I clenched my jaw. “Like I said last night, I’m not the only one who’s loud.”
“Man, this apology really feels sincere,” she snorted. She went back to tending an orchid with delicate precision.
“Jessica,” I started.
“That’s not my name.”
“Jesserton?”
“If you must know, it’s Jessalyn. Most people call me Jessie.”
“I’m not most people,” I said with a grin. “Jessalyn’s pretty. I might call you that.”
She sighed and turned more fully toward me, crossing her arms. “What do you want, Ben?”
“I feel like we got off on the wrong foot. I’ve seen you aroundbut we haven’t had a chance to ever talk. I want to not have my next-door neighbor hate me. Come have a beer with me.”
“What if I want to hate you? You don’t have to be friendly with your neighbors, you know.”
I shook my head. “Don’t tell my mom. She’d never stand for that. Come on. Come over. Please? I don’t bite.”
“I’ll stay over here, thank you very much.”
“Fine, let me get you a beer then,” I said, shifting to get up.
“Don’t,” she said, annoyed. “You look... injured.” Her eyes traveled over my chest to where the ice bag covered my right shoulder. “I’ll get my own and sit on my own balcony.”
“Whatever you want, Sweet Cheeks,” I said with a smirk.
“Stop calling me that!” She disappeared into her apartment.
See? How was that not banter? Guy was crazy if he thought she didn’t like me. She agreed to have a drink with me.
Jess popped back out on the balcony with a ball of yarn, some knitting needles, and a beer.
“Bud Light Lime? How do you drink that shit?” I scoffed.
“I don’t always feel like buying limes. They can be expensive and they go bad fast,” she shrugged. “What are you having, some snooty IPA?”
“Excuse you, it’s a session pale ale,” I said, putting my pinky up as I took a sip. “You may as well be drinking Mike’s hard lemonade.”
“I’d think you’d like that, since it has your name in it,” she shot. I had to laugh.
“That’s a good one, Jessalyn. Where’s your boyfriend?”
“He’s out at some work thing,” she said breezily. My stomach turned.
“Did you, um, go to work today? Like all day?”
“Yes, despite you goons keeping me up, I still went to work,” she said, totally missing that anything was awry. How the hell do you bring up to someone that their boyfriend is most likely cheating on them? I’d never really done the whole relationshipthing, so it really wasn’t my place to say or do anything. I didn’t know how that shit worked. She went on. “I’m surprised you’re not still hungover from last night’s festivities.”
I brought myself back to the conversation. “I had a good sweat this afternoon. That and some healthy eating and I’m good as new.”
“Lucky.”
“What are you knitting?”
Jessie held up the square of fabric she was working on. “It’ll be a baby blanket. I’m a costume apprentice for a show. One of the characters is going to be a grandma, so they asked me to start working on a blanket for her to pretend to knit.”
