C5 An unexpected Visitor

I place my grocery bags on the cold floor of the lobby and squabbled in my notepad what I had bought for the week, too focused on checking the list that I do not notice someone was standing behind me till I heard a voice

"Good evening Aayla" I recognize the voice and try to hide my smile, turning around seeing Jeffery standing behind me, he has some books in his hands and was dressed formally for a Sunday

Perhaps he was religious, I know a lot of people use Sundays as their day of worship and I won't be too shocked if Jeffrey was one of them

"Evening Jeffery" I replied and the elevator slide open. He offers to help me with my bags and I silently thanked him, We stood in silence in the elevator, and unlike maybe other times before, it wasn't an awkward silence.

It was just silence

Comfortable silence

This has been a routine in the last few days, we'd meet in the elevator either while I was going to the ground floor or going back to my apartment, we'd have small conversations, nothing too personal, and more than once has he made me laugh.

I was feeling myself beginning to be comfortable with the small talks and would look forward to it, I never know how to start a conversation with him and always expected him to start one because it's Jeffrey

He always has something to say

Or not

He was more focused on reading one of the books in his hands than talking to me today. I stood at the corner of the elevator as I watched him

The way the lines spread through his forehead when he frowns and how his eyes light up presumably at something he found fascinating

I might like watching him read more than I do talking to him.

He seems to be in a whole different world of his own and it made them smile, till the elevator stops at our floor.

Jeffrey finally looks up from his book closing it and gesturing I come down first so with one heavy bag of groceries I did

He follows behind me and as the elevator closes he spoke "Should I help you take it in or.. "

I chuckle " No thank you I'll take it in myself"

Why was I chuckling?

"okay" Jeffrey smiles and hand me the bags, he then nodded and walked into his apartment. I sighed, maybe I should have let him help me, or maybe I should have started a conversation with him.

I struggle to hold the grocery bags as I typed in the password to my apartment but notices that the door was unlock

I never leave the door to unlock

Ever

My chest starts to race and I grab the doorknob and slowly push the door open. I immediately got the feeling that someone is in my house and the feeling is accompanied by fear.

My chest tightens and my palm immediately becomes sweaty, I feel my body begin to vibrate and my stomach is plunged

How did they get in?

I foolishly walked in even though I know I shouldn't, I should go to security to ask for help or maybe have Jeffrey help but my body doesn't listen to me.

It never does

I dropped the bags on the welcome mat and tiptoes inside.

The lights are on, the living room television is on too and the rumbling sound from the kitchen makes my legs go weak. I pick up the baseball bat I hid beside the couch and walk to the kitchen. My mother's boyfriend Max had gotten me the baseball bat and a pepper spray, he said since I was now independent I should have things to protect myself with

I never thought I'd ever use it but here I was tightening my grip around the bat as I raised it high, walking as quietly as I could into the kitchen

There's a stranger indeed in my kitchen

They had their head deep into my fridge and I tried to swing the bat at them but it flies out of my hand and a loud scream escape my mouth, the stranger takes out his face from the friend and we locked eyes.

He stood five feet eleven and had a veracity jacket on, his eyes were a lighter shade of brown and his black hair buzzed, he faces me with a grin and chicken wings in his hands and the fear disappears

"Ronnie?" I place my hands on my chest, my legs almost giving out as I grabbed the counter for comfort, crashing into the stool

"Hey" he smiles and waved chicken wings at me.

Ronnie is Max's son, he lost his mother when he was five and his father never dated anyone till my mother. Ronnie and I were never really close before then although we went to the same high school, I barely spoke to anyone and didn't have friends. I was the nerd always sitting alone and he was my junior.

The only reason we even started talking was that we both found out our parents were dating, he was thrilled about the news while I wasn't

I hated that mother had found a way to be okay while I was still strong and hated myself even more for thinking that way when I wanted her to be happy even if that meant without Father

"Oh my God Ronnie! What are you doing?" I yelled at him and he grabs the baseball bat tossing it to me

"I came to see you" he closes the fridge and walk to the living room and I follow him

This little brats always finds a way to make himself comfortable no matter where

"Why? "

"Well I'm done with high school and I've nothing to do till falls so why not see my step sister to be? "

" Stepsister? " I choke

"Ashanti didn't tell you my dad proposed?"

"What? " I take off my jacket and switched on the heater.

I am freezing, weather forecast said it should be getting warmer by tomorrow

"He proposed last weekend" Ronnie grin then jumps on the couch. I try to pretend that he didn't just jump on my couch"We kind of knew it would happen anyway so"

"Yeah we did, but it's too soon"

"Are kidding me? They've been dating for like four years... It's not really too soon"

"I guess, but I really would have appreciated if I heard it from her" I groan, and Ronnie shrugs

"Wait! How did you ever get in? "

"I used the door" he looks up at me giving me a look like I just asked the most stupid question

"I know you used the door genius but how did you know my password? "

"1111?" he confirms "You are really not as complicated as you think" he stick his tongue out and for a moment, I could swear he knows me better than anyone.

It was scary to have someone know you so much, Ronnie knows everything, about my dad and Landon, although mother told both he and Max that we lost them in an unfortunate burglary gone wrong but Ronnie was the only person ever to ask me for my own side of the story so I told him

Thinking it would scare him off and maybe like my mother and other people he would tell me that I'm insane and that what I saw was wrong but he didn't

He didn't even tell me to move to past it or to accept his dad as my new family.

I remember the look on his face and how he wasn't surprised by my words 'When you find who did it, I'll help you kill him he had said

I laughed, it wasn't funny but I laughed.

"Make yourself useful and get me the grocery I left at the welcome mat " I changed the topic

" Why should I? "

"Cause I'm going to be your step-sister, not to mention I'm older"

Ronnie thinks of it for some minutes before getting up to bring the bag. I walk back to the kitchen and started to hear knocks on the door, someone mumbling then a couple of groans

"Ronnie? " I called but there was no answer.

I swear to God if this boy was playing some sort of prank to me I'll kick him out. "Ronnie, I know you can hear me," I said, walking towards the entrance,

"Aayla help" I hear Ronnies voice stiffens

I ran closer and saw Ronnie being tackled on the floor by Jeffrey

"Jeffrey" my eyes widen in shock. "What are you doing?"

Jeffrey immediately leaves Ronnie and run up to me, I stumble a bit, confused as to why he is looking so disturbed, he held my hands and I felt a static pass through his hands to mine, Jeffrey was too busy checking if I was fine that he doesn't notice what I felt

Or was I the only one who felt that shock?

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? "

" No, I'm fine"

"I heard you scream" he spoke with concern in his voice

"Oh I am sorry, I thought Ronnie was someone else" I give him an assuring smile. How did he hear me scream? Aren't the apartments soundproof? Jeffrey must have good hearing

Jeffrey looks behind him and eyes Ronnie. His eyes narrow at Ronnie as if to challenge him, I see his body tense up, his lips drawn back to expose teeth bared in a snarl like a protective animal

"He's my stepbrother," I said to Jeffrey, I wanted to calm him down or maybe to state that Ronnie and I were nothing more than siblings. I don't know why I was explaining my business to him but I found myself doing so, trying to calm him down and tell him that I was truly okay and Ronnie was family "Well not yet my stepbrother since our parents aren't officially married get but they've been dating for 4 years, Ronnie is basically family to me "

Ronnie turns to me 'I don't think I have ever seen you talk this much ' his eyes said. His mouth doesn't say so but I could tell what those looks meant

"Oh" Jeffrey's guarded eyes fall to the one I know and I smile at the familiarity of his soft eyes.

"Sorry man" Jeffrey stretch his hands to Ronnie for a shake

"Yeah no problem" Ronnie "Aayla didn't tell me her boyfriend knows Karate"

My eyes widens and both Jeffrey and I said in unison "We're not dating"

"You sure?" Ronnie laughs, shaking his head as he takes the grocery bags into the kitchen.

"I am so sorry for the false alarm" I apologize as soon as Ronnie disappears

"it's no problem, I'm sorry for intruding" he rubs the back of his neck "I should go"

"Oh yeah cool" I tuck my braids behind my ears "Or, maybe, just maybe you could stay and have a drink well since it's your first time in my house, I should offer you a drink... That's if you want " I ramble."I feel like dinner might be too much right now and I'm not a great cook so just a drink is safe - right?"

What is wrong with me? He's just my neighbor

He chuckles "You sure about that? I don't think a big boy likes me very much" he gestures to Ronnie, who was busy stocking the groceries in the fridge.

"It's my house, I only let people I like in "

I want to punch myself in the face right now, People I like, seriously Aayla "I'm not saying I like you, I'm just saying you're my neighbor and I'm trying to be nice"

Nice save Aayla, really slick.

Jeffrey laughs and I'm officially embarrassed "Sure I'll love a drink"

I smiled and showed him into my house and served Jeffrey drinks, after he was done he insisted on watching me cook and helped with some tips. I learned he worked as an assistant chef for four years in Montreal and he is from Canada but his ancestors were from somewhere far away.

Jeffrey promised to give me cooking lessons if I wanted it and I smile as a result.

Jeffrey, Ronnie, and I had dinner and chatted for a while, more like Jeffrey and Ronnie did all the talking while I just listened but Jeffrey, unfortunately, had to leave because after he got a phone call and he said it was important so here I was washing the dirty dishes.

"Look at our baby Aayla, grown-up enough to invite a man over," Ronnie said from behind me, I could feel him watching me as I rolled my eyes at his words "I'm proud of you, you've grown so much "

"Shut up"

"So he seems like a nice guy" Ronnie remarks and I laughed

"Yeah"

"A nice guy who likes you"

" What? no way! "

" Aayla he does, a guy doesn't just run from his apartment to a girl's because he heard her scream"

" Ronnie, he lives next door " I laughed

Why was I laughing so much?

" Doesn't matter, what matters is that I almost lost an arm because he thought I was an intruder" Ronnie massages his arm and I laughed again

"you are an intruder" I roll my eyes

"ouch"

I finish up the dishes in five minutes and walked to the living room to see Ronnie watching a popular Netflix Series.

Octopus game or was it Squid game? It was something in between

I crash on the sofa then took a deep breath "How long are you staying for?"

" Why? You want to chase me? " he wiggles his eyebrows.

" Yes" I joke and he laughs.

"Don't worry Aayla Anastasia Woods, I of all people know how much you love privacy "

"That's not true" I chuckle nervously.

It was true, I know this and he knows too

"It is Aayla" he sings "But don't worry, I'm crashing at a friend of mine for some couple of weeks" he informs ", I could still come to see you right?"

I chuckle "oh now you suddenly know how to ask"

"Hey! I'm being nice" he replies and I laugh

"Sure Ron" I stood up and tap his shoulder" I'll like a little company for a while," I tell my stepbrother and walk away to my bedroom to get a little sleep