A Unique and Torn Romance

It took a while for the tension to be relieved, but I think it’s finally out the window.
Bob turned on his TV and we just silently – awkwardly – watched some music channel for a while. At some point I groaned in annoyance over some new Fergie video, and since then we’ve complained about every video from Britney to the Stones.

“Hey! Just shut up for a sec, okay?” Bob’s mouth falls shut but he’s frowning deeply and disagreeing.
“You hate Furtado, I hate Furtado. Why the fuck are you yelling at me like I just knocked her up?” Bob averts his eyes, still frowning – but not for long. His face crumbles and a smile fights its way onto his entire face.

I begin to giggle, which makes him fall apart and laugh very loud.
I just stick to the giggling.
I stare at him as he’s laughing. He looks so cute. The way his nose curls slightly and his teeth are bared.
My giggles stop.
I look over at the TV before I start blushing.

“Gargh,” is the sound I emit when I see Madonna. I avert my eyes and use a hand to spare my eyes from the images as I search frantically for the remote.
I spot it underneath Bob and dig my hand in between his thigh and the mattress to get it. Bob stops laughing and I blush a bit as I quickly hit the big, red button.
The TV turns off and the room is engulfed by silence.
I bow my head very far down as my face feels as if it’s on fire.
I just touched Bob’s thigh.
I look up through my eyelashes and spot his legs.
I wish I could do it again…

“Oh, shit!” My head flies up. My gut lurches in fear of him having seen my lustful stare, but when I see his eyes, they’re mounted to something behind me.
I turn my head around and spot a clock on the wall above his door.

“Fuck,” I agree.
It’s 20 past 12.
I turn back to look at Bob. He looks slightly frightened.
“I have to call my mom,” I say quickly and dig my phone out of my pocket. I unlock the keyboard and see that there’re four missed calls.
“Shit,” I whisper and quickly press redial to my mom’s last call.

“Hello?” She sound wary.

“Hi mom.” I hear her sigh. I bite my lip and prepare myself for what’s to come – either a guilt-trip or a rant on my irresponsibility.

“Where are you?” She sounds grumpy – never a good sign.

“At Bob’s?” It’s a question for a reason: I’m scared. Any second now, my dad could come through a window and give me a death-glare that makes me feel slightly queasy.

“Are you staying there tonight or will Bob drive you home? Your dad is out and everyone’s gone to bed.” She sounds really tired.
I look up at Bob and hold the mouthpiece of my phone away from my mouth.

“Can I stay here tonight?” I whisper. Bob raises his eyebrows in surprise, but quickly nods.
“I’m gonna stay here.”

“Good,” my mom answers quickly – almost snapping at me.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says grumpily and hangs up.
I pull the phone away from my ear and look down at it sadly. She’s mad at me. She’s never been mad at me. She’s been frustrated and annoyed, but never mad. I’ve always been her little boy – her little unicorn.
I’ve never let her down before.

“So,” Bob says suddenly and I look up to see his smiling, cheerful face.
“We’ll be having a sleepover,” he says excitedly, but I can hear the insecurity in his voice.
I struggle to smile, but manage to do so softly.

“Yeah,” I whisper and let my phone slide out of my hands and onto the mattress.
Bob’s smile grows wider and as he flashes his teeth, my own smile grows wider and more genuine.
Suddenly, his fades.

“Shit! I’m so sorry, are you hungry? We haven’t eaten anything.” I giggle a bit.

“That’s okay. I don’t really feel hungry anyway.” Bob gets off his bed.

“No, really. I have some leftovers in the fridge.” He walks towards the door before I have time to argue with him.
He opens the door and turns around.
“You don’t mind mushroom and pepperoni, do you?” I shake my head and snicker inaudibly.
“Good. I’m gonna go get the food.” He turns around and walks out the door. I giggle softly and look around his room. It’s actually quite cozy.

“Sorry!” Bob yells and walks back into his room. He walks over to his dresser and opens a drawer.
“You can borrow some sweat pants and a t-shirt to sleep in.” He rips a few items of clothing out of his drawer.
“You can also borrow my toothbrush, if you wanna. The bathroom is just out there,” he says and points at a door, before he turns and hurls the clothes at me.
“I’m gonna go get the food now!” He grins widely, points at his door and he walks out of the room again.

Once he’s gone, I snort a laugh and get off his bed with the clothes in my arms. I open the door he pointed at first and find a bathroom. I search around for a switch on the cold wall, and soon the small room lights up.
I lock the door behind me and relieve myself, before I strip down to my boxers and pull on Bob’s clothes. My stomach tickles lightly as I do.
I wash my hands and face quickly before I go back out. Bob’s on the floor in front of his TV with a white box in his hands and a fork in his mouth.
He looks up at me and hums what I assume is a ‘hello’. He pulls his fork out of his mouth and point to some other white boxes on the floor.

“Eat! It’s Thai! The pizza had gone bad,” he says with his mouth full of food and then smiles widely with his mouth shut. I giggle, but quickly get down on the floor on the other side of the wall of white boxes and grab the one with a fork in it.
Bob bobs his head as he swallows.
“There’s rice and sauce in that one.” He points at the box in my hands.
“The meat is in the different boxes. Just grab some and shovel it into yours.” I nod and we eat in silence as we stare at the TV, watching an episode of NCIS.