Once Upon a Neighbor

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Declan

One missed call from Thatch. Declan's phone read. Declan rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the sleep from them. The clock on his phone said 10:53 a.m. The missed call was at 11:09 p.m.

Well shit, Declan thought to himself. He had been so tired after dropping Miriam off that as soon as he got home, he passed out immediately. Wondering what his best friend wanted, he hit call back and waited to hear the dial. After a couple seconds, the line clicked and Thatcher's voice came on.

"Hey." His friend answered.

"You called?" Declan asked, his voice groggy.

"Yeah..." Thatcher replied but trailed off. Declan waited for his friend to continue but when he didn't right away, the line sat in an awkward silence. Thatcher cleared his throat before asking, "Did you just wake up?"

"Oh, yeah, I did. But you sound upset, so what's up?"

Thatcher exhaled loudly. "Ah, it's not important. I gotta go, I am spending the day with my mom. I'll talk to you later."

"Oh, okay. Bye." Declan hung up, dropping his phone face down on the bed and covering his face with his hands. Without much effort, he swung his legs off his bed and headed out the door and through the hallway before entering the bathroom. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth then pulled on boxers, a pair of black gym shorts, and a bright blue bro tank. The one thing he loved about the summers in Texas, was never needing to look at the weather forecast, because it was always hot. He shoved his wallet and phone into his pocket, and fitted a dark blue snapback on backwards onto his head. All that was left was to put on his Adidas then he was set for the day.

Swinging his bedroom door open, he was greeted with sloppy kisses from his dog, Al. "Hey, buddy." He said, running his hands over his pug's back and rubbing his belly. Al kicked his leg in appreciation and rolled onto his back. Declan chuckled, and spent a few more minutes loving his dog, before heading downstairs for breakfast.

"Hey. What's up, player?" His mother greeted him, grinning dorkily after he walked into the kitchen.

Declan groaned. "Mom, please don't ever say that again."

His mother was about 5'10", so although she was about 6 inches shorter than him, she had a personality that towered above anyone else's. When she was in a room, all the attention was drawn to her, with her strawberry blond hair, blue eyes and light freckles dotting her nose, she was a natural beauty. Even Declan found his mom, Lyla, to be pretty, whereas most guys his age didn't want to consider the idea.

"Fine, but just BTW... YOLO."

Declan smacked his forehead. "Mom..."

"Declan..." His mom imitated his deep voice, jutting her chin out.

He sighed, shaking his head before moving over to the fridge. "Did you eat breakfast yet?" He asked her.

His mom shook her head. As he started to get out bacon, eggs, milk and cheese, his mom took a seat at the kitchen table. "So how was the mall?"

"Fine. I hung out with Jamie, Thatcher and Miriam." He informed her, cracking the eggs into a bowl then whisking them.

"Ooooooohhh." She cooed, crossing her legs then leaning on them. Declan saying Jamie's name first definitely did not escape his mom's attention.

"Yeah." Declan poured some milk into the bowl before mixing it in with salt and pepper. As he started to cook the bacon, Lyla watched him intently, stroking Albert's back.