"Finally", I say with a sigh. After an entire day my last piece of clothing is packed, my room is decorated and my window is cleaned. Now that I think about it having a window directly opposite someone else's is kinda weird. I mean, I never looked into it but the neighbour's room is directly next to mine, with just the side space of each house to keep us from entering through the other's window. I never saw any movement, so it might be empty just like ours was.

I sit down to take a break on the window seat, it was my favourite feature of the room apart from the inclined ceiling. 

"Zoom-zoom, would you mind going to the store we passed. I need some pasta and mushrooms for dinner.", I hear dad call from the bottom of the steps. I get up, take one last look at my room and head downstairs. "You all done?", dad asks when I reach the last step. I give a quick nod and we head to the lounge area. 

"I just need a small break before I start in my room." Dad decided to tackle the lounge alone so that I could clean and pack the bathroom upstairs along with my room. "My wallet is in the car, uncle Jerry should be here in about an hour." I went up to grab a jersey and rushed back down. I quickly grabbed the car key and left. 

I opened the car, got the wallet out and locked it again. As I was leaving the driveway I heard a motorbike pull up in the driveway next to ours. Seems like there actually is someone living next door. I stopped at the familiarity of the motorbike and the person who owned it. I figured I could say hi before I left to the store, it would be the neighborly thing to do. I walked towards the motorbike as the person got off and pulled their head out from inside their helmet. 

"Uhm... hi", god I was so awkward. 

The stranger turned around and realization hit me like a tsunami. It was the waiter from the diner, Mason. "Oh, it's you. You some stalker or something?", he said and I could hear him smirking. Ha! The audacity this boy had. "Excuse me. I was coming over to say hi since we appear to be neighbours.", it took everything in me not to give a sassy response. 

"Relax Izumi, I'm just kidding. Chief Jerry already let me know that I'll be getting new neighbours and when I saw you guys in the diner this morning I figured it was a possibility." He now had a warm and welcoming smile on his face. 

"Well that was all I wanted to say, so I'll take my leave. Urh... bye." I turned around headed toward the end of his driveway before he could give any other snarky response, because he really seemed like the type to. As I came to the end of the driveway I turned left, hoping that I still remember where exactly the store was that we passed this morning. 

"Hey Izumi, wait up", I turned around to see Mason jogging toward me. "Where are you headed?", he asked now standing in front of me. "To the store to pick up some things for dinner.... why?", I was quite confused. I just met him today but he seemed to be very friendly and comfortable, even after I hit a total blank when I trying to remember his name this morning. "I'll walk with you." 

"I'm good thanks." Is he trying to put me into some damsel in distress box? "Look, it's not safe to walk alone at night around here. Just trust me, I've lived in this town all my life. I know that's a weird request when I just met you today but we are neighbours and your uncle would have my head if I let you walk alone. There's also the fact that I'm out of milk, so you know, two birds one stone or two humans and one store...", I noticed how awkward and embarrassed he was at his attempt to make a joke as he kept reaching for the back of his neck. He made a good point though, and I couldn't find a good enough excuse to deny his company so with a simple 'okay' from me, we started walking down the street. 

"Mason, right?" I asked, trying to fill the silence. "Hey, look at that, you remembered this time." He was so playful, I found it hard to believe that this was the same person who looked as if he hated every aspect of life when working at the diner this morning. "You think you could just call me Izzy?" It was a weird request but ever since mom left, I never liked hearing my full name. 

"Sure, if that's what you want, personally I think your name's really cool though... Izzy." With that last statement we walked to the store in silence.

...