Chapter Four

Time passes and Matthew is standing in front of Collin's house wearing a shirt that is the darkest shade of blue he could find in his closet. Why he choose to actually listen he didn't know but it was too late now. Matthew holds on to the box containing Collin's present with one hand and extends the other to knock. But before he can even knock he loses his courage and draws his hand back away from the door.

Okay, all you have to do is knock. It's not that hard just extend your hand and knock on the piece of wood called a door. Matthew, finally convincing himself and gathering all of his courage he had lost, knocks on the door and waits for it to be opened. He had come to the party early, surprisingly, and the first person here since by the looks of it there wasn't many cars parked outside. Matthew looks at his feet, tapping his foot against the porch waiting for someone to open patiently.

The door opens, Matthew looks up and sees Collin. Collin was wearing a very dark green shirt which seemed very ironic to Matthew that was wearing darker versions of each other's eye colors. Collin steps aside, no words had come out of his mouth to say anything to Matthew.

"Ummm.... Where should I put your...." Before even finishing his sentence Collin pushes Matthew against the wall taking Matthew out of breath. Matthew doesn't know what to do or what to say so he finishes his sentence

"Where," Matthew gulps quietly, his heart racing feeling nervous about what Collin might do. "Where should I put your present?" Collin looks at the box, his eyes holding anger and sadness. Collin takes the box and places it on the couch softly and as Matthew is about to leave and get away from the wall Collin pushes Matthew back into the wall roughly.

"Why? Why did you do that?" Collin said as his hands start to tighten his shoulders having a firm grip of Matthew against the wall.

"I... I... Collin, what are you talking about?" Collin lets go of Matthew, backing away, and before Matthew could even get away Collin comes back and punches him full force making him fall on the floor as his nose starts to bleed.

"How could you huh? How could you make me seem like a fool?" Collin gets closer to Matthew but Matthew backs away from him covering his nose with his left hand to prevent the blood from falling on the floor. "I thought that for once we could be friends. That we could actually get along but then you have to ruin it making Joshua turn against me."

"What... What do you mean by making Joshua turn against you?" Matthew looks up at him, feeling confused and hurt. Not because of the punch, which did hurt, but because he believed that they could be friends too. He was hurt because Collin didn't trust him and he was in pain because of him.

"I heard what you two were talking about. That he believes that I'm supposedly like you. Being around you was the best yet worst thing I have done in my life. You changed me in so many ways, you have no idea what you do to me and you don't seem to care about me at all." Collin turns around but too late, making Matthew notice the tear rolling his face.

"I do care Collin. How did you even hear us talking if you were across the parking lot far away from us?" Matthew was so confused, no one possibly normal would be able to hear what they were talking about which made him feel uncomfortable at the thought. Collin got close to him and Matthew hesitated, what if Collin would hit him again? What is he thinking when he is looking at him? Matthew gets up, hand still covering his nose to keep the bit of blood still coming from his nose from falling on the floor. Collin comes closer, making Matthew shiver and take a few steps back. Matthew finally reaches the wall, his back pressed against it as much as he can to get away but Collin's face has a blank expression. Collin gets closer and Matthew stands up tall to take the hit he was expecting. Instead of a hit, Collin pulls on Matthew's shirt taking something off of it that he didn't realize was there until now.

"What is that?" Matthew whispers with a shocked expression on their face.

Collin half-smiles and whispers, "This a microphone. I have been listening to every noise that has happened around, every word said, and even every vehicle that has passed by you."

"Wait how did you even get a microphone on me without me noticing?" How? I think I would have noticed if he did.

"When we were in the library, I was whispering in your ear to distract you. You were too busy looking around to see if anyone was around that you didn't even notice me touch your shirt." Matthew shakes his head, it can't be, can it? But then he realizes that he actually felt something slightly touch him but just ignored it because Collin was in his personal space.

"Wait, but I changed before I got here. How did you even manage to get a mic on this shirt?" Okay, Collin is really starting to creep me out. Why did he even want to hear what I was saying in the first place?

"When you were at Charlie's, I told her to convince you to wear the navy shirt because not only is it the only one you have but you are easy to convince when it comes to Charlie."

"Wait but that still doesn't explain how the mic got on this shirt, are there two?"

"Yes and no it's a bit complicated," Collin looks the other way feelings quite embarrassed that he actually did something like that. "I got Charlie to take the mic off of you and when you were in the restroom upstairs, she went downstairs and handed the mic to me. Then I drove to your house, your mom let me in and I put the mic on the shirt because you tend to talk to yourself out loud when you are nervous. I just knew I had to listen and figure out what you were thinking and in my mind that was the only way I could."

"Wait, Collin what do you mean sort of with the two mics?" I always believed I was heard but not like this. What in the world? Why did Charlie even agree with helping him with something like this?

"I got Charlie to record the conversation you guys had. Once you left she sent it to me and I heard every word you two talked about." Matthew blushes, just at the thought of Collin listening to everything since that morning made him anxious.

"Collin, I... I... Why did you record me in the first place? Why did you want to know what I was thinking in general? You could have asked."

"I... I don't know I always found you so interesting and I knew that if I asked you wouldn't tell me everything. Did...." Collin hesitates with the question which just makes Matthew the most anxious he has been in a long time. "Did you really mean every word you told Charlie?"

Matthew hesitates, what is he supposed to say. Yes then feel embarrassed at his own words or say no then not know if maybe Collin is as confused as he is. "I... Collin I...," Matthew shakes his head, You can do this Matthew. Just say the truth. "Yes, I did. It's just your sudden interest to talk to me just has me going crazy. I don't even know what to do or say at this point."

"I think you shouldn't stay at the party. I think it's for the best for both of us to keep our distance for now until this whole situation dies down and becomes just some rumor." Collin finally leaves the wall and sits on the couch right next to his present.

Matthew walks closer to him and sits next to him, only the present between them, keeping a very small distance between each other. "A rumor? Really Collin? Do you not care about your feelings? Our feelings? Is your image that important to you for you to hide away and let people believe what they want to believe?" Collin looks at his hands in his lap, Matthew shakes his head just at what they were going through, all of this just for a stupid image that wouldn't matter in the future.

"Look, Collin, I care about Charlie and so do you, that's one thing we can really agree with as people but if we are not going to be around each other if you are going to treat me like a piece of trash, then fine but don't do it in front of Charlie. Charlie doesn't deserve the stupid decisions we make to affect our relationship with each other, agreed?" Matthew looks at Collin, he can see the pain in his eyes but he just nods in response.

Matthew gets up, finally realizing that his nose had finally stopped bleeding, he lets his nose go and opens the front door to leave. Before he leaves the door Collin grabs his arm gently which caused Matthew to stop. Matthew turns around, now face to face, Matthew is trying not to tear up as he sees how much sadness is consuming Collin. Collin looks okay but the thing that told Matthew he wasn't okay was the look in his eyes. You could see the tears starting to form but his face overall was expressionless.

"To answer the question you had about me when you were with Charlie is yes I am, I am but I am afraid of what others will say. I am still debating whether I like both or just one." Collin half-smiles and lets go of Matthews' arm.

What is he talking about? what question? Come on Matthew think and remember what you asked Charlie? All of the thoughts were consuming Matthew but he asks nothing for that matter, not even to clarify his mind from the doubt he had about his supposed answer. Instead, he whispers a soft goodbye and walks towards his truck. Collin closes the door and watches Matthew leave from his window. Once his truck is out of sight he finally lets a tear fall. He runs upstairs with the present Matthew gave him and calls off the party saying it was a family emergency. He takes his phone and immediately calls Charlie only to have Bethany, Charlie's mom, answer the phone.

"Collin this is Bethany, you need to come to the hospital right away."

"What why?" Bethany hesitates, debating whether she should tell him or not. "Please Bethany what's wrong?"

"It's Charlie. She couldn't breathe, she was like this before and the doctors thought it was just temporary but now they think it might be something severely worse."

"I'm on my way." Collin hangs up the phone, why out of all things did this have to happen to him on his birthday. An hour later in the waiting room, Collin tries to calm down but the tears are just inevitable. Bethany hugs him while Caleb, Charlie's dad, rubs his back and tries to comfort him with his words. Finally, after what seemed to be forever, the doctor allowed them to come in and visit her.

"Mom, what happened? What's wrong with me doctor?" Charlie says not hesitating to ask once they come into the room. "Please, Doctor I need to know." Charlie starts to tear up just at the thought of something terrible happening inside of her.

The doctor looks at her clipboard not even knowing what to say anymore so she decides to say her most honest opinion about the situation "Look, Charlie, I'm going to honest with you and say this is not something you can easily overcome. We think we know what you have but we have to know for how long have you been feeling this way."

"I remember having a few breathing problems four years ago but I didn't really care about it. It started getting worse and worse and now it's the worse that I have ever felt."

"Well we ran some test on you, we just need to thoroughly examine the results. You are free to wait in the lobby for your results." With that Collin and her parents wait for Charlie to get dressed in the waiting room and a few minutes later show up and hugs Collin for comfort.

They sit down just patiently waiting for the results. Charlie looks around and sees two families, one that is crying tears of joy because their only child was healthy while the other was crying tears of sadness and fear because it was the third time their daughter was diagnosed with cancer, each time being a different one she had to overcome.

Collin could see the worry in her eyes and rubs her back for comfort. Time passes and everyone seems to get more anxious by the minute, more scared and impatient as time keeps going. Finally, the doctor arrives and calls out Charlie's name. Charlie gets up along with her mother while Collin and her father follow close behind.