Normally, "next" means the immediate event after this one, so the next day after a Monday is Tuesday, the next letter in the alphabet after C is D, etc.
For most things there is no dispute, if I say I plan to go to Italy next year, everyone knows I mean 2025, not 2026, since it's currently 2024. But if I say, are you coming to our BBQ next Sunday? People might rightly wonder if it's the coming Sunday or the one after that. Some people mean it one way (I take next literally) and some people mean the day after the coming one (my wife). We both think the other is using it wrong.
There's nobody I trust more than Professor Paul Brians of WSU. Here's what his Common Errors in English Usage has:
next, this
If I tell you that the company picnic is next Saturday it would be wise to ask whether I mean this coming Saturday or the Saturday after that. People differ in how they use “next” in this sort of context, and there’s no standard pattern; so it’s worth making an extra effort to be clear.
So, we're kind of both right.
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