craved, but our distance was needed.

The next month the lock-down was over. The moment we walked out of our houses, we ran into each other’s arms and had our first kiss. I had never thought anything would feel as right as that. What we share is something I never imagined.

After all, I think that the only thing keeping me from truly expressing how I felt was myself. Keeping my feelings locked inside was the real virus that was in me, and this time alone with my thoughts helped me realize that. And I’m happy I did.