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Andrew Minyard looked out of his bedroom window, across to the house next door, more specifically, the room opposite Andrew’s own. He could see the back of Neil Josten’s head and had to remind himself that staring at someone through a window wasn’t the best way to welcome your ex-best friend back after years of not seeing each other.
Betsy Dobson, his adoptive mom, poked her head in his room.
“You ready?” She asked. He looked down at himself noting the copious amounts of grey cat hair that stuck to his all black attire and sighed.
“Whatever.”
“Come on,” She beckoned and he walked over to her. She opened her arms as an invitation for a hug and he let her envelope him.
“I’m sure you and Neil will still get on! You were so close.”
“That was five years ago, mom. It’s gonna be awkward and weird.”
She stroked the hair from his forehead. “You’ll be fine.”
“I’m nineteen, I don’t need you to organise my play dates.” He grumbled and she released him with a laugh.
They fed Sir Fat Cat on their way out the door, picked up Aaron from his seat in front of the TV and headed to the Wymack household.
David Wymack swung the door open on the third knock and welcomed them inside with a warm smile. His wife, Abby pulled Bee into a hug straight away as David shook Andrew and Aaron’s hands. Their eldest son, Kevin walked in and gave the twins a wave. He silently pointed to the Xbox connected to the TV and Aaron gave him a thumbs up. Andrew stayed by Bee’s side and tried not to think about the fact that he probably looked like a little kid hiding behind his mommy.
Suddenly a flash of Auburn bounced down the stairs and Andrew found a new passion for staring at the carpet. Neil Josten wandered over to where Andrew stood, and calmly waited by his side. He was probably being polite and waiting for Andrew to engage in conversation first like a damn nerd. When Andrew refused to give, Neil cleared his throat and spoke up.
“Hello, Andrew.” He said and Andrew looked up at him then to see the same pleasant smile from five years ago.
“Hello. What was your name again? Nile? No…Norm?”
“Neil.” He said, smile flicking up into something mischievous. “You’re still the same height you were five years ago! That’s sweet.”
Neil led Andrew up the stairs after Bee and Abby had cooed at them one too many times. Andrew used to be a frequent visitor to Neil's room (in a completely platonic way of course) but now he felt like a stranger. Boxes were scattered along the floor waiting to be unpacked.
Neil had moved to Washington DC for five years after his adoptive father, David, had received a coaching job offer there. His contract had lasted five years and according to Bee, they’d decided they preferred the small beachside town they had always lived in. Andrew had to stare into the room of a stranger whilst the house was rented out. Luckily the term ended just as the Wymack’s were looking to move back.
“How’s life been without me?” Neil asked him once he’d collapsed on his bed.
“Fine” Andrew replied, because it had been. It had been
fine.
Neil had been his only friend so a town without Neil could only ever be…
fine.
“I missed you.” Neil said as casually as ever and Andrew had to look away. He had missed Neil too but now he’d changed and everything else had changed and—
“You’re still the same.”
“What?” Andrew frowned at him. “How?”
Neil laughed gently at him. “You’re overthinking everything and you’re still pretending you hate me.” He patted the bed on the right side of where he was lying, inviting Andrew to join him, which he did of course.
“I always have and
still do
hate you.” Andrew corrected. Neil just hummed in response.
They stared up at Neil’s ceiling for a couple of minutes. Andrew listened to Neil’s soft breathing and tried not to think about how close they were.
“Do you remember,” Neil began, turning his head to look at Andrew, “when we would have a sleepover.”
“Vaguely.”
“Uh huh, and we’d wake up huddled together.”
“For warmth.”
“Sure, dude.” Neil sighed, turning away from him again. “I miss that.” He concluded and closed his eyes.
Andrew resisted the urge to call him lame and just huffed at him instead.
Neil fell quiet and it wasn’t until Andrew heard his breathing even out that he looked over and realised he’d fallen asleep, face ever so slightly turned towards Andrew and lips parted. Andrew let him rest, carefully slid off the bed and slipped out the room leaving Neil in peace. He could hijack Aaron and Kevin’s gaming sesh instead.
The next morning, there was a knock on the door and a minute later Andrew’s name was called. He groaned, forced himself out of bed and raked a hand through his bed-mussed hair.
Once he reached the door, he scrubbed his eyes and waited until they came into focus without his contacts in. Neil Josten stood there looking sheepish, with his hands behind his back. Andrew yawned to let him know how cruel it was to make him get up on a Sunday at this time (even if it was ten thirty in the morning).
“Morning.” Neil greeted him. Andrew tried to glare even harder than he already was. “I’m off to work but—“
“You have a job? After being back for a day?” Andrew interrupted him in surprise.
“The ice cream stand by the beach. Dad’s friend owns it”
“Oh so you were
handed
the job.”
“I’m sorry, do you not work at your mom’s bookstore?”
“Nope, no idea what you’re talking about.”
‘Uh huh, anyway…just wanted to say sorry for falling asleep yesterday. I was looking forward to catching up with you, I’m sure you’ve got
so much
to tell me.” Neil teased. Andrew saw his slightly pointed canine teeth as he grinned at him.
“Well luckily for you, I don’t care.” Andrew deadpanned and pretended to try and shut the door in his face. Neil laughed and shoved his foot in the doorway.
“Hey! I’m not done!” He said trying to act serious, he held out a piece of paper that he’d been hiding behind his back for Andrew to take, which he did. He read what it said out loud:
“
‘A coupon for one free ice cream’
. Can I use this on Ben and Jerry's ice cream?” Andrew asked him, tilting his head. Neil’s eyes went wide.
“What?! No!” He laughed again and snatched it back off him. “Y’know what? Come to the ice cream stand today and you can cash it in then. If I remember you of course.”
“I do share a face so be careful.”
“No way! I thought Aaron was your older brother!” Neil smirked at him.
“Take that back now.”
“Only if you come get some ice cream later!” Neil sing-songed and skipped off down the path with a wave goodbye. Andrew closed the door behind him and cringed when he realised he was smiling.
The walk to the ice cream stand was only ten minutes from Andrew’s house. Once Neil had left, Andrew headed to the bathroom to shower and contemplate why Neil was suddenly such a big deal. They’d been friends ever since the Wymack’s had originally moved into the house next door, just as Betsy had adopted Andrew when he was eight years old. He and Neil had bonded over the fact that they were both adopted. Kevin and Aaron always preferred to play video games.
Neil and Andrew did all sorts together when they were kids. They’d play hide and seek, they explored their respective gardens, read books to each other and showed each other new TV shows as they got older. Sleepovers were a regular occurence, staying up late to take dumb quizzes together then falling asleep cuddled up. It was slightly more acceptable when they were kids but as their teenage years took over, the habit didn’t seem to break.
Then Neil announced they were moving away and Andrew remembered something inside him splitting in two. As if in moving, Neil was taking a part of Andrew with him, a part that would always belong to Neil anyway. He hadn’t realised it when he was younger. Of course he’d known Neil was exceptionally handsome but his hormones were pretty much making most guys look appealing, but Neil was special. Neil was kind and funny and he loved Andrew. And Andrew knew he loved Neil even if he couldn’t make himself admit it. How could anyone not love him? God, he was a disaster. Neil had been back a day and Andrew was already falling embarrassingly head-over-heels for him like some kind of lost puppy. Love was such a strong emotion and it overtook all his senses every time he was around Neil. Maybe the long break between seeing each other last had been the catalyst in Andrew’s stupid heart because even after such a short period, he couldn’t imagine Neil not living next door again. Now, at nineteen, Andrew knew he needed to admit to Neil he maybepossiblyprobablydefinitely liked him quite a lot. He couldn’t face lying to Neil. Being so close without Neil knowing his true feelings. It felt wrong.
Once he’d finished his existential shower thoughts he switched off the water, towel dried his hair and got dressed into his black jeans and shirt.
He doused himself in the cologne he’d got from his brother for Christmas, gelled his hair slightly and headed downstairs. Bee pressed a kiss into his hair and her eyes widened slightly.
“That’s…a lot of cologne.” She said, voice wavering slightly whilst trying to sound nice. Andrew huffed and felt his face heat up.
“Is not.” He muttered but he scrubbed his pulse point roughly in an attempt to remove the excess.
Mother Nature had blessed him with warm weather that day; however that did mean that there was a significantly long line queuing along the boardwalk when he reached the stand. It took exactly 8 minutes for Andrew to get to the front of the queue and low and behold Neil was there. He lit up when his eyes met Andrew’s, (Andrew thought Neil’s eyes were a similar colour to the bubblegum ice cream he’d just served to the kid in front), and he winked.
“What can I get you, sir?” Neil asked him. Andrew narrowed his eyes, silently accepting the challenge.
“Strawberry.”
“Any toppings?”
“All of them.” Andrew confirmed and Neil frowned, then looked at him like he was crazy.
“Ew. No.” He refused. “Pick some out.”
“All of them.”
“Andrew—“ Neil began scooping two scoops of ice cream into a cone dipped in Biscoff sauce.
“All of them or I’ll ask to see your manager.” He demanded and smirked when Neil glared at him but went about decorating the strawberry ice cream.
When Neil had finished, the ice cream cone was a mess of mini marshmallows, chocolate flakes, sprinkles, fudge cubes, Nerds and 3 different types of sauces. He handed it to Andrew along with a napkin and folded his arms as if waiting for something.
“Coupon.” Andrew reminded him.
“I know,” Neil said but remained as he was, “I’m waiting for you to try it.”
Oh.” Andrew replied dumbly. He looked at the long queue behind him and then back to Neil. He stuck his tongue out, trying not to waver under Neil’s intense scrutiny and tasted the monstrosity. It was tooth-achingly sweet. Perfect.
“Mmmm.” Was all he said and Neil nodded, satisfied with his work.
“Gross.”
Andrew saluted him with his free hand and headed back home with his ice cream.
Over the next three weeks, Andrew and Neil fell back into the regular routine they had created before Neil had moved away (minus the sleepovers; Andrew didn’t think he’d recover from them). Neil was planning on attending the nearby college in September to study math and photography. Andrew was content working at his mom’s bookstore. They spent their free time at each others houses, watching TV shows, playing video games, even completing jigsaw puzzles. Sometimes they would go down to the arcade on the boardwalk and see who could win the most tickets within a specific amount of time. Sometimes they’d simply walk in any direction, enjoying each other's company.
The good thing about being over eighteen was that they didn’t have to be back home by eight pm so sometimes they’d head out for a late night McDonalds trip and walk back full and tired, bumping shoulders as they went.
One Saturday night, after a particularly long walk, Andrew’s legs protested strongly as he trudged up to his front door with a sleepy Neil in tow. They’d both worked all day and were beginning to feel the effects of being awake and standing up for this long.
Neil yawned and waved good night to him as Andrew unlocked the front door. It was only ten pm and Aaron and Bee would still be up but he was always quiet just in case. He wasn’t sure what made him do it but Neil just looked so tired…
“Wanna sleep over?” He asked him. Neil turned back around looking more awake than before.
“Sure! Saves me walking to my place.”
“Oh, because it’s such a long walk.” Andrew snarked, holding the door open for Neil as he followed him inside. Neil waved him off and said hello to Bee and Aaron who were watching Parks and Recreation on the TV.
“Are you staying over, Neil?” She asked.
“If that’s ok?” Neil rubbed the back of his neck. Aaron eyed the two of them the turned back to Bee.
“Can I invite Kevin over?”
“It’s a little late for that.” Bee told him. Aaron frowned. “I’m sure your brother will let you join them if you want?” She gave Andrew a pointed look.
“They’re both lame, I’m not hanging out with them.” Aaron scoffed “whatever, it’s fine.”
Bee looked as if she wanted to reproach him for saying that but Neil spoke up before she could.
“Kevin’s even lamer than me. If you’re hanging out with him, what does that make you?” He remarked. Andrew snorted in amusement and Aaron glared at them. Betsy made a playful grab for him before he could chase Neil and Andrew out the room, hugging him close and cooing at him. Aaron squawked in protest, shouting for Andrew’s help but Andrew left his brother to his fate of being smothered to death in favour of leading Neil up to his room.
Andrew lent Neil some sweatpants that weren’t quite long enough for his legs and was very dismayed and embarrassed with himself when he found himself staring at the tanned skin of Neil’s ankle that was exposed. Andrew offered him a shirt but Neil said he didn’t mind going shirtless as long as Andrew was ok with that.
Obviously he was.
They clambered into bed. Neil on the right and Andrew on the left against the wall, duvet kicked to the bottom because it was a rather hot night. They were both tired, the energy of the room was static and calm. They said a quick good night, turning to face the same way. Andrew wanted to reach out and draw patterns on Neil’s back; another thing they’d done when they were younger, but his limbs felt like they had sandbags on top of them, weighing him down. Breathing seemed to be the only thing Andrew could do, anything else seemed like too much effort. The silent rise and fall of Neil’s chest seemed to suggest he was feeling the same way.
Andrew was on the cusp of sleep when Neil spoke up, voice gravelly from the effort of talking whilst half asleep.
“I missed you so much while I was gone, Andrew.” He admitted. Andrew stayed quiet, not really sure how he should respond. Neil continued after a minute.
“I…like you. I think I’ve liked you ever since we were kids but I never thought about it. To be honest…I think I
more
than just like you.” He mumbled the last part and then turned to face Andrew. “I’m sorry i’m telling you now, it just felt wrong to keep it from you whilst I’m lying in your fucking bed and—“
Andrew kissed him.
He kissed him to shut him up. He kissed him to show he felt the same. He kissed him because he was Neil Josten and who wouldn’t want to kiss Neil Josten.
He kissed him.
And Neil kissed him back.
Waking up the next morning, cuddling with Neil Josten may not be something new to Andrew Minyard. But waking up and kissing Neil senseless was definitely something Andrew could get used to.