Boy Next Door ✔

bonus! // epilogue

M A T E O 

"Caleb, turn down the damn music," I complained with a whine after having once again woken up to the sound of unnecessarily loud music - for the hundredth time that month. 

"Now you know how I felt when I first moved in here," he said with a proud grin before turning the music off and making his way over to me with a fond expression on his face. He reached his arm out and playfully messed my hair up further than it had already been and took a seat on the bed. 

"Yeah, but I didn't play it that loud," I responded, a smile making its way onto my face before I could even attempt to hide it. I swiftly wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him down onto the bed so he was laying down beside me - an action which resulted in him letting out a high-pitched screech. 

It had been a whole year since we had gotten together - a few months following our overly cheesy confession, we had ended up moving in together. And do you want to guess who moved into Caleb's dorm? 

"Guys, can you shut the fuck up?!" Dustin's voice rang from the other side of the wall. "I'm trying to sleep!"

Caleb let out a soft chuckle at that before turning to face me, a small grin on his face, "Sorry about him. He just isn't used to the music yet, I guess."

"He'll come around," I responded, running my fingers through Caleb's soft locks - almost instinctively, he shut his eyes and let out a sigh of relief. "You're so beautiful, you know that?" I said before I could stop myself.

And I meant what I had said. He was so breathtakingly gorgeous - with those curious brown eyes of his, that dark hair that occasionally fell over his eyes which caused him to grow a habit of blowing them out of his eye, even when there was nothing really there; those adorable cheeks of his that always got all red whenever I said anything that could be considered only the slightest bit suggestive. He was perfection, and even though he was so out of my league, he made me feel more secure about myself. 

And, as cheesy as it sounds, I'd like to think that the both of us were made for each other. That we were meant to cross paths. That all this was the universe's doing. 

"I'm not in the mood to get up today," I complained, tightening my grip around Caleb who was beginning to drift off himself. 

"Why'd you stop?" he whined before moving my hand back to his hair. I let out a chuckle whilst shaking my head at him in amusement before following his orders and proceeding to play with his hair. "Do you wanna stay in bed for today then? I'm not in the mood to get up either."

"You read my mind," I said, the smile never leaving my face. "C'mon, give me a kiss."

He instantly obliged and leaned forward before placing a brief peck onto my lips - however, it lasted for such a short time that I couldn't help but pull him back and press my lips against his once more. He grabbed onto the material of my shirt before letting out a noise of complaint into the kiss, as if he hadn't been expecting it. 

"Alright then, no kisses for you," I said, feigning hurt after pulling away. 

"Hey, no - I just didn't see that coming," he admitted in a soft tone before tugging on my shirt to get my attention. "Give me another one, come on."

"Nope," I stated simply, looking away so he'd be unable to see the smile on my face. 

"Mateo come on," he said with another stretched out whine. 

"Fucking hell, I can never resist you," I gave in before turning back around to face him, cupping his face and placing a gentle kiss onto his lips. "Fuck, I'm so in love with you."

"I'm so in love with you too, stupid," he responded, a shy smile on his face. "I'll never forget the way in which you confessed to me, golden times."

"Oh don't you dare bring that up," I groaned, hiding my face with the blanket. "That's the cheesiest thing I've ever done in my entire life."

"It was adorable," he reassured me. "Especially the part where you went 'I know you're reading this, you little shit'."

"God, stop. You're making me feel all nostalgic and shit," I said with a chuckle before letting go of the blanket and stretching out my limbs. "We were such dumbasses back then, weren't we?"

"You were a dumbass," he corrected. "And I was the idiot who had feelings for that dumbass."

"You don't have feelings for me anymore?" I questioned with a pout to which he instantly let out a quiet chuckle, "Do I even have to answer that?" before placing a kiss onto my cheek. 

Jesus, everything he did made me melt. Even after a year, I was so whipped for this man - and the fact that I was lucky enough to call him mine was so surreal to me. A whole year had passed, and I still found it difficult to believe that he was in love with me. Me, out of everyone else, he'd chosen me.

He opened his mouth to say something, when a knock at the door interrupted the both of us. 

"I'll go get that," I told him before letting out another groan and sliding out of bed. I lazily sauntered over to the door and pulled it open before my eyes landed on an older male. 

"Is this Mateo Bonavich and Caleb Jones?" he questioned in a raspy voice.

"Yeah," I responded with a nod. "Is there a problem?"

"Your neighbour, Dustin, has filed a noise complaint against the both of you."