Bother Me, Baby

Music for this chapter: Mike Stud - On & On feat. Conrad Sewell

Ugh! That was it! Her douchebag of a neighbor had to turn his music down. It wasn’t even good music. It was just noise. All she could hear was the horrible noise and rambunctious chatter and dogs barking from next door. She had come up to Ontario to get away from the stresses of medical school and to just enjoy the peace and quiet of the lake. But NO. Of course, she had to be neighbors with the resident party boy. Apparently, this was his summer home too and he used it to party as much as possible. It was the literal worst. And she had had enough. Getting up from her window seat, she grabbed a cardigan and slammed the door of her cottage. Strutting up over the grassy patch between the two backyards, she was ready to give this playboy a piece of her mind.

“Excuse me. Hello! Yeah, hi. Hello.”
The man with the tattoos and backwards ball cap saw her coming before he heard her. As she got closer, he could tell she was talking to him so he reached over to turn the stereo down.
“Sorry. Um, music’s a little loud - I didn’t hear you.”
“Yes, it was. It is so loud…”

Tyler’s eyes raked over her body. She was wearing cutoff sweatpants and had her blonde hair loose and flying in the wind. She was also wearing a white top with a brightly colored sports bra. Damn, she was attractive.
“Hey, you’re my new neighbor, aren’t you? I’ve seen you over there watching me.”
“Watching you?” she said with surprise.
“Yeah.”
“Oh, my God. Wow. I was not watching you. You live 100 yards away. Where am I supposed to look?”
Gabby couldn’t believe that he had the gall to insinuate that she had been staring at him!
“I’m just kidding with you. I was just playing”
“Oh. That is cute. That’s funny.”

Tyler chuckled to himself. Boy, was she a firecracker.
“What do you say we start over? Uh, why don’t you have a seat…”
Gabby crossed her arms and glared at him with contempt.
“I do not want a seat, thank you.”
“Well how about a beer?”
“I’m fine.”
“Come on. Have a beer.”
“No. I do not want one.”
Tyler reevaluated the situation. He couldn’t put his finger on it but the more she fought back, the more he felt the need to win her over. Clearly she wasn’t going to fall for the basic invite so maybe it was time to play the animal lover card.
“Well alright….I’m Tyler. Those two lumps are Cash and Marshall. And that rambunctious guy there, that’s Gerry. ”
“Yeah.”
“And, um...I this this is the point in the conversation where you tell me your name.”
Gabby rolled her eyes. Clearly, Tyler had never had a woman ignore him before.
“Oh, you do, do you?”

Tyler was shocked. The dogs always did the trick. They had never failed him before. Maybe he could tease her some more and see if that would loosen her up at all.
“Okay well alright. Fine. Um...you know, there’s a certain type of woman that usually shows up here after 10:00. She’s wearing ratty sweatpants, no makeup, and she’s usually after one thing and one thing only.”
If Gabby was a cartoon, her eyes would’ve popped out of her head.
“Oh, my God. Are you implying that I’m here for sex? You are, aren’t you? Oh, my God.”
“I’m kidding. I’m kidding.”
“Could you be any more obnoxious?”
“Lady, you have no idea.”
“Lady! Stop calling me lady.”
“Then, tell me your name.”
“It is Gabby.”
Well at least he got her name. That was a starting point. Now he could pretend to listen to what she was so concerned about, then he would turn up the charm, and they could finish the conversation inside his cottage.

“Hello, Gabby. Welcome to the neighborhood. What are you so angry about?”
“You play your music, if you can call it that, too loud!”
Tyler had to smirk. So that’s what she was shrieking at him about. Gabby noticed the smirk and that only led the burning fire in her to rise even higher.
“Don’t you patronize me. Oh, my God, you are insufferable.”
“Look, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
Gabby rolled her eyes.
“This is so funny to you.”
“Well it’s a little funny, yeah.”
Gabby groaned in frustration. It was like talking with a brick wall. With that she spun on her heels and headed back to her cottage. She cast one more rueful look his way before slamming her door.
“It was nice to meet you!” Gabby heard him shout.

Boy was this going to be a long summer.



Scene from Movie to reference

Notes

Hey everyone!

First off, I will not claim anything original about this story other than how I weave Tyler into it. And even that I can't claim because obviously he is his own person and I don't have the right to do that. Regardless, I watched The Choice (2016) today and I was totally inspired by the character of Travis. I could see elements of him and his persistence that I can only imagine he would share with Tyler. So, that's how we ended up here. I highly recommend that you watch the movie if you want to get the full experience of this story. I won't be writing the whole thing, just a few scenes that I totally loved and pictured Tyler fitting in.

Enjoy!