Living Your Lie (boyxboy)

Chapter 15

As the movie had played on, the closer Dakota and I got to each other. And by the time there were probably only a handful of minutes left, I had my arm draped over his shoulders and he was resting his head on the side of my chest, right over my left pec.

I hadn't been able to stop myself from sending glances down at him the entire time. It was as though I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that he was even here, lying in my bed with me and basically cuddling the way a real couple might do. It was something Dante and I had never done.

Just as I sent another quick glance down at Dakota and I was smiling at how sweet he looked with his eyes widened from the suspense unfolding on the television, I heard a door slam from the front of the house. The pair of us jumped, splitting apart, and I heard boisterous voices floating throughout my house.

"Fuck," I muttered to myself, quickly crossing the room and turning the light on.

Dakota stood up from the bed, hovering awkwardly next to it. A confused look was settled across his features. "Who's here?"

Not even needing to see their faces to confirm it, I said, "My asshole friends who think it's cool to just randomly show up at my house apparently."

As if on cue, at that moment I faintly heard Anthony calling out to me. I let out an irritable sigh.

Dakota's eyes flew wide and I swallowed the sudden urge to kiss him. "Well how the fuck are we supposed to explain me?"

I had to laugh because not only was the statement just comical in itself, but it was funny to me that it was actually a valid question. "I have no idea."

"Harley, what the fuck?" he asked, voice rising in panic. He moved over to stare at the patio door. "Should I run out through this?"

On the inside, I was conflicted. I didn't want him to go, but yet I had no clue what I would say to my friends if they saw Dakota and me alone in my room. Everyone on our team knew that we weren't exactly friends--especially not ones who went over to each other's houses for one on one bonding time.

The sounds of my friends bantering and their approaching footsteps drifting down the hallway outside of my room easily pulled me out of my thoughts. Dakota was still standing by the glass door on the opposite side of the room, his brows raised at me expectantly.

"Uhm," I whispered, glancing between him and my bedroom door. "No. Just stay."

I thought Dakota's beautiful eyes were going to pop out of his head at that. "What? You serious?"

I was about to answer when my door flew open and my three friends pushed their way in. "Yo, Sinclair," Anthony said, slapping his hand against mine in a greeting. "What are you up--"

"Whoa since when are you two buds?" Nathan blurted, interrupting Anthony and staring shocked at Dakota. The dark haired boy looked as uncomfortable as I felt and a pang of guilt shot through me for not letting him escape this awkward situation.

I shrugged but bumped fists with Nathan and slapped Andrew on the back in a friendly way. "We ran into each other on a run; he lives just down the road."

As Dakota's eyes met mine, he picked up on the lie I was going with. "Yeah, figured since we were both bored, might as well give hanging out a shot."

Anthony and Andrew exchanged a quick glance but just shrugged. "Whatever," Andrew said, clearly not interested in the topic, and walked across the room to snatch a game controller off of my dresser. "Let's play some video games."

I watched as Dakota's shoulders dropped in relief and I felt myself suddenly able to breath a little easier as well. I followed after my friends and grabbed a controller of my own before sitting down on the end of my bed. I gestured at the lounge chair that was against the wall for Dakota to use and he slowly pulled it a little closer to the group.