Chapter 26 - Bad Boy Vs Good Friend

Lucy yawned as she lay on her sofa reading Sonia's last published novel and jotting down areas she felt Sonia needed to work on. She took off her glasses and walked over to her refrigerator to find something to chew on, but remembered she had nothing yet. She was yet to stock her house, and she doubted she would be able to do that until weekend.

She suddenly realized she had had nothing to eat all day when her stomach rumbled. She had been about leaving for lunch earlier when her boss had shown up in her office to show her her official car and driver. After that she had been too surprise to remember her hunger, and had later buried herself with work until he came to tell her it was getting late.

She knew without doubt that if she didn't get something to eat now, she would be at a risk of severe ulcer pains, and that she wouldn't be able to bear. She had to get something to eat, and also get some medicine in case the ulcer pain came as she knew it would when she finally eats.

She didn't really know anywhere around the neighborhood yet, since she was yet to move around. She had spent the first night at that mansion with Tom, and then yesterday she had eaten the apple cobbler Tom had brought as a good welcoming neighbor, unfortunately he seemed like the only good neighbor in the neighborhood since nobody else had been over to say hello. Or maybe they had come while she was away at work, she would never know.

She stood up and walked over to her closet to get something comfortable she could wear. She picked up a gray colored sweatpant and an equally gray colored hoodie since the weather was sort of cold outside, and then she walked over to her dressing table and packed her hair in a ponytail before putting on her glasses. She looked at her appearance in the mirror and noticed her face was completely plain, although her face was almost always plain apart from the powder and lipgloss she often used, but it was extra plain now since she had showered and was ready to go to bed.

'Who cares?' she asked herself as she headed for the door, and on second thought returned to apply a touch of lipgloss on her lips. 'Of course I'm not doing this to impress anyone, I just don't want to look too plain.' she assured herself as she strolled out of her house with her wallet and locked the door behind her, before walking over to the apartment next door.

She stopped by the door and couldn't help wondering why she had decided to come there. She had tried not to think of their little exchange in the car earlier but standing here now, she wondered why he hadn't come over after claiming he was going to bring her out of her shell.

'What are you doing standing here like this? Why not just go and buy what you want?' a voice in her head asked, interrupting he thought.

'First of all I'm not familiar with the neighborhood and so I need someone who is, to accompany me.' She mentally responded.

'So what if it was a different person that lived next door and not him?' the voice asked again to her frustration.

'It's just not safe for a lady to go out all by herself when it's dark in an environment she isn't familiar with. My safety is paramount to me.' Lucy mentally responded again.

'Excuses! That's why you applied the lipgloss.' the voice accused.

'Fine! I will go alone.' Lucy responded in irritation but just then the door opened the and she came face to face with Tom who looked surprised to see her standing in front of his door.

Lucy felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment at being caught like this, and she cleared her throat when he only raised a brow, "I need to go out."

"Okay?" He asked, wondering what that had to do with him.

"I haven't eaten all day, so I need to get food and also medicine for ulcer." She explained nervously.

Although he was glad she was here, but he was already trying to be everything a gentleman wasn't, "Okay?" Tom asked again, wondering what it had to do with him

"Okay what?" She asked in confusion.

"What is stopping you from going where you need to go? Is the car not coming on?" He asked as he walked out and shut the door behind him. Looking at him now, his outfit showed he was on his way out. He was wearing a three-quarter short and a polo shirt, and a baseball cap covered his short mop of black hair.

"I was sort of hoping you could take me there?" She said, making it sound like an explanation and a question at the same time. Of course there was no way he could turn her down, right?

"First of all, it's past work hours. I'm not your driver until 7 AM." He said sounding flippant, and Lucy couldn't help wondering if he had multiple personalities. Why was he sounding so cold all of a sudden? Or was he still mad about earlier? She thought they were past that now?

She swallowed, "I wasn't asking you as my driver. I'm asking as a neighbor." She offered with a small smile.

"I see. Unfortunately, as you can see I have plans."

Her smile wavered, "Oh! Sorry for being a bother."

Tom couldn't help feeling guilty, "Why not just order for something with your phone? That's what everyone does these days." He suggested.

"Sure. I will do that. Thanks." She said without looking at him as she turned to leave. She was just going to walk around the neighborhood and get acquainted with it now so she wouldn't need him or anyone else to accompany her next time.

Tom stood there with a frown on his face as he watched her leave. She had offered for them to be friends earlier and he had accepted, so his attitude was uncalled for. Friends could ask their friends to accompany them somewhere. He could be a bad boy and a friend to her at the same time, right? That shouldn't be very difficult, he decided.

"Wait up." He called out, and she turned to look at him as he hurried up to her.

"I think I could spare a few minutes. Let's get you what you want and then I will be on my way.." Tom said with an easy smile making her decide he had multiple personalities.