JUST PRESS SEND (On Hold)

FOUR

CHAPTER FOUR

BRANDON HYNES

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"You gave him my number?"

"Yeah. So what? You should thank me." He sat next to me on the couch with his chips and sandwich he had made for dinner.

"I can't believe you." I sighed as I watched him eat that sad sandwich. "You could've came over for dinner, you know? My parents would've been happy to have you."

"It's fine." He took a big bite of his sandwich that crunched because of all the chips he stuffed inside of it. "I love my sandwiches." There was mayo and mustard on the corners of his mouth.

Truth was, Zach kinda felt weird about having family dinner with my family. It's not that he didn't like my family. He loved them actually, but I remembered he told me, back when we first moved out together, something that I could never forget. We were 18 then and my family was helping us move into our first apartment and they even threw us a little party to celebrate.

It was nice but seeing my family be a family just made him think about his family who were the complete opposite of mine. When he moved out, his parents told him to never come back and that they hated him for leaving them alone. Which was bullshit because all they ever did to Zach when he was there was take all of his money he earned just so they could use their money to buy shit for themselves.

His parents were assholes which was why he wanted to move out in the first place. But still, even though Zach felt sad whenever he was around my family and me, I still wanted to let him know that he had a family and that he was wanted.

I loved him. He was the homie but I was about thirty seconds away from wrapping my hands around his neck for giving my number to Tobias.

"I can't believe you."

He stopped smacking on his sandwich. "What?"

"You gave him my number, bro. Without asking me if it was okay!"

"I didn't need to ask because I was doing you a favor, my friend. Stop denying your feelings for him because it's obvious you have a crush. I'm just tryna help."

I sighed. "Well stop."

"You're over Carlos, right?"

"Yea."

"Okay then."

"I just don't think I could ever forget him and all the things he put me through."

"I get it."

"He just moved on so fast afterward. Right after we broke up, he was on Snapchat kissing some guy. What did I do to deserve that? Why did he want to hurt me more?"

"Because Carlos was an asshole and it was just who he was. You two always argued because he was always upset about something or yelling at you for little things."

"Yet, I was the one apologizing."

"Yup. You were too nice, and he didn't deserve you."

"Right."

"I need to hear you say it!" Zach placed his sandwich down on his plate that he sat on the small wooden table we had in front of us.

"What?"

He stood up. "I want you to say that Carlos Hortez did not deserve you and you deserve better than a scum bag bitch boy like him."

I laughed. "Bro, sit your ass down before we get another complaint."

"No. I won't sit until you stand up and tell the world how you really feel about that bitch. You've always been too nice. It's time for you to be cut throat. So stand up and tell us how you really feel!"

I stood up while I laughed. "This is dumb."

"Carlos Hortez did not deserve you, and you deserve better than that scumbag bitch boy!"

"Carlos Hortez did not deserve me, and I deserve better than that scumbag bitch boy!" It felt good to say that. It made me smile. "Fuck that punk ass boy! I deserve way better than him! I gave him all my love, and I changed myself to be perfect for him but why? Why did I do that for someone who didn't even wanna be with me? Someone who constantly blamed me for every single thing when I did nothing because I did nothing! I really didn't do anything and if I did, I apologized for it and worked on it!"

"Because you're a fucking good guy!"

"I am a fucking good guy!"

"You'll make someone really happy one day!"

"I will! I know I will! Fuck Carlos! I hope he gets everything he deserves! I don't wish him the best! I don't wish him shit but the worst!"

"Say it louder for the people in the back!"

"Fuck you, Carlos!"

Zach slapped fives with me. He was geeked up. "How do you feel?"

I smiled. "Good. Really good."

"See! Told you it was a good idea. You just had to let out that pent up anger."

Suddenly, there was a knock at our door. Zach went to go open it and I followed after him. When he opened the door, it was none other than our neighbor, Ms. Lee.

She did not look happy. Her knuckles were stabbed in both sides of her hips and her lips were tighter than tight.

"It's almost midnight and you buffoons are up making a ruckus! I have a kid who has to be up for school tomorrow!"

Zach almost laughed at her for using the word, "buffoon," and I didn't blame him. Like seriously, who the hell used that word?

"We are so sorry," I apologized.

"Listen, Ms. Lee." Zach threw his arm over my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. "My friend here just had a terrible break-up, and he's really sad. As the good friend I am, I suggested that he-"

"Don't care. Goodnight."

"Nice chat," Zach said before he closed the door. "Guess we should go to bed huh? We do have school tomorrow."

"True." I pulled out my phone and checked to see if I had received a message. "Do you think Tobias will text me?"

Zach placed his hand on my shoulder. "Yes. I think he will text you sometime tonight."

"Really?"

He smiled. "Yes. Don't stay up too long waiting for it, though."

"I won't."

I lied. I stood up way passed my bedtime and waited for a text message. I was lying on my bed with my face towards the ceiling. I had my phone on my chest, so I could feel it vibrate and it vibrated, twice.

I immediately checked my phone and there was a message icon and a Snapchat notification. I got so happy that I turned over on my stomach just to unlock my phone. When I opened the message, it said hey and it was from an unsaved number.

I was happy. I was smiling. He actually texted me, I thought. My heart was pounding extremely hard, and I couldn't slow my breathing.

Tobias actually texted me!

"Thank you, Zach," I whispered to him as he slept on the other side of the room.

I prepared myself to text him back. I was going to say, "Hey," with a smiley face but then I deleted it. I then was going to say, "It's about time. Lol," but then I deleted that too.

I ended up turning my phone off and laying back on my back to hold my phone to my chest.

"Tomorrow," I said.

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