Mason Maloney

I rolled over in bed when my phone started blaring on my bed-side table. Without even looking at the caller-ID, I snatched my phone and held it up to my ear before answering.

"Hello?" I mumbled in a tired, raspy voice.

"Did you just wake up?" Sam asked confusedly.

"Yeah... why? What time is it?" I asked, rubbing the sleepiness out of my eyes.

"It's almost noon. I was just calling to see if you needed a ride to work," Sam explained as my eyes widened.

I sprung from my bed. "Shit!"

I rummaged around my room, looking for my shoes, before pulling clothes out of my dresser. I held my phone between my ear and my shoulder as I hopped helplessly around my room, trying to pull a pair of jeans on.

"So... I guess I'll pick you up?" Sam said, sounding slightly unsure.

"Please," I replied, putting my other leg in my pants. "Wait, I thought you weren't coming in today?"

"I finished up early this morning so I could make our shift," Sam explained with a yawn.

I smiled at his words, but didn't comment on them.

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit," I said.

"Okay, I'll see you in ten," Sam said before hanging up. I tossed my phone onto my bed before pulling a shirt on over my head and running my fingers through my hair to tame it.

After grabbing my phone from my bed, I dashed down the stairs to get something to eat before Sam arrived. The house was empty, it usually was on Saturday mornings, and I was actually relieved that Nathan wasn't here to give me a ride to work. After scarfing down some cereal, I received a text from Sam letting me know he was here.

I hastily threw myself into the passenger's seat of Sam's car and fumbled with the seat belt before buckling up.

"Rough morning?" Sam asked as he pulled out of my driveway.

"I can't believe I slept through my alarm," I replied with a groan, resting my head on the window.

"Anyway, remember when you asked me out on a date to the movies?" Sam asked with a smirk, looking over at me briefly.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. "Yeah?"

"I was thinking we could go tonight," he said. "If you want to."

"You don't have anywhere to be?" I dared to ask. I knew I was being unfair, but I couldn't stop myself.

Sam just rolled his eyes. "No."

"Then I would love to," I said, lifting my head from the window and looking straight ahead.

"I was thinking we should go kind of late," Sam told me, taking one hand off the wheel and placing it on my knee.

"Yeah, we probably should," I agreed, putting my hand over his.

Eventually we reached the bakery and headed inside together. Charlene was standing at a table, talking to some customers while Sandy stood at the register talking to Rachel. The two girls didn't even notice us as Sam and I walked in, too engrossed in whatever gossip they were going on about. Sam and I made our way to the kitchen and he handed me my apron before putting his own on.

"When did you two get here?" Rachel asked with an eyebrow raised as the two of us stepping out of the kitchen.

"Just got here," I replied blandly.

"We were just talking about what sorts of hair styles are most attractive," Sandy informed us, as if we cared. "Rachel thinks guys are into girls with edgier looks and I think they like girlier ones," she said exaggeratedly, placing her hand on her chest.

"Sounds nice," I lied as she moved away from the register so I could log on.

"What do you think, Sam?" Rachel asked flirtatiously, stepping closer to him.

"Uh..." he trailed, looking to me for help. My eyes shot to him, silently telling him to not answer that. I didn't want to hear about anything Sam found attractive about girls.

"It probably depends on the guy," Sam eventually said, his voice sounding smooth like he wasn't just caught off-guard a few moments ago.

"What do you prefer?" Sandy pressed further, twirling her long, black hair on her finger.

I gave Sam a stern look as he glanced at me briefly. His eyes softened at me, as if telling me to chill out.

"Honestly? I don't even think about a person's hair when I'm attracted to them," Sam answered truthfully. I could only assume he was telling the truth because I knew there was nothing special about my own hair, and he seemed pretty attracted to me.

"What about you, Mase?" Sandy asked, looking over to be briefly before setting her gaze back on Sam.

"No one cares," I told her with a sigh. "Aren't you guys supposed to be leaving now? Our shift started."

The girls didn't respond to me as they continued sending Sam flirtatious looks. Eventually they put their aprons away and bid us a goodbye and left the bakery.

"You make them so much less tolerable," I complained to Sam, leaning forward with my elbows on the counter.

Sam let out a laugh. "How is it my fault?"

"They're only like that because you're hot," I told him as he came to stand beside me. "They used to be more chill."

"Sorry if my hotness bothers you," Sam replied with a smug look, crossing his arms over his chest.

I rolled my eyes. "It only bothers me when other people notice how hot you are."

Sam shook his head playfully. "You're selfish."

I shrugged. "So what?"

Sam chuckled, looking at the customers to make sure no one was watching us, before leaning closer to me, putting his mouth against my ear.

"Your hotness really bothers me, if you know what I mean," he whispered seductively.

Having caught on to his sexual innuendo, I scoffed and shoved his shoulder to push him away from me. He just let out another chuckle, showing off his dazzling smile.

"Get to work, pervert," I said, which only caused him to laugh more.

"I love it when you boss me around," Sam replied with a smirk before heading into the kitchen to grab a rag to wipe some tables down.

I couldn't stop myself from staring at his ass as he bent over the table to reach the other side with the rag.

Maybe I was the pervert.

***

When Sam drove the two of us back to his place after work, neither of us expected Christo to be there waiting for us. He was sitting on the couch in the living room with Lila when Sam and I walked in. We each gave him a confused look as he waved to us.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked, pointing toward Christo.

Christo just shrugged. "I was bored and you weren't here so I waited for you."

He stood up from the couch, much to the dismay of a protesting Lila, and made his way to the stairs, presumably to go up to Sam's room.

Sam shook his head in annoyance as he followed behind Christo. I made sure to wave to Lila before heading up the stairs after the others. By the time I got up the stairs, Sam and Christo were already in Sam's room.

"Are you mad at me? What, am I cockblocking you?" I heard Christo ask as I entered the room.

Sam sighed. "No."

"He's not?" I asked jokingly with a slight laugh, walking in through the doorway.

"You guys can do whatever you were planning to do," Christo offered, sitting down on Sam's bed. "Pretend I'm not even here," he continued, holding his hands up expressively.

"What if we were going to have sex?" Sam asked, placing his hands on his hips. "You would want to be here for that?"

"Not particularly," Christo admitted. "But I'm lonely."

I couldn't hold back my laughter any longer. The two boys glanced at me with unreadable expressions as I doubled over in laughter at their exchange.

"You're ridiculous," I told Christo, sitting down beside him on the bed.

"Why can't you hang out with Jake or Owen? Or literally anyone else but us?" Sam questioned, standing in front of us.

Christo let out a groan, throwing his head back exasperatedly. "Jake is mean to me and Owen sides with him."

"Get over it," Sam told him. "Because Mason and I have plans."

Christo looked over at me. "What are you two doing?"

"Movies," I replied to which Christo's eyes widened in excitement.

"Can I go? Please?" he begged like a child.

Sam's response was instant. "No."

"Come on, Sam!" Christo whined, throwing his hands up. "If I'm there and we see people we know, no one will suspect anything is going on with you two."

I looked up at Sam who wore a grim expression on his face. Christo had a point, and Sam knew it, though he would never admit it. Sam looked to me for help, but I just shrugged.

"I don't care if he comes," I said casually, causing Christo to let out a cheer.

"At least your boyfriend is nice to me," Christo said to Sam, raising his eyebrows.

Sam let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine, whatever. Come with us."

Before anything else could be said, Sam's phone started ringing, He pulled the phone out of his pocket and checked the caller-ID before looking back up at Christo and me briefly.

"I have to take this, I'll be right back," he said before rushing out of his room and down the stairs.

I couldn't help but think of how odd that was. He never usually left the room to take a phone call, not caring if I heard what he was talking about. This only made grow paranoid, thinking he was hiding something from me. I usually didn't care about whoever he talked to because I trusted him, but he had raised my suspicions before and now I didn't know what to think.

"Why do you look like that?" Christo asked in a confused tone.

"Like what?" I let out quietly.

"Like that," he said, pointing to my face. "Like you want to throw up."

"I don't," I replied, setting my gaze on him.

"Yes, you do," he argued.

"Just drop it, Christo," I muttered in annoyance, pushing myself off of the bed to sit at Sam's desk chair.

After a few moments of silence with Christo, Sam came back into the room. I looked up at him and saw how casual he looked, not sharing the same paranoia that I felt. That only made me feel worse.

"Everything okay?" I asked him, standing up from the desk chair.

He nodded. "Everything's fine. You guys ready to go or what?"

Christo immediately launched himself off the bed and headed downstairs when Sam announced he was ready to go, leaving us alone for the first time since we had gotten to the house.

"Hey," Sam said, grabbing onto my arm as I moved to walk past him out of his room. "Are you alright? You look a little upset."

I mustered up the best smile I could, despite how I felt at that moment. "I'm fine. Let's go."

Sam gave me a curious look, clearly not believing what I had just said, but he didn't press me any further. He released my arm and the two of us made our way out to the car where Christo had perched himself into the passenger's seat. Sam started shaking his head at him as Christo looked up to make eye contact.

"Why are you shaking your head?" Christo asked, opening the door so we could hear him.

"Backseat," was all Sam said.

"No, I–"

"Backseat," Sam cut him off, pointing to the back of his car. Christo huffed but got out of the car anyway to allow me to have the passenger's seat.

"Just because he's your boyfriend doesn't mean he gets the front all the time," Christo complained from behind me.

"Yes, it does," Sam argued as he pulled out of the driveway.

"That's not fair," Christo replied and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he had a pout on his face.

"You owe me," I told him, turning around to face him. "I let you crash our date."

He was silent for a moment before nodding. "You're right."

I turned back around as Sam let out a scoff, but didn't say anything.

The movie theater we decided to go to was a little ways out of town. Christo complained just about every five minutes about how long the drive was taking, but it turned out to only be about half an hour away.

"You can sit by yourself in the theater," Sam said as the three of us walked through the parking lot to the building.

Christo's eyes widened and he looked as if he was about to protest before I cut him off.

"Don't be mean Sam," I said, giving him a knowing look.

Sam looked down at me with a blank expression before letting out a sigh and nodding at me.

"Fine," Sam mumbled, sending Christo a glare.

"There's a reason I always liked you, Little Maloney," Christo said, tossing his arm around my shoulder with a wide smile on his face. It didn't take long for Sam to shove Christo away from me and stand between us.

"Chill, Sam. I'm not trying to steal your man," Christo said, shoving Sam's arm.

Sam rolled his eyes. "The last time you hung onto him like that, you wouldn't let go and then you spilled beer on him."

Christo squinted, looking as if he was scouring his brain for the memory of that occurrence.

"I don't even remember that happening," he finally said.

I laughed, shaking my head. "That's because you were drunk off your ass."

Christo snapped his fingers. "That explains it."

The three of us made our way into the building and bought our movie tickets. Sam insisted on paying for mine which, funnily enough, helped settle my nerves about him hiding something from me. Maybe it wasn't even a big deal and it had nothing to do with me. I was just being paranoid and overthinking. I hated that about myself.

When the movie ended, Sam was gushing about how much he loved it and I couldn't help but smile at every word he said. He looked so happy and carefree, being my favorite version of himself.

"Rami Malek just played a really good Freddie," Sam said after dropping Christo off. "Like everything about it was just so good. Some of the stuff was inaccurate, but I don't even care."

I chuckled, smiling widely at him. "It was good," I agreed. "I'm happy you liked it so much."

"I loved it," he corrected with a toothy grin, reaching over to place his hand on my thigh.

As he drove away from Christo's house, I noticed he was going in the opposite direction of his own house. I turned to give him a confused look, but he didn't notice as he continued to smile as he drove.

"Sam?" I grabbed his attention.

"Hm?" he hummed, turning to face me briefly, his smile never faltering.

"Are we not staying at your house tonight?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. That caused his beautiful smile to fall.

"Something came up," he muttered. "I have to leave early tomorrow."

"You couldn't have told me this earlier?" I asked rudely, my annoyance shining through.

"Mase, I'm sorry," Sam said softly.

"Where are you going?" I dared to ask, knowing he wouldn't give me a straight answer.

"It's just a thing I have to go–"

I let out a humorless laugh and crossed my arms over my chest, staring out the window.

"Mase," Sam pleaded. "Don't be mad at me."

I didn't answer him and the two of us continued the drive to my house in silence until Sam spoke up again.

"Listen, I'm sorry. Can you just say something?" Sam asked as he parked the car outside my house.

I said nothing.

Sam glared at me and rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Fine be a baby about it."

I ground my teeth and sent him a scowl. "I just don't see the point in talking about it when you're going to lie to me about it anyway."

"No–"

"Don't even deny it," I said. "You've 'had somewhere to go' before and have given me no explanation about it."

"I just don't see why you need to know exactly where I am all the time," Sam argued, crossing his arms.

"I don't," I replied. "But you're being secretive on purpose."

Sam didn't say anything because he knew I was right. I scoffed and shook my head, taking my seat belt off and opening the car door.

"So you're just going to leave while you're still mad at me?" Sam asked incredulously.

"Yep," I replied, not even looking back at him as I slammed the car door shut and made my way up to my empty house.

**

So I just wanted to address something real quick. Quite a few people have voiced their disappointment in the lack of smut in this book so I wanted to tell you why I will not write it just so you understand where I'm coming from.

1. One of my main focuses in writing this book is to make sure I don't fetishize Sam and Mason or gay relationships in general. I don't think their explicit sex scenes are important enough to the story to include because that's not what the story is about.

2. I don't want this story to have a mature rating. I want this story to be for everyone to read. If it gets a mature rating it can be taken off of certain ranking lists and Wattpad can make some of my chapters private which would mean everyone who reads would have to follow me to read the private chapters. I like the idea of the story being accessible for everyone and for all ages.

3. I'm an adult and the thought of writing sex scenes about minors doesn't sit well with me (Sam and Mason are 17). I insinuate they do have sex because I know that's part of relationships, but I don't like the idea of writing an explicit scene. I also know that quite a few readers are young and I don't like the idea of writing explicit scenes for minors to read either.

So no, I will not be making a private book for explicit scenes and I won't have someone else write the scenes for me.

Sorry for the disappointment, but those are my reasons and they won't change.

ANYWAY, what did you think of the chapter?

What did you think about Christo butting in on Mason and Sam's date? What do you think Sam is hiding? Do you think Mason is being too paranoid?

Let me know!

Sorry for the long author's note :)