The atmosphere in the living room shifted to tense within the first few seconds following his arrival. Kaleb's piercing blue eyes which were contrasted so well with his dark brown hair darting from face to face as he stood silently, tall and straight holding two packs of beer in both hands. A spine-tingling grin lingered on his face.

Ethan slid his hand to my back, gently drawing a soothing circle on the fabric with his finger, transmitting a wordless signal that he wanted me to be at ease. I obeyed him without question.

"You were at the cemetery?" Kaden broke the short stillness. He gave Kaleb no chance to tell the whole story as the guy just started laughing hysterically.

By the time he watched, Kaden dropped to the floor because of his out of control laughing, Kaleb lifted an eyebrow. "What's wrong with this shithead? He's acting extra weird."

"Don't bother about him. He's in his own world now," Steve answered him. "Goddammit, I died again!" he yelled in frustration and tossed the controller on the floor.

Kaleb suppressed a chuckle and set the packs on the table, pulled a bottle of beer from the pack, and opened it, barehanded. He then went to bump fists with Steve after which he bent down to swat Kaden on the forehead.

Kaden cursed back at him and remained flat on the carpet with his legs propped up on the couch. I quickly turned my eyes away after Kaleb turned to his direction and came straight to us.

"What's up, my man?" he saluted his QB with a smile and took over the couch next to us.

Ethan smiled back, straightened his posture, and faced him. I realized he was doing it intentionally to block Kaleb's view of me. I could still see part of his face though.

"Who texted you to be there?" Ethan started.

Kaleb only shrugged and took a sip of his beer, licking his lips after.

"No clue. I received a text from this number. It said to bring booze to the cemetery so, I just assumed it was from one of you guys and that we were going to celebrate something like old times but when I got to the place, none of you guys were there," he told.

Ethan shook his head. "That's dangerous. You shouldn't fall for that crap next time. Bad stuff could've happened to my best receiver." Kaleb's lips curled up at his acknowledgment.

Next, the two of them moved on to discuss their next match against our rival school this Friday and it caused me to feel relieved since Kaleb appeared to be not caring at all about my presence. In spite of that, I tried chewing on these chips in the quietest way.

As long as Kaleb doesn't say anything to you, you're good, Andy. I reminded myself.

"What's that, Andrew? You said something?" Kaleb tilted his head aside, studying me.

"Sweet suffering Jesus," I muttered under my breath, and with a forced smile, I answered. "I've been quiet and minding my own business."

"I thought I heard you say you hate to be here," he speculated.

"Don't be a dick, Kaleb. Why would Andrew ever think like that?" Steve responded to him. Kaleb just gave a sardonic smile at that.

"You got a problem with Andrew hanging out with us?" Ethan confronted the guy, encouraging my heart rate to soar.

For the sake of cooling him down, I put my hand on his thick thigh. "It's alright, Ethan. Let him say what he wants." Gee, he really has a firm, muscular thigh.

Kaleb looked between me and Ethan with a quizzical look on his face. "Oh shit, I forgot you're his guardian," he sneered, pointing a finger at Ethan. "How much does he pay you to be his bitch, man?"

"Woof! Woof!" Kaden barked, out of nowhere, stopping Ethan to spat back at Kaleb. "Ethan is Andrew's bitch!" He later shouted that resulting in me, Ethan and Steve to rain him with curses and soda bottles.

A few moments later, Ethan leaned over to Kaleb and spoke in a dominant tone. "Think before you speak, man. I can make you spend the season watching from the sidelines. You don't want that, do you?"

Hearing that, Kaleb's expression morphed into dark anger. I could literary sense the temperature in the room plunge. Not to mention the fact that I was the only person who noticed his balled fists as he kept a sharp gaze on my best friend's face.

This is not going to end well.

I was becoming more afraid of what I now was about to witness. A big, blown-out sparring between Ethan and Kaleb and there would be only one definitive victor.

Both of the jacked guys had a reputation for brawling in the past but due to their athlete's titles, Ethan had decided to tone down his attitude for a while. Kaleb, on the other hand, believed otherwise. He was still going around breaking people's bones.

Kaleb broke a smile. "Jesus, loosen up a little, my friend. I'm deadass joking. It seems like being a QB and a captain is turning you into an uptight mess."

"Really? Fuck! I think so too," Ethan said with a sigh and rested his forehead in his hands.

"It's okay, man. I still love you," he stated, holding Ethan firmly by the shoulder. Ethan raised up his head and voiced a 'thank you' to him.

Did I miss something? Because I swear they were going to clock each other just now.

"Good thing you're here, bro, " Kaden mumbled. "I'm bored 'cause Steve didn't pay attention to me meanwhile these two, " he paused and pointed at Ethan and I. "Were going to do some homo stuff, " Kaden said in a hushed tone.

On hearing his words, I was stupefied, my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, mouth got dry and I felt my cheeks tinged in embarrassment. Ethan, on the contrary, only laughed his remarks off.

"Can you do us all a favor and shut up, Kaden? You're high and don't know what you see," Steve grumbled, being the sensible one among them.

"Homo stuff, huh?" Kaleb shot me a scowl.

"I need a glass of water." I passed Ethan the chips bowl, sprung up from the couch, and hurried to the kitchen. I needed to be somewhere no one could breathe down my neck.

What the fuck am I doing here and why on earth would I agree to come with Ethan in the first place?

Those questions were running through my mind as I was rummaging the fridge for anything to drink. I knew coming here was a dumb idea, but of course, my stupid-self had chosen to spend time with Ethan rather than working on my abundant homework.

"How long is this going to take?" Kaleb showed up behind me. He practically made my poor heart jump out of its place.

Palming my chest in attempting to calm my beating heart, I whirled around to a glowering Kaden. "Pardon?"

"When are you going to stop coming here?" His reworded question urged me to rack my own brain.

His beer breath stank so badly I had to back away from him. "I don't know."

Kaleb folded his arms over his chest, he didn't seem like he was satisfied with the answer. "Make up your goddamn mind. It's not that hard."

"Did I wrong you in any way, Kaleb?" I dared myself to ask back.

To my surprise, Kaleb shoved my back a bit hard that I almost fell over into the fridge. A small cry escaped me, however, he was quick enough to mask my mouth with his hand. He scared me too much my body actually squirmed in his hold.

"You listen here you filthy f—" Kaleb halted himself before he could say the word.

Did he seriously try to use the word on me?

The next thing he did was to grab my collar. "You need to stay the fuck away from Ethan. Now he's a captain, a QB, or in other words, someone who people look up to. Everyone is going to lose their respect for him if they see him with a sissy and when that happens, it's going to impact our team too. My team is supposed to be feared, not laughed at."

"Next time, try not to piss someone off when you're making a request. Because that's all it is, a request." I replied with some bravery left in me.

"That's a fucking order you weakling, piece of shit," Kaleb seethed and raised his fist to my face.

"Andy!"

We heard Ethan's voice approaching -- consequently, Kaleb withdrew himself from me. I stared at him in fear, trying to regain my normal breathing. He managed to pull a smirk on his face as he fixed my collar back and acted as if nothing happened.

"What are you doing to him?" A concerned look flooded Ethan's sharp features the moment he strolled into the kitchen. A sudden chortle burst out of Kaleb's mouth.

"I was just apologizing for what I said earlier. We are friends now," he lied. His tone had changed into a cheerful sound.

"Come on, let's get you home," Ethan told me and I shuffled to him with excitement inside despite being trembling like a leaf.

I was too relieved to see him and more importantly I needed to get out of this house.

"That soon? Dude, I've only been here for less than an hour," Kaleb complained and closed the fridge with his leg.

"Sorry, Kaleb. Apparently, Andy got to do some revision for what he studied today." Ethan ruffled my hair as he told him. Too shaken up to protest, I let him do what he pleased.

Kaleb's eyebrows quirked up in false amazement. "Bit of a nerd, are we? You should be my tutor, Andy."

Ethan chuckled at his proposition. "No one calls him Andy except me and his family. So..." He trailed off to which Kaleb held his hand up in defense.

Ethan turned to me, his usual puppy eyes were back. "How about we stop at In-N-Out drive-thru for some cheeseburgers along the way?"

"You paying, right?" I joked with an attempted smile.

"You need to ask?" Ethan flashed me his pearl, white teeth, and wrapped his arm around my shoulder before he led me out of the scary place.

Maybe Ethan was really my guardian.