The Boys Next Door

Chapter 4

I gotta say, since I wrote this story about 2 years ago, I reread it before I post it, and I can't help but enjoy myself when I read it. I guess thats a good thing, eh? Well, I hope you enjoy! and tell me if I should post more :D -Jill

Dinner was fun, I guess you could say. Luckily our table let you sit ten people there, due to various times when Justin or I would have friends over for dinner. It was a long table with four seats on each side, and then a seat at each end.

My dad sat at one end of the table, my mom to his right, and Justin was seated to his left. I was seated next to mom, with Pat next me and Randall on his other side, who sat next to his dad who was at the the other end. Mrs. Hurst sat across from Randall, and Dexter was next to her, across from Pat. Why Pat chose to sit next to me instead of by Justin, I’ll never know, but I did have a pretty good idea.

“So, Elora? That’s such a pretty name,” Mrs. Hurst mused while she helped my mom bring out the food.

“Thanks. It’s a unique name, and I love it,” mom and dad grinned. “But, all of my friends call me either Ellie or Ells.”

“You’re such a sweetheart. So tell me, are you single? Because our dear Patrick has been single for quite a while,” she bustled while sitting down.

I blushed and nearly choked on my drink, while Patrick just sat and stared wide-eyed at his mother.

“Hon, you really need to stop trying to play matchmaker,” Mr. Hurst said playfully.

“Yeah mom,” Pat said, finally coming out of his shock. “Besides, Ellie has a boyfriend, and… oh guess what!” he said while hopping up and down in his seat.

“I don’t know Patrick, why don’t you tell us?” his dad asked, amused.

“Ellie is my new best friend!” he said proudly, putting an arm around my shoulder, beaming like a kindergartener who had just made his first friend.

I shook my head, trying to keep in my laughter and hide my blush. Seriously, never would I have thought that a guy hot as him would turn out to be so sweet and goofy. Patrick seriously looked like he could be a model for Hollister. But with his personality, I really don’t think that it would suit him too well.

“We’re very happy that you two are best friends,” his mom said, but I could see a mischievous glint behind those eyes of hers.

Throughout the rest of dinner, Patrick was constantly making faces and saying random things, always trying to make people laugh. Maybe I should break up with Paul, since he only treats me as a possession instead of a person. No, I couldn’t do that. I really like him, and would never break up with him just because Patrick was being nice to me.

So, the five of us were all sitting in various spots throughout the living room as our parents continued to converse in the kitchen. In our living room, we had three couches: two of them sat three people, and then the other was a love seat. We also had a reclining chair in one corner. Yeah, our living room was frickin huge. But then, we had a big family that always came over our house for the holidays, so we had to have a big living room.

Dexter, Randall and Justin were sitting on one of the large couches which was sitting directly in front of the TV, while I was sprawled across the love seat while Pat was sitting on the floor for some odd reason.

“Best friend!” Pat whined while spinning on the ground to face me.

“Yes Pat?” I asked dully, too bored to lift my head up to actually look at him.

“Come sit on the floor with me,” he said, dragging out the ‘me’.

“But I don’t wanna move! The couch is too comfy!” I whined.

I didn’t hear him say anything, so I looked over, and saw Pat trying to stealthily crawl over to the couch I was on.

“Pat, what are you doing?” I mumbled into the arm of the couch.

“I’m going to sit with my new bestie!” he shouted as suddenly, he jumped up to his feet and the pounced onto the couch, at the end where my feet were.

“And how old are you Mr. Pat?” I asked as I tried to free my feet from under his butt.

“I dunno… 5?” he said innocently while looking at his brothers.

They shook their heads at him, and I finally freed my feet from underneath him and sat up, tucking my knees against my chest, resting my head on them. Oh great, it just had to be on the love seat, didn’t it? My back was against the arm and my feet were facing him, while he was sitting forward, his feet on the floor.

“No, but seriously, how old are you?” I asked curiously.

“I’ll be 18 in August,” he said, actually being serious for once.

“Really? What day?” Justin asked.

“On the 17th,” he shrugged while leaning back.

“Wow, our birthday’s on the 19th. We should have a conjoined birthday party or something,” I said excitedly.

“Let’s do it!” he said with lots of enthusiasm.

We turned our heads and looked over at Justin, who was oblivious. It wasn’t until I pointedly cleared my throat that he realized Pat and I were staring at him. Shaking his head, he put up his hands defensively and leaned back.

“Why are you dragging me into this?” he asked.

“Because, it’s your birthday too. We wouldn’t want to drag you into something that you didn’t want to do,” I said innocently.

“Well, it will be our 18th birthday,” he trailed off in thought. “So, I guess it would be cool to have a conjoined party and go all out.”

He grinned as Pat and I turned and gave each other high-fives.

“This is going to be the best birthday ever!” I said excitedly.

“So, what are we going to do tomorrow?” Pat asked while looking at me. The rest of the guys also looked over at me when he said this.

“I have no clue. Why are you asking me?” I sighed while leaning back.

“Because, you’re my best friend and the girl with all the plans. So, what are we gonna do?” he asked while casually putting an arm around my shoulder.

“I dunno. Shelley might come over and visit for a while. So, I don’t know what you’re going to be doing tomorrow,” I shrugged.

“You mean, the girl who looked like she could be a model?” Pat asked, removing his arm and immediately retreating to the opposite side of the couch, which wasn’t much.

“Yeah, why?” I asked with a frown.

“She scares me. Did you see the way she was coming onto me earlier?” he asked with a slight shudder. “No offense, but she’s not my type at all.”

“That’s total crap,” I heard Randall chuckle.

I looked back and forth between the two, wondering why Randall was calling his brother out on that. Randall’s face was set into a smirk, while Pat had the look of a deer that was caught in the headlights.

“Care to explain why your brother said this?” I asked.

“Please, he chases anything in a skirt,” Dexter added in, leaning forward.

“I do not!” Pat protested.

“You so do. It’s not until after you learn that the girl is a bitch or completely stupid before you dump them. With this one, it’s all about looks,” Randall muttered nodding at Pat.

I could feel my mouth hanging open. There was no way that the funny guy who was sitting beside me could be like that. I guess that it was a good thing that I had a boyfriend, that way I wouldn’t fall for his charms. This little tidbit of info changed quite a bit.

“I’m not like that anymore,” Pat whispered sadly while looking at the ground.

“Since when?” Randall scoffed.

“Since the last time I got hurt,” he said, staring Randall down.

It was tense as Pat and Randall had a stare down. Dexter was twiddling his thumbs uncomfortably, while Justin looked as taken back as I felt. We just met these boys today, and already there was a bit of tension. For Pat’s sake, I really hoped that he wasn’t a player anymore, otherwise things would get really awkward.

“So, uh, why isn’t Shelley your type?” I asked, trying to break the tension.

“For one, she’s too skinny for my liking. I want to be able to squeeze a girl without being afraid that I’d squeeze her too hard. Second of all, she’s too pushy. I’ve had bad experiences in the past with girls like that,” he said, not looking at me.

“Then what is your type then?” Randall mocked him.

“I don’t know. But I do know the types that I don’t go for,” he growled while crossing his arms and sitting back against the couch.

I didn’t know what to think. I just learned that one of the funniest and sweetest guys that I’ve ever met, was basically a player. What was I supposed to think about that? Do I act like he’s not this player, or does it become awkward? I seriously didn’t know what to do.

As we sat there in silence, the parentals entered the room.

“Well, we’re heading home. You guys can come with us or stay here for a little while longer. It doesn’t matter to us,” Mrs. Hurst said while her and Mr. Hurst headed for the front door. Looking at my watch, I saw that it was only 9:30, so it wouldn’t be too bad if they stayed a little longer, but the tension is what worried me.

“Well, I’m a little tired from moving in and stuff, so I think that I’ll go with you,” Randall said, stretching as he stood up.

“Me too,” Dex said also standing up.

“I want to talk to Ellie for a moment. I’ll see you later,” Pat said with a nod towards his parents.

We said goodbye to the Hursts and my parents took that time to go to bed. Justin went upstairs, leaving just Pat and I downstairs in the living room.

“So, uh…” he said, trying to start it off.

“Let’s go outside and sit on the porch. I really don’t want Justin eavesdropping on our conversation,” I said while grabbing his hand and leading him outside. I had to ignore how when our hands connected, my palms felt all tingly, and it seemed as if our hands fit together just perfectly. I had a boyfriend! This was not good!

We walked out onto the porch and sat down on the swing. I sat Indian style facing him, while he had one leg crossed on the swing, and the other resting on the porch. It was silent, but it was actually comfortable after all went on not even five minutes ago. Pat rocked his leg back and forth, putting the swing into a soft lulling motion.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you hated me after what you just heard,” Pat spoke softly.

“Pat, I don’t… hate you. I’m just a little, surprised is all. I mean, here I thought you were this sweet and funny guy, and then I learn that you’re a skirt chaser. I just can’t imagine those two personalities in one body. I just don’t know what to think,” I whispered shaking my head.

“Elora, listen. I’m still that sweet and funny guy. Yes, I used to be a skirt chaser, but I don’t do that anymore. Not after what happened last time,” he growled as he stared out into the yard.

It seemed like I wasn’t the only one who had a bad history in my relationships. But that story is for another time.

“Looks like we both got pretty burned in our relationships, eh?” I gave a short laugh.

“You could say that,” he said, giving a brief smile.

“So, uh… I was just wondering if I was your type?” I asked playfully.

“I’m sorry Ells, but you’re not my type,” he said with a frown.

“Oh, ok,” I said, slightly hurt for some reason. “Do you mind if I ask why?”

“It’s because… you have a boyfriend. I’m not interested in girls who are in a relationship already,” he said with a smirk, his face dangerously close to mine.

“I see,” I said while letting out a breath that I didn’t even know I was holding. “So, if I didn’t have a boyfriend, you’d be interested?”

“Absolutely,” he breathed, our eyes locking together.

I could have sat there all night, just looking into his eyes. There was something in his brown eyes that just seemed to captivate me. When he looked at me, it’s like… he was looking deep inside, instead of just on the surface. It was way weird. We were interrupted when my phone in my pocket started vibrating.

“Shit, it’s Paul,” I mumbled while taking it out to look at it. “He always calls me at this time of night. I guess I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Hold on,” he said while digging in his pocket and producing his cell. He opened it up and then handed it to me. “Put your number in there. Best friends should always have each other’s numbers in case of emergencies,” he winked at me.

Shaking my head, I put my number in his phone and handed it back to him. “I guess I’ll see you later,” I said while standing up.

“Yeah. See ya around,” he said sadly. Out of nowhere, he suddenly wrapped his arms around me and picked me up, twirling me around a couple times before setting me back down. After a tight squeeze, he let me go. “Good night,” he whispered before heading off to his house.

Smiling to myself, I went back inside the house. I called Paul back before he got too upset for me not answering the first time. Things were definitely going to be interesting with my new best friend, I can guarantee that for sure.