All Stars Bright and Beautiful

The sliding doors in the store opened up to the next customer, the fresh spring breeze flying in along with the customer. It was a lovely day outside, quiet and clean, and I was busy dealing with a huge load of random people.

I sighed heavily, my shoulders weighed down by something I couldn't identify. I was exhausted--I'd been staying up late every night for the past week because of staring at the internet--and that wasn't quite healthy. But I had nothing else to do at night other than look at Pinterest, so what was the point of sleeping?

Someone new came up to the cash register, and I didn't even try to acknowledge them. Nowadays, I never looked at the people I was helping. They were essentially all the same. I sighed once more, staring down at their total after they swiped their card. They muttered something under their breath as they left. Something like she's rude or a slight scoff. I got that a lot. But it didn't particularly matter when I had another doofus to deal with...

"You look tired today... Summer."

I suddenly felt like that if I sighed again I would stop breathing. That's because the person who just spoke to me was none other than my snobby/annoying coworker Markus, who simply would not and could not leave me alone. He barely did anything anyways. It was always me doing the work.

I turned to look at him, glaring. "What do you want?"

Markus smirked. "Ooh, you're kind of crude today, aren't you? Didn't get enough sleep?"

I turned back, strolling back over to the cash register to pretend to work until he left me alone and shut up. But that usually took longer than expected.

I heard the familiar thud of his chunky boots hit the ground, louder and louder. Why, just why was he annoying like this? This time, though, he just kept staring at me. What was he, five?

Probably.

But luckily enough, my shift was nearly over. I wouldn't have to deal with any more of his utter bullshit. And although it may not really seem like anything now, Markus had been tormenting me like this for a long while...

I think it was about two years ago that I started working here, but he'd been here for about a year longer. At first, I thought that we could be potential subordinates, but he destroyed that fantasy quickly by immediately becoming like an annoying child.

By, of course, following me around and not doing any work... mocking me and my clothes... etc...

So our whole friendship deal is kind of a lost cause for me. And anyways, it's obvious what he's after. A reaction. People like him don't shut up until they get what they want--so I'm determined not to do just that. It's easy to see people's motive nowadays anyways.

How, you ask? Well, it's simple. The ways that they act. A single move out of the ordinary, a batting of eyelashes distinct from a normal blink. When people act like nothing's wrong, something always, always is. That and the people around me are just plain dumb.

Everyone is...

Markus gave me a fake pouting look when I was getting my hoodie on the way out. He still kept it even when I was punching my time into the clock and timing out. And he still kept it even when I was speed-walking down the sidewalk to get home.

Jesus Christ, I hated him...

But I think I hated the scene of my apartment building even more.

Boxes and boxes of objects were stuffed in my hallway, all the way through the stairwell and to the balcony. Okay, first of all... who would have this much goddamn stuff, and why? And second of all, couldn't they at least be considerate of the people around them?

I was then forced to step carefully around the boxes of items, nearly tripping over several on the way to my home. It was after that that I found the culprit of this enormous mess:

Most likely the dumbest looking dude I had ever seen. Or at the very least stereotypical.

Tall, lanky, tanned... wearing a beanie and scarf with a thick-looking sweater. It was April. What was the point of those clothes? He had quite spotty freckles under his eyes, and glasses atop the bridge of his nose.

He was... a hipster.

Fighting against my insane urge not to burst out laughing at his looks, I made my way to my place without incident... until I realized that his house was literally across from mine. Dammit. Would I have to fight against laughing really hard every single day?

The hipster dork was setting down a few heavy-looking boxes inside his new apartment, wiping his forehead when he spotted me. Something immediately sprang into his eyes when he saw me. Excitement.

"Hello! Are we neighbors?"

His voice sounded weird to me. I just kind of sat there a moment before I realized that I had to stop thinking about his voice/clothing style and answer like a normal person. "Yes, I suppose so..."

He looked even more excited very suddenly. "Cool! What's your name?"

I hesitated at that. Here I was, right in front of my door and about to put the key in the lock and I was stuck in an awkward social situation. This was, in one word, a nightmare.

"Uh... Summer..?" I had no idea why I made it sound like I had forgotten my own name. Damn, I hated this so much. This is why I didn't talk to people. This guy looked like a total doofus anyways.

He broke into a huge smile at my response. "That's a really nice name, Summer. Mine's Oliver... I hate it though. It makes me sound snobby. So you can just call me Ollie!"

I literally had no idea what to say at that. This guy was breaking the stereotype I had of him in seconds. His voice was slightly high pitched, excited and yet also quiet. He didn't have a beard or anything (thank god) and wasn't a deep, mellow dork.

So I had no idea what to do in this social situation except give him an incredibly small nod and then jam my key in the lock. I felt like I was literally about to die, and rushed into my house before slamming the door behind me.

Oh my God. I had to deal with a social anomaly like him every day or something?

My hand slipped from the door, reaching into my pocket immediately for my phone. I needed to do research on this weirdo. I flipped around from the door, staring out the peephole and hoping to catch his last name.

"Mr. Reeves?"

The familiar voice of our landlord caught on his last name. "Have you figured out your payment options yet?"

Oliver appeared to be thinking before he responded too quiet for me to hear. Good. At least I had a name for the face.

I typed in his name on Facebook. I figured I could probably find him online, at least. Oliver Reeves results showed up instantly, and I had to scroll down a bit before I found what looked a lot like him.

He was on a lot of forums and messaging boards, but it didn't look like he had a whole lot of friends there. He had a few photos of some random things he found while outside or whatever. Then only a couple of interests.

Astronomy and art.

Who the hell was this loser?

I shut off my phone, tossing it casually onto my couch before nearly collapsing onto it. This guy was like a goddamn package deal of stereotypes and weirdness. Either that or my melodramaticness was flaring up today...

Or, there was a third option:

This was going to be one hell of a ride, having a freaky-ass neighbor around.