Boy Next Door ✔

chapter eighteen

C A L E B 

Halfway through our journey, with Mateo leaning against my shoulder and stumbling around like a crazed serial killer, he nearly tripped over his own feet. Which was why I had to secure my arm around his waist to keep him from doing so again. 

And if the whole situation wasn't tiring enough already, he would occasionally burp in my ear and break out into a fit of giggles right after, which nearly earned him another slap from me, but I knew I had to control myself. After all, he was drunk. But still, that doesn't give him the right to act like a toddler. Why am I taking care of him anyway? He's such an asshole, so why do I feel like I owe him this?

We made our way up a few set of stairs before he gave up and sat down on one of the steps, declaring proudly, "I'm tired, I'm not gonna walk anymore."

"Shut up and stop causing a scene," I hissed. "Just get up."

He looked up at me with a look of distaste, "Make me, grandpa."

I crossed my arms across my chest and contemplated whether I should just leave him here like this. Yet, I decided against it and pulled him up by the arm before dragging him up the stairs. He whined like a little dog the entire way and we earned ourselves a few judgemental looks from random tenants I'd never seen before. 

When we finally managed to make it to his apartment, I realized that his door was locked. He wrapped his arm around his shoulder and leaned against me, threatening to fall onto the floor for the umpteenth time. I wrapped my arm around his waist once more, my annoyance growing by the second. 

"Where's your key-card?" I questioned, the irritation evident in my voice.

"A key-card? What's that?" he giggled, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger.

"Don't touch me, you perv," I groaned before realizing that simply asking him wouldn't do. So, I started patting his front pockets, feeling around for anything rectangular. When I couldn't find it anywhere, I made the horrible decision to check his back-pockets. And, mind you, having my hand make contact with his ass was nowhere on my bucket list. 

However, I did manage to find it and I let out a triumphant 'aha!' before proceeding to open the door with it. We made our way inside after what seemed like forever and I set the key-card aside on a table nearby before throwing him onto the bed. 

"Oh, we're moving so fast already," he grinned, rubbing his cheek against the sheets. "Buy a man dinner first."

I rolled my eyes and turned around to leave, now that my job was done, but he stopped me by grabbing onto my wrist. I turned back, "What do you want now?"

He pulled me onto the bed beside him and began to cling onto me like a leech, much to my displeasure. Before I could complain and yell at him to get off me, he spoke, "Have you ever watched Alex Strangelove?"

"I mean.. yeah?" I responded, confused as to why that even mattered in the first place.

"Good, because I'm gonna sex you so hard-"

I slapped my hand against his mouth to prevent him from speaking any further, "I think that's enough for today. Why don't you get some rest, hmm?"

He forced my hand away from his mouth. "I don't wanna!" he said with a pout, resembling an infant. "Hey, you wanna know something?"

"Not really, but is that going to stop you?" I questioned sarcastically. 

"Nope!" he exclaimed happily. "You know, that person on the phone with me was my mom and we were fighting because-"

I slapped my hand against his mouth once again, "No. You can tell me when you're sober, if you still feel like doing so."

He nodded and shut his eyes slowly. I didn't remove my hand from his mouth until I was sure that he was asleep - and when I was completely sure that he wasn't awake, I pulled the sheets over him and lifted his head discreetly so I could slide a pillow under it. In his sleep, he began mumbling something along the lines of 'stuffie' and it didn't take me long to figure out that he wanted his stuffed animal with him.

So, I lent him the teddy bear seated on the corner of the bed and bit down onto my lower lip to prevent myself from smiling when he wrapped his arms around it as tight as he could and began snuggling his face against it like a child. 

And when my job was done, I turned back and left the room, wondering what in the world had just happened.