Boy Next Door ✔

chapter twenty-one

C A L E B 

I looked up with my mouth agape. Mateo?! Out of all people, him? How long had he been standing there? Had he heard the entire confession? Had he witnessed me getting rejected? Oh my God, and I thought my life couldn't get any worse. 

And then my brain finally registered what he had just said. 

Hold up, boyfriend?

I opened my mouth to complain, but he squeezed my hand with so much force as if he were asking me to play along, so I shut my mouth. Just what was he planning?

"Boyfriend?" Matthew scoffed. "Then what was this whole thing?"

"He was just pranking you, right babe?" Mateo grinned, letting go of my hand and wrapping his arms around my shoulder instead to pull me against his side. I cleared my throat awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"Yeah, I guess?" I started and quickly continued when I noticed how unsure I sounded. "I mean.. I really like pranking people, you know, it's like.. something I've been doing for a really long time and like- I couldn't find anyone to-"

"Alright, that's enough," Mateo interrupted, still grinning like a psychopath. "Sorry, he talks too much when he's embarrassed."

"Hold on, aren't you the guy who plays Chase Atlantic every morning?" Matthew said with a look of disbelief on his face. "B-But, wait what? Caleb, didn't you call him a loser imbecile?"

I facepalmed inwardly. Oh my God, great going Einstein. I pray that the Earth will give way to a giant manhole underneath me and swallow me whole and never let me face any of these individuals in my life ever again. I will gladly live with the earthworms if I have to.

To save myself from the embarrassment, I peeked over my shoulder to catch a glimpse of Dustin - and when I realized that he was no longer there, I scoffed to myself. Top 10 anime betrayals much?

"He was just joking about that, right babe?" Mateo questioned, a threatening undertone to his voice that went unnoticed by Matthew as he squeezed my shoulder. 

"Y-Yeah, totally," I said with a fake smile. "Why would I call my boyfriend a loser imbecile and mean it? Haha, Mateo is like the best person I've ever met. Like, I couldn't have asked for anyone else. He's really perfect and his taste in music is amazing-"

"Alright, that's enough," Mateo interrupted again, placing his hand over my mouth. "So if you guys are done here, me and Caleb will be on our way now."

"Ha," Matthew began, his gaze shifting between me and Mateo. "I can't believe I walked all the way here for this. You know what? Fuck you guys." 

And with that, he turned around and left. 

So, I looked over at Mateo, "What in the world was that? What were you doing?"

"Saving your ass, isn't it obvious?" he snorted, finally letting go of me and taking a step back. 

"I didn't need your help, it was going well," I lied through gritted teeth.

"Are you sure? Because from what I heard-"

"Alright, no! It wasn't going very well," I huffed. "Thanks, I guess. But why did you do that?"

"I owe you one, don't I?" he said with a lopsided grin, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "You helped me get back home that day. You think I don't remember?"

"I-," I began. "I mean, I was kind of hoping you'd forget." 

"Unfortunately for you, I didn't," he stated proudly. "So this is my way of saying thank you - and err.. thank you for shutting me up when I.."

"I know, I get it," I said with a small grin. "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

He stayed silent but the smile didn't leave his face, which kind of took me by surprise. Seeing him smile was like seeing a cat beginning to shoot lasers out of its eyes. 

"Does this mean that we're friends now?" I said stupidly. 

"Hey, let's not get too carried away," he snorted. "If I remember correctly, you called me a loser imbecile."

"Hey, anyone would call you that if you interrupted their beauty sleep!" I huffed, crossing my arms across my chest like a kid. 

"Right, I'm sorry, you look like you really need to catch up on your beauty sleep," he teased before continuing. "I'm kidding."

I was too taken aback by his sudden change in demeanour to respond. So he spoke again, "I'll get going now." And that was that. He turned around and began making his way back into the building, leaving me standing there with my jaw wide open. 

He wasn't really that bad after all.