Nice to (Re)Meet You

5 | sweet

✦

5

sweet

IN AN EVENT that would come across as no surprise to anyone, it took all of five seconds for Zeke Velasco to annoy me.

I gritted my teeth, my fingertips turning white from clutching the cardboard box as tightly as a python winds around its prey.

Amusement glinted in his—gratingly dazzling—dark brown eyes. "I mean, I get it," he said, with a brand of arrogant nonchalance, having the gall to actually wink at me. "I can be very distracting."

"Because of what an eyesore you are? Absolutely."

"You—"

"And just a friendly tip from your new neighbor," I interjected, watching his eyes narrow at me, as I nodded at his face, my nose scrunching in theatrics, "you should add more nuts to your daily diet. You know, for magnesium. To cure your little eye twitch."

His lips parted, indignation rushing into his expression. "You're nuts, Angeles."

"That's okay," I said, a half-chuckle slipping out of my lips. "At least I'm not in middle school with that middling comeback, Velasco."

Before he could respond, I took the opportunity to flee the scene, hearing him say my last name in invigorated protest as I bounded down the stairwell, the box in my arms somehow feeling a tad less hefty with each step.

Yanna, one. Velasco, negative one thousand.

✵

Surprisingly, my vision was Zeke-free for the next couple of days.

When I'd finished unloading the cardboard box last Sunday, chucking most of its contents down the recycling chute, I half-expected to catch Zeke still standing in the middle of the hallway, waiting for my return. To get the last word, of course.

But he wasn't there.

I didn't see him in the days that followed, either—not when I'd stepped out to go to work, not when I'd returned from work.

I briefly wondered if he actually moved out in that short period of time.

But my question was answered—rather, my hopes were dashed—when I bumped into him Friday night, as I opened my front door, intending to grab some takeout and put in a little exercise.

Zeke Velasco, clad in a casual black tee and jeans, was just crawling out of his apartment when his eyes fell on me.

I instantly flashed him a smile, colder than steel on a wintry night. "Off to buy some nuts? Pistachios, perhaps?"

His face morphed into a scowl, his brain quick to remember our last conversation. "Off to buy you? Not even for a penny."

"Me, a pistachio?" I shook my head, locking the door behind me with a click. "I'm thinking more like macadamia. The classiest and most luxurious."

He gratified that with a snort, locking his door with its own click. "Always knew you had that ego in you."

"Always? I thought your first impression of me was meek. Like a mouse."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "I never told you my first impression of you."

Now it was my turn to arch my brows, because I clearly remembered the exact moment he let me know, in his classic Zeke way, what he thought of me at first sight.