The Girl Next Door

We had new neighbors move in about 2 months ago. The apartment next door is a two bedroom and our landlord was charging $750/month for rent. Well, a girl, probably a few years younger than us, moved in. She said her boyfriend doesn't live with her, but we are pretty sure he does since we have seen mail in his name delivered here.

We don't think they work.

They are home at all hours of the day. They are home when we leave for work, they are home when we get home from work. They are home if we have a random day off during the week. They are home on the weekends.

We don't understand this. They both drive new cars. One has a new VW Jetta and the other drives a new Scion. We cannot figure out how they afford their rent, plus the newer cars. We thought two things- either they are living off student loans (and just never go to class) or they are somehow independently wealthy.

They are very nice (when we see them) and, for the most part, very quiet. Ideal neighbors, really.

To understand the rest of the story, let me explain a bit about our apartments. We live above streetside storefronts. There are only our 2 apartments above the stores in our building. Our outside doors are side by side. We have a window in our bathroom and the hallway outside the bathroom that look into this "space" between our apartments. They have windows in their dining room that also look into this "space". I don't know if you can picture this, but I don't know how else to explain it. It is the strangest thing because there is this outside space in the middle of our building, with a "greenhouse" roof on it. The windows that we both have our that kind of glass that you can't really see through, but light still shines through. Ok, anyway......

I was in the bathroom Friday afternoon after work. I saw a flash in the bathroom mirror. Then another, and another. I thought "Oh, they are taking pictures next door". (hence the need for me to explain how you can "see" our windows from each other's apartments). Didn't think anything else of it.

Last night Keith and I were sitting in the living room watching TV when we saw more flashes. (Our bathroom hallway window faces our dining room, which is right off the living room). Keith had never seen the flashes, so I explained to him how I saw the flashes Friday. Flash, flash, flash, flash, flash. They kept taking pictures, pictures, pictures at 10:00pm. Sometimes the pictures would be taken consecutively, sometimes there would be a couple minutes between shots. So, you can imagine the dialogue that takes place between my husband and I at this point. (Remember, we have wondered how they make money!....) The conversation goes something like this:

Keith: What was that?
Me: Flash from next door. I think they are taking pictures.
Keith: Huh. That's weird.
Me: Yeah, what do you think they are photographing inside on a Saturday night? No way they are taking pictures of bowls of fruit.
Keith: What are you saying?
Me: (shame on me by the way) I wonder if they are taking nude-y pictures?
Keith: Interesting idea. Would explain why they never work.
Me: Oh no! The pauses between flashes are probably for her "outfit" changes.
Keith: (laughs)
Me: The dining room is probably their studio.
Keith: Is she even that good looking?
Me: You can do alot with makeup.....(not that she is not ugly by any means!)
Me: We need to ask Will (landlord) what they put down for occupation on their rental application. If they said self employed photographer, we'll know.

Ok, so you get the idea. We are seriously wondering if we live next door to some X-rated activity. I really hope that our imaginations were just running wild, but how else do we explain everything? If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them!!!

Oh, they must have had a dealine today, because they are still flashing away this morning!