To Love You Again | c.v

18

18 - CHRISTOPHER

"You're telling me that she said the third time?" Richard asked as his humming turned into loud laughter. "Bruh, she don't want you!"

"Ay pero Richard dejalo," Zabdiel laughed back. "Maybe she'll definitely give him her number next year. For sure."

Richard cackled which only made Zabdiel laugh even harder. They had reason to tease Christopher because the egocentric boy was sure that Nina would give him her number as promised but she didn't. Third times a charm, she said with a sly smile and left.

"Are you two done? I get it, that's what I get for creido pero ya no?"

"Alguien te tenia que bajar de las nubes papa." Zabdiel innocently shrugged before standing up and sighing. "Donde esta Joel? I thought he was going to bring the food. Richard, didn't you text him?"

"Oh," Richard sheepily smiled as he quickly glanced over Christopher. "He will but he had to finish something first. Lemme ask again."

"Since when is he too busy for me?" Zabdiel jokingly scoffed after he realized what Richard was hinting at with 'busy'.

"Where is he?" Christopher asked nonchalantly, grabbing his phone and sprawling himself on the couch.

Richard looked at Zabdiel and mouthed, "What do I say?" but Zabdiel only rose his hands up in surrender and walked away to the kitchen.

"School," Richard barely said. "He got caught up with a professor."

"You're lying," Christopher immediately detected as he sat up and squinted his eyes at Richard. "You whisper when you lie."

"Diablo, papi," Zabdiel sneered coming back into the living room with a caprisun in hand. "You're always en alerta whenever we say Joel's name. Let it go and face the fact that the two have to work together."

"They're together right now?" Christopher ignored Zabdiel's comment and glued his eyes to Richard.

"They were at the library but he's coming home with the food already."

Christopher huffed, rubbing his neck with the palm of his hand. He tried to find comfort in the fact that they weren't together anymore but his jealousy was battling and was winning.

"Mira, Chris," Richard sighed. "If you really want that girl then just tell Joel, bro. I'm sure he'll lay off. Plus, he hasn't told Zabdiel anything so we know there's just friendship there."

"What does Zabdiel have to do with it?" Christopher mumbled.

"Joel siempre me dice cuando le gusta alguien. It's been a week and he hasn't said anything so I'm sure he sees her as a friend. Doesn't he like the girl next door?"

"Almendra..." Christopher whispered with a smile. "That's it. I have to talk to her."

"De que hermano?" Zabdiel chuckled. "Ya tiene novio asi que Joel ya perdio esperanza but he still likes her. I'll give him an extra week and he'll forget about her."

"Boyfriend? What the hell? I didn't see anything on my feed." Richard commented as he scrolled through his phone with furrowed eyebrows.

"Maybe she unfollowed you but Joel showed me."

"She did," Richard gasped. "She only follows Joel now."

"Who only follows me?"

"La comida!" Zabdiel cheered as he directly went for the bag in Joel's hands. "I'll start serving."

Joel smiled. "Sure. So um who were you guys talking about?"

"Almendra," Christopher responded.

Joel's smile suddenly disappeared. "Oh. Really? I thought she followed Zab and Rich too."

Christopher shrugged and was going to say no more about the topic but an idea came to his head. "Sorry about her."

A light shade of pink overtook Joel's cheeks as he smiled nervously. "It isn't such a big deal it was just a crush, Chris."

"Yes, but I know you liked her a lot. I mean, you actually talked to her before. Well kinda..."

"Toma Joey," Zabdiel crept up from behind with a plate of Chinese food. "Don't worry about that now. There are many other girls out there that I'm sure would like to be your girlfriend."

Christopher could tell that Zabdiel caught on to what he was trying to do. Truth be told, Joel did seem actually sad about the whole Almendra thing so that brotherly love that still dominated Christopher made him shut up about it.

"Zab is right," Christopher sighed before patting the space next to him on the couch. "Come on, let's play Mario kart. I know that cheers you up."

"But we're abouta eat." Richard protested as he took the plate Zabdiel was handing him.

"Just one round," Christopher smiled. "For Joel."

The three older friends looked at each other nodded. "Vamos Joel. Te ganare."

The four boys took a remote for each and got ready by positioning themselves in their regular gamer mode.

"Donde esta Erick?" Zabdiel asked as the absence of the younger boy hit him.

"School?" Joel chuckled. "He's still in high school but he won't be coming this week since he failed his math test. His mom grounded him."

"Joel someone texted you," Richard said as he tried to peak who texted.

Joel had already picked his character so he reached for his phone to see who texted.

"Quien es?" Chris asked.

"It's Nina, my partner."

The room went silent and only Richard and Zabdiel could see the smoke coming from Christopher's head. There so many things Christopher wanted to do and one of those things was to take Joel's phone and break it.

"Oye, Chris, just tell him man." Richard coaxed.

Joel slowly put his phone down as his eyes flickered between the two boys. "Tell me what? Oh man, now what? You guys keep doing this to me."

"Noting don't listen to him," Christopher muttered as he sunk down in his spot and buried himself into his hoodie.

"A Chris le gusta Nina." Zabdiel blurted out. "Esta celoso."

"Zabdiel!" Christopher exclaimed embarrassed.

"Oh..." Joel said in a tone of realization. "Chris, why didn't you tell me before?"

"I didn't think you'd exactly care," Christopher confessed.

"If it's a girl you truly like then hell yeah I'll care! Because you like her for how she is and not just her body right?"

"I like her for how she is."

"I'll bring her over more then and we won't go into my room if that makes you uncomfortable."

Christoper knew Joel was being sincere and he appreciated it. He had to remind himself that this technically wasn't the same Joel he knew. The storyline was different; this Joel was different.

"Thanks. Sorry I didn't tell you earlier I guess I was just embarrassed."

"Hey," Joel softly nudged him with a smile. "What are friends for?"

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more to come :)
Stay safe guys 💛