Before, Dante knew it, the cops were at his door. That just pissed him off. His little house warming party was drifting towards the end anyway, but before he had a chance to turn it down, that little girl called the cops on him. On top of that, they arrested him! He knew, it was because of how he looked. Cops always thought he was in some gang.
Truth was, he just liked ink. He had a degree in fine arts and was an exceptionally talented tattoo artist. His body was simply a canvas for expressing his art.
Dante wasn't a spiteful person, but that little girly just rubbed him the wrong way. So when he finally paid his fines and got released, he went straight back to his place, and put up the biggest neon sign he could get. It was so bright it would look like daylight in her apartment. "Two can play this game, girly" he said satisfied as he finished connecting the sign.
Amy had a long day, after only sleeping an hour, she got up at four, then put all the finishing touches on her show piece.
The wedding was a big success, but she was dead tired by the end of it and couldn't wait to fall on her bed and drift off into the sweet nothingness of sleep. She was not in the mood for another noisy night with her neighbor. Hopefully he learned his lesson.
When Amy got home it was already dark, not that she could tell. Her whole apartment was awash with bright colors. Her curtains were no match for the monstrosity he put up outside his shop.
Usually she would just leave it be, spiteful people spite themselves, but she was tired and hungry and pissed off! "Fine, two can play this game!" she muttered in anger. Amy went downstairs and pushed all her tallest potted trees out the front door. They were extremely heavy. It took her a good two hours to finish the task, but by the end she had completely encircled his sign with her trees. Finally she could get some sleep. Her head barely touched the pillow and she was out like a candle.
The next morning Amy awoke to the startling sound of a chainsaw. Rushing out the bed, she grabbed the first thing on her path and ran downstairs. Without realizing it, she was still in her teddy bear nighties.
She was greeted to the most horrifying murder scene. He had already cut down one of her trees and was about to do the same to the next one.
"Murderer!" she shouted. She looked down at her hands and realized she grabbed the cookies from the previous day. Without a second's hesitation she started hurling rock hard projectile cookies at him.
He dodged the first few, but one grazed his ear and the force was enough to make him flinch. "The hell woman!? Stop!" he shouted.
"Why!! You killed it!" She hurled another cookie at him. But instead of hitting it's mark, he caught it, and crushed it in his hand. He had a murderous glare on his face. Amy froze immediately, like a scared bunny in the headlights of a hunter. He gave a step closer, but his expression softened, only Amy didn't see it. She instinctively gave a step backward, while hiding her face behind the bag that held her ammunition; bracing for impact.
"I'm not going to hit you. Crazy woman." he said in a softer tone. Amy peaked out from behind the bag.
"You killed my tree! You owe me!" she shouted, pointing at the potted stump that used to be tree.
"You called the cops on me!" he returned in kind.
"Yeah well, you were too loud!"
"They arrested me!" he retorted.
Amy looked a bit shocked, she immediately felt bad and sorrow was written all over her face.
"Yeah well...you deserved it" she stubbornly added even though she was sorry for what she did. She wasn't about to let him know.
They both fell silent. Then, Dante went back into his store and the door closed behind him.
"Okayyy then...I guess that's that" Amy sighed as she was left alone with her trees. She was about to start pushing her trees back into her store, when the door behind her opened again.
"Here" he said. She turned around, his stretched out hand was holding a wad of cash. Reluctantly she took it. "Thanks" she mumbled.
"Take this too" he held his leather jacket out for her. "Looks like your freezing" he said, as his gaze pointed to her breasts.
Shocked, she instantly covered her chest with her arms. "Pervert" she whispered as she looked away so that he couldn't see her blush.
Without a word he stepped in close to her and put the jacket around her shoulders. He was so close to her, she could smell his masculine scent. For a split second she closed her eyes and allowed herself to be consumed by the smell, as she breathed it in.
"Sorry" he whispered in her ear. Her eyes shot open, surprised, as his breath fell on her ear.
Her face flushed red again, but it didn't look like he saw that, since he had already turned to leave.
Dante closed the door behind him, his face betrayed him as a smile surfaced. She smelled like spring flowers and for a minute it clung to him. His smile widened as he remembered her body's reaction to the cold. She looked so cute in her teddy bear baggy pants and figure hugging thin strap top, that was just short enough to reveal a slither of her tummy and bellybutton.
They didn't really speak to each other again after that. He removed the neon sign, and only played his loud music until 11pm at night, while she tolerated it and tried to stay out of his way. An awkward truce continued between them.
Amy tried to return his jacket to him, but somehow they always missed each other. Secretly she was glad about it. Every so often she would hold it and breath it in. The smell of leather and cologne, it made her feel a little dangerous. When she was finally ready to part with it, she gift wrapped it with a thank you note and a small potted chilli plant, that she left on the top most stair leading to his apartment. Beth also lost interest in him, because they barely ever saw him.
Beth found an online dating site that promised to get results. She seemed to enjoy it and she finally convinced Amy to create a profile. Of course Beth took over and by the end of it, Amy sounded more like a forest goddess than a girl with a flower shop.
It was Friday but today there wasn't any cookies and coffee. Amy and Beth were both in her apartment, where the whole of her wardrobe was on her bed.
"No, that one makes you look like a 50s suburban house wife" Beth sighed "Just wear the one I picked for you, already". They have been at if for a good while. Beth wanted Amy to wear a shoulderless black dress but Amy felt uncomfortable in it, since it was too revealing for her tastes. She wanted to wear one of her 50s style dresses.
"How about this one? We'll compromise" Amy held up a white body hugging sleeveless turtleneck dress with red and black geometric patterns and a long slip on the right side.
"mhm" Beth considered it for a while "Fine, it's still not sexy enough, but at least it's not from the 50s".
Amy finished her makeup and straighten her hair Beth even helped her put on false eye lashes.
Beth waved at Amy as she went home, while Amy waited in front of the store for the taxi to arrive.
"Hey" she heard behind her. It was her neighbor.
"Oh hey!" Amy nervously waved. Dante was wearing his usual leather jacket, white button shirt and dark jeans. 'He must have a million of those' Amy thought as she looked at his outfit.
"You look beautiful" he said, stunned. After a minute, he remembered what he was about to do and mounted his motorbike and put his helmet on.
"Oh thank you. You too" she replied without thinking. "Um, I mean you look nice...I mean, handsome" she corrected herself.
"Hot date?" he asked, ignoring her compliment.
"Oh. Yeah. Beth put be on this Dating App, so hopefully it's a hot date. I mean, who knows, right?" she fidgeted with her fingers. "Did you get the chilli plant?" she asked desperate to change the subject.
"Yeah." he responded as he started the engine and nodded a goodbye before racing off. The sound from the bike fading as the distance between them grew.
For some reason Amy felt a little sad as she watched him drive off. She only waited a couple more minutes before the taxi arrived.