Lucky 33 (Love in the District #2)

9. Neighbors

CHAPTER 9

NEIGHBORS

T hough it was a jam-packed schedule, Amy enjoyed the long wedding weekend. The women had slept in on Friday and snacked on the leftovers from the party platters before hitting the spa. Other than her regular hair appointments, Amy didn’t often pamper herself. The spa trip included a massage, facial, and manicure, and she felt like a million bucks afterward. It was all a bit like the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and friends get all gussied up to meet the Wizard. It was a real production, but they all felt pretty and refreshed when the rehearsal dinner came around that evening.

Amy kicked off her heels late Saturday night the second she got into her hotel room. Brit’s wedding had been perfect from beginning to end. I hope I have a wedding as beautiful as this one someday. Amy had taken a ton of photos of everything to send to Lan so she wouldn’t have to wait for the official photos. She figured that Lan was going through a hard time with her family in Vietnam and was heartbroken to miss the whole thing. Amy removed her makeup and put on her comfy clothes. She sank into the bed with a satisfied sigh. This had been fun, but she was ready to get home tomorrow. She fell asleep dreaming of her wedding day and a groom who looked remarkably like Drew .

Amy maintained a glow of happiness for Brit, Harrison, and herself after returning home Sunday. She was bursting with news for Laura but didn’t want to spoil it by leaking anything before their Wednesday night dinner. Drew was the kind of guy you saved for an in-person chat.

She wished she hadn’t had to leave him there, but it was too hard to start something when he was over 100 miles away. He was the kind of guy she wanted—at least from what she could tell from her limited time with him. She had daydreamed all the way home about making a life with him. She had imagined the nights out with Laura and Jake, and Drew meeting her family, and how they would spend their weekends lounging around and lazily making their way out for pancakes.

Logically she was filling in gaps with what she wanted to see and believe about him, but she knew the magnetic connection she'd felt toward him was real, even if nothing would come of it. She’d find a DC version of Drew eventually. She didn’t know how or when, but she now had the faith. This was her year for magic, after all. Amy chuckled at the thought. To be fair, the most magical thing she’d experienced so far was a phantom pizza stain on her rug and a lot of 33s. Drew was just dumb luck. But she'd give herself a few more days in Fantasyland. It was a fun place to be.

“You’re acting weird,” Laura said suspiciously as she stirred her ramen to cool it off.

“Am not.”

“Are too. What happened at that wedding?”

Amy busied herself searching for the perfect slice of pork in her soup. She knew that she needed to return to reality and sharing part of her experience with Drew with someone would be that first step back into the present. “I met a guy.”

Laura fumbled her chopsticks, spraying broth across the table. “When?”

“Wednesday. When I was out of town for Brit’s wedding stuff.”

“A week ago? You’ve kept this from me for a week?”

Amy eyed her, telepathically reminding her sister of the months she had kept her relationship with Jake a secret. “Yes.”

They sat in silence for long enough that Laura calmed down a little. “Well?”

“His name is Drew. Before you get excited, he lives in Charlottesville, and I’ll never see him again. It was a wedding weekend kind of thing.”

“Define ‘thing.’”

“We kissed. I almost made a big mistake by inviting him to my room.”

Laura leaned forward eagerly.

“I said almost.”

“You’re so boring.”

Amy couldn’t hold on to her Drew reveries any longer. She told Laura every detail, from the party supplies aisle to the moment they said their goodbyes.

“Why didn’t you get his number? It’s not like you live in different countries. It’s like two hours away if you go a little over the speed limit.”

“I don’t know. I guess it felt like this flawless moment frozen in time, and I didn’t want to ruin it by having to do something long distance— even if the distance isn’t that long.”

But the more Amy tried to explain her reasoning, the less sense it made.

Amy went to Costco every month to pick up more cleaning supplies for Sparkle and Shine. She usually made an afternoon of it and treated herself to a churro for the ride home, but today, she needed to get in and out quickly, restock just the most pressing items, and head to Laura’s. Amy hated being in a rush. Why did I have to pay my quarterly estimated business taxes today? I knew I didn’t have time for that. Amy’s the only person who could end up being irresponsible by paying taxes. "So much for my nice Sunday,” she grumbled to herself.

“Amy?” a voice behind her asked incredulously.

She fumbled the value pack of microfiber towels balancing on top of that month’s supply of Windex, and it slid across the floor, stopping at someone’s sneakers.

She moved her eyes up from the sneakers and locked eyes with Drew.

“Drew?”

“You have to stop attacking me with housewares. A 33-pack. Now that’s a weird number.”

“What are you doing here?” she breathed.

“Uh, well, buying more burritos than one man should have in his freezer and making a meal out of free samples?”

Amy laughed.

“Too honest? An assistant professor’s salary doesn’t stretch far in this town.”

Assistant professor? I’m so confused.

“Wait. What?”

“Which part?” he asked, tilting his head questioningly.

“I— I don’t know. Are you here visiting someone?”

“Not unless you count the mini corn dog lady over there.” He waved to the small elderly woman serving samples, and she enthusiastically waved back. “Did you think I lived in Charlottesville?”

“I guess I did. To be fair, we never really got around to talking about that stuff.”

Drew smirked in response. “I live over in Tenleytown. I was just in Charlottesville for work,” he explained.

“Are you serious? I live in Tenleytown, too! I’m in the Tenley View building by the Metro.”

“Wow, fancy. I’m in McLean Gardens. I feel like I would have noticed you around the neighborhood at some point. Are you new around here?”

“Actually, I grew up a few minutes away in Spring Valley, so you could say I’m a hyper-local,” Amy said. She struggled to manage the stack of items in her arms.

“They have carts here. You want to share mine?” Drew asked.

“I appreciate that, but I need to get a move on so I can trek all the way back across town to my sister’s place. Would you ever want to hang out?” she blurted out, then immediately regretted putting herself out there.

If he said no, it would be even more painful to know that she embarrassed herself in front of him, especially now that she found out he was her neighbor.

“You beat me to it. You know I’d love to. I don’t want to make you take out your phone. Give me your number and I’ll text you.” He pulled out his phone and entered her as a new contact. “I could put you in here as ‘Hot Amy’ or ‘Charlottesville Amy,’ but I’m an adult, so what’s your last name?” he asked.

“Mansfield. Amy Mansfield.” What, am I 007? I get so awkward around this man.

“And I’m Porter. Drew Porter,” he returned in a serious voice.

Her phone buzzed from her back pocket.

“That’s me, so you have my number now. Okay, get on gettin'. Let’s hang out soon.” He deposited the microfiber towels back between her chin and the Windex.

Amy nearly dropped her items on the way to the register a few more times. Her hands were shaking, and she couldn’t control her pounding heart. Why do I always have to be in a hurry when I run into him?

Amy barely remembered driving to Laura’s place. She couldn’t get her mind off of seeing Drew in her own city. She couldn’t believe her luck.

At Laura’s apartment, Amy rehashed and dissected everything about her chance encounter with Drew at Costco. After an hour of Drew talk, she said, “Aren’t I here to help you figure out potential wedding venues? We need to get down to business.”

“Yes, Captain,” Laura responded with a salute.

Not ten minutes later, she was back on the subject. “Figuring out where I’m going to get married is fascinating and all, but the real story here is you and your guy.”

“He’s not my guy,” Amy insisted. I’d like him to be, though.

“Yet.”

“Okay, yet.”

Laura tapped her chin in thought. “Finding out he lives here and isn’t a grad student was a huge breakthrough. Now we know that you were operating on false assumptions. Let’s dig deeper.”

Amy was a little embarrassed that the novelty of her being interested in a man could trump Laura’s interest in her own wedding, but admittedly, she loved talking about Drew.

“You don’t want to go into potentially dating him blindly,” Laura continued. “We need to determine what we know about him and what we need to find out.”

Amy indulged her sister in listing everything she knew about Drew and where she needed to fill in the gaps. Amy wasn’t the investigative type, but Laura couldn’t help herself. She was a journalist through and through.

Somehow, the mystery of Drew had gotten more complicated with the new information she had learned at Costco. He lived in DC. He wasn’t a grad student. He was in Charlottesville for work, which had something to do with being an assistant professor. Since they now had his last name, Laura searched social media for him in record time.

“I want to preserve the mystery,” Amy said, cutting Laura off before she could brief her on what was online.

“How are we even related?”

“Look, I get that research is your lifeblood, but I want to discover things on my own. How about this? I’m willing to entertain a list of questions to ask him when we go out. ”

“If and when? Ames, what more does this guy need to do to show he’s interested?”

“I just don’t want to be presumptuous. I’m pretty sure we’ll go out, but maybe I’ll find out that he’s the worst and our time in Charlottesville was just a fun night.”

“I thought you were supposed to be open to magic?”

“Who says I’m not? I’m just not tempting fate or making assumptions.”

After her time with Laura, she didn’t want to admit to herself that she was really getting excited about the possibility of him again. Amy felt like she had champagne bubbles in her stomach at the thought of dating him. She tried to stay grounded and not re-enter the Fantasyland she’d been in right after the wedding, but it was hard. Seeing Drew again that day and talking about him with Laura had reignited her interest in him and the butterflies she got when she thought about their brief time together in Charlottesville. Later that night, Drew texted her. Amy had been eagerly anticipating the text all day, but she was still nervous to look at what he’d written.

Drew: Are you free tomorrow night? I know I’m displaying zero chill by asking to get together with you so soon, but I can’t bring myself to care.

Amy: Chill is overrated. I’d love to.

Drew: Do you like French food? Le Chat Noir is great.

Amy: I love that place! What time are you thinking?

Drew: Pick you up at 6:45? I can do anything now that the semester is over and I’m not teaching.

Amy: Perfect. I’ll meet you out in front of my building.

Drew replied with a gif of an old man doing the Cabbage Patch dance. Amy laughed and thought about how well he’d get along with Jake. But she was getting ahead of herself there.