Boy Next Door ✔

chapter eleven

C A L E B

I held the blue notebook in my hand, staring at the bold letters written across the front page which read 'Mateo'. I found it pretty cute, I didn't know that Satan had a nickname.

Matthew was currently walking me back to my place and I could still see the devil, or Mateo in the distance - riding away merrily on his bicycle. His hair was flying in every direction there was because of the wind and he would occasionally run his fingers through his hair, which I found kind of.. attractive?

No, bad Caleb. You're supposed to hate him.

"Caleb, are you sure you're okay? You've been out of it the entire day. Did I say something wrong?" Matthew questioned and my heart ached at the concern laced in his voice. I immediately felt like the world's biggest asshole. 

"I'm sorry, Matthew," I said with a sigh. "I don't know, it's just because I haven't been getting enough sleep lately. The dumbass next door keeps playing his stupid music every morning and it's driving me insane."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" Matthew questioned. 

I gulped when the images of what had happened that morning came back to my mind for the billionth time that day. I cleared my throat, "I have. Let's just say that it didn't go very well."

Matthew began to say something else, probably talking about his day or something - or maybe he was asking me about how my day was. But frankly, I was too distracted to respond. Distracted by what, you ask? Well, what else.

For the past ten minutes I had been worrying like an idiot. What if Mateo thought I was following him? Then, I had to remind myself that we lived in the same apartment complex. Which later made me question as to why I was being so restless in the first place - and that left me without an answer.

When we finally reached the building, I cut Matthew off. I felt like an asshole for not having listened to a word he had to say. My attention was on Mateo for the entire day and I was sure that Matthew felt left out or uncomfortable, if not both.

"This is it, thank you," I said with a grin. "I'm sorry about today." I tried to say something more than that instead of just giving a half-assed apology, but nothing came to mind when my gaze averted to the notebook in my hands.

"It's okay, don't sweat it," Matthew chuckled. "I'll text you later, okay?" I nodded, and with that, he was gone. 

I let out a sigh and began making my way to my apartment. I opened the door with my key-card and placed my laptop on the table nearby before shutting the door once again and sauntering over to Mateo's room with my heart pounding. 

I raised my hand to knock on the door, but the door already swung open before I could and I just ended up looking like a complete idiot. My breath hitched in my throat when our eyes met. I attempted to say something, but I couldn't. Why was I so intimidated by merely being in his presence?

"What is it that you need? I already told you I'm not going to-," he began before I cut him off.

"Shut up. I'm here to return your notebook," I stated bluntly, reaching my arm out to hand him his notebook. 

"Oh," he said. "Thank you.. I guess."

You guess? 

He reached his arm out as well to take his notebook from me, but in the process our hands ended up grazing against each other and in a state of panic, I let go of the notebook and it fell to the floor. 

"Oh my god, I'm such an idiot, I'm sorry," I said frantically, crouching down so I could pick it up. To my horror, he was beginning to do the same and we both reached out for the notebook at the same time and ended up touching hands once more. 

I pulled my hand back, my cheeks threatening to turn a deadly shade of red right then and there. I uttered another apology in any language but English, and scurried to my feet before bolting back into my own room.

I'm such an idiot.