Well, I say just like any other day but that isn't strictly true.

It was a Sunday night and I'd just been to the cinema with my mom and my sister Anna. This is something we do every so often because my mom feels bad about not spending as much time with us these days. Her name is Lyn (yes I know, Lyn Lane. Sounds like a Chinese restaurant. Ha Ha. I've heard it all before) and she's a typical workaholic career woman, and honestly, I don't blame her. Apparently she's amazing at her job and gets pretty well paid. She's the manager of some oil company and sometimes has to go overseas on business trips. This meant that she was often away when we were growing up. Our dad, Keith, became a stay at home dad but now we're older he's gone back to work as a personal trainer.

So anyway, as a way of apology, mom takes me and my sister to the movies every so often to see whatever chick flick is out at the time. So despite the fact that it isn't really my kind of thing, I've seen pretty much every one that's been made in the last five years. Again, why I seem to be overdosing on clichés. This movie in particular was actually not that bad. It didn't have a Douchebag-looking leading male and I actually enjoyed the woman in it instead of feeling like she was the cause of all of her own problems. Honestly how many times does that happen?

Once the film was finished, we went out for something to eat and then headed home. Anna went to her own apartment whilst mom and I went home together. Anna is seven years older than me and is engaged to her boyfriend. We all felt like it seemed quite a rush to be engaged at twenty-three but who's going to actually tell them that? And her fiancé Clark is a nice guy so we can't really complain. She could be with someone much worse!

So whilst she's moved out and into the big bad world, I'm still stuck at home with my parents and my brother Brandon. He's twenty-one, making me the baby of the family. It used to come in handy when I was little; I often got whatever I wanted but not so much now.

I do have a job though; I'm not a total sponge. I work part time at the grocery store that sits a couple of blocks away from our apartment, but school is my main focus. Not by choice mind you. My sister got some special internship at a law firm and did such a good job that they gave her a permanent position; meanwhile Brandon is a tennis protégé. Seriously, he's amazing and loads of people keep telling us he could turn pro if he wants to. He can't seem to make up his mind if he wants to or not. He's at that awkward age where he's just discovering alcohol and girls. He's only been legal for a few months and I've already lost count of the amount of times I've been woken up by him stumbling in drunk out of his mind. They say that the good die young. I guess that covers careers too.

So my parents are now just waiting to see what their third miracle child can do. I keep telling them not to hold their breath though. I'm just happy that my grade average is a B minus.

Mom parked our silver Audi in the car park outside our apartment block and turned off the engine.

"I wonder whose car that is." Her voice cleared the fog that had gathered in my head on the drive back. I'd spent the whole journey watching the light rain trickle down the passenger window, thinking to myself.

I looked to see that she was pointing to a black pickup truck a couple of parking spaces along from ours. I hadn't seen this vehicle before either but that's not really a surprise. I'm not much of a car person. When I learn to drive, I just want something that moves.

"I dunno" I shrugged.

"Is everything alright?" Mom asked, still not used to my standard teenage responses.

"Yeah I'm fine, just tired" I smiled. It was only nine but I was pretty shattered. Aside from the trip to the movies and the enormous feed that evening, I'd spent all of the day before shopping with my friends and my feet were still killing me.

Realising that we weren't going to solve the mystery by staying in the car, we got out and began climbing the stairs. We live on the third floor out of eight. So we're at that awkward level where the stairs is a bit much but not enough to justify using the elevator. Not helping my weary legs in the slightest.

We reached our floor and I began unlocking the front door when I heard a similar sound coming from behind me. Out of curiosity, I turned round to see what was happening. The apartment across the hall had been empty for three months, ever since the creepy looking guy who lived there got evicted. He was always drunk and I don't think he was working so wasn't paying his rent.

The door opened and mom and I were greeted with quite a view. I'm not going to say it was love at first sight (You know why by now) but there was an instant attraction on my part. The guy coming through the door was hot as hell!

He had a face shaped like it was carved out of stone by an ancient sculptor, with a slight hint of stubble placed on it for decorative purposes. His eyes were as deep and blue as the darkest ocean, and his button nose sat perfectly still above his lips. I wouldn't say he was built and full of muscles but he certainly looked like he was in shape. What is it about a guy in a white t-shirt too, that makes him look amazing?

"Hey there" He said, sounding like he'd just woken up, running his hand through his dark blonde hair. It was slicked back and off to the side, but not like one of those Italian supermodels, more like some sort of Australian surfer. This guy was the very definition of smart casual. I hate to sound like a tabloid newspaper but he was a hunk.

"Hi there" My mom waved, somehow unaffected by the sudden appearance of god himself in front of us. "You must be the new tenant in Mr Higley's old place?" She continued.

"Yeah that's right" He nodded, pointing to his door as if we hadn't seen it before. "You must be my new neighbours? I'm Jason" He extended a hand for mom to shake, which she did as if he was just another client at work. He then extended his hand to me, which I took without even thinking about it. I was asleep at the wheel and running on autopilot. My hand shook along with his until he finally let go. I was actually relieved that he did because I was just about to break out into a crazy sweat.

"My name's Lyn and this is my youngest daughter Louise" Mom said proudly. "My husband and son live here too so hopefully you'll get to meet them soon"

"Yeah I hope so" He nodded. He actually seemed a little nervous talking to us. Nowhere near as much as I was but then that wasn't hard. I still hadn't been able to say a single word. I was just staring, spaced out like one of the stoner kids at school. For the first time in months I was glad I was with my mother.

"Are you just heading out?" Mom asked him. He nodded again.

"Yeah, just going to get the rest of my stuff from the truck" He answered. There was her answer.

"Would you like us to give you a hand with anything?"

"No no you don't have to do that" He said hurriedly. "But thank you though. There's not really that much stuff left"

"Alright" She said as if she was getting ready to wrap up a presentation. "Well, if you ever need anything just knock on the door. There's usually someone in" Mom looked at me when she said this. Thanks.

Jason told us that he would before going to get the rest of his stuff and leaving us to it.

Despite being the one that had unlocked the door and was so desperate to get inside to my bed, I knew now that I wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon.

"Are you coming in or what?" Mom asked. It was only then that I realised I was still rooted to the spot I'd been staring at my new neighbour from. He was definitely an improvement on old, wasted Mr. Higley.

"Yeah, sorry. I spaced out there" I casually shrugged before sauntering in.

I walked through the door to be met with our tiny vestibule where mom always insisted we leave our shoes. After kicking off my converse trainers, I continued into the brightly painted corridor that had nothing but doors all along the walls either side of the laminate path. On the left are Brandon's room, then the kitchen, then our sitting room at the back. On the other side are my room, then the bathroom and then my parents' room. This came in especially handy for when I got home as I only had to enter and take a sharp right and already be in my private sanctuary. Today wasn't going to be as easy as that though.

"Hey girls!" My dad's voice boomed from the other side of the hall.

"Let's go see your father" Mom said. It was an order, not a request.

I sighed dramatically but followed her anyway.

"How was the movie?" Dad asked without taking his eyes off the television. There was football on, of course.

"It was pretty good" I replied.

"Glad to hear it" He mumbled. Honestly, why shout us through if you're only going to half-ass the conversation?

All my friends think my dad is cool. And I guess he is. He's one of those dads that you can talk to about anything important. It's just when it comes to irrelevant stuff like this when he always comes across as distracted. They also think he's good looking but I have no opinion on that whatsoever.

We continued our one sided conversation, covering the pizza meal we went for, the game that he was watching and all the usual boring stuff you talk about with your father. Then things suddenly got interesting again.

"We just met the new neighbour too. Mr. Higley's place finally has a new tenant" Mom said after pouring herself a glass of wine and sitting on the leather sofa next to dad. I perked up once again.

"Oh yeah?" Dad asked. "Just one guy?"

"That's all we saw anyway. His name's Jason. In his early twenties maybe. He seems nice enough, doesn't he Lou?" She said as if she knew the thoughts that were going through my head at the mention of his name. I hoped she didn't.

"Yeah he did. He's really nice" I smiled, pretending I was only meaning his personality.

"I'll need to pop over at some point and introduce myself then" Dad said, finally giving us his full attention.

"Yeah, we'll get him a moving in present or something. This time I won't mind giving the guy across the hall a case of beer" Joked mom. Even I laughed at this one. One time we got Mr. Higley a six pack for his birthday and he actually came knocking on our door an hour later, asking if we had any more. He'd finished them all already and it wasn't enough for him! I definitely don't miss him.

After finally breaking away from my parents and saying our goodnights, I went to my room, changed into my pyjamas and collapsed onto my bed, snuggling up under the grey covers. Normally my room feels like the safest place in the world. It's the one place I can come to where I can forget about the outside world. The familiar green walls and curtains and wooden floor which should be cold but somehow isn't makes me feel like nothing can get me. All my cares are left at the door, but after only seeing him for two minutes, Jason had already found a way in. Dad was right though, he probably wasn't just there by himself. He probably had a perfect looking, skinny, model girlfriend who was sitting on the couch getting drunk while he did all the heavy lifting for her. The bitch.

Still though, it was nice to think about Jason anyway. And that's exactly what I did. Right up until I fell asleep.