Neighbors at Night

7. Rafael

"You guys are neighbors?"

"And you didn't know until now?"

I rolled my eyes at Zack and Kaden's relentless questioning, sighing as I took a bite of the salad on my tray. "Yes, we're neighbors. And the only reason I didn't know is because she moved in like last week."

"And why exactly do you know that?"

I shot Kaden a look, "Because I saw them moving in. Pendejo." The last word was muttered but he sure as hell definitely heard me.

Zach suddenly elbowed my side, "Speak of the devil."

I instantly knew who he was referring to.

Sage was sitting at the table beside ours again, only this time she had a person with her. I couldn't see who it was or what they looked like since they were sitting with their back facing us but I didn't exactly care to either.

Sage was the only one I had my eyes on.

Her hair was down and curled (why was it curled today?) and she was wearing a nicer outfit than usual. I couldn't see the full set of clothes, but I remembered from that morning that she had on a plaid dress and a black long sleeve undershirt.

She looked like she was going out later; she looked like she was going on a date.

All things considered, she looked amazing.

"Let's go sit with them," Theo's voice came from behind me and I turned to look at him with wide eyes. His eyebrows furrowed, "What?"

"¿Estás loco?"

"Yeah, even I think that's a bad idea."

I pointedly gestured at Kaden, "See. It's not just me this time."

Theo groaned, "¡Todos ustedes son unos cobardes!"

"For your information, I talked to her twice today." Should I have felt as proud of that as I did? Probably not. Still, I'd said more words to her that morning than the past three and a half years combined.

That was damn sure something to commemorate.

"Oh wow, congratu - fucking - lations. Did you want an award?"

"Theo."

It was just one word, but it was enough.

Said boy's shoulders slumped at the sound of Malachi's voice, "Sorry."

We were all like a family, but Theo was the closest to Malachi; he looked up to him like an older brother. And - being the oldest and the only boy in his own family - Malachi meant a lot to him.

It was awkwardly quiet now, but it always ended up like that when Malachi reprimanded anyone. He was like the dad of the group (which made sense, since he pretty much was one at home) so whenever he got after someone, no one really knew how to react afterwards.

I broke the silence. "This shit is disgusting," I stated as I prodded at the chicken in the salad with my fork.

Everyone burst into laughter at that, and Ben even smiled a bit when I lifted a piece of the chicken and purposefully let it fall off the utensil. "I don't think it's supposed to sound like that," I noted as it made a dull thud.

"Sounds better than it did yesterday," Zach snorted.

"What'd it sound like yesterday?"

I smirked at Zach, knowing exactly where this was going. "Your mom!"

Kaden shook his head disappointedly, although there was a small smile on his face as he said, "Yep, walked right into that one."

~~~