The Boy Next Door

Part Seven: Blue

Turns out the blue fish was actually a betta and, yes, we ended up buying it.

"You're fucking weird," he chuckled. From the corner of my eye, I saw him glanced at me, smiling, before focusing on the road again.

"You're fucking weird for letting me get this," I protested, hitting him playfully on the arm. I looked back at the fish, smiling, "don't listen to daddy. He loves you."

"What?" He laughed. I looked at him, pouting. His eyes were almost closed because of him laughing.

"Hey, eyes on the road," I yelled, laughing with him - or rather at him.

"Sorry," he said, trying so hard to stop laughing but eventually failling as the traffic light turned red. He looked at me, shaking his head, "what did you just said to that fish?"

"It's Jeff," I snapped. "This fish is Jeff."

"Jeff?" He laughed harder. "Babe, if I'm his dad, I ain't naming him Jeff."

"Okay, say a name till we find something we both like," I rolled my eyes.

"Mason."

"James."

"Harry."

"Not my brother," I protested. "How about..."

"Blue," we both said in unison. We looked at each other, both grinning.

"He's basically blue, you know," he chuckled, as we started moving again.

"I was thinking of Jurassic Park," I said. "That blue velociraptor."

"Yeah, nice," he agreed. "Now, we're officially Blue's parents."

"Yay," I cheered, sarcastically yet laughing.

"Two days," he continued, smiling.

"What?" It was my turn to ask this time, giggling.

"Two days," he repeated. We hit the red light and stopped to wait for it to turn green again. He looked at me, still smiling. "And we're already playing pretend. You like me.

"I do not," I rolled my eyes, laughing.

"You so do," he stuck his tongue out, pointing out.

"You didn't protested," I snapped back. "You so like me, too."

"We just moved yesterday at the neighbourhood, but I've been at school for two weeks already. Of course, I've noticed you, Miss Popular," he chuckled.

"Just Mikee, we're not at school," I shrugged. "I like being myself than being popular, thank you very much."

"Well, if it counts, I like Just MIkee," he smiled, sincerely.  "I like you being you, the real you."

For a moment we just stared at each others eyes, like everything around us stopped. It was mesmerizing, just like the ones I read from my books.

Of course, until we were disrupted by a loud honk. He snapped out of it, as well, taking his eyes off  of me and looking at the rear vision mirror [rear view or back mirror if you're not an Australian]. He chuckled, focusing on the road again as we drove off.

"Should we, uh, set days?" I finally said, looking at Blue, holding it up to my eye level.

"Oh," he chuckled. "You're serious about us being fish parents. I'm thinking of a dog, that would be goals, you know. Just saying."

I exclaimed, pretending to be shocked and hurt. Talking to Blue, I said, "don't listen to Daddy. He loves you. He's just being dumb."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he laughed. "Do you even know how to take care of a fish? That's a betta after all."