The Boy Next Door

It's Me, Not You

"Well that was weird," you noted once you and Mark entered your humble abode. "Definitely fun. But also definitely weird."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Mark replied, scratching the back of his neck. "Jackson tends to go overboard."

"Understatement of the year," you replied as you thought back to everything that transpired during dinner.

Jackson had gone all out. Instead of a casual dinner, they had prepared a candlelit dinner for the four of you. You turned to Mark who just shook his head. After dinner, you all headed off to the amusement park by the pier. Jackson had targeted Mark's competitive side and before you knew it, the two had played all the games available - winning stuffed animals for both you and Irene.

It then got a lot weirder. All four of you decided to go on rides - Jackson was meant to ride with Mark and you with Irene. During the first few rides, Jackson would drag Irene to sit with him at the last minute, so you were then left to sit with Mark who would roll his eyes. Eventually, Mark just automatically sat with you for the rest of the rides.

You didn't mind though. Mark was a great person to take for a ride. Yes, that's right. He screamed and laughed just as much as you did and squeezed your hand as much as you did his. It almost felt like it was just the two of you there.

"What are we supposed to do with all of these?" you asked Mark, pointing at his stuffed animals haul. There was a giant bunny, a couple of penguins and a couple of dogs.

"We can gift them to our nieces and nephews for Christmas?" he suggested.

"Fine. The giant bunny is coming with me though," you picked up the toy, almost double your size and started heading over to your room. Mark found it adorable.

"Aren't you too old for stuffed animals?"

"Definitely not. Besides, this is the first one you won for me. He's special. I'm keeping him."

Mark smiled to himself as he watched your retreating form. "I hope you haven't forgotten our deal?" he called out before you completely disappeared into your room.

"I haven't," you turned to smile at him. "But, Jackson wasn't that annoying. So, I don't think that counts as a win for you."

"Something should count!" Mark exclaimed. "I even got you a bunny!"

"Fine," you relented. "You get three requests and that's it."

Mark pumped his fist and you laughed before retiring to your room for the night.

xxx

Your routines pretty much kicked in after that week. You always left first because of your job at the cafe. Sometimes it was morning by the time Mark came home because of his shift at the bar. You made sure there was food for him before you go and in turn, he made sure you had food when you got home. You both ensured that there was minimal house chores left for the other.

Wednesdays remained as your movie night. You would take turns in choosing the movies each week. Luckily, you and Mark had similar tastes in movies so there had been no arguments about it yet. Those nights were filled with pizza, beer, popcorn, laughter and tears. Just how you liked it.

Saturday also remained as shopping and chore day. You didn't know how he managed it, but Mark always made grocery shopping and cleaning fun. You always looked forward to it.

You and Mark became really good friends after a few months. You were glad because you had to live with him for a year, but a part of you was also wary. The closer the two of you got, the more the thing you had been wanting to avoid became inevitable. You were starting to crush on him. Hard. You were in trouble.