Boy Next Door ✔

chapter twenty

C A L E B 

Today was the day. The day in which I would officially tell Matthew Davis how I felt about him. I was excited, yes. But at the same time, I was nervous. I was sweating like crazy and felt like I was making the biggest mistake of my life. However, that wasn't going to stop me. 

More so, it couldn't stop me, because I had already texted Matthew asking him to meet me outside my apartment complex. I had been waiting there for a solid twenty minutes before I saw a familiar figure in the distance. I smiled to myself when I realized it was, indeed, the person whose arrival I'd been anticipating. 

Dustin, who was standing behind me, patted me on the shoulder and wished me good luck with a smile on his face, "Go get your man. If you don't get him though, just know that I'll always be ready with a bucket of ice-cream, a stack of horror movies and tissues so you can torture yourself later." 

I rolled my eyes at him, "Now you're making me even more nervous. Go away before he sees you, shoo!"

"Wow, and I thought you'd treat me with even a little bit of respect after everything we've been through. I'm hurt," he said, feigning offence before rushing away when he noticed that Matthew was getting closer. He raced into the distance and crouched behind a bush nearby to conceal his presence and I stifled a laugh at his poor attempt at doing so. 

"Hey there, stranger," Matthew teased with a playful grin. 

"Hey to you too," I said, unable to hold back my smile. 

"You said you wanted to meet me here to tell me something important?" Matthew questioned, tilting his head to the side. 

My heart began to race wildly and all of the times in which I had been nervous before in my past felt like nothing compared to the situation I was currently in. I attempted to swallow all of my fears - which was to no avail - and held my hands behind my back sheepishly. I began to shift my weight nervously and looked down at my feet, unable to maintain eye contact with him. 

"Right.. I uh- I really don't know how to say this," I trailed off, scratching the back of my neck awkwardly.

"That's okay, take your time," Matthew said with a warm grin. "No one's pressuring you."

I felt somewhat better after he reassured me and I gathered all the guts I had and looked him right in the eyes and cleared my throat, "Matthew. You need to know something."

"I'm waiting," he responded with a calm voice. 

I let out a deep breath and shut my eyes momentarily before opening them again and stating bluntly, "I like you."

He blinked once - then twice, before saying, "Yeah, I like you too-"

"No, not that kind of like," I interrupted. "I like you as in.. I wanna be with you."

"Oh," was his response. 

He looked around in a state of confusion, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water before saying, "Uh.. I really don't know how to react. This is so out of the blue.."

I didn't respond and simply waited for his answer to my confession, already fearing the worst. 

"Listen, Caleb," Matthew began, rubbing his temples in frustration. "I don't know why you fell for me. Maybe it's because I gave you the wrong signals and made you think that I'm into you or something? But, I'm really sorry - I'm not gay. I actually have a girlfriend and I just see you as a friend, that's it."

And just as my heart shattered into a million pieces, someone walked up beside me and intertwined my fingers with theirs before saying, "What are you doing with my boyfriend?"