Chapter 1: Sunday

It was unlike Lauren to be up early on the weekends. She stretched on her bed as rays of sunlight pierced through her curtains.

Her tiny white nightgown was see-through. Giving a glimpse of her perky breasts and her lace underwear. She got up and walked towards the window, throwing the drapes side to side.

Lauren's room wasn't so big. From her bed stand she could take five steps to the bedroom door. The door opened up to a tiny living room space and a bathroom just a little down the hall.

She loved her tiny apartment and decorated it to her own taste. She felt lucky to have gotten a place like this in New York City with her tight budget.

She walked to the open kitchen space that was half of the living room. The first thing she needed for a morning like this was a nice coffee.

Lauren took her time, making a milky iced coffee for a morning like this. After which she sat on the only stool in her kitchenette that served as her dining table.

She took a sip of the coffee, the sweet taste sinking in as she looked around her apartment. She noticed a nut on the door was loose. She put the coffee cup down and walked over to her apartment door. Not just one but a whole hinge was loose.

“That's not good,” she said. Without thinking she opened the door and it came crashing down halfway.

“Oh no no,” she said immediately, trying to stop the door from crashing down and most importantly not hurting herself in the process.

Lauren was too occupied to notice the guy clearly stepping out of his door from the apartment across hers.

At the site of her struggling with the weight of the door, he rushed across the hall to help her.

He held the door up firmly, relieving her from the heavyweight. She looked up trying to figure out who her savior was. Her blue eyes met with his dark green eyes. They held each other's gaze for a second or two.

“Jacob,” the name slid out of her lips smoothly. “Oh my gosh, thank you. It's like my whole house is falling apart and my door is out to get me.” Lauren said as she giggled.

Jacob was the only one holding the door now. By steadying it, he was able to close it.

He was in her apartment now staring down at his 5’ 6" neighbor.

“Well I'm here to be your personal handyman and fix your revenge-seeking door,” he replied to her joke with a smirk on his face.

His eyes shifted from her pretty morning face to her transparent night dress. He couldn't help but catch a glimpse of her perky nipples looking directly at him.

It was almost like she noticed immediately. “Uhm…,” her eyes searched around the room and her hands quickly reached for the scarf on her couch. She used it as a drape over her body.

“Let me go grab my tools from my apartment and I will be right back to fix the door,” he said, noticing how uncomfortable she had gotten.

“Sure Jacob, I'll be waiting.”

He turned around and carefully opened and shut the door behind him.

Lauren sighed and quickly rushed into her bedroom to wear something more decent. She threw on loungewear, and rushed back out to see her door fully open.

Jacob was already crouched down trying to fix the loose hinge. Hearing her footsteps, he looked up at Lauren. He also noticed she had changed out of the night dress.

It was not like what she had on now had a less effect on him. Her lounge shorts hugged her thighs and the deep necked crop top reminded him of the beautiful sight earlier.

He turned back as if he was concentrating on what he was doing.

“Tell me, Lauren,” he started.

“You have clearly been using this door all week and you didn't notice it was loose?” Jacob asked.

“I know right? My bad. I probably had too much going on to have noticed. But I'm glad any form of accident was averted.” She replied.

Jacob had finished screwing all the loose bolts and he got up, one knee at a time.

“Thanks to you I might add,” she said, walking towards him.

He opened and shut the door twice. Obviously trial testing it before he turned fully to face her.

“It's all good now,” Jacob said.

“Thank you so much. I'm sorry I delayed you. I noticed you were on your way out before you stopped to rescue me,” Lauren apologized.

“It's okay. I don't mind helping my favorite neighbor,” he said with a quirky smile on his face. “And besides, I was just going to grab some stuff from the supermarket. I could still catch up with that anytime,” he added.

“Well, I'm glad you just said that 'cause I was already about to make some brownies and I would love it if you stayed and had some.” Lauren offered.

It was a really tempting offer for Jacob because it was quite obvious he would love some brownies. And of course the Baker of the brownies…

That was the whole point. He liked Lauren a lot but she always looked at him through friendship lenses. He would have loved to stay but what if he made a move and messed things up?

Seeing her like this already gave him ideas. It's been two years since she moved in across from him and he was unable to shake off this crush. Was it even a crush?

“Oh come on Jacob, don't overthink it. I know you love my baked brownies a lot, so please just stay.”

“Undoubtedly your brownies are the best. But…”

“No buts, Jacob. After we have the brownies we could go get groceries together. I need to pick up a few things too.”

Before he could find another excuse Lauren was already pulling his arm towards the kitchen area.

“Alright alright,” Jacob said as he sat on the stool next to her.

Lauren went ahead and started prepping the ingredients for the brownies. While Jacob sat there watching her.