It all started with a bet...

Chapter three

James's POV
He fell asleep a few minutes later, me sitting next to him, his head on my shoulder. We had been leaning against the wall behind my bed watching Bridge to Tarabithia when he started to drift to sleep and his head had accidentally rested on my shoulder. My face has a red tint but I don't move. Do I like him? Would it be bad if I did? Would... he like me back? I block these thoughts and lay his head down on the pillow facing up. I stand up and look at him, his cheeks are tear stained and he has dark circles under his eyes. I lean down and softly kiss him making sure he doesn't wake up. I stand up straight and sit down on my couch by the window. I hear myself whisper "I love you.."
       He rolls over on his side muttering something in his sleep that I can just barely hear, "James..."
I walk over to him and stand over him my eyes wide and my face red. When his phone starts to ring waking him up, "What are you doing?" He says sleepily. When I don't answer he rolls his eyes and grabs his phone and answers. "Hello?" His face drops and tears start to flow from his eyes. "I'll be there in a little..."
       I sit down next to him and say, "What happened?"
       He looks at me and says, "My mom was hospitalized because my dad broke her left arm, gave her a black eye, and knocked her out, giving her a concussion..."
       I pull him to his feet grab his hand and rid to my parents room and say, "Dad, Pop! We need to get to the hospital now Mason's mom was just hurt really badly!"
        They instantly react, agreeing on something immediately and my pop pulling us to the car and driving us to the hospital. When we get there we walk to her room and stand at the door and I say, "We can stay out here while you go in..."
         He looks at me and mutters, "Will you go in with me..?"
         I smile and nod  following him into her room. We see her and he stops in his tracks, tears falling down his cheeks. She turns her head, smiles and reaches for Mason whispering, "Hey sweetie..."
         He walks over to her, grabs her hand and kneels saying, "What happened?"
"He just got mad but the neighbor called the police before he could do much..."
Mason looks at his mother and starts to cry more, I walk over and give him a tissue, he looks at me and then looks back at his mom saying, "This is my friend James,"
She smiles at me then looks at his and whispers to a point where I can barely hear her, "He's cute"
       Both of our faces instantly go bright red as he says though clenched teeth, "Mom!" She just laughs lightly as he stands up and says, "I'm going to get a water for you mom, want anything Mason?"
        I smile at him and say, "Um, sure,"
        He smiles and walks out me watching him, the blush not leaving my face. Then I hear his mom say, "So you like my son?"
         My face instantly gets 50 times hotter and I choke out, "H-huh?"
        She laughs and says, "I'm Maria Callas, and I just happened to notice how you look at him,"
I laugh nervously at this then say, "Isn't Callas greek for beautiful or something like that?"
"Do you think my son or myself are beautiful?"
"No! I mean yes! Ugh, you are very pretty and your son is cute but- Oh god!"
He walks in holding three water bottles and hands one to us both, "Why are you red?"
          "No reason!" I say probably a little to quickly.
          He looks like he wants to say something but decides not to and sits next to me. His mom says quietly, "You two should go back to James's house, I'll be discharged tomorrow then we can go home."
          I expect him to protest but surprisingly he just says, "Ok," He turns to me and says, "Let's go,"
I nod then walk towards the door him following close behind me, "Let's go home Pop,"
He smiles and nods and we walk back towards the car. When we get in I sit in the back next to him and ask him, "You ok?"
He looks at me smiling and says, "Yeah, I am,"
I smile back and say, "Good,"