I like you.

He said, "I like you."

That's what he said to me.

Preston Stavar...likes me? Me? Me?

But why? How? Since when? Sure we've been in school together since elementary but we're not that close. Are we?

I start to wonder what one defines as "close." I know Preston's birthday, his middle name is Carl, which he hates. I know where he lives, that he's an only child and has a cat named Coco, who he adores judging by the fact that all 150 photos on his facebook page are of his cat. There's like maybe 6 or 7 of them together, I'm not kidding. His parents are going through a pretty nasty divorce, though I heard that from gossip but not from him. He likes to read and listen to music, doesn't like carrots and he hates heights. Wow, I know a lot because the more I think about it the more I realize that I know plenty of little things about Preston that I've learned over the years.

So, does that make us close or is that just typical for a small town?

I groan after burying my face into my pillow. Beside me my phone is going off. Lifting my head up, I lean over to peer at the name on the screen. Seeing that it's Sam, I ignore it then turn my phone on silent. I'm not in the mood to talk especially when I know they're going to ask about what happened and play dumb.

I am afraid I'll be obvious about something happening. There's no way I can talk about Preston especially when I don't know if he's ok with others knowing. I never heard any rumors about Preston being into guys. So he's gay? Bisexual? He's never dated girls though but he never dated guys either, at least that I know of.

What the hell is going on?! This is another prank, right? There's no way Preston, the Preston Stavar, likes me. What do we even have in common? Our personalities are like oil and water.

They do say opposites attract though...

Wait, no, that's not what I'm supposed to be thinking. I have no idea what to do here. Am I meant to act like he didn't say anything tomorrow? We share so many classes together! Do I ignore him? No, that's such an asshole thing to do but isn't talking to him and pretending nothing happened also an asshole thing to do? Well, shit, this isn't how I thought today would turn out but that's the story of my life in general.

Groaning, I slam my fists against the sides of my pillow in frustration until my little brother, Brody, comes running into my room without asking. Oh, he's so dead.

"Caleb-" He doesn't finish before he is put into a head lock. With a surprised shout, Brody falls onto my bed with me curled around him like a snake, playfully ruffling his hair while he shouts at me for being a jerk.

"Should have knocked."

"Why? Were you doing something perverted?"

I practically implant my fist into his skull. Brody cries out for mom, who actually sides with me and shouts back, "Learn to knock!"

"Ha!" I laugh, shoving Brody off my bed so that he stumbles away.

"I just wanted to come play that new game you got." Brody throws me a pout while he crosses his arms. "Why do you have to be a jerk?"

"I'm your older brother, it's my job." I smile, getting up afterwards to start up Shadow of the Colossus, which is the game he's talking about. Brody claps his hands in excitement and takes a seat next to me on the bed so we can play.

I actually don't mind spending time with the little shit. He's 10 so he has his moments of being super annoying but most of the time he just wants to play video games or go to the park. Honestly, I rather he be in here with me than wallowing in confusion for the rest of the night. It's easier not to think about Preston and his "confession" with my brother around. However, that doesn't solve my problem, it simply pushes it aside until later that night after Brody and my family are asleep and I'm left wide awake alone in my room.

Sadly sleep doesn't come easy to me that night. I toss and turn for what feels like forever, my thoughts running so fast it leaves me dizzy even while remaining still. At some points I have no idea what I'm thinking or feeling, my thoughts moving so quick I can't even comprehend them while others are so clear that it has me questioning every little detail.

Obviously my mind doesn't come with an answer or response or any way to solve this...problem? No, not a problem, it's not a problem that Preston likes me. I guess the problem is I don't know how to answer him and not answering him makes me feel like an asshole. I don't want to be an asshole.

I return to school the next day with thoughts such as that. Sam and Mark get a good scolding from me the moment I see them, both of them find nothing odd about their behavior nor the fact that Preston tattled on them. In fact, they seem pleased with the result, Mark actually falling over in tears and Sam nearly pissing himself from laughing about how I waited over an hour for a girl's confession.

I leave out the fact that I got a confession anyways.

And the one that confessed to me has yet to speak with me.

Sitting in class I find my eyes straying to Preston immediately. Much like every day before he's on his own with his nose in a book. He's sitting in the back corner of the room atop his desk. His back is pressed to the wall, legs crossed on said desk and book cradled between his legs. Guy must have great eyesight to see the words because I'd probably be squinting in order to read.

Preston hasn't spoken to me. He hasn't looked at me. He's acting so totally normal that I begin to wonder if yesterday even happened.

A sudden and painful hit to the back of my neck catches my attention. With a loud curse, I spin my head around to find DJ snickering with a slightly red hand. So we're playing that game again? Ok, I can do that!

I'm chasing DJ around the class before he has time to blink. Mr. Hamric isn't pleased with our running and quickly yells at us both, only after I manage to successfully return the favor to DJ. Now we're back in our seats with red necks.

The rest of the week continues as it normally does. Sure, Preston and I kind of associate but only while in a group setting. He's in most of my classes and we share the same lunch so it's hard not to at least say a sentence or so to one another. However, not once does he bring up what happened and neither do I. Not once do we even acknowledge what happened and while Preston seems perfectly ok with it, I'm not.

I end up looking at him more times than not. Each day during every class I find my gaze on Preston, watching him read a book, listening to music or snoozing on his desk. It's clear he has noticed it too because I've been caught a couple times. Each time my cheeks heat up and each time I turn away before Preston even has the time to blink.

This routine or whatever continues until, before I realize it, the school year is over. Summer has arrived and I awake the first Saturday of my summer with a slight pain in my chest.

I should have said something.

Even if I rejected his confession, I should have gave some sort of response.

"Shit." I sigh, burying my face into my hands. I feel like an idiot.

It's not as if I'm not going to see Preston for the next 3 months though. We live in the same town, I could walk 15 minutes and get to his house...not that I'm going to do that. Thinking of it gives me the shivers, I bet it'd be super creepy so no, no, definitely not doing that. However, we're bound to see each other at the park or the skating rink.

Thinking that makes me perk up a bit. Sitting up in bed, I curl my hands into the sheets of my bed. For some reason, I'm feeling a little anxious to see him. It's probably because I feel bad for not saying anything, yeah, that's totally it.

So, after feeling a little better, I hop out of bed to enjoy my first day of summer. It's nothing different than the usual. The guys and I meet up to shoot some hoops at the park. The pool is supposed to open next week, which is where we'll likely spend the majority of our time but for now we remain on the courts. The days go by, each similar to the last and that's definitely not a complaint. I spend each day with my friends until I'm finally given the duty every sibling dreads.

"Caleb, take Brody swimming today and don't you dare take your eyes off him," Mom orders me with a stern expression that says she will beat my ass if anything happens to Brody.

"What?" I hiss, looking to the damn brat who gives me a huge smile like he doesn't see an issue with it. "Why? He's 10, he can take care of himself!"

"Listen to your mother, Caleb," dad sighs and I give him a shocked stare. He's only agreeing with her cause he doesn't want to end up in the dog house!

Mom smiles, which only proves my thoughts to be true. "Brody is not walking to the park on his own, besides, I know you're going to the pool today."

"Yeah but what if we want to leave? I don't want to be stuck there all day with that turd!" I point to said turd who scowls at me.

"You're the turd!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yeah huh!"

"Boys!" Mom hisses, looking to Brody then me with a scowl. "I am not repeating myself, Caleb."

I don't see why they can't take him. It's the weekend!

Grumbling, I agree to do as I'm told. Brody shouts with joy, running off to his room in order to change. I slowly make my way to my own room, changing into some swim trunks while calling up the guys to inform them of the new plan. Obviously I am teased but none of them seem to care since, like mom said, we planned to go swimming anyways.

After we change, Brody and I walk down to the park. It doesn't take us long, a little over five minutes. The pool is never crowded but there's always people there. We obviously arrived early since my friends still have to get dropped off but the pool's open so Brody and I head in. Not long later my friends arrive and we're dunking each other and doing stupid jumps off the diving board.

Brody remains in the shallow end of the pool. While he claims to be an excellent swimmer, he's mediocre at best. Mom said not to let him in the deep end so whenever he tries to get closer I have to shout at him to back off. He always scowls but does as he's told since he knows if he doesn't listen to me he'll lose the privilege of coming to the pool with me. That's right, obey your older brother, punk!

It's getting later into the day when DJ makes the suggestion, "Lets grab something from the snack bar."

"Yeah, I'm getting pretty hungry!" Sam agrees, gesturing for everyone to follow him out of the pool. I'm not all that hungry but Brody seems pretty eager so he probably wants a snack. All of us head out, since the snack bar is outside and we aren't allowed to bring the food back in, and walk up to the small circular building that has been there and open as long as the pool has.

"What do you want?" I ask Brody, trying to peer over the guys to see the menu board. Since they're all assholes and want to tease me about my height of course they made me get to the back of the line. I can't see over their fat heads!

"Nachos and cheese!"

"You know you'll have to wait to get back into the pool after we eat, right?"

Brody pouts but nods, seems his love for nachos and cheese makes him a little patient. I nod and wonder what I'll get, probably just a candy bar or something. The line moves up and soon the guys are out of the way and waiting on the other side of the hut for their food. Good thing they're gone too because they'd probably tease me for the likely stupid face I'm wearing when I see who is working at the snack bar.

"Hi Caleb," Preston says softly, waving almost shyly at me, which doesn't help my dumbfounded expression. If anything it only adds more heat beneath my cheeks.

"Uh...hey Preston, you, um, you work here?" That's a dumb question, obviously he works here! Gah, stupid, stupid!

"Yeah." Preston's gaze falls onto my brother before returning to me. "Watching your brother today?"

I nod, looking to Brody, who is giving me a glare probably because I haven't ordered his food yet. There's no rush, no one is behind us! But I rather not have him here so I quickly reply, "Uh, yeah...c-could we get a tub of nachos and cheese, a three musketeer bar and a bottled water?"

"I want pop!" Brody cries but I ignore him. He's getting water, mom will kill me if he gets too much sugar.

Preston snickers at Brody's pout and quickly punches all that into the register. I hand him over the money, our fingers brushing ever so slightly, which has me retracting my hand so fast that Preston nearly drops it all. Brody gives me a confused stare while I nervously scratch at the back of my neck. Way to play it cool, Caleb, you're totally making this worse!

"Karen will give you your order when it's ready," Preston explains, gesturing to the other window where the guys are getting their own food. Brody shouts a "thanks" and runs around to join them while I awkwardly stand in front of Preston. Like I said, there's no one behind me so it's not like I'm holding up the line.

For whatever reason I really want to talk to him.

"Will you be working here everyday?" I ask, smiling when Preston quickly answers.

"No, I only work Saturday and Sunday."

"Ah, that's cool...making your own money and stuff." Normally I'm good at keeping conversation but feeling Preston's eyes on me makes me nervous.

"I guess. It's not much, really."

"My mom would probably be overjoyed if I mentioned getting a job. She'd likely take me to the hospital for a check up because she'd think something was wrong!" I laugh, feeling a bit relieved when Preston lets out a soft chuckle of his own. His eyes seem to be sparkling for some reason and maybe that makes my chest feel a little fuzzy but we don't need to talk about it.

"What do you do through the week then? I mean, if-if you'd like you could come swimming with us." I feel my cheeks warm up yet again when I realize what I said. Even Preston seems a little shocked, his eyes growing wide. "I totally g-get if you don't want to though! We're all pretty annoying and I don't even know if you like swimming, sorry for asking. You-you totally don't uh...I think my order is ready so I should go, bye!"

Before Preston can bother responding to that complete catastrophe I bolt to the other side of the snack bar. Technically I didn't lie because my order is done. Karen is handing it to Brody the moment I get there. Since I know the brat will go for my candy bar, I quickly grab it from his grasp causing the boy to shout at me. I ignore said shout and begin munching on my food while mentally berating myself for being such an embarrassing idiot!

What the hell was I saying? Inviting him to come swimming with us, Preston would hate hanging out with all of us. I bet the guys would annoy the shit out of him, hell, I probably would too. Not to mention he confessed to me and here I am acting like he never did. Or maybe I am totally acting like he did because I'm being a blundering idiot? I don't know but it's messing with my brain!

Either way, I don't get a response from Preston about the offer and, honestly, I don't know if I want one.

~

I didn't make you wait too long though, right? So it's not so bad :D Look at these boys, they're so cute! *hugs*