Housemates (boyxboy)

Chapter 28

Receiving a text at the break of dawn wasn't my ideal way of waking up after neglecting to turn off my ringer. I groaned at the sound and slowly rolled over to pull my phone off of the nightstand beside my bed. The light shined brightly in my eyes as I squinted, trying to make sense of the words displayed across the screen only to discover the sender of the message to be the source of all the commotion behind the limited edition Percy Jackson pen.

Arlen decided to inform me that he'd arrived at the tournament with his girlfriend and they were headed to breakfast. I frowned upon gaining the mental capacity to make sense of the text first thing in the morning and closed my eyes again. I'd reply after I dug the sleep out of my eyes in a few minutes.

Though, a certain red-haired boy took it upon himself to disrupt my much needed sleep as he pushed my door open without caring to knock first.

I groaned again and the boy made his way over to my bed, placing a firm hand on my shoulder. He gave me a soft push as if to wake me but I cursed at him and swatted his hand away.

"What?" I asked, my voice coming out raspy. "It's like five in the morning."

"Let's go," Vincent said.

"Where?" I said, pushing myself up as I released a yawn. "Do you need to buy more waffles or something?"

"No, Cade," Vincent said. "The tournament is today. We need to leave soon so we can make it on time to find Annika."

Remembering the text I received from Arlen minutes ago, I looked down at my phone before returning my gaze back to Vincent.

"What if I just ask Arlen what his girlfriend's name is?" I asked. "Then, if it's not Annika, we don't have to go all the way there."

"That won't do," he insisted. "If she's not with Arlen, what if she's with someone else? She wouldn't let me come for a reason."

I released a sigh. "Take Alec."

Vincent grinned widely and turned his head toward my door as Alec's head peered through.

"Yo," Alec said, giving a small wave as he stood in the doorway.

"You're going?" I asked.

Alec nodded. "Zion too."

"Zion is?" I said.

Alec tugged on something out of sight until Zion appeared beside him, running a hand through his long hair.

"Hurry up," Zion said, walking over to me.

Vincent and Alec glanced over at each other and nodded their heads, taking their leave at the same time.

Approaching my bed, Zion leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"Need help getting dressed?" he asked.

I gave a soft push to his chest and shook my head. "No."

He simply smiled and pulled away as I regretfully left my bed.

"I'm surprised you decided to come," I said. "I thought you don't care what Annika does with her life."

"If her life concerns one of my friends, then that's a different story," he said as I removed my shirt, pulling a different one out of my closet.

"Oh," I said as I began to pull the shirt over my head until I felt it tugged out of my hands.

"What?" I asked as Zion took a step into me, my back against the wall. His eyes met mine briefly and the serious look on his face made a wave of heat rush over me.

Sliding a hand down my bare chest, Zion softly placed his lips against my neck and kissed me there before bringing his hand back up.

I melted under his touch and breathed out. "You're going to make us late."

Feeling Zion's tongue lick my neck, I released a quiet sound and felt him smile.

"Stop me and we'll go," he said, bringing his mouth down to my chest.

"You know I can't do that," I told him, running a hand through his hair as he licked my chest, tilting my head back.

I breathed out again as his tongue swirled around my chest and practically jumped as knocking sounded on my open door. Zion smirked as he pulled away, his eyes lowering to my crotch.

"Naughty," he said, puffing out a laugh.

"I'm not looking," Alec's voice sounded at the door. "But, we're leaving in like three minutes."

"Shit," I said, quickly pulling on a change of clothes as I rushed to the bathroom to clean myself up.

Well, the four of us left the house soon after I was ready and piled into Vincent's car. Zion took a seat beside me in the back and we departed on the long ride to the tournament.

"Aren't you nervous?" Alec asked Vincent.

He shrugged. "I guess so."

"I feel like I'm more nervous than you are," Alec said.

"Well, if she felt the need to have another guy, then that's very telling of her character and I don't deserve that," he explained.

"You're right," Alec replied as I remembered the text I received from Arlen that I never replied to.

Pulling out my phone, I swiped to answer the text as I heard Zion speak up.

"Is it Arlen?" he asked, a sly smirk spread across his lips.

"Yeah," I said, his smirk immediately falling as he narrowed his eyes.

"I was joking," he said. "It's really him?"

"Mhm," I said, typing back a reply. "He said he's going out to breakfast with his girlfriend."

"Oh," Zion said as he leaned over, placing his head against my shoulder and closed his eyes. "Good night."

I laughed as I put my phone down, tilting my head against his. "Night."

---

The four of us arrived at the tournament two hours later and Vincent's legs shook as he walked.

"You are nervous," Alec said, pointing at his legs.

"Shut up," Vincent said. "Of course I am."

We made our way through the place as voices sounded loudly everywhere we walked, trying to find sign of Arlen and Annika.

"Hey!" I heard someone yell. "Cade!"

Turning around, I found Arlen waving a wild hand to catch my attention.

"Over there," I said as my housemates followed behind me.

Upon reaching my classmate, he smiled. "You didn't tell me you were coming to the tournament too."

Placing an awkward hand against my neck, I replied, "Surprise."

He laughed. "Well, now that you're here, let me introduce you to my girlfriend."

Zion, Vincent, and Alec stood beside me as we watched Arlen's girlfriend appear from behind him.

"This is the girl I've been telling you about," Arlen said.

My eyes widened.

"Her name is Amber."

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