No Need to Sleep Living in a Dream (Boy × Boy) ✔

CHAPTER 3: The house next door

Evan Cooper

The house they had moved in was old, but it had been renovated recently. It wasn't as big as their previous place had been, but as there were less people living there, it didn't matter.

The house had green walls in each room except in Evan's or in the upstairs bathroom. There were different shades of green in the furniture and textiles as well. Luckily Evan and his mom both liked natural colors, so it only made the house feel more homely for them.

Not that Evan was thinking about the house he was living in, his thoughts were on the house next door. Earlier Evan had paid no attention to it, other than giving a quick judgement of it being sleazy and uncared-for.

Now that he examined the house with new eyes, it was indeed sleazy and uncared-for. The paintwork of its walls was deteriorating, the tiling of its roof shabby and the lawn rampant and full of weeds. All the curtains were shut like the house had something to hide. It was a sad looking house, an aversive sight, making you want to look away as soon as you walked past it.

When Evan was still studying the house, a slender but beer bellied man walked to the yard. He had a scowl on his face and he was wearing shabby clothes, but those were the only resemblances he had with Junior. The man walked in and locked the door behind, leaving the house looking deserted and forlorn again.

Junior wasn't exactly the type of person who stirred up empathy in others, but somehow seeing the house he lived in made it easier to understand why he wasn't exactly the smiling type either.

"Hi, honey. What are you looking at?" Naomi, Evan's mom, hollered.

"Nothing. I just found out my classmate lives next door." Evan answered absent-mindedly.

"Oh, you mean the Campbells? Your dad used to go to school with them." Naomi said and walked into the kitchen, Evan following after her.

"How was your trip?" Naomi took the ingredients she had brought from the grocery store, and started scrubbing the potatoes and peeling the carrots.

"It was nice." Evan told her about the last two days in detail. He only left out what he had seen in the tent.

"That sounds lovely, I'm glad you had fun, honey." Naomi smiled heartily and continued preparing the dinner.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Evan offered, answering the smile.

"You could start with a shower." Naomi laughed and waved her hand in the air, gesturing that Evan was in a desperate need of one.

"Jeez, mum, thanks. " Evan grinned, but happily did as he was told.

Dario Ortiz

Dario had been in a good mood ever since that night. He had thought about Beau more than he probably should have, but at least he didn't spend his weekend trying to find all the possible information about him. Dario needed to keep Beau away from his compulsive behaviours, and he was trying his best to avoid making things more complicated in his mind. There was no need to overthink about it.

On Saturday night he slept well. Dario hadn't stared at the ceiling for hours and he had woken up only twice during the night. He did get up at 5 am, but it was still something.

On Sunday night Dario slept only about an hour or so, but he didn't let that affect his mood on Monday morning. He was going to see Beau soon, if everything went well.

I won't see him today, if I don't count to three ten times, he thought when he was brushing his teeth.

It wouldn't hurt to count three more times, just to make sure, he decided when he was getting dressed up in his typical black attire. Other than trying to keep in control the usual havoc in his mind, Dario was in a good mood, which was something the other members of the Ortiz family noticed.