this is NOT a love story

[6]

stephen's p.o.v.

it's the morning after what happened last night. god that will never be forgotten. "i can't believe i got caught." i whisper to myself and place my hands on my face.

i head to the bathroom and freshen up for breakfast. i decide to stay in my trousers and no shirt as i know i'm most likely not doing anything today.

i hear giggles coming from the kitchen as i leave the bathroom and walk downstairs cautiously. afraid because i feel that dec may have told ant about last night.

"that smells so good, good on you declan!" i hear ant say. and he's right, it does smell delicious. "thank you very much anthony, i try."

i can slightly see ant go up behind dec and place his hands on his hips. dec turns around and give him a kiss on the lips. "okay! that's enough of that." i give up trying to stay quiet and walk into the kitchen.

"stephen, what are you doing? how much did you hear?" dec asked, startled by my sudden appearance.

"not much, i just heard from ant saying your food smelled nice to now." i reassured him. "why? is there something you didn't want me to hear?" i squint my eyes at him, wondering if he told ant about the incident.

"if you're talking about last night," ant started, "then no, he didn't tell me." phew, what a relief.

"oh, i'm sorry, let me finish. he didn't tell me because i heard." they both burted out laughing, and i was a wreck.

my face was so red, not from anger, but rather from embarrassment. "oh god! why does me room have to be right next to yours?" i ask and throw my arms up in the air in frustration.

they continue laughing and dec comes up to me and puts his arm around my shoulder, "oh come on stephen, i doubt that the bedroom placements are the reason. besides, don't be ashamed, everyone does it." but i wasn't ashamed of it.

"it's not that i'm ashamed of it, i know that's it's natural or whatever to do it. it's just that it's embarrassing that it's embarrassing to talk about it, especially to my parents." i say looking down at the floor, avoiding any and all eye contact.

there's a brief silence before ant speaks up, "hey, don't worry about it mate." he started off, walking over to me and placing a hand on my shoulder. "i got caught once, and it was the most horrifying day of my life. i didn't get caught like you, i wasn't just heard, me mam actually walked into my room. god, i will never live that down, but the thing about getting caught is knowing that one day you'll be able to look back at it one day and laugh."

he smiled at me, maybe he was right. i smile back and hug them both, "thanks, i really needed that. but for the time being, could we, maybe, not bring this up? like, ever?" i chuckle a bit, "yea, sure. if it makes you feel better." dec said and he gave me a kiss on the cheek, while ant ruffled my hair.

we sat down to eat breakfast. dec had made an omelette for ant and pancakes for him and i. "wow, i feel fat." ant chuckled, "i'm eating more than you two"

dec and i laugh along with ant, "oh come on that's not true. i may have made you an omelette but i made a lot of pancakes." said dec.

"besides, one of us could end up eating a lot of pancakes, thus resulting in us eating more." i said, making myself sound like a smart-ass. "oh shut up," said ant.

we all had a barrel of laughs through breakfast. we had finished eating around 10:30, but we didn't get up from the table, nor did we clean up, until 12 p.m.

"boy would you look at the time, it 12 in the afternoon. we've been sitting here chattin' away for an hour and a half!" ant said, pulling dec and i out of our mini argument about which dog was better: rocky or hurley.