Chapter thirteen: The cute neighbour

"Hi," he smiled displaying a role of perfect white teeth. A beautiful contrast to his darker skin tone. 

"Who is that?" Tony barked into the phone, his jealousy as loud as a truck's horn. 

I quickly took the phone away from my ear, ended the call, and then returned to his smile. "Hi," I greeted back, relaxing against my door bar, as I drank him in, not hiding how much I appreciated his appearance. 

He was bare chested, displaying his amazing smooth brown skin, abs, and pecs. 

He looked good enough to eat, and I looked like a dog hungry for some damn meat. 

His smile became indulging. 

"I am Casscius." 

"Emma."

He stretched out his hand to me.

I placed mine in it. His much broader ones engulfed my smaller, feminine ones. The contrast between our skin tone was amazing to watch. 

"You are new?" He asked once our hands separated. 

"Yeah. I just moved in." 

"Oh." His brow furrowed. 

"What?" 

A slightly embarrassed expression appeared on his face, as his hand reached up to scratch his head in an awkward action. "I wanted to ask for salt, but..."

"Oh, I might have it. The house was already stuffed before I moved in," I blurted out. 

He looked at me confused, but I couldn't find a way to explain my situation to him. After all he is still a stranger, and it will certainly be a conversation stopper if I came out and told him what I did for a living and the reason I am in this apartment in the first place. 

"Come in," I moved aside to let him in. 

"Cool crib," he commented casually as we both walked into the living room. 

"Thanks." 

"It doesn't look like you just moved in." 

"Yeah. A friend of mine took care of everything." It felt weird referring to Amelia as a friend. 

I left him alone in the living room and went into the kitchen to get him what he asked for. 

I had no idea if I had salt or not. In fact I have no fucking idea what I have in this house. 

I decided to just open the cupboards and see if I will. magically find salt any where. 

I opened all the cupboards hanging above the cooking area but there was no salt. 

I was ready to give up, hating that I was going to go out there and tell him that I have no salt when I saw it on the counter. It sat on the right side along with the other cooking condiments. 

Everything was so arranged that it felt a little freaky. My house is never this tidy or neat. There is always a mess somewhere. 

It is not surprising that Amelia will be a neat freak. What with her narcissistic behavior. It will not be out of place if she had a little OCD. 

I came back to the living room to find Cassius browsing through what looks like my music collections. 

I came to stand beside him. "What is that?" I asked when I saw him holding a record in his hand. 

My phone started ringing before he could speak. 

My heart leaped to my throat when I saw who was calling. "Excuse me," I said to him and hurriedly walked away with the phone still ringing in my hand. 

My heart was about beat out of my chest by the time I got into my room. 

As soon as I closed the door behind me, I picked the call.

"Hello," I said softly into the phone, my ass finding the bed. 

"How did you find the house? Was it to your taste?" 

Does it really matter to her what I think? 

"I liked it," I answered honestly, but little excitement in my voice. 

I wasn't expecting for her to call.

Silence followed my words with neither of us knowing what to say to the other. 

Few seconds into the uncomfortable silence and I wanted to end the call just to escape from it. I didn't like the awkwardness between us now. "How was your engagement?" I didn't really care, but just needed something to fill in the silence. 

Why did she call? She wants us not to be friends and she is calling when there isn't anything business to discuss? 

"It was boring. You know how dinner with all these rich political men can be." There was light amusement in her tone. And she sounded tired.

"I don't know, I have never attended dinner with rich men before," I answered flatly.

There was a pause, during which time all I could hear was her breathing. 

"You are still mad at me." 

It wasn't a question, so I said nothing. 

"I am..."

"Honey where are you?" 

The masculine voice cut off what she was about to say. 

"I have to go," she said instead and ended the call. 

I continued to hold the phone to my ear even after she ended the call. I didn't know what to make of what is between Amelia and I, and our talk just now have put me back to my down mood. 

I sat down for few more seconds wallowing in my thoughts before I got up and went back to the living room. 

"I am sorry for taking long," I apologized to my guest as soon as I walked in. 

"It is okay," he turned to face me. "Is everything alright?" 

"Yes. Why?" My brow furrowed a little. 

"Nothing. Just that you looked a little sad. Don't worry about it. I am just going to get the salt and get out of your hair." 

"Hey, I am not chasing you out." 

"No it is okay. You are probably tired. I don't want to be in your way." 

"You are not. I won't mind company. Don't want to be alone with my thoughts right now," I mumbled in a low tone. 

"You can come over. I am making dinner. I don't mind you joining me, as long as you don't mind a tasteless dish," he teased

"Sorry, I just ate..." 

His expression plummeted before I could finish my words. "It is alright, I will..."

"I could use a drink. Do you have beer?" 

His expression brightened again. "Yes, I do."

"Alright, let's go." 

Together we left my apartment and went into his. His apartment was adjacent mine. It was the same like mine, but more masculine with the interior decor. He was a fan of darker colors. 

"Make yourself at home," he waved his hand to his couch when we walked into his living room. 

I looked around his home as I made my way to his couch. It was neat. There was a TV across from the couch, a small fire place and a home theatre set . 

He made his way to it and turned on the music. Cool R and B songs started blaring from the speaker. 

"You love R and B?" I was a little surprised at his taste. Most guys are into rap or funk. 

"Yeah. Does that ruin my macho look?" he teased with a smile on his lips. 

I shook my head. "I don't think anything could ruin your macho look," I gave his appearance a pointed look to explain my words. 

He blushed, making him look very cute. 

"Also, R and B is a very good genre, my favorite." 

"I know," he got back to his feet. 

"How?" I frowned at him. 

"Your collection." 

"What collection?" 

"The one in your house," he gave me a confused look. 

I didn't know what he was talking about. Did Amelia buy my favorite musics. How could she have known? 

"Is everything alright?" 

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked towards Cassius to find him watching me with concern in his brown eyes. 

"Peachy. I love to collect records," I said with a light smile. 

He nodded. "Me too. Do you want the beer?" 

"Yeah, but I can come with you. I don't want to keep you from doing your cooking." 

"Cool, come along." 

I spent the rest of the evening in Cassius company. He was a great company. Entertaining, and interesting. He didn't mind talking about himself. He is a chef. Just finished from culinary school in Paris and just got a job at Alice restaurant. He is good. He made me taste the pasta he made. It was so good, that I had a little more. 

By the time I returned to my apartment it was around three am. I had just falling asleep when a knock on my door woke me up. 

The knock was loud and impatient. 

Fuck, I groaned as I almost fell off the bed in my bid to get to the door fast. 

When I opened the door my jaw dropped at the sight of Amelia standing on the other side, dressed like she is going out for a photo shoot.