Boy Next Door ✔

chapter twenty-nine

C A L E B 

"Why aren't you taking any notes?" Mateo questioned, glancing at the empty pages of the spare notebook he had lent me that day. I gave him a death-glare, because if I couldn't legally bury him six feet under the ground, at least I could do it in my head. 

"You seriously need to stop playing your music so loudly," I grumbled. "It's the least you could do for me after I helped you clean your place."

"Who asked you to help me clean my place?" he fired back with a smug grin. I ignored him and began rubbing my temples in hopes of getting rid of the migraine I'd woken up with that morning. 

"Fine then," he sighed, taking the notebook from me and placing it on his lap instead. I gave him a confused look, "What are you doing?"

"I'm taking down notes for you," he stated simply. "It's the least I could do after keeping you up, I guess."

My heart fluttered like a child getting a bar of candy at that, but I ignored it. 

"Thanks," I mumbled under my breath, sinking in my seat and pulling the hood of the hoodie Mateo had lent me to get some shut-eye. I was gradually beginning to be enveloped by the paradise I called sleep when suddenly, I felt someone sling their arm around my shoulders and pull me over to their side. 

I pulled my hood down, ready to murder whoever had interrupted my much-needed beauty sleep when I saw Mateo grinning down at me like a fool. 

"What are you doing?" I questioned, still half-asleep, my murderous intent slowly dying down.

"My best," he stated bluntly. 

When he didn't say anything further, my confusion only grew. However, I noticed that he kept glancing behind us occasionally and shot whoever was behind us a smug grin. So, I turned around as well to see what or who he was looking at. Lo and behold, it was the 'broflake' - Dustin's words, not mine - himself, Matthew.

That was when everything clicked and I decided to play along. I gave Mateo the most loving look I could muster and snuggled up to his side, placing my chin on his shoulder. "Hey, pay attention to me," I whined. 

If he could fuck with my feelings and confuse my mind, then I figured I would do it too. 

"Aww," he began, ruffling my hair and looking down at me fondly. "Not right now, baby. You'll have all of my attention ton-" 

I slapped my hand against his mouth and shot him a warning look which read that if he said anything further, I'd throw him out the window. When I removed my hand, he gave me a playful smirk and went back to taking down the notes for me, so I let him go and slouched in my seat once again. I pulled the hood over my head and shut my eyes once more, hoping he hadn't noticed how red my cheeks were beginning to turn. 

"Gross," I heard an unfamiliar voice say from behind me. "Get a room."

I turned around to face the culprit - a female seated beside Matthew who was clinging onto his arm for dear life. His girlfriend, it seemed. Before I could fire back, Mateo turned around and scoffed, "You're the one who needs to get a room, I can smell your armpits from here. And for your information, it doesn't smell very good." 

I facepalmed inwardly, preparing myself for the storm to come. 

Matthew shot Mateo a glare, "Why don't the both of you go back to doing your fag business? Whatever it is that you gays do."

"Wow, using homophobic slurs now, are we? How original," Mateo clapped, a bitter expression on his face. "If so then why don't you go back to doing your straight business? Whatever it is that you heteros do."

"That's enough," I interrupted - and I regretted doing so after Matthew spoke again, "No one's talking to you, batty boy."

Mateo clenched his jaw, "Leave Caleb alone, prick. If you have something to say then say it to me." 

Matthew opened his mouth to say something, but his girlfriend interrupted him, "It's okay, baby. Just leave them alone, they're not worth wasting our breath for." As a result, he simply snorted and focused his attention back on the professor and Mateo wore a victorious grin on his face, turning to face me. I tried my hardest to appear mad or annoyed, but I couldn't help the smile that made its way onto my face as I shook my head at him. 

I turned to face the board and he simultaneously leaned over to whisper in my ear, "Now who's the loser imbecile?"

I ignored the tingling sensation that went down the side of my neck when I registered our proximity and gave him a hard smack on his arm to which he let out a pained yelp, "Hey! I meant Matthew, not you."

"I know, stupid," I responded, biting down onto my lower lip to prevent the smile that was threatening to make its way onto my face. "Thanks, by the way - for standing up for me."

He shook his head at me in response, "They don't call me knight in shining armour for nothing."

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves now," I replied. 

We both shared a session of quiet laughter amongst ourselves before focusing on the lecture once again. Being with Mateo didn't seem so bad, after all.