The Betting Game (boyxboy)

Chapter Twenty-One

 “So when's dinner?” I asked after we had all settled down on the couch. And by all, I meant Kenyen and I. Cassy and her hoard of slutty friends went off in some random direction (probably counting STDs somewhere) and Nichole had gone back upstairs to fret over her anniversary present.

Mom had come back a few minutes previously, denying any sort of help as she stumbled in with ten grocery bags wrapped around her wrists.

“Well, I just got here. Who do you think makes the dinner? The food fairy?” she grumbled sarcastically, sticking her head around the corner.

“He doesn't?” I gasped.

She rolled her eyes and darted back around the corner, followed by a large crashing noise.

“Don't kill anyone!” I yelled.

“Too late!”

Kenyen chuckled next to me and rolled his eyes. He seemed so familiar with my mother. Of course, he and Nicky had met twelve years ago, so Mom was bound to know him.

I looked back over to him. He was focused on the television.

It was strange. I couldn't recall ever seeing him here. Then again, I never payed attention to any of Nichole's friends. That, and I wasn't usually home much. I guess I missed a lot that went on in my own house, but really it was the last place that I wanted to be as a teenager. And why wouldn't it be? There were three eccentric girls with me squished in between them. As a moody teenager, it was a wonder I ever came home at all.

Briefly, my mind drifted to my old best friends. I hadn't seen them since freshman year. We had tried to hang out a few times, but after that we kind of lost touch. I met Jensen and Zack a few weeks into my first year of college, and since then it didn't really matter if I saw my high school friends or not. They had probably forgotten about me by now, too.

I looked down at my feet, which were resting against Kenyen's thigh. He was still concentrating on the television. Well, that or he just happened to be staring in the direction of the screen and not actually paying attention at all.

I wondered what other friends Kenyen had in high school, and where they were right now. I know Nichole was pretty popular, I could tell by all the hot girls that she brought over all the time, and the occasional jock-type guy. Those ones usually ruffled my hair and called me “squirt” like the annoying, half-whit assholes they were. Yet, I still couldn't recall Kenyen.

Well, according to the picture, he did look pretty plain. Just some scruffy haired teenager that blended into the rest of them. And yet, now he was above average in looks. He had hair that any sane guy would die for and a body to match.

“What are you thinking about?”

I looked up again to see Kenyen staring at me.

“Nothing,” I replied.

“Right, 'cause I'm an idiot.”