Strangely Comforting (boyxboy)

Chapter 6

The six of us and Mrs. Walker froze as a tall man wearing a gray suit walked in, his slick, dark hair combed back, who also had a slight beard on his face. His stormy gray eyes looked around at the each of us, and then at all of the food. The man was very clean cut and my eyes went to his full lips, as they parted in a smile, revealing two rows of perfectly white teeth.

I had the sudden urge to ask Mrs. Walker where she met such a beautiful man. But I knew better than to say anything while I still had my pride intact.

"I'm home," the man said as we all stared at him.

"Welcome home, hunny," Mrs. Walker sweetly said and wrapped him in a short hug.

"Good to see you," he said before releasing her. He looked around the table again and stopped his gaze as his eyes landed on Hayden.

"Hey, buddy. How's it goin'?" he asked and smiled warmly at Hayden.

"Pretty good," Hayden replied, returning the smile. "Oh, Brian. These are my friends. That's Chase," he said, pointing at Chase and continued around the table. "That's Rye, Xander, Jasper, and Drey."

"Nice to meet you all," Brian said and turned his gaze to me. "Jasper, is it?"

"Uh, yes?" I said, questioningly.

"Ah, so you're Jasper," he said and took a seat on Hayden's other side. "I've heard a lot about you."

Hayden shot his eyes at Brian and shoved him in the side. "Shut up," he said.

Brian laughed at Hayden but I couldn't understand what he meant. Did Hayden talk about me?

"Hope he made me seem at least halfway decent," I joked and swirled my fork around in my dish.

I suddenly felt another pair of eyes on me and fell into the trap of looking into them. Light green eyes pierced my own as I found myself staring at Xander.

"What?" I snapped.

"With that attitude, I hope Hayden made you sound unpleasant," Xander said to me.

"You're the only one who sees my unpleasant side," I replied.

Xander leaned back in his chair, tilting his head as his eyes stayed on mine. "I'm honored."

Rye snorted and Hayden smiled. I broke my stare from Xander and turned away.

"You two seem to be hitting it off pretty well," Hayden said and I noticed him trying to hold back a smile.

"I'm not sure I agree with that," I said. "You know I can't tolerate rude bastards."

"Rude bastards?" Xander asked, raising an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, I gave you a free pack of cigarettes. They were damn expensi-"

"Jasper!" Mrs. Walker cut in. "Since when did you smoke?" She asked looked at me sadly.

"I don't-" I started.

"Wait until your father finds out," she continued. "He'd be devastated! You don't want to lose your scholarship, do you?"

"I don't smoke," I repeated, irritated at Xander for causing an intended misunderstanding. "He slipped a pack into my bag intentionally to get me caught." I turned my attention back to Xander. "And you still deny being an asshole?"

He ran a hand through his dark hair and smiled. "I'll deny it to the grave."

"Unattractive," I muttered, repeating what he had said to me earlier. This caused his smile to fade as he quirked an eyebrow.

Everyone in the group started laughing, and Drey had to wipe his eyes from the tears that flowed from all of his laughter.

"Idiot," Xander said as one side of his lips curved up in a smile.

"Well that was entertaining," Brian said through all of the laughter.

"It isn't often this house is so lively," Mrs. Walker added. "If you boys are finished, why don't you head into the living room so Brian and I can clear the plates?"

"Sounds good," Hayden said and rose. The rest of us followed him into the living room and took our seats back on the couches.

"Let's watch a movie for now," Hayden said and opened up Netflix.

The rest of us agreed while Hayden flipped through all of the options. It took him around twenty minutes just to find something to watch and that's when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Move over," the voice whispered in my ear, causing me to shiver.

I looked over at Xander and shrugged his hand off of my shoulder. I wasn't in the mood to fight with him again and nudged Drey to move over so Xander could fit.

We all sat silently for a while, watching the movie. It was a nice feeling that I had never really felt before.

Until I felt warm fingers snake their way into my own and squeeze. It startled me, and I looked over at Xander, who intensely watched the screen. I tried to rip my hand away, but his hand held on tightly to mine and kept me locked in place.

"What the hell?" I whispered, hoping nobody would notice.

Xander looked down at me before replying. "It shouldn't be anything you're not used to."

My mind shot back to the incident in the library where I impulsively placed my hand on top of Hayden's. I'd forgotten that Xander had seen it all.

I elbowed Xander in the side, hard and he doubled over, grasping where I had hurt him.

The rest of the guys looked over at us, wondering what had just happened.

"Dude, you okay? Is something wrong?" Hayden asked and paused the movie.

"I'm fine," Xander said through clenched teeth and glared at me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "You had it coming."

"Don't be surprised next time you have something coming," Xander said, breathing out.

I decided to ignore him for the rest of the movie and found myself wishing I was sitting next to Hayden. But I knew I couldn't leave Drey alone. Especially with Xander.

Another thirty minutes passed as Xander's phone buzzed beside me. He swiped to unlock it and read a message.

He immediately rose, grabbing his jacket from behind the head of the couch.

"Shit, I've gotta go."

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