The Squad Effect

Chapter 9 | That Word

Cameron Dallas

Nash is literally worst thing I've ever encountered in my life. I was walking down the hallway, my mind overcome with anger. I had just stormed off from the quad, where Ellie had just broken up with me. We were really hitting it off and then she just came and told me that she wanted to break up. She had said that Nash had explained the type of person I was to her, and she couldn't be with me because of it. I can't blame her for trusting her sibling more than me but, she knows that Nash hates me. That should've been a red flag to take whatever he says with a grain of salt.

This breakup has made me realize a few things. First, never date freshmen. Second, don't neglect your friends just because you're in a relationship. I needed somebody to rant to, but I had kind of put Taylor on the back burner for the past few weeks. Who knows if he'll even want to talk to me?

As soon as I walked into my room, I froze. The sound of faint moans could be heard coming from Taylor and I's bedroom. I recognized that the moans were Taylor's. Should I say something? There's no indicator on the door to show that he's having s*x with someone. He's probably just watching porn or something.

"Taylor? What are you doing?" I called out while chuckling to myself.

"Jacking off." He replied quickly.

"Do you need any help?" I joked.

"N-no! I'm okay."

"Can I come in? I need to talk to you." I asked while walking up to the bedroom door.

"Yeah, sure." He sighs. I walked into the room to see him closing his closet door.

"What'd you put in the closet?" I ask the shirtless boy.

"Just some toys I was trying out." He shrugged, his eyes darting back to the closet.

"You don't look like you're quite finished." I point out the bulge in his grey sweatpants. "I'm assuming those toys didn't do much for you."

"Yeah, I guess." He says nervously while collapsing on his bed. I laid down next to him.

"You're being weird, and it's all my fault, but don't worry. I've seen the error of my ways and I promise to spend much more time with you. I'm sorry." I apologized while gently clapping his shoulder.

"It's okay, Cam. Honestly, I'm not mad." He replies.

"You know... Ellie broke up with me." I admitted, trying to keep the sadness out of my voice.

"Damn, that's rough. You were really starting to get into that relationship too." Taylor sighed

"It's cool. I'm not going to freak out over a girl, that's not my style, plus there are plenty of sophomore girls that I can try to go after next. The possibilities are endless, so, why should I be hung up over one measly freshman." I tried to calm myself down while looking around the room. I spy a black sweater lying on my own bed. I got up, trying to remember if I've ever seen Taylor in a black sweater. I picked up the suspicious sweater and quickly realized it was a turtleneck.

"Oh my god, you're weird." I whispered calmly while turning to face him.

"What? Why?" Taylor asked while sitting up.

"This is Shawn's turtleneck. He's never seen without it anymore. Did you steal it so that you could jack off onto it?" I asked.

"Cameron, I didn't-"

"Oh my god, do you like him? If you're willing to steal and jack off onto his clothes, you must like him. This is huge, and creepy, but still huge! So, do you guys talk or something? How did you get to this stage of infatuation?" I basically interrogated him before throwing the sweater at him.

"It's complicated-"

"Is he even gay? I don't see him around as often as I used to, but he doesn't seem like he's had any grand revelations lately. Usually you can tell, right? If he is gay, then that would be perfect. You two would be, like, explosive in bed." I rambled excitedly.

"You're literally one of the most annoying people I've ever met. I've been meaning to tell you but I haven't really gotten the chance, between Ellie and class." Taylor crosses his legs while folding up the sweater in his arms.

"You're gay!" I guess while clapping my hands.

"No. I wanted to tell you that... Shawn and I have been dating in secret for about a month." He revealed. My jaw dropped as our closet opened. Shawn stepped out awkwardly, shirtless and slightly sweaty.

"Hi." I greeted Shawn, completely floored at the information that had been given to me.

"Hello." He replied, a subtle blush claiming his cheeks as he sat down on the bed next to Taylor. Taylor took Shawn's hand in his. He was so gentle, it was as if Shawn's hands had been made out of glass.

"So, wait. This could be a slightly awkward topic, but when I came in I heard moaning-"

"Don't worry about that. We weren't doing anything too crazy." Taylor shrugged off my insinuation.

"I'm practicing abstinence until marriage, but I still want to make myself and Taylor happy. So, what you heard was us, fooling around a little bit. I was s-"

"I am so happy that you're coming out of your shell, but that's a little too much information, babe." Taylor chuckled, cutting Shawn off mid-sentence.

"You're probably gonna discuss it later anyways." Shawn sighed.

"This is amazing news. I'm so happy for the both of you." I disregarded Shawn's statement. My good mood didn't last long after that. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and after I pulled it out, I realized it was a text from Ellie. I messaged her back as quick as I possibly could.

Ellie