I waited for Clay to complete his run before I could speak. Even though the conversation we were about to have was way more important than the game, I still chose to have some patience.

And just as he deleted the world and was about to create a new one, I cleared my throat to get his attention.

"Why did you block George?" My voice made him stop what he was doing and turn around to face me.

"Huh?" I'm sure he heard me, but still went for the extra confirmation.

"You blocked George." My words were certain enough for him to understand, "Why?"

He spun on the chair slowly until there was room for him to get up and get on the other side of the bed from where I was sitting.

"How'd you know?" His voice was weirdly calm and collected, "Oh let me guess, he snitched?" But I could hear the ignorance even through the calmness.

"Why did you block him?" I ignored Clay's words and went ahead with my question. I'm not stopping until he answers.

"Why does it matter?" The fact that he was so uninterested in the conversation was daring to play with my temper.

"It doesn't?" I questioned him.

"No, we block each other all the time. It's just a joke." He chuckled, getting up for a moment to take his phone before coming back.

"Unblock him then. You got all the laughs." My words were simple but not effective, as he shook his head a "no" and opened twitter to start scrolling, "Listen, what's your problem?"

I hated when he did this. Just shrugging and chuckling. It made him seem like the most ignorant piece of shit there ever was, and I'm sure he even knows how much his behavior frustrates me.

"Why do you care? He's unblocked in your phone, you can go ahead and text him as much as you want to," and the saltiness came through, "when it comes to my choices tho, you shouldn't be this intrigued."

"He's your best friend, Clay." I stated, ignoring the stinging his words left behind.

"Again, sounds like a me problem."

He was basically telling me to not stick my nose in his and George's problems. And if I think with a cold head, then yes, maybe I shouldn't. But they both are important to me. I couldn't just watch their friendship bruise like this over something that potentially could have me involved in it.

"Seems like you need help solving your problems." I knew exactly how to trigger him. He absolutely despised the idea of not being able to solve something by himself.

"You can't help me. If anything, you're doing the opposite by talking about him."

He can't possibly be jealous. Not over this.

"What's the matter with you?" I still wanted to give him the chance to admit it without me pushing on him.

"He's just annoying me, that's all." He sighed.

"He hasn't done anything. Hasn't even texted you lately, how could he possibly annoy you?" I knew I was putting pressure on him, but I just wanted him to admit the reason of him acting this way.

"Yeah, that's the point. Hasn't even texted me lately."

"So you're telling me you're annoyed cause he hasn't been texting you?" I raised a brow.

He was hesitant when approving of my words, but he knew that if he didn't say yes to this, he'd have to tell the truth. It'd be easier if he just agreed to this, which he did.

"And you chose to block him so that he can't text you at all? You think that's a solution?" I confronted him.

My eyes caught the screen of his phone lighting up with a call. Right after my words.

God was on my side. It's George.

"Perfect. Pick up." I smiled, actually proud of George for finally acting his age and being mature enough to call.

"I'm not going to," he chuckled, muting the call immediately, "why should I? I don't want to."

"It's rude if you don't. Pick up." I wasn't going to force him. But at least he should know that he's doing the wrong thing.

"No."

I sighed, covering my face with both of my palms to collect myself. Maybe it's better if we just talk before he talks to George. I can only imagine him making the situation worse by picking up.

"Then talk to me." My voice tone came out a bit more demanding than I wanted to.

"What do you want?" Clay let go of an annoyed grunt, realizing that his stubbornness was nothing compared to mine.

"The reason why you blocked him." I looked him dead in the eyes.

"Because he hasn't been texting me." One could tell he was lying just from his voice, let alone the body language.

"Or because he's been texting me?"

Clay definitely didn't expect me to be that bold about it. But honestly, I was tired of seeing him act like this over nothing.

In my surprise he didn't speak immediately. Just looked at me for a few seconds before looking back at his phone. And he couldn't stay focused there for a while too. He grunted, sighed, took a breath. The words were choking him.

"So?" He finally looked up.

"Is that the case?" Maybe I should not push on him this hard.

"What if it is? Can you make a difference? You can't." He stood up, and I followed him to block his way.

I know I was trying to get these words out of his mouth, but I still didn't know how to react to them. Did he have a point? I didn't even know if he did or not.

"I can't, but you can."

I was trying to tell him that he could just get rid of his unreasonable possessiveness and stop acting like he was the only person I was allowed to talk to.

"Yeah, I can. I know I can," I'm not sure if he got my point, "but I need your permission for that."

I furrowed my brows, mouth parting but nothing coming out yet. I was too confused to even ask a question at first, but then blinked myself back to reality.

"Permission to..?" I was genuinely clueless.

"To tell him that you're mine."

There were so many things wrong with his sentence. There wasn't a part in it that was acceptable. Every single word was not okay.

But the way he said it.

No. Stop. It's not okay.

But he was towering over me when those fucked up words left his mouth. His voice got lower when he did, face expression pulled together, the brow wrinkle permanent like his jawline which got more defined as he realized what he said and pressed his teeth together.

"I hope you realize how fucked up that was." My eyes didn't need to search for his, he was already looking down at me.

"I hope you realize how much you fucked me up."

The distance between us was rapidly disappearing, and I don't even know how. As far as I remember, none of us moved an inch, but somehow I was left with the image of his face hovering over mine - close enough for me to smell the familiar flavor of the gum he'd been chewing.

"I can't do anything about it." My voice was almost inaudible.

"Be mine." His low voice sent shivers through my whole body, "At least for the night."

I took a shuddered breath when his lips brushed over mine. It wasn't a kiss, just our burning lips lightly getting in contact. But it did so much more to me than a kiss could do.

Completely intoxicated and numb from his presence, my brain formed a sentence that I would never say if I wasn't under his influence.

"Fuck me like you own me."