"No way!" I say without really thinking about it.

She laughs a bit and shrugs. "Hey, you were thinking it first, Colin, don't deny it."

"Yeah, but I wasn't that serious about it. I mean vampires aren't for real...are they?" I chew on my lip and fiddle with a half eaten cookie.

"Don't look at me, I know as much as you do, probably less, but the facts are mounting up," she ponders for a minute before getting a very sinister grin on her face. I did not like the look of it at all. "Perhaps I should go talk to this, Felix, was it? That is seriously not the name I would have thought." She finishes her cookie and pulls her cell from her pocket. I take it from her as leverage.

"No! Don't!" I say moving away from her as best I can while she attempts to get her phone back. "If you do that and he finds out that you know me and I, I mean, we know about him he's going to come after us and..." I trail off not wanting to say it out loud. She snatches her phone from my hand finally but I didn't put up a fight this time.

"Colin, why would he go out of his way to save you and then turn around and kill you? Besides, I'll just won't mention you alright? I'll go over on false pretenses of needing sugar or something and strike up a conversation, easy as Pecan pie," she says all this while checking her text messages and then smiles all sweetly at me.

"Is pecan pie even easy?" I mumble mostly to myself before giving in. "Fine, but be careful, okay?" I look down at the plate and realize the two of us have eaten all the cookies.

"Don't worry, buddy boy, I will." She grins and then gives me a sly glance. "So, you saw him without his shirt, huh? Pretty sexy?" I glare at her and she starts to laugh hysterically while wiggling her eyebrows and for a while after we talk about stupid things and joke around before she finally leaves to go get some much-needed beauty sleep. Her words, not mine.

                                                        ---

Sunday dawns and I spend most of the day reading or listlessly doing little things around the apartment. I never venture out but I do send my mom out to get those groceries I failed to get the day before with strict instructions. I do hope she doesn't come home with a bunch of junk food, which is very likely. It's starting to get dark outside and I'm getting a bit worried but she has a tendency to get sidetracked. She spent most of the day till now talking on the phone with her girlfriends or sleeping anyway.

After a while, I realize I have nothing else to do and the apartment is about as spotless as it has ever been in months. Sighing I grab my book and settle on the cushioned seat at the bay window. It's a small bay window and I have to keep my legs bent to fit, which is surprising considering my short stature. I have maybe less than half of the book left to finish. Of course reading it just made my mind wander to the mystery that is Felix. Who is he really? He couldn't really be a creature of the night like in this book. Perhaps he also has a health condition that prevents him from doing normal things like me. I mean that could be plausible, right? That has to be it.

I wonder too whether Joanna did what she said she was going to do and talked to him today. I haven't seen her all day though and I would have assumed she would have come straight to me if she had done so. I feel some relief that maybe she forgot and there is a chance she'd leave it be. Of course, this is Joanna we are talking about. She rarely leaves anything alone when she sets her mind to it. Shoot, I can't concentrate on this stupid book. I throw it down on the cushion underneath my legs and stare out the window.

It was full dark now but the street lamps were on and many windows are still lit up. I watch as a couple laughs and clings to each other, possibly drunk, wandering down the sidewalk across from the Avalon. They pause a moment to suck some serious face and I make a grim face. They disappear down the block and I watch a man taking out some trash and a couple of kids running around whom probably shouldn't be out so late. A few cars pass and as I look down the street from our apartments I see my mother get off the public bus with two paper bags full of food. I smile. Happy to see she seems alright and is heading back. I think about waving to her as she gets closer but I doubt she'd see me.

When she is just outside the apartment entrance I see her stop then and wave and shout towards someone down the sidewalk. I raise an eyebrow at this and look towards whomever she must be calling to. It is then I see none other than Felix, dressed in all black as usual and walking that enormous mongrel of his. The thing is a beast, even from up here. How is he even allowed to have such a large dog in this apartment? Of course, I've heard the landlord, Mr. Fitz, is easy to bribe, according to Joanna. I wouldn't know since I rarely see him other than to get the rent. My mother, all smiles, walks up to Felix and seems to engage him in conversation. For some reason, this makes me very anxious. What could they be talking about? Not me, I hope.

I continue to watch very nervously until my mom seems to say farewell and heads inside. Felix doesn't move, though his dog is sniffing around and beginning to tug on his leash. Suddenly, the fair man looks up right at where I am peeping out the window. I swear he looks directly at me, though I can barely see his face from up here and plus it's in shadow of his hood. Crap. I drop to the floor in a very not so hot way, banging my right knee very painfully like a fool. I keep myself from crying out like Felix could possibly hear me from here and rub the heck out of my knee. Well, that lesson has been learned.

I hear a key going into the lock and watch as my mother comes in cheerfully with the groceries. She wanders into the kitchen to put them on the counter and then looks at me by the bay window. She frowns a little, tilting her head to one side. "You okay, lovebug? What are you doing on the floor?" She returns to the groceries and pulls out a tub of ice cream. "Want some rocky road?" She grins and wiggles the tub in the air.

I sigh and shaking my head as I get up from the ground, then limp towards her and into the kitchen. "For dinner, mom?" I begin to pull things on the bag, trying to ignore the pain in my knee and putting Felix to the back of my mind. "Please tell me you got something more appropriate for dinner?" I glance at her and she smiles sheepishly at me.

I groan and shift through the bag, but thankfully she did get most of what was on my list. I decide to make spaghetti and start getting ready to do so. When I've got a pot of water boiling and starting to put the pasta in, I realize I can't ignore what I saw through the window. My mom is on the couch watching a random episode of Rob's Burgers and drinking a glass of wine. I clear my throat and call out to her, "So, mother..."

"Uh oh, what did I do now?" She asks and looks over the back of the couch at me smirking.

I glare at her but it doesn't stick. "Nothing, I was just wondering...I mean I saw randomly, of course, through the window...uh, you were talking to someone? With a dog?" I peer over at her nervously.

She blinks and seems confused for a moment before it dawns on her what and who I mean. "Oh! Yes, I was talking with that nice new tenant from upstairs on Joanna's floor. He was very kind, a little odd," she pauses getting distracted by the show.

"Mom?" I prompt, stirring the pasta.

"Huh? Oh, right, yes, very kind. His name is Felix...though I suppose you know that," she says casually.

I stop and come out of the kitchen to stare at her. I haven't spoken a word to her about my encounters with him. She looks at me innocently but I think it sort of dawns on her but she frowns anyway. "Don't you know him already, darling? He was asking about you and how you were and all, I assumed you two have met," she shrugs and looks back at the TV taking a sip of wine. "He's incredibly handsome, though he could definitely do with some sun," she says. "Mesmerizing eyes but definitely surprising. He's got to be part some kind of Asian, don't you think? Put him in a suit and he'd look like he came right out of a K-drama!"

I walk back into the kitchen in a bit of a daze. He asked about me? Why? What does he care? Oh gosh, maybe he does want to suck my blood or chop me up. No, that's stupid. Shaking my head I get back to making dinner and once and for all, at least for tonight, put all that spooky neighbor business way back in the depths of my mind.

My mom thinks he's handsome and has pretty eyes? Gross, even if I agree.