Boy Next Door ✔

chapter sixteen

C A L E B 

The days that followed that incident went.. not so well. For some reason, Mateo had stopped playing his music at full volume and I could barely sleep because of that. Ironic, I know. I was too busy worrying about him, as stupid as I sound. 

Which was why I was seated on my bed at four in the morning, chewing on the skin around my thumb, contemplating whether I should check up on him or not. 

It was awfully silent and I could hear my heart beating in my chest. I began to chew on my bottom lip anxiously, still unsure of whether I should check up on him or not. 

Then, I decided, screw it. I was going to check up on him. If he wanted to ignore me, let him do so. At least I'd feel satisfied knowing that I had at least attempted to check up on him. After taking an embarrassing moment to myself to give myself words of comfort and motivation, I managed to climb out of my bed. 

I glanced over at Dustin who was thankfully still asleep, snoring away like a malfunctioning vacuum cleaner. He had spent the night at my place because in his words: "My room's dark as hell at night and it's scary." So, me being the generous human being I am, I let him stay over at my place.

As I neared the door and began to quietly swing it open, I started to contemplate my decision once again. In my head, I knew I was doing the right thing - but I didn't know what I'd say to him. Should I ask him if he's okay? Should I ask him to start playing his music again? Should I tell him I overheard his conversation with that stranger over the phone?

While these cacophony of thoughts raced around my mind, I found myself standing in front of his door. I inhaled sharply and swallowed my pride, then knocked on his door. 

Only a couple minutes later, the door opened and there he stood, leaning against the door-frame with an uninterested look on his face. He raised his brows at me in confusion - something I found that he did quite often, actually - and cleared his throat, waiting for me to say something. 

When I failed to come up with any comprehensible words, he let out a frustrated sigh, "Listen. You asked me to stop with the music and I did. Now what do you want from me?" 

"I-," I began, staring down at my feet sheepishly. "I- uh.. overheard that phone call you had a few days ago."

He heaved a sigh and hesitated for a moment before saying bluntly, "So?"

I looked up at him, "I wanted to check up on you. I was worried, so-"

"Thanks but there's really no need," he said with a sarcastic grin. "Now if you're done, I'll be leaving."

"No, wait-," I began, but by that time he had already shut the door in my face. 

God, what an asshole.

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A/N: The updates for this book might be a little slow-paced because I don't really have a fixed idea for the plot. In the meantime, while I'm still updating, you could go check out my other book '30 Days' because that's actually completed unlike this disaster :')

But thank you for reading?? AND PLEASE DON'T BE MAD AT MATEO he has reasonable explanations as to why he's such an asshole, okay T-T please just be patient w/ him. I swear his emo phase is going to end soon.