13
Gabriel surprised Will again. They didn’t go to Will’s house; they went to a different one. A cottage on the top of an overgrown lawn. They walked up a pothole-littered driveway to get inside. It was cold. The living room and kitchen were one big room. It wouldn’t have been cramped except all the furniture in the living room had been pushed to the side to make room for a punching bag. The red material was covered in One Direction stickers.
Will examined them. “You can’t hate the band this much?”
“Sarah—that’s my niece—put them there.” Gabriel went into the kitchen. “And it’s not because she hates them. She puts those stickers everywhere . There’s even some on the toilet.”
“I’m pretty sure that does mean she hates them.” Will sat on a stool next to the kitchen island. Even though the cottage looked ancient from the outside, the appliances and the decor inside were all surprisingly modern. Will wondered how it was he didn’t know Gabriel’s grandmother given that she lived scarcely a fifteen-minute walk from his house.
“I can offer you either custard or carrot sticks.” Gabriel turned, holding up both options in either hand. He’d meant it as a joke, Will knew. Who would pick carrots over custard? But the amusement left when Will didn’t smile and say “custard,” or even “no thank you.” Gabriel put them onto the counter.
Will turned his face away. “I’m not much of a sweet tooth.”
Gabriel sat on the stool next to him, and he rested his arm against Will’s back. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Talk about what?”
Gabriel tapped his fingers on the counter next to him, and Will examined the scars on his knuckles closer.
Will didn’t want it to be uncomfortable between them. And he didn’t want to talk about anything. “Can you show me a few boxing moves?” he asked. “Unless that’s your gran’s boxing bag.”
Gabriel did. And Will realised how big their strength difference was when he saw how Gabriel could send the punching bag flying. “Why did you start boxing?” Will questioned. He felt better when they sat down again. When he was tired like this, it was easier to relax.
Gabriel’s shirt was pasted to his chest, and his cheeks were flushed from exertion. There was a pleasant expression on his face, one of enjoyment. “Before I came to live with my sister, I was a lot of trouble back home,” Gabriel explained. “I’d always get into fights, always skip school, torment anyone who annoyed me—which was everyone—and got myself arrested a few times.”
“Arrested?” Will repeated in surprise. He got fun-vibes from Gabriel, not troublemaker-vibes.
“I know.” Gabriel smiled. “You wouldn’t think it looking at me now. Lucky for me, I was never actually charged with anything.”
Will flicked his eyes over Gabriel’s torso. “I thought you were an athlete when you came into class at first.” Honestly, with Gabriel’s looks, it was impossible to imagine anyone giving him a hard time. His gaze moved to that scar on his lip. He reached out, tracing the cut, feeling the light prickle of stubble. As he traced the scar with his thumb his fingers rested against Gabriel’s throat, and he felt the jolt in Gabriel’s pulse, which let Will know he’d gone too far. “How did you get this one?” he asked. “From fights or boxing?”
“It was a fight. My dad.”
Will straightened. His eyes flashed up from Gabriel’s mouth to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
Gabriel caught his wrist, firmly bringing it down, but keeping it in his grasp. His look wasn’t accusatory, and his voice was gentle. “I know what it’s like living in a house with difficult parents.”
Will read his look and understood why Gabriel had brought him here, and not home. “ No, Gabriel, you’re wrong,” Will said quickly. “My dad doesn’t hit me. Nothing like that goes on.”
“I know.” Gabriel’s grip relaxed and his fingers spread out to caress his skin, exploring the soft inside of his wrist. “Trust me, if I thought that was the case, I would do something about it. When I say difficult, I’m using it broadly.”
It was the dinner, Will knew. It was that dinner Gabriel was thinking about right now.
Will collected himself. “It isn’t always like that,” he said. “And I’m an adult now. I can handle a few jabs about my grades.”
Gabriel knew it was more than that. And Will knew it was more than that, but it’s not like he could help the situation in his house, or change it at all.
“Do you still talk to your parents?” Will asked.
“My mom, occasionally,” Gabriel answered. “I call to let her know how I’m getting on, and she passes it along to Dad.”
“Do you miss them?”
“No. Yes.” Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t miss how I felt when I was with them. At the very least, I learned what kind of person I didn’t want to be. Which, now that I say that out loud about my own parents, makes me sound horrible.”
“You aren’t horrible,” Will said. “Not at all.”
That made Gabriel chuckle.
“Is that why you talk to me?” Will asked. “Because I remind you of what it was like for you growing up?”
Gabriel had a curious expression. He was looking at Will more intently now. “Actually, it was before I met your parents that happened. You reminded me of me when you were flirting with Cassie during study. I thought I knew what I was dealing with when I made you stay.” He chuckled. “I felt like an asshole after that meeting.”
“Because you kept me so late?”
“You are partially to blame for that,” Gabriel said. “You’re a chatterbox. But no, I went in thinking I needed to straighten you out, and then made an idiot of myself because you already were doing what you could to get by.” He shook his head. “Anyway, point is, you can talk to me if you need.”
Will felt compelled by the gentle fingers on his wrist to talk. But maybe it was because what Gabriel had opened up to him first, and he wanted to let it out. “It’s not anything to do with my family. And really, I can’t compete with what you told me.”
Gabriel nodded at him to go on.
“And it’s stupid.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Teen drama stupid.”
“That’s my favourite kind.” Gabriel propped elbow onto the counter and rested his weight in his hand, giving Will his full attention. Will missed his hand when he moved it to the back of Will’s chair. At least he rested his hand on his back.
“I have this friend, who I maybe had a crush on since I was younger. I honestly don’t know if it was a romantic crush or a friendship crush.” He took in a deep breath. “Anyway, they were the first friend I made at school, and I decided a long time ago that I’d rather keep them as a friend than try anything, and make things horribly awkward.”
“Friend crush.” Gabriel nodded. “I’m following so far.”
“We never talked about girls or boys or anything, and somehow, the topic came up. I may have asked why we never talked about that stuff.” Will leaned on the counter and let his hair fall down to hide his face. “And they told me it was because I always get jealous.”
Gabriel’s hand stilled for a second, but then he continued to rub his back.
“And then they were trying to reassure me it was fine, and we can pretend the conversation never happened.” The sick feeling came back to him. “At which point, I literally threw up and made Leah kick them out of the house.”
It didn’t sound as bad when Will said it out loud, which didn’t make sense to him because he felt so awful. “I didn’t realize I was so obvious. And I know smarts definitely aren’t my strong suit, but I’m not used to feeling that stupid.”
“You aren’t stupid,” Gabriel began.
“Instead of denying it, I kicked them out of my house,” Will said. “That is a special kind of dumb.”
“Will.” Gabriel wrapped his arm around him. “Please stop calling yourself dumb. You aren’t. And I think your reaction has to do with you being a straightforward guy more than anything else.”
“Yeah?”
“I saw you trying to lie to your mom the other day, and I’ll just say—stick to soccer.”
Will was offended enough to look at him. “She bought it.”
“If I wasn’t there, she wouldn’t have.” Gabriel shook his head. “Being bad at lying isn’t a bad thing. I’d take a straightforward guy over a smooth talker any day of the week, not that you aren’t slick when you want to be.”
“I don’t think ‘slick’ is a word that can describe me.” Will couldn’t help a small smile. Will didn’t know where he got that. Unless Gabriel considered a winky face emoji slick.
“Trust me, it can,” Gabriel said. “Have you talked to your friend since?”
Will turned his face away again. It wasn’t as if he were putting any distance between them though. Gabriel’s arm was firmly around his waist. The other had found his hand on the counter. The slow circles he traced on the back of Will’s hand were both relaxing and unnerving. He wasn’t used to being this close to people.
“I’ve been avoiding him.” Will sighed. “He’s been texting me all day, but I haven’t opened them yet.”
Gabriel stopped rubbing his hand. “Wait. Him ? You’ve been talking about a guy?”
Will’s chest lurched. The tone he used was unnerving… He took a second to gather his courage. “Yeah, I’m gay. I thought everyone at school knew by now.”
He turned to see Gabriel’s expression frozen. He let go of Will and then dropped his hand from his waist as quickly as he could.
It was as if he’d punched Will in the gut.
“Despite what you might believe, gay isn’t contagious,” he said, hurt.