Page 5

CHAPTER FOUR

CHANEL

B lue was the color of the day. Depressed was the feeling of my current life. My best friend was gone, and it had been two days since I shoved my playful note under his door. I checked the flowerpot three times and there was nothing there. I guess our little game of cat and mouse was over. I looked forward to his communication and was disappointed when he stopped writing to me.

I went right back to my regular routine: work, home, clean the apartment, and cook. Today was laundry day. I let my dirty clothes pile up. I needed to wash my scrubs for work tomorrow morning. I wore my last clean shirt today. I took the elevator down to the basement. I got a glimpse at his dark door and there was nothing there. The flirty little party was over, and it hurt more than I thought it would. Whatever, I told myself. His loss.

I wheeled my rolling plastic hamper around the corner and into the laundry room. The lights were on. I wasn’t in the mood to be bothered by anybody, but he was there. Mr. Vampire was sitting on top of a washing machine, with his bare feet dangling in the air. Yuck, where are his shoes? The floor was hella dirty. I knew he was a weirdo and here was the proof, the pudding and the total grossness .

His chiseled face was buried deep into a hardcover book. He was wearing tattered dark blue jeans and an old black t-shirt. He didn’t bother to look up at me, although I was in the same room with him and my hamper was making squeaky noises.

I realized this could be because he didn’t hear me with the earbuds in his ear. Or he could just be a jerk. I was trying to give Mr. Dirty Feet the benefit of the doubt.

I tried to regulate my heartbeat. I had to admit he made me nervous. I laughed inside when I thought about his vampire status. I hope he can’t read minds. My eyes scanned all five washing machines, and it was clear. There were no available machines for me. Uh, what kind of fuckery is this?

Finally, he looked up at me with his abnormal but alluring amber-colored eyes. He slowly removed the earbuds from his ears. “Oh sorry, all the machines are taken.”

He had an actual voice. He talked. Oh shit, he was talking to me. His voice wasn’t what I expected. It was deep, clear, and pulsating.

I cleared my throat. “It’s okay. I can come back later.”

“I only have about ten minutes left on my machine. You should stay, so no one else gets my machine.”

“Ten minutes?”

“Give or take a few minutes.”

I was frozen in place. I didn’t know what to do with the information he provided.

His voice was like liquid fire. I’d never heard it before today, and he was actually talking to me.

His eyes blinked slowly. “Or you could just leave your clothes with me and I can put your load in the machine for you.”

What? He sensed my apprehension, or he could see it on my face.

I tried to brighten my face with a lift in my eyebrows. “Ah, no, that’s okay. Ten minutes isn’t long at all.”

He pushed his earbuds back into his ears, and then sunk his head back into his book .

I guess the conversation was over. I felt dismissed, disregarded and just dissed. That was all he had for me. He was rude. I said it, rude. He had the nerve to call me rude in his little note to me.

He doesn’t know I’m his special pen pal. I wondered if he would act definitely if he knew. Obviously, he’s not a vampire. I probably shouldn’t have joked with him like that.

Looking at him now, he didn’t seem so weird. He didn’t seem dangerous. He seemed regular. There hadn’t been any murders or deaths in my apartment building since I’ve been here. I’m sure he was harmless, but my judgment sucked ass. He reads, and a man that reads actual books is hard to find.

Mr. Vampire was even more attractive up close. He was well toned and muscular. He wasn’t as thin as I initially thought. Maybe I had him pegged wrong. He offered to put my dirty clothes in the wash. That was nice, right?

I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wanted to flee from the laundry room, but that would be odd. Or was it odd for me to just stand here like a stalker? He did call me one. I smiled to myself, replaying the words of his note over in my head. I had the note memorized. I was pathetic for putting his words to memory, but I didn’t have anything else better to do. I was alone here in the city of Chicago, without any family or friends. I was letting my imagination run away with me. I had a lot of imagination.

He was reading Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep. I was impressed. Sadly, that was always my problem with men. I gave all their normal deeds more weight than they deserved. Reading books shouldn’t be looked on as anything special.

I reached down and took my laundry basket across the room. I pulled my cell phone out of my back pocket. I had to pretend to do something while I waited to get a washing machine. I opened my cell and turned the volume down. I checked my one hundred and eighty-seven emails. I started scrolling, Sephora Insider, DSW, Fenty Beauty, Best Buy, Bergdorf Goodman, Capital One?—

“Hey.” His voice jumped across the room.

I twirled around to see if he was talking to me. Of course he was talking to me. I was the only one in the laundry room.

“Yeah.” I said, as his amber eyes pierced me.

“Are you Taylor?”

“No, yes, ah, I, my last name is Taylor.” Shit! I sound stupid.

“Huh, right.” He closed his book and placed it on the washing machine beside him.

“I’m Co, I’m Chanel. My name is Chanel.”

“Chanel, huh, second floor?”

I shook my head. “I’ve only been here for a few months.”

“How do you like it so far?”

“It’s okay. What floor are you on?” I knew the answer, but he didn’t have to know that.

His lips twisted. “Here, down here. My place is here in the basement.”

“Oh, that black door by the elevator.”

“Yes.”

“Oh, okay. I thought that was a storage room or something.” Oh, I was lying too damn good.

“It’s an entire apartment.”

“Oh.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Your name? What’s your name?”

“Zand.”

“Zand, I’ve never met a Zand.” I was trying to stay casual and cool and not look like a goddamn fool.

“It’s Alexander. But why waste that many syllables on me? I’m not worth it.” He grinned with just the corner of his lips.

“Zand.” A woman’s voice came from the doorway. I whipped my head around to see a tall, leggy brunette standing at the entrance of the laundry room. Her face was bare of product, but she was still naturally attractive. Her hair was long with a hint of a curl. A short, skintight red dress clung to her model body like a second skin. She was holding her high heel sandals in her hand.

“Bai-ley.” He said her name slowly and precisely, like he was trying to recall it. He gracefully hopped off the washing machine.

She smiled at him but didn’t enter the laundry room. “You’re really doing laundry. I thought you ran out on me.”

“Never.” He flashed a grin, and I saw the sexy, deep dimple in his cheek.

“Who’s your friend?” Her eyes scanned me casually.

“My upstairs neighbor, Chanel.”

“Hey Chanel.” She gave me a quick wave.

“Hey.” I returned her wave and turned my back to give them some privacy. In my peripheral, I could see him move towards the open door where she stood.

Something about this screamed booty call. I’d never seen this woman Bailey before. I’d seen more than a few young women emerge from the building in the wee hours of the night. I knew they had to be coming from his basement apartment, even though I had no proof. Before I got my sleeping pills, my insomnia would keep me up. That’s when I noticed a flock of random, scantily clad women that would do a walk of shame from the apartment building.

There was silence while he was gone for a few minutes. Mr. Vampire strolled back into the room like nothing happened. I hadn’t accepted the name Zand. He didn’t look much like a Zand, a Zander or and Alexander to me. He looked like his name would be Ryan, or Matt, or possibly Ethan. I was still stuck on calling him Mr. Vampire, for now.

Why hadn’t he written me another note? Was it Bailey that had distracted him from our harmless fun and games?

Zand walked over to his washing machine. “My clothes stopped.”

He started removing a few items at a time and tossing them into the empty dryer a few feet away. All his clothes were dark black, faded black, dark gray and just black-black. I watched him carefully, and I convinced myself that he had a small penis and I wasn’t missing a thing.

I waited patiently while he removed all his things.

“Your turn, Chanel.” This was an odd thing to say, but not so much coming from him.

“You sure?” I playfully asked, not sure where the sass was coming from. I wheeled my basket over to the open machine.

“I’m more than sure.” He stopped and turned to glare at me.

I smiled inside and started tossing my clothes into the washer. “I can knock on your door and let you know your clothes are dry. If you need to go hang out with Bailey.”

He chuckled. “Bailey has left the building.”

“That’s too bad.” I joked. I didn’t own this man.

“Is it?” He asked.

I shrugged. “She seems nice.”

“One-night stands are nice. So I guess you’re right.”

I heard him start his dryer. I pursed my lips; sure that he couldn’t see me. “I wouldn’t know anything about one-night stands.”

“There’s no fun in that.”

I closed the lid to the washer. I looked down to reach for quarters in my front pocket when I felt his presence only inches away from me. He was putting quarters into my machine. When he finished, he turned to me.

“A gift. Welcome to the neighborhood, neighbor.” He cracked a sly smile.

I couldn’t speak. He was so close to me, and those honey-colored eyes of his were hypnotic.

“Th, thank you.” I had to watch my nervous stammer.

Zand grabbed his book off the nearby washing machine. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

I watched him stroll out of the room like he didn’t have a care in the world. He wasn’t weird at all. After talking to him, he seemed cool, too cool. Zand was the kind of guy that was full of mystery and full of himself. Basically, the kind of guy my dumb ass should stay far away from. The cool guy road was a road I wanted to stay far away from. My next guy friend will be a socially awkward nerd.

I waited a few minutes and then left my clothes to wash. Instead of going up to my apartment, I went to the back entrance of the apartment building by the parking lot. I covertly glanced around. When the coast was clear, I tilted the flowerpot and there it was, another note from Mr. Vampire. My face warmed with delight, and my body did the same. When did he put this here? I contained my smile the best I could. This was something to look forward to.