11
Will lingered outside his house. The drive home wasn’t enough time to calm himself down. All he could think about was Jack finding out. Jack taking Amanda’s side. Jack telling Will they were done. But he couldn’t do anything. Will didn’t even have Birch’s number to talk to him, to follow up on that promise about not telling anyone. Will felt awful even thinking about that.
He dragged himself toward the house. His mom’s car was in its usual spot, and an unfamiliar one was parked in the driveway. Will side-eyed the newer model of a Ford Fiesta, the big one that looked like a beast. Did they know anyone who owned that kind of car? Maybe one of Mom’s relatives up in Dublin? Will entered the house quietly hoping to get to his room without seeing anyone. He clicked the lock and turned to find someone strolling from the kitchen to the living room with a bowl of popcorn in hand.
Gabriel.
“Welcome home,” Gabriel greeted. His eyes widened on Will, and his gaze darted toward the living room door.
“Hello.” Will took his tutor in. He’d changed out of the formal attire he wore at school into trackies and a loose t-shirt. Why was he here? Another dinner? Nobody had mentioned anything to Will. No. He had popcorn. He was dressed informally. Hanging out with Leah? Will wondered if she’d worn her black dress again when Gabriel was dressed as though he’d been working out.
Gabriel put the popcorn down on the small hall table and reached for Will. The way he kept looking over his shoulder sent Will’s heart into overdrive. Why was he reaching for him? Why was he making sure that nobody was looking?
And then Gabriel straightened Will’s shirt, centred the collar, and ran a hand through his hair. Will stiffened as heat flooded his body. He covered his face in embarrassment.
Gabriel chuckled and patted his shoulder. “You look less guilty now.”
“Sir—” Will began.
“Gabriel.”
“Gabriel.” Will couldn’t even speak. He lifted the other hand to help hide himself, and Gabriel laughed. “I’m so—” He was so what? What could Will say? He’d looked like he’d just been with someone, and there was no explaining that away. “God, that’s embarrassing.”
“Your mom thinks you were at volleyball practice,” Gabriel said, the amusement still clear in his voice.
“I was.”
There was a stifled sound, and Will peeked up to see Gabriel trying to hold back laughter.
“It’s not funny,” Will said, miffed.
“You were cheeky enough to text me during study and play it cool and now you're blushing like a virgin who—” Gabriel cut himself off, going a little red himself. He cleared his throat.
“Go on,” Will prompted, liking that he’d embarrassed himself. “I’m blushing like a virgin who—what? Gabriel?”
Gabriel bit his lip, looking mortified. Like with Birch, the gesture drew Will’s eyes downward. His lips didn’t look as soft as Birch’s, surrounded with a shadow of stubble, and cut into by a thin white scar on his lower lip.
His observation was interrupted by his sister. “Will!” Leah didn’t have the dress on. Only a tank-top with shorts. It was too cold for shorts. “Where have you been?”
“Volleyball,” Will replied.
“It’s nine o'clock.” Mom came out next. She still had her work clothes on. “Training was over at seven.”
Nine? How long had he been sitting in the car?
“It went on a little longer than usual.”
“Two hours?” She crossed her arms.
“No, like forty minutes.” Will exaggerated the time spent there a little. “After that, Jack’s dad invited me in for dinner. I was hungry, and I didn’t realise we had dinner plans.”
The sharpness left his mom’s eyes. She sighed. “Sweetie, you need to text me if you’ll be late. I worry otherwise.”
“I will next time. Sorry.”
When she returned to the living room, Will knew he was in the clear.
“We’re watching Silence of the Lambs,” Gabriel said as he handed Leah the popcorn. “Want to join us?”
Romantic. Why was Gabriel here? Was he just hanging out? “Tempting, but I have homework to do.”
Will needed to lie down. Anxiety was doing bad things to his body, and he recognised the sick feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.
“Since when do you choose homework over a movie?” Leah questioned.
“Since my maths tutor visited and will know the whole dog-ate-my-homework-excuse is nonsense,” Will answered.
“Do you remember in third class—” Leah started.
Will groaned. “Yes, I remember that.”
Gabriel looked between them. “What happened in third class?”
“Dad used mine and Leah’s homework sheets to put down a fire,” Will recalled. “The teacher didn’t believe us.”
Leah sighed. “Somehow only I got in trouble for that.”
“You’re the older sibling.” Will shrugged. “It’s your job to shoulder the blame.” He adjusted his bag strap and moved toward the stairs. The feeling in his stomach was getting worse. “Enjoy the movie.”
“Night.” Leah waved.
Gabriel gave him a look as he passed by. Will read it as I saw how smoothly you lied to your mom there. Will knew he wouldn’t rat him out. He wouldn’t have straightened Will’s clothes if he was going to do that.
Will got to his room and shuffled over to the bed. He took out his maths copy, but that was all. He lay down and massaged his stomach. He was going to throw up. He knew he was. It was only a matter of time…
*
“Will, do you want help with—oh?”
Will blinked the drowsiness away. He had dozed off. Rolling onto his back, he lifted himself onto his elbows and looked at Gabriel. He was leaning against the door with a guilty smile. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“It’s fine.” Will sat up. The clock next to his bed read pm. He’d been lying there doing nothing for two hours. “I could use help with math,” he said, though it came out more like a question.
“Sure.” Gabriel settled himself at the desk. Will joined him. “Are you feeling okay?” Gabriel questioned. “You’re pale.”
“I’m just tired,” Will sighed.
When Gabriel raised an eyebrow, Will blushed again. “From training ,” he stressed.
Gabriel shrugged. “Hey, I was a teenage boy before. I know what goes on.”
“Gross, Gabriel,” Will muttered.
Gabriel laughed. “Why is that gross?”
Gross because Gabriel sounded like an older brother tying to sound ‘cool.’ It made him sound like an adult adult, not a young adult. “You sound like an old man,” Will said. “Or a pervert.”
Gabriel squeaked, “A pervert?”
“ I was a teenage boy before . I know what goes on ,” Will mimicked, trying to match Gabriel’s deep voice. “God, you sound like a virgin.”
Gabriel looked at him aghast, floundering for a response. Will relaxed as he laughed. There. Gabriel looked as far from a tutor as possible when he was embarrassed. Gabriel gave up trying to defend himself and gave Will a rueful look that grew into a smile. It made him look very handsome, softening the edge of his good looks.
Will sank back in his seat, liking that Gabriel had his arm around it. “Where are you from?”
“Belfast. I grew up in the north end of the city,” Gabriel answered.
“And you have family down here? Your niece and her granny?”
“She’s my grandmother, Sarah’s great-grandmother. I’m house-sitting for her at the moment. There’s also my sister. She lives the next city over,” Gabriel explained. “She’s almost a decade older than me. I moved in with her when I went to college and sort of fell in love with this side of the country.”
That must have been when he’d met Leah.
“What part did you fall in love with?”
“The quiet,” Gabriel said. The same thing Birch had mentioned. Maybe there was something about growing up in a city that let you appreciate the countryside. Will imagined he would prefer a city. If there were more people, it would be easier to avoid being alone. Out here, one mistake and everyone knew about it. He was thinking about his kiss with Birch again.
“Are you okay?” Gabriel asked. Both his voice and the open expression were coaxing, as if Will could spill his secrets to him and everything would be okay.
“I’m stressed out,” Will answered. He focused on a spot on his desk, and that made talking easier. “With Mom and Dad fighting, getting kicked off the football team, failing half my grades…” The whole Birch situation, which was now, undoubtedly, a real situation.
“You aren’t failing any of your classes. And you aren’t going to.” Gabriel placed his hand over Will’s and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I’m sorry about what happened with your team. As for the first thing you mentioned—”
Will tensed, and Gabriel felt it because his hand got tighter. “If you ever want to escape the house for a little while, call me. I’m only a little bit down the road.”
“You wouldn’t mind that?” Will asked, confused.
“No, I don’t mind,” Gabriel said. He didn’t give Will an explanation why. Was it because he was Leah’s little brother, and they were friends? “I think for tonight you’d probably prefer to give the homework a break?”
Will tilted his head, finally looking at Gabriel once more. He was leaning on the desk, his elbow propped up on Will’s maths book.
Will almost made a joke about Gabriel being his tutor, but his heart wasn’t in it. “You wouldn’t mind?” he asked. Gabriel was the one who corrected their homework rather than Mrs Gray, and he was under instruction to report to her if they didn’t hand anything up. “I mean, you won’t turn around and give me detention if I bring no homework in, will you?”
Gabriel’s expression was soft. “Of course not.”
After Gabriel left, Will was out like a light. He didn’t see the text on his phone until the morning.
Gabriel: Sweet Dreams .