The House Across the Street

Hello sexy people. This is a slow-burn romance set in the fictional town of Spritehill. All characters involved in sexy scenes are over 18. I apologize if there are any typos. Do enjoy!

THE START

Dreary...that's how I and the weather felt I guess, because it was drizzling and the color of the sky matched my exact mood at the moment. Maybe, the sky had also just had it's whole life turned around...just like me.

Oh hi there, of course you must be wondering, 'who is this weird girl and what the heck is she going on about'. A little back story...or sob story then shall we?

My name is Corn (weird name huh?) it's actually short for Cornelia but Corn's what I prefer now. It reminds me of him, that's what he always called me. 'Called'...not 'Call' because for the rest of my life I would never hear him call my name...ever.

When I was four, I had fallen off the monkey bars at a playgroud, landing on my short legs and spraining both my ankles. Back then I was convinced that there was no greater pain in the world. Boy was I wrong...boy was I so incredibly wrong.

James...my brother. I recall the words my father had said to me a few weeks ago 'well, at least we can smile a little knowing he's now an angel'. It was a little funny 'cause he had always been an angel to me.

My very own personal guardian angel sent to me by God in the form of a brother. It seemed sick to me though, because I'd always heard that the devil was the one who took back the gifts he gave to humans but it seemed to me that 'The Lord' had succeeded in taking away the gift he had given to my family...our light.

It was dark now, atleast that's how it seemed to me. I could definitely see it in my parents..the darkness and I could feel it that something had changed for us.

I had always visualized my demise in many many ways. Relax! I'm not planning to harm myself. If you haven't noticed, I spend a great deal amount of time in my head and I like to let my imagination run wild.

Most times, I see myself living a long and fulfilled life and then going out due to natural causes. Other times, I'm convinced there is no possibility of me making it to 25. These days however, it seems I may actually die (sooner than 25) of guilt.

Guilt-the crushing feeling that eats at your very soul and threatens to kill you excrutiatingly slowly, from the inside out.

My brother had overdosed...on a drug concoction. I would never know what it was for certain. The hospital said it was a mixture of different harmful substances with long scientific names that none of us could really remember.

That day will forever be imprinted on my mind. My mother's feral scream had caused I and my father to rush up the stairs in record breaking speed. Right in his room...on the carpeted floor he lay...still...with foam leaving his mouth and going down the side of his face.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion that day. My mother, sitting by the side of the door on the floor with her back against the wall, her knees up,both her hands over her mouth, staring at James' body. She looked frozen in place. My father, yelling into his phone our address and the current situation.

I could feel my feet moving, I was walking. Walking towards James. Walking towards the body that appeared to be lifeless. Walking with every intention to confirm for myself...to check if maybe he was just asleep and had fancied doing it on the floor today. I could feel the strong arm pulling me away. Pulling me away and out of his room.

I could hear a voice saying things to me...saying things in a calm voice. I could not make out my father's words but I could tell they were words meant to soothe me. I could not hear him though, I actually could not hear anything atall.

My brain seemed to not be registering anything anymore. Not the red and blue lights of the ambulance outside our house, not the people in uniform moving hurriedly up our stairs to his room, not the professional steady voices saying 'lift him on three'.

James was buried a week later. I'd like to call that day, the darkest day of our lives. It even rained that day. The sky was a very dark gloom, casting down heavy drops. Making it hard to differentiate our tears from the rain...it seemed even the earth was expressing it's pain of having lost a special one.

I guess you might be wondering 'Am I here to read all about James?'. I apologize but he is a very special part of my life and a very important part of this story. He is the reason why we were currently parked in our new driveway staring through the windows at our new home.

We had had to move, a decision that as far as I was concerned, was due to the selfishness of my parents. Well, I mean can I blame them?. Calling my parents conservative, would be the understatement of history...I actually do think that the right word to better describe just how conservative they were had not been discovered and could not yet be found in any dictionary.

I'm talking gospel music only, only reading novels they approve, only having friends they approve. They told my brother he wasn't getting a cell phone until he got into college. We had a computer we could use for school research and every weekend my father checked the browser history religiously.

The only reason I was allowed to wear shorts and trousers was because when I was little it was hard for my mother to get me to sit with my legs together. She had gotten fed up and embarrased enough about me revealing my drawls every chance I got, that she had somehow convinced my father to let me wear shorts. I guess we all got used to it that the topic of me transitioning back to skirts and dresses never came up.

My mother had actually been born in the church...and I don't mean that in the way you think. I mean her mother had actually gone into labour in the middle of a Sunday service and had been delivered by the priest. In her words, she had been 'born for Christ'. My father had always been a devoted member of the church.

They were both strong Catholics and were recognized in many ways by the church back home. When the news had gotten around that James overdosed on drugs, my parents couldn't seem to face the church anymore.

They couldn't even answer the Priest's call for a meeting he had requested few weeks after James' funeral. The visits of our family friends who were ofcourse also members of the church, always seemed so strained. Everyone seemed to try their best to avoid talking about the way James died.

They all seemed so supportive...like all they really wanted was to comfort us in our time of grief. But I think we could all tell it was only a matter of time before it was...adressed.

In my opinion, we kinda lived the next three weeks in hiding. At some point during the first week, my father had decided that we had to leave, and then we had spent the next two, indoors packing. Ofcourse my Mother had to leave at some point for a (very quick) grocery run, and my father to finalize some stuff at his work, but yeah...one month later, sees us in a new, little (very little), town...trying to start our life over. Spritehill.

The flash across the sky and the crack of thunder that followed seemed to me like the earth expressing it's anger at my current situation. It brought a little smile to my lips. Something that hasn't happened in a long, long time.

Hopeful-

I was feeling hopeful. It was now raining heavily and I was having the feeling that maybe I would be able to get out of going to the evening mass today. Now don't get me wrong, I love the church and the worship of Christ and everything but I feel serving the Lord should be willing and not something you feel forced to do.

Quite honestly, I don't think you need to be in the church every single day to prove to Him that you love Him. I mean isn't that why He's 'in my heart'? to see that I do?.

I still had hope though, sitting on my cushioned windowsill, grateful again that it was structured in such a beautiful way that I could sit comfortably and gaze out at the world through my currently foggy window.

I was getting lost in my thoughts when a car (well, a truck really) pulled in right across our house. It was a car I'd never seen before...listen Spritehill is a very little town okay, and i've lived here my whole life.

Not everyone owns cars here. Walking is a really big hobby for alot of the folks here. It's very simple, where ever you needed to go, just take a few steps, you'd get there.

So, this car, this car was new and that would also mean that the occupants of the car were also new. It made sense. They had just pulled into the driveway of The Smith's house.

The Smith's were the former owners of the house across the street. They had had to move because of-...um...complicated reasons. That meant that these were the new owners. "The house across the street" I said out loud then sighed.

I was about to look away when a girl ran out of the car with her hands over her head trying to shield herself from the pouring rain. She ran across the lawn to the porch where she stood staring at the car with a sad look on her face.

I was transfixed where I stood. Rooted to the carpet on the floor. 'Angel' was the first word that popped into my head. She had very light skin...it wasn't white...it was just very light.

By the heavens was she a beautiful sight to behold. Her golden brown hair was long and curly, almost at her waist from what I could see from where I stood, and Lord forgive me, but her body was...by golly it was...perfection. Her round hips blended up into a tiny waist and a round bossom.

I was sure I may have to go to confession due to the perverted thoughts already going round in my head but this girl, whoever she was, staring at her, felt like staring at a stream in a dessert. I have no idea what angels looked like, but I was sure this girl was giving me an idea.

The sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs jolted me out of my not so clean thoughts and had me facing my door right before it swung open.

''Grab your coat Jade we leave for mass in five minutes'' my father said.

Well, there goes hope. After he shut the door I turned back to the window only to catch the rear of a tall figure right before it walked into the house across the street. Probably her father?.

Anyhow, it would be a while before they would be able to move their stuff into their house seeing as the rain had no look of letting up anytime soon. I grabbed my coat off my bed, pausing at the door to stare at the house across the street and wonder about the angelic looking girl. I shook my head and walked out.

... Standing in the third row, staring at the choristers as they filled the church auditorium with their strong melodious voices, I had to admit to myself that there was one thing I still loved about the church. The hymns.

For as long as I can remember that has always been the best part of every Sunday service to me. Singing along with them, for the first time since we stepped in the church today, I didn't feel the twisting in my stomach that I always felt anytime I stepped in a church since James died.

Since the start of the service I had been trying to choke down my breakfast. I felt sick. But right now, I felt...peace. If you can't already tell, my faith may have taken a serious bruise since I lost James. I just could not understand how God could claim to love you and then hurt you (and coupled with my other...issues, I just didn't feel welcomed).

For the past three days since we got here, it has just been us trying to get our house set up, and settle in a little. Having all the furniture there already was a great relief (I was wondering about that). I have to say though,...we didn't seem to have the friendliest of neighbours.

No one had come over with the traditional basket of muffins and the 'hi, we hear you're our new neighbour'. I mean, maybe they didn't trust us, maybe they were wondering why on earth we'd move to a town as little as this. Whatever the reason, my parents didn't seem to care. I don't think they were ready to make acquintances just yet. But one thing they seemed ready to do though, get involved in the church...this church.

The church building wasn't far from our house and my gut was telling me we would be coming here so much it would seem like our second home. Once the service lets out they were going to have a chat with the priest...I could bet every lock of hair on my head on it.

I had just exchanged the sign of peace with a handshake to the person in the pew behind me when I turned and caught a pair of green eyes in the front row, staring right at me. I think time may have stopped. I really do think it did.

The voices around me drowned out, the movements of the congregation seemed slowed almost paused, and those eyes...they held me as their willing captive. I was dumbstruck.

My whole life, I had never seen a girl as beautiful as the one I was currently staring at (I'm not even exaggerating). She had platinum blonde hair that seemed to just kiss her shoulder, the big wavy curl of it, making her look like an olympian goddess. Thick brows, full lashes, pointed perfect nose, full lips and those eyes...those emerald coloured eyes. It made me forget where I was, who I was, and how to blink!.

Time seemed to return to normal but it took us a while to look away from eachother. We felt it...we both felt it.

End of service had us waiting for everyone to clear out so my parents could have a word with the Priest (yeah I know, I'm a psychic). We met him at the front of the church where my parents introduced themselves.

''West, William West. My wife Carlota, and our daughter Cornelia'' my father introduced. ''Well, as an official introduction, I am father Christopher Stone. The priest of the parish. I see you're new here''. ''Yes, we are. We just moved here three days ago''.

Then I drowned them out. I was staring at the statue of Christ on the cross and I was having that overwhelming feeling of suffocation again. I excused myself and left the church building to get some fresh air (I could tell the chat would take a while).

Walking quickly with my head down, right before I could step out the door, I bumped into someone...I bumped into her. She was even more beautiful up close.

Standing right in front of her now, I could see she had a light dusting of freckles on her cheeks and nose. We were around the same height and I was staring directly into her eyes...it was impressive.

Now she wasn't being obstructed by people like earlier before, I wanted to take the opportunity to access the whole package but I was scared to look down and I actually couldn't even bring myself to look away. And then she smiled...I think I smiled too. It just happened. She had the type of smile that compelled your lips to replicate. It was the first genuine smile I had offered since I lost James.

''The peace of the Lord be with you dear miss'' she said with a smile and a little curtsy. It made me laugh (when was the last time I did that?) ''As with you kind lady'' I said with my own little curtsy and we both laughed.

A brief silence where we just stared at eachother again, and then she extended her hand. ''Hi, I'm Jade. It's nice to meet you'' taking her outstretched hand and feeling a 'zing' go up my arm, I said ''Corn, it's a pleasure'' (It really was).

''Corn?'' she asked with a beautiful smile on her lips and a look of confusion on her face that was just so cute.

''It's short for Cornelia, but I prefer Corn''

''Hmm...Corn, I like it''. I'm sure there was a little tint on my cheeks.

''Well, welcome to Spritehill and if ever you need someone to show you what very little wonders we have to offer, please consider me as your first option'' (option? I was NOT putting anyone else on that list!)

''Thank you. I'd definitely take you up on that'' I said instead. ''I'm counting on it. Enjoy the rest of your day, Miss Corn''. She gave another little cute curtsy and walked back into the church leaving me standing there smiling and staring after her. Wow!

---------------------------------------------------------------

''Do I really have to do this'' I asked my reflection.

I was currently staring into the mirror after putting my hair up and trying to make myself look like I was ready to spend the next hour (if not more) talking about church, and working in the church, and attending all the church activities IN THE CHURCH!.

I couldn't help the sigh that escaped my lips. Somehow, my parents had gotten invited to dinner at the Priest's home which (get this) is right across from us.

You'd think Father Christopher would have paid us a visit (seeing as he's a man of God and I don't know...he lives right across from us!!). Something about that man just didn't sit right with me. ''But I can't wait to have dinner with him and his family'' I huffed sarcastically out loud. Putting the second stud in my right ear and taking one final look at myself, I sighed and headed downstairs.

JADE

Have you ever stared into the eyes of someone and it feels like you can see their very soul?. That very first look you both share and then feel an instant connection somewhere deep inside you.

The instant I locked eyes with Corn from the front row, I was captivated...connected. And when I was standing right in front of her at the door, staring into her ocean blue eyes, I could see her soul and God was it pure. She was even more beautiful up close. Her perfect white smile that was a sight for sore eyes, the cute dimple on her left cheek, perfect brow, high cheekbones and those lips...mmm...Lord forgive me.

She had the same sad look I'd seen the first time I saw her across the street right before we locked eyes that first time though. I don't know, but she looked like she had just recently gone through some painful experience.

Carrying the bowl of salad out and placing it on the dining table, I wiped my hands on my dress.

A simple blue dress with little pink flowers on it like polka dots. I'd applied a tinsy tiny bit of makeup it was barely noticeable (we can't have it being anything but). But I really wanted to look nice.

My father had invited Corn's family over for dinner and I had spent the last thirty minutes preparing Pasta, salad and a little fruit cake for dessert. I was excited...I couldn't help the feeling.

At the sound of the doorbell, I straightened out my dress right before my father came downstairs. We both walked towards the door but he stood a few steps behind me while I opened it. I think I heard her gasp (but maybe that was my imagination).

Now that I think about it, I don't think she ever knew that the Priest was my father. Must be a nice surprise for her. I smiled at the thought and then smiled for a different reason...her. She looked absolutely breathtaking.

She had her hair up, exposing her long neck, the blue stud in her ear highlighting her ocean blue eyes. She looked very beautiful in the simple white dress she had on(I mean, she'd look good in a garbage bag but jeez).

''Goodevening, welcome to our home'' that was me. I had to say something, I had been standing there staring in silence (and awe) for almost a minute.

Handing me a bottle of fruit wine, Mr West stepped in and offered a handshake to my Father. ''Thank you for having us'' he said. ''This is my daughter, Jade'' walking over, I stood by my father's side and he placed a hand on my shoulder and I tensed up.

CORN

''She was his daughter?!'' I kept repeating in my head. How had I not figured that out?. And the little gasp I let out at the door, (that I'm sure everybody heard) was a clear indicator of my shock.

Seeing Jade stand next to Father Christopher, I had to admit the resemblance was non existent. They looked nothing alike. Where Jade had emerald green eyes, father Christopher had brown, where she had platinum blonde hair he had jet black. His olive coloured hand he placed on her shoulder was a sharp contrast on her very pale skin. Maybe she got all of her looks from her mother? (I hadn't seen her, I doubt she's with us). Without the introduction that he had just offered to us, there was no other way one would be able to tell that they were father and daughter.