My Middle School Crush (BoyxBoy)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Prep, prep, prep, prep, PREP!

Mason stared down at the concrete below him, a dazed look in his eyes. His steps were dragged and slow but in his odd state of mind, he didn't notice. The conversation he had with Mark almost an hour before had left him in an odd loop. In his mind, he replayed every word they had said to each other over and over again. Was this really happening? Despite the fact that the conversation was a far cry from romantic confession and "I love you" filled exchange one would see in the movies, Mason still wondered if he'd imagined it all. Mason now lived in a world where the ultra-sexy, uber tempting Mark Tyler was—basically—begging to sleep with him.

Now, one should not get it twisted. Mason had been very, very sad to realize that Mark wasn't confessing his undying love. Mason hadn't been after Mark for his looks alone. Mason wanted those happy moments of talking and laughing that they already had paired with the affection kissing or more showed. Even those quiet moments of cuddling and just being in each others' space had seemed amazing to Mason, especially if they were done with Mark. Now, that reality was both closer and farther than ever.

But, to at least know that Mark found Mason attractive gave Mason quite the ego boost. He hoped that when he eventually got over Mark, that confidence would carry on with other relationships.

Mason's heart almost popped out of his chest when he nearly ran into his front door. He hadn't noticed he had gotten so close. Mason tried to remember his journey back home but found that he had not been paying attention at all. He was completely in his head the entire way back and he was a bit startled to realize that if he hadn't made the commute countless times before, he certainly would have just walked off and gotten himself lost.

Mason entered the house slowly, then shut the door. He released a heavy breath as he leant his back against it. Mason only gave himself a moment to unwind, then began to steel his features. He wasn't sure what his face looked like, but he wanted to make sure that it wasn't anything weird in case other people were home.

"Hey, Mason!"

Speak of the devil.

"Hey, mom." Mason smiled, looking up to see that she was coming in from the direction of the living room. Mrs. Moore frowned when she noticed that Mason was leaning against the door.

"Why are you still over there?" She asked cautiously, frowning at her son's pose. "Is something wrong? Are you alright?"

Mason chuckled to himself, pushing off of the door and toeing off his shoes.

"Nah, I'm fine."

Mrs. Moore, however, wasn't convinced. The way that she walked into the foyer, with that barely concealed worry on her face, Mason knew that whatever was going on in her head was far more serious than reality. She came up to Mason and placed her hands on his cheeks with furrowed brows.

"Are you sure? Because you can tell me anything-"

Mason smiled down at her since she was about a foot away now and pulled off her hands as slowly and kindly as he could.

"I'm sure."

And just like that, all of her worries seemed to melt away. Mrs. Moore seemed to completely relax and turn back into her calm laid back self. She muttered a simple "good" to Mason, patted his cheek, and turned to head back into the living room.

Mason knew that that was going to happen, it always did. Mason remembered those occasional talks that his father gave to him and his brother Aiden about taking care of mom. They were told that if mom ever went from calm and chill to seconds away from calling an ambulance, she was probably just having one of her moments. Moments that, their father said, could be ended in a matter of seconds if they knew what they were doing. The three men in Mrs. Moore's life were thus artfully skilled at getting her calmed again. Mason often thought of the fact that he and Aiden were never told what caused the sudden escalations to occur in the first place. Was it a condition or a result of something in their mother's past? Their dad never brought it up and they, to this day, had never let their mom know that they were purposely calming her down. Either way, it was one of those things that made their mom unique. It was also a bit funny that the person who was usually the chillest person in the house could get so dramatic that she thought of dialing 9-1-1.