Chapter 4: The Hotties Neighbor

Ethan's Room

Ethan cheerfully placed a box on his bed and began organizing his room.

He had just finished changing his clothes when he heard music drifting over from the neighboring house. He grinned as he caught sight of someone moving around in the room across the way.

Ethan was stunned to see a young woman drying her hair and turning around, wearing only black undergarments.

As the music grew louder, he smiled and murmured, "Looks like our stay here won't be boring," waiting to see if she would turn toward the window.

Just as she swiftly turned and walked up to the window to draw the curtains, it seemed like she might have heard him. "That's the girl from last night," Ethan mumbled in astonishment, quickly stepping back and pressing his back against the wall as if she could hear his every move. He waited a few tense seconds before peeking out again to make sure she was gone.

Once the music stopped, he stepped away from the wall and went back to tidying his room, though his new neighbor lingered in his mind.

He had actually seen her at school prior to last night's events. She had always been the target of everyone's mockery because of her unfashionable clothes and thick glasses.

"If they ever saw you without those glasses and that old-fashioned dress, everyone who makes fun of you would regret it—especially a jerk like Carl," Ethan whispered with a smile.

——*——

"Ethan, let's eat! Our neighbor gave us a pie, and it's delicious. If you don't come down in a minute, I'll eat the whole thing!" Dylan shouted as he started up the stairs.

Ethan smiled and hurried out of his room. "Looks like we lucked out with the neighbors," he said, pausing in the hallway to look down at his father in the living room.

"Our neighbor is cute, but she's way too young for me. Hopefully, she has an older sister," Dylan commented as he walked past toward his bedroom.

"That girl goes to my school. I actually saw her at the event last night," Ethan said, gracefully vaulting over the hallway railing and dropping down into the living room.

Dylan just shook his head at the display before heading into his room to catch up on some sleep.

"How was the event last night?" Zach asked his son, handing him a slice of pie and a drink. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

"There wasn't much to enjoy, knowing we won't be staying here long. We'll just be packing up and moving on like we always do," Ethan replied, taking a bite of the pie.

Zach sighed. "Harper lives here. Once I capture him, we won't have to keep running." He went back to unpacking one of the remaining boxes.

"You've been hunting him for ten years, Dad. When are you finally going to give up?" Ethan asked.

"Harper killed your mother, and I won't stop until I put that wolf in the ground!" Zach snapped back, his voice heavy with emotion, before walking out of the room and leaving Ethan behind.

Ethan stood frozen, catching his breath as the heavy silence settled in.

He couldn't blame his father, especially since Zach had been right there when Harper killed his mother. But aside from Harper and his father, no one else knew the full truth of what had happened that night.

Ethan had asked about it countless times over the years, but his father had always refused to answer, repeating only that Harper was solely to blame for his mother's death.

After finishing his meal, Ethan went back up to his room and glanced out the window. He was just as startled to see that his neighbor was staring right back at him, looking equally stunned.

"Hi! And thanks for the pie," Ethan called out with a wide smile.

Ethan's smile faded, and he frowned as the young woman hastily pulled her curtains shut, looking as though she had just seen a ghost.

"What's her problem? Does she not recognize me from school, or is she just embarrassed about what happened last night?" Ethan muttered to himself, shaking his head before walking away to take a shower.

Meanwhile, back in the other house, Aviana leaned against her bedroom wall, still in a daze and feeling weak enough to faint from the morning's unexpected encounters. "Oh God, why are my new neighbors so ridiculously hot?!" she whispered to herself.

She grabbed her phone and immediately called her best friend, Cassie, who answered on the first ring.

"Aviana! I'm so sorry about last night! I tried calling, but you didn't answer. What even happened to you? How did you manage to get home?" Cassie blurted out, her questions tumbling over one another.

"Last night? I—" Aviana started, but she couldn't finish her sentence as flashes of last night's terrifying memories rushed back.

"Aviana? What's going on? Stay right there, I'm coming over!" Cassie said urgently before hanging up and hurrying out of her house.

Cassie wasted no time speeding over to her best friend's house. She jumped out of her car, rushed up to the front door, and began calling out in a panic, "Aviana! Aviana!"

"Miss, could you please keep it down? Some of us are trying to sleep," Dylan yelled out his window, looking thoroughly irritated by the noise.

Cassie stopped in her tracks, startled to see a remarkably attractive man peering out the window right at her. Recovering quickly, she arched an eyebrow and shot back, "Mister, it's already the afternoon!"

Annoyance pushed aside any appreciation she might have felt for his striking looks.

Before she could say anything else, the front door swung open. Cassie's irritation vanished instantly, replaced by sheer concern as she looked at her friend. "Hey, what happened? Why did you leave early? Are you okay? Did something happen?" she fired off anxiously, rushing over to Aviana.

Dylan, still leaning out his window, couldn't help but overhear every word of Cassie's loud voice.

"Hey, Aviana, are you okay?" he shouted through his window while still looking at them.

Aviana looked at Dylan, and didn't know what to say.

"I honestly thought something terrible had happened. Your friend's scream was louder than a fire truck siren," Dylan teased, resting his arms on the windowsill.

"Hey, mister, this is for you!" Cassie clenched her fist and raised her middle finger at him before grabbing a bewildered Aviana and dragging her inside.

Dylan just shook his head in disbelief, a faint smirk playing on his lips.

Once they were inside and heading up to Aviana's room, she asked, "Do you know Mr. Mikaelson?"

"So that guy is Mr. Mikaelson! Gosh, I don't know him at all. I was just yelling because I was worried, and he had the nerve to tell me my voice sounded like a siren! What the hell..." Cassie slumped down onto the bed, fuming, "That guy!"

"Well, he wasn't entirely wrong—you were pretty loud. I'm sure the guy across the way heard you," Aviana murmured, glancing out toward the neighboring house.

Cassie immediately perked up, scrambling off the bed to peer out the window. "Wait, do you mean your new neighbors are hot?" she asked eagerly.

"Mr. Mikaelson is attractive, but the man you were just arguing with is even better-looking. And the youngest one? He's drop-dead gorgeous, and I think he's around our age," Aviana said with a small smile, blushing as she thought of Ethan.

"Hmm, I won't try to steal your neighbor, especially since it sounds like you've got your eye on him," Cassie teased with a grin. "I'll just stick to the guy who put Carl in his place for you."

Her eyes suddenly widened as a thought crossed her mind. "Speaking of that guy... the one who wiped the floor with Carl? He is so handsome! And he has videos floating around," Cassie claimed. "Though someone must have paid off all the students, because none of the footage of Carl's embarrassing defeat has actually spread online."

Remembering what had happened to Aviana, Cassie's playful mood vanished, and she quieted down. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be bringing up Carl's bullshit right now," she whispered, pulling Aviana into a tight hug.

"I'm fine. I'm used to Carl's antics by now, and honestly, that wasn't even the worst thing he's done," Aviana reassured her friend.

"Come on, you don't have to hide things from me. I'm your best friend!" Cassie protested.

"Yeah, and that's exactly why I'm telling you—Carl wasn't even the reason I got lost in the woods earlier," Aviana chuckled, turning and walking out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Cassie yelled after her.

"I'm going to get you a pie. You're going to be hungry once you hear my story!" Aviana called back.

When she returned, she brought along a cold drink and a whole pie. The sight of it instantly made Cassie smile, since she already knew how delicious the Mikaelsons' neighbor-welcome pie was.

As they dug in, Aviana settled down and began to recount everything that had happened to her after she left the venue the night before.