The Neighbor Next Door

Catching Up

MePhone had been in his sophomore year of highschool when he first started feeling... Well, he didn't have the word for it when it happened, because he just... Didn't know, but he just knew he felt weird every time he had been around this certain guy in one of his classes. He doesn't remember the guy's name anymore, because with what happened, he wasn't a really fun person to be remembering, but the point was, MePhone was completely enamored with him. It was this want, this desire to be closer to him, despite how awkward he was, and how hard it was for him to show up most days for school. It was like the Gods listened to him, something for the first time in his life that felt like it gave him a chance, as the two were paired up for a group project. This was the only time ever-- working on this project, where he was actually allowed to go to anyone else's house from his dad. He never got that after this while his dad was still living with him. The two were never exactly friends until this. Or after this, but...

MePhone always felt so humiliated thinking about how the last night ended that he was working on this project with him.

His emotions had reached a boiling point. He needed to say something, otherwise he felt like he'd literally explode, and he wasn't going to do that in this guy's nice home. They had completed the project about an hour ago, and had decided to just spend some time playing a game on a console the guy had. A game MePhone didn't really understand how to play, but he was still having fun. Neither of them really spoke, just a silent understanding between the two that this was a casual fun thing between guys. Gaming, playing some sort of old fashioned shooter game. He had to go home in thirty minutes, but he was enjoying being here. Though with the end of the project, he had been so afraid this was going to end. That he'd never get to talk to this guy again, despite how well the project went, and how both of them worked together really nicely. After all of this, every time he thought about it, MePhone felt like maybe he was the one that screwed this up. That if he had kept his mouth shut, things would've turned out differently.

"Hey," MePhone started, still staring at the screen as he struggled to move his character around while under fire from an enemy, wincing as he once again got his ass kicked in game.

"Hey. You're pretty shit at this, huh," The guy chuckled. It wasn't a tone of making fun of him, more so genuinely finding it a bit funny.

"Well it's not my fault I don't play that many games-- um, anyways, there's something I uh..." MePhone trailed off, looking down, feeling that warmth in his face. One he forever stifled from every point beyond this, because why wouldn't any other thing in the future end the same as this did.

"I should tell you something,"

"Yeah? What's up, dude?" He glanced over for just a second, though kept his focus on the TV screen so he didn't get his character killed.

"I think I like guys," MePhone blurted it out. The game immediately paused. From where he was sitting, he couldn't see the other guy's face, but he knew he didn't mean to.

"What, like as friends?" His tone was confused. As if he was struggling to wrap his head around this. Of course, this was a different time, when he was in highschool. Not everyone seemed to get the whole "being accepting of other people for being different" thing.

"Um, I..." MePhone felt a tightness in his throat. "I think I like you," His face was beyond flushed at this point as he set the controller down.

"I mean yeah, I am pretty cool. I mean, if you want to hang out more, I guess I could, just not at school or whatever. I have an image to--"
"I mean I like you," MePhone's tone was quiet, emphasizing the word, and hoping that it got the point across. The guy was silent for a few minutes, his posture straightening up in what MePhone assumed was shock as he seemed to realize.