Chapter 1
One
“There are very few who have the heart enough to be really in love without encouragement”
My eyes scanned over the finely typed words over and over again, the spine of the book creaking as I decided to finally close it, allowing the words to disappear from view. Elizabeth’s cousin, Charlotte, really had a way of speaking when it came to being a hopeless romantic, her insight on love becoming something that could only be described in a painfully true way.
Relatable.
Painstakingly relatable.
So relative that I had used Jane Austen’s most famous book— and my favorite novel of all time— Pride and Prejudice as a form of escapism, mostly to drown out the fangirls from the other side of the bleachers. The way they constantly swooned and giggled were like nails being run down a chalkboard, and it was all for nothing; they were always ignored. They would point out into the vastness of the soccer fields and point out a guy or two that they thought was hot, making sure to do a grand gesture in hopes they would be noticed. Alas, they still failed.
My eyes followed their fingers, scanning over the sweaty bodies of the soccer players. Hearing the roar, that I had tuned out while I was reading, of the players calling out commands and adhering to the yelling of their coaches. Soccer, on the other hand, was an enigma to me, something that my uncoordinated body would never dare to even try or comprehend. The memories of my failed attempts at the sport flashed through my mind, sending shivers down my spine at the atrocity that had been my so-called ‘athleticism’. I had made sure to keep those memories locked away in the deepest darkest parts of my psyche, the key being thrown into a figurative shadowy lake in an unknown far away land.
My younger self never stood a chance.
The giggles of the girls had snapped me out of my train of thought, the image of the players coming back into my field of view. The afternoon sun was beating down on all of us, reminding everyone that fall in Texas was in full swing— better known as Hell's Front Porch. It was the pseudo fall that most Texans had come to know and love, unconsciously reminding the bible thumpers that satan’s playground might have been closer than they thought.
A chuckle escaped me as I was reminded of the small mindedness of Brindlewood, the town that I had become too familiar with since birth. The thought tickled me, having known everyone in town for the majority of my life, never having the opportunity for something or someone new. They had made it hard to keep secrets or, better yet, have the ability to maintain a comfortable level of privacy. Escape from Brindlewood, in regards to me, would be into the open embrace of college. A sweet caress that the snickering girls next to me would never experience.
“Who’s that, Jodie?” One of the girls pointed out into the soccer field. Her attention focused on the group of guys chasing enthusiastically after the checkered ball.
She pointed at him.
He stood tall, slightly peaking over the rest of his teammates. His strawberry blonde hair glowed angelically in the sunlight, large amounts of hair products causing it to stand in many directions towards the sky. Underneath his navy uniform hid a lean muscular body that drove the girls next to me wild; a few guys on the team even stared at it hungrily.
He was a walking adonis.
His smile formed on his face slowly as he teased his teammates with the ball, the simple act taking my breath away and making my heart pound in my ears. A subtle heat crept onto my face as I stared at a guy that could compete with the statue of David, his handsomeness standing out amongst the other players. God was he beautiful.
“That’s Gage” Jodie sighed, “Isn’t he dreamy?”
My eyes strained to keep themselves from rolling out of my skull, the other girls agreed wholeheartedly with her question. They stared in a daze at the attractive guy before them, the girls, in that moment, only having eyes for him. The other players might as well have been chopped liver. I watched as Gage’s body moved across the field, his bright voice interacting with the rest of his teammates. The way that his muscles moved with each action of performing the act of soccer, actions that had been more distracting than I thought they would have been. Maybe soccer wasn’t so bad after all.
Gage traveled quickly down the field, leaving his teammates in his dust. He dribbled the ball expertly with his feet, his eyes honing in on the goalie like a battleship locked and loaded to fire upon the enemy. With a swift kick of his foot he launched the ball towards his target, the ball slightly curving as it made its way towards a part of the goal post that was out of reach of the goalie. His teammate sprang into the air, the player’s hands outstretched to catch the soccer ball that made its way towards the empty space. The ball skimmed the edge of the goalie’s gloves as it crashed into the net of the goal.
Gage pumped his fist in the air in excitement, his body lifting off of the ground from the force of it. A smile appeared on my lips so wide that it threatened to rip my face, pulling at my cheeks in a hurtful way as I couldn't contain it. His teammates rushed to catch up to him, their hands patting his back in congratulations at the amazing goal. It was like I could feel the adrenaline that Gage seemed to radiate from across the field, the toothy smile never leaving my face as I felt the pride of him having made the goal. He was an amazing soccer player, even going as far as being the star player and captain of the team, his teammates following his lead with ease. He was a walking dream and those of us in the audience never wanted to wake up.
The rest of his team wandered over to a series of benches that were situated in front of the bleachers, picking up water bottles to hydrate themselves as their team captain followed suit. Gage stood in front of us, tilting his head back to take a drink from his water container, the bobbing of his adams apple catching my utmost attention. He was a sight to behold, the sweat dripping down his face and underneath his clothing made me and the girls blue with jealousy. Then he did something unexpected. With a one swift motion of his hand, he picked up the bottom of his shirt to wipe away the water dripping from his lips.
Multiple breaths hitched.
The girls and I acted in unison like we were in sync, as we were blessed with the sight of Gage’s perfect body. His stomach muscles rippled with each intake of air into his godly form, our jaws mentally dropped so they could be picked up off the figurative floor at the sight. His sun-kissed skin, evidence of the hours spent from training this past summer, glistened in the sunlight from the sheen of his sweat. I had never wanted to be a water bottle so bad in my life.
“Jodie, is he single?” the girl asked, snapping out of her stupor.
“Samantha. Girl.” Jodie answered, her face never leaving the sight that I was also transfixed on, “As far as I know, he is so single that it should be a crime. No girl in school has snatched that fine boy up.”
“Well hot damn, looks like soccer is my new all time favorite sport” Samantha proclaimed, her eyes devouring Gage from beside me. With that proclamation my eyes rolled hard, my vision still being filled with the immaculate specimen that was Gage, my inner and outer self refusing to look away.
Gage’s head looked in the direction of the bleacher’s as if he had heard Samantha’s words, all three of us being caught in the act of gawking at the guy. His eyes locked with mine, my body froze in that instant. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, a well known grin playfully coming across his lips. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach at the sight of his smile, a smile similar to his own formed on my lips pointed right back at him. He raised his hand to wave in our direction, the girls silently freaking out that Gage Alexander had just acknowledged them. I shyly waved back at him, a warm feeling setting into my stomach calming the fluttering of the butterflies inside it, my heart still beating a mile a minute.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the girls trying to be subtle as they fixed their appearances, our eyes looking forward to realize that Gage had jogged over to the fence that had separated us from the field. The girls started to squeal in excitement, my food from lunch a few hours earlier threatened to make an appearance— not really best suited for my current audience.
“Hey Tristan” he said, his arms resting along the chain linked fence between us.
I felt the heat rise up to my face again, a full fledged smile, only meant for him, breaking out on my face, “Hey there, stranger.”
His smile reached his eyes as he heard my voice, the feeling that it was only us in the universe lingered heavily between us. It was a feeling that I had become instantly addicted to.
“Hey Gage”
Our trance was broken. Gage’s head turned to meet the wide smiles of the girls that were still coexisting with me on the other side of the bleachers, an aura of desperation from them tickled me even more. My body stiffened at the sight of Gage looking at them with a raised brow, my laughter threatening to explode out of my body at the look on his face.
“Oh.... Hey” He answered, barely acknowledging their existence before he looked at me once more.
His dazzling smile returned as his maple colored eyes met mine, the gleam in his eyes only being meant for me. Deep inside my inner self jumped up and down at the silent victory that I had achieved over the girls, their crestfallen faces lingering outside of my peripherals, a sight that jolted me with happiness.
I felt special.
Like I had gained some sort of traction in my battle with others, especially the girls, for the attention of the walking Adonis before me. A moment that would forever be burned into my memory for years to come.
“Earth to Tristan” Gage’s voice echoed in front of me.
My eyes blinked as my mind came back from space, ““I’m here. I’m here”
He chuckled at my reaction causing my face to burn like it was on fire. “So, am I still taking you home?”
“Of course!” I replied as I feigned shock, “Do you think I would risk this heat if I wasn’t in need of your services?”
Gage rolled his eyes at me, the smile never leaving his eyes. “Oh, I forgot how special I was to you.”
“I mean, I’ve always known that I could always count on my trusty chauffeur” I winked.
He laughed at my words.
“Oh, so I’m your chauffeur now?”
“Darn tootin’”
“Looks like Gage the chauffeur might just make you walk, You sassy little shit” He smirked.
“You know you love me!”
Gage’s face softened for a moment before becoming playful once more, the small action being witnessed by me— and hopefully not by the girls.
“Maybe”
I jokingly gawked at him, my face turning towards girls to show them my reaction to the audacity of his words. They looked back at me with similar expressions, their faces looked to be in disbelief of our openness with each other, confusion hidden behind their eyes. This type of interaction had always been a common occurrence for me and Gage, a silly banter that, in itself, could be posed as subtle flirting. Something I had become accustomed to over the years, a routine of always being ourselves with each other and forming a bond that was unbreakable. A bond that I— in my 17 years of life— cherished with all of my heart.
Gage was my best friend.
My body stood up with a mind of its own, a finger pointing at him in an exaggerated manner, “I call shenanigans, you asshole!”
Gage’s chest shook with laughter once more, a smile forming on both of our faces at the blatant lie he had spoken. Samantha and Jodie still watched us with bewildered faces, their faces trying to decipher our relationship to each other, since I had been quiet up until that moment.
“You got me” Gage surrendered, putting his hands up in mock defeat, “Practice should be about over, let me get my stuff and we can get out of here.”
I nodded, my eyes trailing after his form as he ran into the crowd of his fellow teammates to get his belongings. Grabbing my backpack I felt the eyes of the girls boring into me, their pointed stares radiated jealousy from their side of the bleachers. A cocky smirk pulled at my lips, I turned to descend down the steps of the metal stands, feeling their eyes follow me all the way to the bottom. I had made sure to look and maintain eye contact with them the entire way, my smirk silently irritating them.
Turning away from their burning stares I exited the stands towards the walkway, making my way towards the parking lot where Gage’s car was parked. In the distance I could see the white Volvo that his parents had surprised him with for his 18th birthday, a smile filling my face as the memory played back in my head. He had been so excited that day, tearing up from the overall excitement of finally having his own car. His parents had told me that they were happy to spoil their eldest son for making it to his senior year of high school. Many pictures were taken that day, Gage posing like a man on top of the world in front of his new car. I had silently chuckled at the outrageousness that had ensued afterward as he had driven all over Brindlewood in his new ride— which consisted of going down to Kay’s Ice Cream shop where his teammates were.
“Tristan!”
My body turned around at the sound of my name, seeing the walking adonis that was my best friend jogging towards me. The smile on his face the same addictive smile that always got me. My heart fluttered at the expression on his face as he jogged over to me, causing my cheeks to burn at the sight. Every time I saw him, in the weirdest way, felt like the first time I had met Gage Alexander, the butterflies filled my stomach and my senses always became hyper-aware, bringing forth my lovely anxiety. I could never understand the entirety of his hold on me and what it meant for our current ‘relationship’. It was something that had started to haunt me before the start of our senior year, filling me with even more anxiety the instant that I dwelled on it. But it always went away the moment I looked in to his maple colored eyes.
“Hey! You ready to go?” Gage huffed, the smile never leaving his face.
Snapping out of my thoughts I looked up into the face of the guy that, until recently, had started to swim in my dreams the moment I closed my eyes at night.
I felt a smile still on my face, “Always.”
With that he led the way to his car, my eyes boring into his back as my thoughts continued to trouble me like they always did. We were in our last year of high school and the new school year felt like it promised to be quite the year for us. I could only hope that our senior year would be one for the books, that me and Gage would survive and come out the other side ready for the rest of our lives. All I had to do was make sure everything went smoothly and that nothing got in our way, so that we could walk the graduation stage together in June. After that I planned to have the summer of our lives before college, hopefully having everything figured out by that time.
Gage looked back to me with a concerned look, “You doing okay back there, bud?”
“Yeah, just been in my head all day is all,” I replied, moving my legs a little faster so that I could catch up to him.
“Anything I should be worried about?” He looked down at me with a raised brow. A concerned look evident on his handsome face.
“Nothing I can’t figure out on my own.”
“You sure?”
“Yes Gage” I rolled my eyes, giving him a small smile at his concern.
With that he dropped the subject, putting a hold on our conversation that I knew he would bring up later on. We had arrived at his car, the white of his Volvo glowing brightly in the hot fall sun. He stared proudly at his car, a smile reappearing on his face as he looked at his pride and joy sitting before us. Looking up I witnessed the shine of Gage in the sunlight, the sheen of his sweat giving him a slight ethereal glow once more. A vision which made me realize that, in that moment, I knew two things to be true.
Gage was my best friend.
And that I was completely, perfectly and incandescently in love with him.
