The Boy Next Door

Chapter 21

Past

With my back to his front, I ram my fingers along his forearm. Nothing has been said for about an hour since after I forced him to lay down with me. "I'm supposed to be going over there for dinner-"

"Well you're not anymore." Damon interrupted as he tightened his hold around my waist. "I'm not trying to sound overbearing or controlling, but I'm not letting you over there."

"I know," I replied back quietly while placing my hand in his. He's my safe haven, always has been and always will be. He kissed the back of my head as I opened my mouth,"I didn't plan on going anymore anyways."

That was over three hours ago, and now I'm awkwardly sitting at the Froyer dinner table. Fortunately, I wasn't sitting next to Grayson, although he was sitting in front of me.

It's hard, extremely hard for me to just sit here and not understand his actions from earlier. A part of me doesn't want to believe he was actually standing there watching Damon and I, but the other part is utterly confused and disgusted by it.

I kept my eyes glued down at the plate of food in front of me, making sure to not look up and make eye contact with him. On top of that, I feel like I'm breaking my promise to Damon.

God, please don't let him know I came over here.

Quite frankly, I didn't know how or what to tell my mom. I wasn't absolutely sure what happened, and I don't want her telling Mrs. Froyer something that may not be true. Knowing her though, she probably would just brush it off or think of it as mere teenage bantering. That's how she always was with me and Derek when we were younger. I love her to death, but I feel she doesn't understand some things until it's too late.

"Cameron, honey, are you okay?" Mrs. Froyer questioned while placing her fork down, a look of concern plastered on her face. "You've barely eaten anything."

"Oh, I'm, um, just not that hungry." I lied while taking a sip of my water. I could tell she wasn't all that convinced with my answer, so I lied and mouthed 'cramps' to her and she immediately relaxed.

"Okay, well, just let me know if there's anything else you may want." She said, probably implying Advil pills or something to help with my supposed 'cramps'.

I simply nodded my head while placing my glass back down, and my eyes immediately locked on Grayson's. It felt like time went still as I tried to swallow the growing lump in throat. After my hands are off the glass and picking the fork back up, I feel a shoe move against my shin. I jumped ever so slightly at the touch, the adults too deep in their conversation at the end of the table to notice. Peering up from under my eyelashes, I watched a smile grow on his face.

He's playing around with me? Does this mean he didn't do anything earlier, or that he did and he's just completely mental?

"Hey, Cameron," his sister, Danielle, said from beside me, "can I show you something in the backyard?"

"Sure," I said while moving me hair out of my way. "What's out there?"

"Our pool. I want to show you a few things I learned from summer camp before we moved here, but don't say anything because my mom will complain it's too cold out there."

"Got it." I said while wrapping my pinky around hers under the table.

Okay, just go see the pool and then you can go home.

"Mom, I'm done." Danielle said while grabbing her plate and walking away from the table. She tried to discreetly nudge my shoulder, hinting for me to take my plate out too.