The Boys Next Door

Chapter 14

When we arrived back home, I told Randall that I wasn’t feeling too well so I was just going to head back in my house. He gave me a hug and tried for a kiss, but I placed my finger on his lips, stopping him from doing so since I felt that it would be really weird if I did. I don’t care that he’s now my boyfriend, I’m not going to kiss him just yet.

Immediately I went up the stairs and into my bedroom, headed straight for my windowsill, sat and looked outside at the pond. Paul’s words had become stuck in my head, and I couldn’t get them out.

“Oh no Ells, that’s not slutty at all,” Paul’s voice kept ringing through my head.

He irritates me to no end! And how the hell did he know what I was doing? Is he becoming some sort of stalked? I’m going to have to tell Justin about that and have him crack down on it like he usually does as a big brother.

As I was lying there on my bed in the position that I’ve been assuming a lot these days, with my hands behind my head as I stared at the ceiling, I felt my bed shift. I could who it was without even turning to look.

“I’d ask how your date went, but I heard that the jackass showed up. Do I need to go kick his ass?” Pat asked from right next to me.

I turned onto my side with my back facing the wall so I could look at him. I didn’t answer his question, but instead asked, “Pat, do you think that I’m a slut?”

“Ells, you can’t be serious,” he chuckled while also turning onto his side but stopped when he saw me looking at him. “Where the hell did you get that idea from?”

“From Paul,” I mumbled, looking away.

“You should know better than to listen to a single word that asshole has to say. How could you honestly believe him?” Pat demanded.

“Because it’s true!” I protested while sitting up. “Look at me! Just a little over a week ago I was still dating Paul. Last week we were flirting so much that anyone would have thought that we were a couple. Now here I am dating your brother! That’s 3 guys in one week! How else do I think it would look!”

“Elora, listen to me,” he spoke softly while placing his hands on either side of my shoulders and looking into my eyes. “You are not a slut. While it’s true that is has only been a week after you broke up with him, don’t forget that you have been over said ass for quite a while now. Hell, I’ve known some of the sweetest girls who were only single for like a few days before finding another boyfriend. There is no way that I would ever call them sluts.”

“As for the other part where you flirted with me and then ended up dating Randall, that’s not slutty either. You could pass it off to anyone that you were just testing out the waters until you found a guy that you like. There’s no harming in flirting Ells. Promise me that you won’t think about this anymore,” he asked, his gaze boring into mine.

“I promised,” I whispered as I threw my arms around him, squeezing him into a tight hug which he returned. “I don’t know what I would do without you Pat.”

“Me either,” he whispered into my hair. I don’t know if I heard the next part correctly because he was speaking so softly, but it sounded as if he said, “It’s so bad that right now I just want to kiss you so much.”

I stayed quiet, not knowing if he meant for me to hear that, or if I indeed did hear what he said correctly. Heaving a deep sigh, he reluctantly let go of me and it was quiet between us.

“Pat, can I tell you something?” I asked while biting down on my lip.

“Shoot,” he said rather dejectedly.

“Well, it’s sort of a question too. I was just wondering if you would have thought I was a bitch by trying to be as annoying as hell that way Randall would break up with me,” I said nervously, looking anywhere but at him.

I don’t know what I was expecting his reaction to be, but I sure as hell wasn’t expecting him to laugh. Yes, Pat was laughing at me, his hand clutched over his stomach as he was just about doubled over with laughter.

“So I’m guessing that’s why you were acting so obnoxious this morning, wasn’t it?” he asked while wiping away a tear from his eye. I could only nod my head which caused him to laugh even harder.

“So you don’t think I would’ve been a bitch if I did that?” I asked.

“No way! I think that would have been as funny as hell!” he guffawed. “Where in the world did you come up with an idea like that though?”

“Shelley.”

“Why aren’t I surprised?” he calmed down a bit, throwing an arm casually around my shoulder. “So, are you going to keep up with this idea?”

“I don’t know,” I said while slumping my shoulders. “It’s just not me though to try and be obnoxious to someone on purpose, especially when that person hasn’t done anything to me.”

“Aw, and I wanted to see you annoy the hell outta Randall,” he pouted. “It’s too bad because I think your plan definitely would have worked, even though I’m curious as to why you would want to get him to break up with you in the first place.”

“That’s for me to know, and you to wonder about,” I smirked.

“But I’m your best friend, you’re supposed to tell me these things ya know,” he said while giving me a gentle shake.

“There are some things even friends need to keep secret. And trust me, this isn’t a bad secret,” I winked at him. “So, just forget about it.”

Pat just shook his head and scuffled backwards a bit so head could relax against the headboard of my bed. He was grinning down at me and by the look in his eyes, I could tell that he wasn’t going to just simply forget about it.

“So, I think that we should start planning for our birthday party,” I said while sitting against the wall and putting my legs over top of his.

“How about you plan it, since girls are good at that kind of thing,” he laughed.

“So, you would be fine if it was held in a swamp, and that we played polka music the whole time, and that-”

“Alright, I’ll help you decide some things, but I’m not doing decorations,” he stated.

“That’s fine, I just wanted your opinion on things, and don’t worry Justin is going to be helping too. Oh! I think that you should sing a song! It would be amazing!” I said excitedly.

“You want me to sing a song?” he asked in disbelief and I nodded my head eagerly. He shook his head and chuckled. “I don’t know Ells, I’ve never performed in front of people except for my family. Besides, what would I play? I don’t have any original songs.”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Do a cover then, and any song really would do. You’re amazing and other people should know your talent.”

“Then you should sing with me,” he grinned.

“What?”

“If I’m singing, you’re doing a duet with me, it’s as simple as that,” he shrugged.

I opened my mouth to tell him that it was unfair, but then I closed it, thinking that he could then argue with me about how forcing him to sing was also unfair. Shrugging it off, I just nodded my head in agreement and tried to focus on something else.

My thoughts shifted to earlier and immediately I regretted shifting the focus of my thoughts. I still couldn’t help but wonder how Paul knew what I was doing and where I went. It was creepy how stalkerish he was turning. If I knew back before I started dating Paul what I know now, I would never have dated him. Nothing was worth it.

“What’s on your mind?” Pat asked noticing my change in mood.

“I think we might have a problem,” I said while crossing my arms over my chest.

“How so?” he asked while narrowing his eyes.

I don’t know how I was going to explain this without him going ape shit. Pat already hates the guy to death, and telling him about earlier was only going to piss him off even more. With a frustrated sigh, I ran a hand through my hair while choosing carefully the words that I wanted to say to him.

“It’s Paul,” I stated and held a hand up to him to stop him from going off like I knew he would do. “Just listen first. When he showed up at Dairy Island, he was saying things that were a little weird, like how it was a nice day to go to the movies and then get ice cream. I didn’t think anything of it at first, but then when he mentioned mud wrestling… I knew that something definitely wasn’t right.”

“Shit,” he muttered lost in thought. “This isn’t good Ells. I knew that he was psycho before, but this… this I don’t know how to deal with.”

This really made Pat upset. He looked almost… scared because of this. But what reason would he have to be scared? Paul would be after me, not him.

“So, what do you think we should do?” I asked in a whisper.

“Well, I think that you shouldn’t go anywhere alone. Who knows what that sicko could be up to. We’re going to have to talk to the others about this,” he stated.

“Talk to the others about what?” a voice interrupted us, and I jumped but calmed down when I realized that it was only Justin standing in my room with his arms crossed over his chest and looking at us suspiciously.

“Oh, hey Justin!” I said while waving to him. “Actually, I think that it would be better if we talked to everyone at once about it.”

“This better not be what I think it is,” he said, staring us down.

“Well, what do you think this is?” Pat asked.

“I think that you two are sneaking around behind Randall’s back,” he growled.

I took one look at Justin and burst out laughing. Is that seriously what he thought we were doing? He’s my brother, he should know I’m not that type of person. I guess if some random person walked into the room, they might get the wrong idea. But still, he’s my brother and should know me better.

“Did you seriously think that I would sneak around with Pat? I’m not that type of person Justin,” I said while calming down a bit.

“I know, but when I walked in here you two were pretty comfy. But then what were you talking about then?” he asked walking closer.

“It’s about Paul,” Pat and I said at the same time.

“Shit,” Justin muttered under his breath. “I thought that we were done with him. What has the ass done now?”

“We’re going to wait until we get everyone together so we can talk about it and then decide a course of action to take,” Pat said while standing up. “So, after dinner we’ll have a meeting down in my basement, agreed?”

“Agreed,” Justin and I said in unison.

Pat stretched out, and as he did so his shirt lifted up a bit showing the bare skin of his stomach and I caught myself staring. I shook my head to clear my thoughts before he came over and gave me a hug, then gave Justin a handshake.

“I’ll see you guys later,” he said with a salute before he walked out of my room, deciding that taking the window route out wouldn’t be too good of an idea with Justin standing there.

“Are you insane Ells!” Justin turned on me once Pat left the room.

“What?” I asked, looking at him with disbelief.

“You know what I’m talking about! You’re dating Randall! I know that you really like Pat and all, but still! Could you make it a little less obvious!” he said exasperatedly.

“Well, I’m sorry that it looked like I was getting too comfy with Pat. We’re best friends, how else are we supposed to act with each other? There are things that I can talk to him about that I can’t talk about with Randall!” I stood my ground against him.

Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair. “Ells, I know you would never go behind Randall’s back and do things with his brother. But just think of Randall and how weird it would be for him to know that you talk to Pat more than him,” Justin pleaded.

“Well, Randall should know that Pat and I are best friends, and that best friends usually spend a lot of time together. I don’t know what else to do,” I stated.

“Just… try not to act too comfy with Pat,” Justin stated before turning around and walking out of my room.

I knew that my friendship with Pat would be strained once I went out with Randall, but I never knew that it would become this strained. I had enough on my plate with Paul to deal with, and now I have to keep a conscious effort of how I act around Pat. I just can’t help but wonder if this will all be worth it in the end.