Boy Next Door ✔

chapter nineteen

C A L E B 

I could barely sleep after what had happened, which was nothing new. I had barely gotten a decent night's rest the entire week and the week before that, so it didn't really surprise me when that night went just the same. So, I stayed up all night texting Matthew.

 Every now and then, he would say something that would make me giggle out loud like an embarrassing lovesick boy, and Dustin would stir in his sleep and tell me to shut the fuck up, to which I simply threw a pillow at his face. 

I fell asleep holding my phone against my chest with a smile on my face after Matthew had sent me the most wholesome goodnight text ever. He had even used a heart emoji, which was making me feel all different kinds of gay. I was sure he was going to be the death of me at that point. 

The next morning, I woke up with the smile still on my face and I was pleasantly shocked when I noticed that Dustin had awoken before me. He had even made himself breakfast and was seated on the spare bed, feasting on the avocado toast he had prepared. 

"Why are you having an avocado toast? I thought you were a fried food junkie," I commented. 

"I know," he began with his mouth full of food. "But this girl I really like just posted on her story that she stans healthy kings, and I have zero idea what that means but I'm attempting to become a healthy king so she can stan me."

I rolled my eyes at him and pulled the duvets off of my body, stretching out my limbs. 

"When are you going to confess?" Dustin questioned, making me choke on my own spit.

"What do you mean?" I questioned with an innocent look on my face.

"Oh, don't look at me like that," he snorted before continuing. "I heard you giggling to yourself like a little schoolgirl last night and it doesn't take a scholar to figure out that you were talking to Matthias or whatever his name is."

"Matthew," I corrected, rolling my eyes. "And I did confess to him."

"Really? What did he say?" Dustin inquired with an interested expression.

"He told me he likes me too and then said that I'm the greatest friend he's had," I said with a blunt expression. "I don't really think he understood what form of like I meant, so I might try again."

"Good, you're finally coming out of your shell," he grinned, adding an unnecessary amount of emphasis on the words 'coming out'. "See what I did there? With the 'coming out'?" he snorted before slapping his knee as if he had just cracked the funniest joke in the world. 

When I didn't respond, he continued, "So when do you think you're going to confess?"

"I don't know," I said with a sigh, my stomach beginning to grumble from the sight of the food on his plate. I rubbed my stomach with a sigh before getting off my bed and making my way over to the restroom. On my way there, I heard him shout, "Hey! You should try doing it this week!"

"Why so soon?" I shouted back. "I need to take some more time so I can be extremely sure about the whole thing!"

"It's now or never!" he exclaimed. "Just do it, you'll be glad you did! Trust me!"

I walked out of the washroom, toothbrush in hand, "But what if he rejects me?"

"Then that's his choice," he shrugged. "It's either he rejects you and you find someone way better or he accepts your confession and the two of you live happily together, or he accepts your confession and later he cheats on you and becomes a drug addicted junkie who lives with his pet donkey and occasionally throws water balloons at strangers to scare them away. If you leave the last one out, it's a win-win situation."

I gave him a judgemental look before heaving a sigh, "Fine. I'll do it."

It's now or never, right?