Valentine for Summer

Summer dragged her feet throughout the hallway until she finally reached the door to her apartment, Carol ended up sucking all of her energy throwing words like provoking fate and heed the warning around Summer all day long.

The Gypsys description was clear and right on the spot, Summer was dense when it comes to men. What made it much worse was that she didn need to go out of her way to meet true love candidates, she only needed to pay attention to those around her already.

She took off her shoes with a groan as her feet finally became free of the heels and throbbed in appreciation. The sudden noise that came from behind her made her jump in her place.

*Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!*

Summer placed a hand over her frantically beating heart wondering what lunatic knocked on somebody elses door this way. When she peeked through the hole in the door, she rolled her eyes at the man who was fixing his hair and kept brushing it backward with his hand over and over again.

Can this week become any worse?

She wouldve ignored her next-door neighbor had she not been sure of the fact that he had seen her coming inside just now, the man who was five years younger than Summer was as per usual, ambushing her.

An alarm went on in her head when she thought that Zack was another potential love interest. It wasn that she forgot about his existence as she did with Patrick, it was that she intentionally kept him out of the list. He already had a place on another one of her lists. The list of the rejected. She wasn even worried about excluding him, she had 0 compatibility levels with this guy, even if he stood in the middle of the sharpest corner there was, it was impossible, there was no way he would be Summers rue love.

She twisted the door knob with a heavy heart and pulled it open, ”Evening, Zack, ” she greeted politely deciding to take the high road.

”Hi! Back from work? ”

No! Still there! ”…Yes, ”

There were three seconds of only the sound of the clock that hung in the entrance above Summers head ticking. Secretly, Zack was hoping shed invite him in.

”Um, can I use your phone? ” He asked, it was the excuse he had prepared for this encounter in case Summer didn ask him to go inside.

”…Whats wrong with yours, ” it was less of a question and more of an accusation.

Summer slowly but surely descended from the high road, she felt herself sinking down to the level of her thinning energy.

”M-mine? I spilled water all over it… oh, the water was…You know?… Water from the sink… ”

Summer blinked many times, she tried hard not to get visuals as he described where the water had come from. She knew that Zack would never back down until she gives him what he wants.

”One second, ” she rummaged through her purse that she had just placed on the coat hanger a minute ago, then she took her phone out and placed it in his eagerly extended hand. She patiently waited until he dialed a number, her patience reached its quota exactly one minute later, and her barefoot started tapping on the floor impatiently as the man held her phone to his ear and continued to stare at her.

”Do you hear anything? ” He asked out of a sudden.

”…Am I supposed to? ”

”I think I hear mine ringing! Thank you so much! It means its still working… ”

”…You dialed your number? ”

”Hm? Yeah! ”

Summer suppressed the urge to slam the door in her neighbors face. She shouldve invested in the conversation and asked why he wanted to use her phone before she permitted him to. She knew what was coming now because of her neglect. More pain.

Zack gave the phone back to Sunner, ”Now you know my number… I mean, ” he took a breath and his face took a shade redder, ”We have each others numbers, if you need something, call me right away, okay? ”

”Okay, ” Like hell I would, ”It was a long day Zack, Im crashing in early, ”

”Oh? Are you not feeling well? ”

Her eyes slid down at his foot that was now blocking the entrance of the doorway, she knew that it was unintentional of him, but still… it was infuriating.

”Zack, you caught me in bad timing, I had just entered my apartment after a heavy day of nonstop work so Id like to go inside and rest now, ” her dry tone had Zack taking an awkward step backward. Good.

”Sure thing! Goodnight, hope you feel better soon, ”

”Thanks, ” she murmured as she closed the door in a haste.

Summer stood there with her eyes on the screen of her phone, she wanted to act juvenile and name the number something strange like Glue Guy or something similar but then she worried that hed somehow end up seeing it. She wondered if she should tell Gabe about Zack not getting a hint since the guy was one of her brothers classmates, thats how they got introduced to each other and thats why he found it easy to approach her.

*Ding!*

Summer still had her phone in her hand when she received a text from an unregistered number.

/+1(565) 515-6234.

Hey! Its me, Zack! Please take care of yourself and sleep well.

Mon 19:45/

She frowned at both the text she had just received and the ideas in her head. The Gypsy did say something about being dense and she asked her repeatedly to accept the mans advances.

No! Please, not him.

Try as she may, the only man around the corner that has been making said advances on Summer, was none other than her neighbor, Zack!

When her doorbell rang, something snapped in her head. She stomped her way there and pulled the door open ferociously. Her face softened immediately when the man behind the door wasn her persistent neighbor.

”Did you even check who knocked on your door at this hour before opening! ”

Summer threw herself in Gabes arms. He was alarmed at her reaction, especially since she didn even wait until they were inside. I knew it, it was the right call for me to come here tonight, ”Sunny, lets get inside, ”

Summer smiled without looking up at her younger brother, the name he called her with was nostalgic, it reminded her about times when the little rascal was still shorter than her, ”Come in, ” she said with a yawn, her bad mood from earlier was replaced with a peaceful one as she turned around and walked inside her apartment. But her peaceful mood made her sleepy.

”You must be hungry, what would you like to eat? ” She asked out of habit, no matter how tired she was, having a family dinner was one of the Taylors many traditions.

”I already ordered pizza, the delivery guy should be here any minute now, ” he said in an annoyed tone. It wasn like her to open the door with murderous vibes, which reminded him of something he thought he saw. Zacks door was clearly slightly open until Gabe reached his sisters door, then it closed abruptly.

Gabe didn like that one bit.

”Summer… ”

He called out from behind the door to his sisters bedroom, she was changing into her PJs quickly, notwithstanding another second in the clothes she wore all day.

”Yeah? ” She said as she was about to wear her slippers back on.

”Is that guy bothering you by any chance? ”

She opened the door and looked at her brothers serious face, ”What guy? ” She said cautiously, wondering if he was asking about her rue love because she talked about it in the morning.

Gabe searched his sisters pretty face, he focused on the purple bags she got from skipping sleeping altogether the night before, ”…Are there more than one guy bothering you, then? ”

Summer rolled her eyes, ”Was I making a scary face earlier when I opened the door? ”

Gabe waited with a patient expression.

”…Its nothing I can handle on my own, don worry about it, ” she trudged into the kitchen and started setting the table.

Gabe trusted his sister, she was a strong willed woman, if she said she could handle something it means she could, otherwise, they were close enough that he felt confident shed come to him if need be. That said, he wasn about to ignore the conversation they had in the morning.

He remembered just the right guy who could become a safe diversion for his sister, and he had already reached out to him. But knowing Summer, he knew that shed kill him if she found out, its why he decided to crash in her apartment for the night and talk to her about the date he set up for her in the morning, shell probably listen with an open mind after a good nights sleep.

Shed probably be in a better mood then,