Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Sunday is really a boring day for me. This day means I'm obligated to clean the house, do the laundry, go grocery shopping (since I just got paid last Friday), and attempt to relax after doing the things I need to do today. Melody can't come over since she's busy with Matt. Apparently, they began going on dates and I'm not sure when it all started. One minute Matt was basically begging for my best friend's "yes", then the next thing they are letting everyone know they are dating.

I'm happy for them, really, especially for Matt.

He's been after my best friend for quite some time now and he's pretty serious about her. What guy would even willingly wait for a girl to say yes to him for a long time? The answer is Matt. Melody deserves Matt and Donnie, her high school ex-boyfriend, can rot in hell for cheating on her with the school's slut.

This day is just beginning to exhaust me when my phone rings on the table in the living room. I head over there and see who's calling me in the morning. My phone's screen is lightning up, and Kevin's name is flashing in bold letters. Last night, before I went to sleep (which took like, 3 hours of tossing around the bed), I saved his number with full details – like his name, email address, other contact number (leaving it N/A), and which company he's working for.

Am I the only who likes the details of a contact number filled out?

The only thing that isn't on his contact number is his face. I have yet to take a picture of him, or grab a picture of him on Facebook, so I can save it on his contact number.

"Hey Kevin, what's up?" I greet him giddily, quite happy that someone calls me on a Sunday morning. Usually it's Melody greeting me through text, but this time, it's someone else. It's really a nice feeling. But today, she forgot to message me, I guess. She's with Matt this early. "Good morning."

I hear him chuckle on the other end. "Good morning. I was just wondering if you want to hang out today. This day is killing me."

Frowning, I think back of the things I need today, and I can't delay them, and I immediately shake my head. I've still got some laundry to do, and those are tough to do. My mother taught me how to do the laundry when I was in high school, and she made me do it several times – just my own clothes, though. She said when I moved out, I would do these things alone, and she wouldn't be there to help. I'm glad I took her teaching to heart and it makes me capable of living by myself alone. But that doesn't mean I enjoy doing it. It sucks because I still have to segregate the white clothes from the colored ones and me doing it is messy because I normally throw it around the floor, which means I have to pick it up later for washing. And when I throw stuff, sometimes it ends up at the far end of the room. I know, stupid me.

"I can't," I respond, frowning more when a thought pops inside my head about ditching Sunday stuff. This can't be delayed; especially the laundry, or else he wouldn't have clothes to wear for work. "I've got some things to do today at home, like cleaning and doing the laundry."

"Oh, let me help you then." Kevin offers his voice a bit high and I arch a brow though he can't see me. "I've got nothing to do today. I took my clothes to the laundry shop so I wouldn't have to do it myself."

"Lazy ass," I chortle, shaking my head. "I don't want taking my clothes to the laundry shop. God knows what they are doing to the clothes."

"Oh shut up," he shots back, chuckling. "So are you taking the offer?"

I pretend to think for a couple of seconds. It's not like I need help doing this stuff, but I want someone to hangout with today just to kill time, and it seems like Kevin is likely the one to entertain me today. Plus, I can take this to my advantage so I'd get done as fast as possible today, which means I may have time to send out cash to my parents. It's not that they need it – no, they are practically begging me to keep my money, but I refuse. I feel like I'm obligated to support them because I owe them that much, practically my whole life, that's why I'm doing this.

"Sure, if you insist," finally I respond.

"I insist," I hear another chuckle from him. "Okay, text me your address and I'll go there ASAP."

"Okay,"

He hangs up the call and I immediately text him my address and the floor and room of my unit. Wyatt's words flash inside my head and I scowl. He thought Kevin and I were boyfriends and I grin when I clapped back at him. Sometimes his head is not working properly, otherwise he wouldn't have become a businessman and a CEO for that matter if he's not smart enough to compete in the economic world, let alone run an entire company. I place my phone on the table in my bedroom, setting it to silent as I don't want to be bugged and distracted for today.

Wyatt can think what he wants to think. Kevin and I are not boyfriends. For all I know, Kevin doesn't swing that way. Or if he is, then he sure as hell doesn't seem to be interested in me, and neither am I. So it's best if we stay friends and never let a romance bloom between us.

But Kevin knows I'm gay, right?

I mean, did he forget? I mean, I act effeminate most of the time when I'm with my friends, but not when I'm not with them. So surely, even though (just if) Kevin forgot, he'd know that I'm gay. And that's a good thing, though, if he knows. Because that's what we need, too – men having a bonding time with their gay friends without thinking that it would put their masculinity at risk.

Starting with my own room, I begin taking off the covers of the mattress and the pillows because that need some changing. The last time I changed them is a month ago, and I'm pretty sure it already stinks now and full of dirt. I have trouble taking the cover of the mattress before groaning, forcefully giving it a hard tug and the covers take off, making me stumble and I fall on the ground butt first.

Sometimes I'm helpless too.

I throw the cover on the ground, and start taking the covers off the pillow, throwing them on the floor along with the mattress cover. This is the time I want my mother back in my life so she can help me out with this mess. She knows how I hate cleaning stuff, cleaning my things, but she made me do it regardless. Once done, I bring the covers to the laundry area and put them in a basket, deciding that I should just include them when I start to wash my colored clothes.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rings and I hurry over to the front door and open it, revealing a grinning Kevin. His grey eyes are shining with mischievousness as it bores against mine and I roll my eyes playfully. He's wearing a light green v-neck shirt that is quite fit on him, almost hugging every part of his body, and brown khaki shorts that seems a bit too tight on him – it definitely showcases his butt. Not that I'm checking it.

Okay, lying is a sin. So yes, I'm definitely checking his butt out.

What can I say? I'm into butts and ds, so you can't hold that against me. He does have a good butt though. His dirty blonde hair is swept upwards, his locks puffing out adorably. He matches his attire with a Nike sandal, showing his groomed toenails.

"You miss me too much," I joke as I step aside, letting him come in to my humble abode called unit, definitely not a home. "I'm sure we'd see each other again tomorrow at work."

Kevin sets a step into my unit and looks around, taking the interior all in. I'm not paying for like, a thousand and five-hundred dollars just for it to look like a ruined cat house, so I'm confident he likes the unit based from his cheeky grin.

"Yeah, but hardly see you since you became his secretary," he reasons out and that shuts me up. It's true though. Ever since I became Wyatt's secretary, I hardly see them in the office anymore. I can take a few breaks here and there, but most of the time Wyatt needs me to do his schedules and interact with his potential clients. "And you missed the fun last night. Melody told me she had plans with Matt today, so I figured you'd be spending your time alone. So I thought, why not hangout with you today? That's why I called you. Is Wyatt making your life hard as his secretary?"

"No, not at all," I tell him honestly. He may be assigning a lot of things to me, but he always gives me a room to breathe. Plus, the assignments he's giving to me are part of my job, so it's only fair. "He's not really much of a dick – he's all business when I'm with him. But he's still a dick, regardless." I let out a chuckle.

"I agree with you on that," he bursts out laughing and looks over my shoulder. "So what am I doing?"

"I'm done taking off the covers of my mattress and pillows, you can start with arranging the living room?" I tell him and he nods his head, making his way towards the living room and thinking how he should arrange the tables and furniture. "And I'll cook for our lunch and dinner; that is if you're going to stay until that late. I know it isn't much fun cleaning stuff with me, but my mom would kill me if she learns I'm being a teen and going out too much and not being responsible."

"Your mother sounds lovely," he comments, amusement clearly in his eyes. "My mother passed away three years ago from lung cancer, and I miss her badly. I know how much of a dick I was back in high school, but I changed because of her. My life is never the same without her."

I know how many sorry has been said to him when they know that his mother died, so I just walk up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze, letting him know that it's okay to talk about his mother as if she's not really gone. I know it must be tough, and I can't imagine my life without my mother, but I know for a fact that one day, she will be away and that's something I'm never going to be prepared for. So while she's still here, in this world, I'm going to make it up to her.

Kevin seems to appreciate the action and just smiles at me, giving me a nod of approval before checking the living room again. I remove my hand from his shoulder and I head over to where my dirty clothes are, which is near the bathroom. When I get there, I begin segregating the white clothes from the colored ones, throwing it on the ground. I can't believe I'm wearing a lot of clothes for a week – I should wear the same PJs twice before throwing them in the hamper, and now, it's all piled up. I separate them into groups – white shirts vs colored, white underwear and boxers vs colored (yes, I have some), and white shorts and pants vs colored ones.

It takes full ten minutes for me to separate my clothes. I place the colored ones back in the hamper and I grab the white clothes and bring them to the laundry area. As I pass through the living room, I see Kevin has already moved the couch and began sweeping the floor. He looks up at me and grins, winking at the process. I roll my eyes at him and continue to proceed to the laundry area, throwing the white clothes beside the dirty sheets.

I fill up the washing machine with water, adding the fabric powder and a small amount of Downy fabric softener, before heading back to the living room to help Kevin. He tells me that since I have the view of the Brooklyn bridge, and since it's a relaxing sight to see, it would be best if we move the couch facing the window and move to the television slanted to the side, but still facing the couch. So just in any case that I'd want to relax without watching TV, I can look outside and sip coffee or tea, whichever suits me. I wonder why I haven't thought of that before, but I guess I've been so busy with my life that I barely had the time to design my own living room. He asks me to begin removing the wires plugged to the television so it would be much easier to move. I ask what I'm told to do and begin to work on it. Kevin manages to lift the couch all by himself and I'm quite shocked as to how strong he is. The couch isn't really big, but it's quite heavy. Before he sees me looking at his biceps, which by the way made its presence, I quickly avert my eyes to the wires and tying them neatly so it would be easier to untie them later and plug them in. Once done, I head back to the laundry area to turn off the water. I grab the white clothes and put them in the washing machine, setting the timer and the spin to gentle. After that, I head back to the living room to see Kevin arranging the table. There's a conflicted look on his face as he thinks whether he should place it beside the television or the couch itself. I smile and tell him that he can put it on the other end, adjacent to the television so I can place my mug there or whatever. It's just a small mahogany table with a thick glass attached on top. He moves it to where I pointed it and gives it a judging look and after a few seconds, he nods his head in approval.

Checking the clock, I see it's already 11 in the morning and decide that it's time for me to prepare our lunch. Since I haven't done grocery shopping yet, the only thing I have in my refrigerator is some frozen chicken breast and beef. Good thing there's broccoli in there too and some baby corns, so I can put a few vegetables there. I decide I should make Chop suey – it's actually a Chinese dish, and my mom loves to make it and she taught me how to do it. Now it makes me wonder if Kevin cooks for himself, or if he buys outside. Is he living with someone, or just renting out alone? I figure I'd ask later.

I take the main ingredients out of the fridge and prepare the vegetables. The prepare time can only take like, fifteen to thirty minutes, and this dish is one of the easiest foods to make. After preparing, I cook rice too, since I'm more of a rice guy.

After almost two hours of work, before the clock reaches one in the afternoon, I was able to wash the white clothes and white underwear, and I just need to wash the colored clothes and that'll be easy. The Chop suey is done, and so is the rice. I invite Kevin over and he happily trudges in the kitchen area and motion for him to take a seat, which he happily does too. I take two plates out of the cabinet and place one in front of him. I place the still hot Chop suey on the table and a bowl of rice. I give him spoon and fork, and I give him the go signal to get some. Never have I seen Kevin so excited to do something. His eyes are twinkling and his mouth is basically watering at the sight in front of him. I chuckle at him, shaking my head. He takes a three scoop of rice, and asks me what Chop suey and I tell him just to taste it so he can see it himself. He narrows his eyes at me suspiciously and I roll my eyes at him.

I watch Kevin as he grabs the serving spoon and begin pouring soup on his rice with a happy face, grabbing some of the beef, baby corn, and broccoli. There are streaks of sweat running across his temples, and he looks really cute. His light v-neck shirt reveals a part of his collarbone and I feel myself blushing after realizing that I've been staring at him. I immediately grab my spoon and take two scoops of rice, placing it on my place and grabbing some of the beef. Finally, something to focus to!

By the time five in the afternoon rolls, I was able to send cash to my parents, to which they told me they would keep. There were a few "I miss you", "When are you visiting us?", to which I replied maybe next month or so, and "I love you sweetie". To say I don't miss them would be a crime for me, because I really do and I would do anything just to go to them right now and hug them tight, but I've got bills to pay and it won't pay itself unless I work my ass off. And I want my parents to experience the lavish life as they are growing old. I just want them to relax and not worry about anything.

Maybe Wyatt can let me take a few days off so I can visit my parents.

The clothes are hung in the laundry area, where the sun can seep through. The sheets of my mattress and pillows have been replaced; my bedroom has been cleaned up too. I wouldn't be able to get these things done quickly if Kevin isn't here to help me. He even complimented my cooking because, as per him, it's the best cooked meal he has ever tasted besides his mom's cooking.

Everything has been setup the way we preferred it to look like, and I would say it's fucking awesome. As Under the Dome plays on the television, all the buildings are starting to light up as the night approaches by. The lights on the Brooklyn Bridge are starting to light up too, and it gives me a satisfying feeling to watch them as I take a sip of my hot chocolate.

Kevin is beside me, a mug of hot chocolate in his hands too, as he watches the show with much interest. His dirty blonde hair is messy, and his V-neck shirt is already wrinkled and caked with dust and dirt, but not to the point that he looks like a helpless mess. In fact, he looks cute with his nose scrunched up, his brows furrowed as he tries to think what's going on with the entire show. He's sitting cross-legged, his attention solely focused on the series. Since there's a leftover of what I cooked for lunch, we ate already once everything's done.

"Do you want to take a shower?" I ask him and he nods his head, but his eyes are still focused on the show. I doubt he heard what I said. "I can lend you my clothes."

Finally he takes his eyes off the screen and turns to look at me with a confused expression. "Huh?" I roll my eyes at him and repeat what I asked. "Oh yeah, sure. I'm dirty and I stink too."

"You can take the bathroom in my room," I tell him. The other bathroom's shower is broken, and I still have yet to have it fixed. "And feel free to check my drawer for clothes. I'm just going to be here while I relax. Towels are in the bottom drawer."

"Thanks," he gulps his hot chocolate in one down, stands up, and washes his mug in the sink. He makes his way towards my room and I put my mug down on the mahogany table and smile to myself. Today has been a productive day.

I look around my unit and silently thank for what I have. My life is a lot better than what I expected before I graduated high school. I thought I would just live with my parents as I grow old, having a local job to support them financially. But then things got a little complicated and I wanted to try something harder, more challenging, and thus I ended up here in Brooklyn. And my parents have been so supportive of me, and I couldn't thank them more for it.

Thirty minutes after and my hot chocolate is done, I decide to enter my room so I can take a shower. Kevin seems to be taking so long with his shower and I think I should knock on the door to ask him if he really takes long showers. When I get there, Kevin is already wearing a white tank top, a pink shorts that I barely use, and his sprawled on the bed, his hair is still wet. He's staring at the ceiling with a thoughtful look on his face. I tap him on his leg then that's the time he notices me.

"I'm tired," he grumbles as he lets out a sigh. "My body is kind of aching."

"You can sleep here if you want," I bite my bottom lip, hoping it doesn't sound like I want to sleep with him. Well, he can go sleep on the couch. I bet that would be comfortable since that couch is quite expensive. I can just give him some pillows and a sheet in case he gets cold. But his body is aching... so it would be inappropriate if I let him sleep on the couch instead. "Then we can go to work together tomorrow. I still have some work clothes left in the drawer."

He nods his head and stares at the ceiling again, sighing in the process as he shuts his eyes. I pick my clothes in the drawer – a black tank top with a printed white turtle as a design and white shorts that seems a bit large for me. I head in the bathroom and set the shower to cold, just the way I like it.

I spend just ten minutes in the shower. I dry myself while inside the bathroom. Normally I would just trudge back in my bedroom, dry myself, and pick some clothes. But this time I have a guest, another person inside my unit, and it's uncomfortable for me to do so. I check myself in the mirror, brush my teeth, and wear the clothes I picked. I hang the towel on the metal curtain track attached on both end walls of the bathroom, and head back to the room.

Kevin is already settled in my bed, his head resting on the pillow I've just recently changed. His hands are behind his head, his chest heaving up and down gently as he snores lightly. I stare at him in amusement and shake my head.

I get in the bed with him, keeping our distance. It's just quarter to eight in the evening, and by this time, all the building lights are twinkling brightly. The Brooklyn Bridge is packed with cars stuck in traffic. As I watch them, I start to hum a very old classic song from a cartoon my grandmother loved. It's actually a Betty Boop song, but I love every word in the lyrics.

"What's that you're humming?" Kevin asks groggily as he turns to face me, my back against the headboard. I turn to look at him to see his eyes closing droopily.

I chuckle at him. "A song my grandmother used to sing."

"Can you sing me it for me then?" I contemplate it. It's not that I don't want him to listen to my singing, but there's this voice at the back of my head telling me not to share it with anyone. Maybe I'm shy? Maybe there's something else. "My mother used to sing lullabies to me when I was a kid, and I would wish to every deity so I could hear it one more time."

My heart aches for him. He must have been through a lot of hard times in his life since his mother passed away. I can't imagine the pain he went through. But when Kevin said it, he doesn't seem sad. He misses his mother, yes, but he knows she's in a better place now.

Sometimes we wish just to relieve the memory of someone close to our hearts.

So I nod and start to sing:

"I'm just a poor Cinderella; nobody loves me it seems.

And like a poor Cinderella, I find my romance in dreams.

For that's where I'll meet my prince charming;

When I'm with him cares fade away.

I'm just a poor Cinderella, but I'll be a princess someday."

When I look at Kevin, he's already fast asleep and I laugh softly. I lean down and tuck him in and he snuggles the pillow I put next to him. I shake my head, laying down next to him and turning the other side so my back faces him. I just watch the night sky with stars blinking brightly. I check my phone on the table and see that I have 5 missed calls from an unknown number, and there are 3 unread messages too. I open the message and it's from Wyatt. Without reading the other messages, I save his number with, yes, a complete details but lacking of picture, and delete the messages and missed calls from logs. The last thing I want is for Wyatt to ruin my peaceful night before I sleep.

Seeing that my phone is closed to being a dead battery, I plug it into the charger and place it on the nightstand. I tug the comforter, draping it on me, and face the sleeping Kevin. His lips are slightly parted, his cheeks a bit rosy. I smile at him before I close my eyes, exhaustion creeping up into my bed and a few minutes later, the dream calls onto me while I fall into a deep slumber.

******

Author's Note: For those of you who would like to heart the classic song, I've attached it below so you can take a look. I see a lot of comments that the animation is quite creepy, but what can you expect on a 1934 movie animation? lol. This is the first colored Betty Boop short movie, and I seriously love the song that comes with it. So if you want to listen, feel free!

What do you think about this chapter? Let me know if the comments below!

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