The Little Mistakes (boyxboy)

Chapter 41

When I walked by my bed I saw the screen flashing a picture of Rikert’s face. He was smiling and his eyes were shining. I quirked a brief smile before I settled on a frown. He was calling me for the hundredth time. I knew what happened the last time I did this to him, but I did it anyway. Maybe I did have a death wish; who knows?

 

I silenced my phone before turning it off. Then I threw it in my top drawer so I wouldn’t have to look at it again for a while. It wasn’t like I really needed it, though. I couldn’t talk to anyone from New Zealand on it and I couldn’t talk to Rikert. I was with Patrick all the time at home so I didn’t need it for him either. It was pretty much useless to me.

 

After I pulled socks onto my feet, I left my room. Patrick’s door was wide open and the light was on. I moved towards it and then stopped a few feet away from the doorway. His furious voice from the other morning popped into my head and I didn’t dare go into his room without asking.

 

Patrick was facing away from me as he lay sprawled over the bed. He was kind of laying on his side with one elbow propping himself up. An Xbox controller was in his hands. The television screen on his wall in front of him was lit up with army characters and all I could hear was animated sounds of guns being fired.

 

I watched Patrick for a couple minutes, not really wanting to disturb him, before he quickly swore loudly and flopped back onto his bed. His eyes drifted from the ceiling to me just hovering there like a freak in less than three seconds.

 

“Oh...hey,” he said, watching me from upside down.

 

“Hi,” I said timidly.

 

“Caise, you know you can come in,” he told me.

 

I hesitated, wondering if it was a trick question and I was about to get myself in trouble. Patrick confused me like that. He tells me I can go in his room as if I’m dumb for thinking he was serious when he yelled at me the other day for being in there.

 

“Well,” I drawled. “I don’t want to interrupt you or anything.”

 

Patrick closed his eyes for a brief second and then flipped over to lay on his stomach. He gave me a lazy look as if to challenge me and then beckoned me into the room with the fingers of his right hand.

 

“Get your ass in here and sit down before I make you,” he threatened half-heartedly.

 

I bit the inside of my bottom lip and slowly walked into the room. Patrick repositioned himself to sit cross-legged facing his television once more. When he patted the empty space next to him without even looking at me I took the opportunity and sat down at his right side. He leaned forward and reached underneath his bed.

 

When he sat back up, he handed me a second Xbox controller. “I’m playing COD. You can help me out for a while.”

 

I took the offered controller and smiled a little as he set up the two-player option.