Murder and Musicals

Chapter One: Break Up

The guys collectively shook their heads at Charles. "What do you need at Michael's?" Trent asked as the five of them got into Michael's car.

"Mrs. Granger needs watercolors for a decoration project we're working on for Library Aid," Drake explained from the back seat. He was sitting between Trent and Ryan.
"Does that even count as a real class?" Ryan asked, "Like, do you do any work for grades."
Drake scoffed, "Hell yeah we do work in that class. Do you think I get these hands dusty on books for no reward?"
Michael chuckled, "That's what she said."

Trent playfully slapped the back of his head.

"I am DRIVING, Sir! Do you want to play with your LIFE? I will turn this car AROUND!" Soon enough everyone in the car was laughing, and Trent quietly apologized.
"That didn't even make sense," Drake said, still recovering from laughter.
"Alright. Beam me up SCOTTY!" Michael shouted in a 50's broadcaster voice, accelerating.

-----

Drake waltzed through the aisles of Michaels, looking through the various types of watercolors. Trent was right next to him, monitoring the paints as well. Michael and Charles were fighting with foam swords in the kids' crafts section, whilst Ryan was filming them laughing to himself.

"I don't think Mrs. Granger needs professional paints, Drake." Trent chuckled as Drake picked up an expensive watercolor palette. Drake slightly laughed and put it down. Trent looked over at Michael and Charles and laughed.

"How are they in high school, yet so childish?" He said. Drake couldn't help but notice how contagious Trent's laugh was. He was noticing more things about Trent since he first thought to himself that he was attractive. Because of that, he'd been questioning a lot of things in his mind. Like every time Trent looks him in the eyes, every time he sends him a text, every time he smiled...

Yeah, Drake was having internal issues.

Trent went back to searching on the watercolor shelves, while Drake kept accidentally sneaking glances up at him as he crouched to look at other paints. Trent did the same, but he sometimes did that with a lot of people. He had a trait where he stared at people for a long time, noticing all of their features. He read that it helps you be a better person if you can memorize peoples' faces. Honestly, he doesn't know why he follows the tips, but it's become a habit. He stared at Drake and mentally scanned him, even though he's done it before.

He had clear, pale, porcelain skin, a platinum blonde fringe haircut, extremely light freckles across his nose, and very long eyelashes. His face was perfectly heart-shaped, and his smile was always attractive to look at...

Trent has never thought of any of his guy friends as more than platonic, except for one time in 8th grade. Nobody ever brings up that time, but everyone was aware of how infatuated Trent became with him. No one ever made him feel romantic, at least not exactly. Although, he did feel different towards Drake from his other friends. Probably because he seemed to care more.

Drake reached up to look at a palette with 25 colors, and Trent reached down as well. Their hands brushed suddenly, startling Drake. He retracted his hand, uncontrolled by him. If he was fully aware of the situation, he probably wouldn't have moved his hand. He fell backward and nervously laughed it off.

"You okay?" Trent leaned down and offered his hand, mildly suppressing a laugh.

Drake stammered, "Yeah, I'm fine." He grabbed Trent's hand, and he pulled him up. Suddenly, being close to Trent felt natural, like he was supposed to be near him. A complex pool of emotions fled around him, and he was comfortable..yet uncomfortable. The only thing he could think of doing was saying, "Thanks," and grabbing a random watercolor palette off of the shelf.

"Ready to go?" Ryan said from behind Drake, causing him to jump.
"Yeah, I'm good." Drake smiled, smitten. He found himself unable to look at anything other than the floor or Trent's shoes.

"En Garde, you wench!" They heard Michael shout from the other aisle, soon after hearing a grunt from Charles.
Ryan sighed. "Well, we should probably get them before they get kicked out."
"Yeah." Both Trent and Drake said, going to pull the swords away from the boys.

Drake couldn't help himself but think about Trent as he went to bed. It almost exhausted him, how much he wanted to be around him. He knew this was a crush, but he couldn't tell why. He'd never liked a guy before. Yet again, he didn't like many girls. The bad thing is that he liked his best friend. He was also worried that Trent would find out. He obviously couldn't deny that he liked him, but he knew no one could ever find out. He wasn't about to lose his best friend over a crush. But it was almost more than a crush, and that honestly kind of freaked Drake out. He hugged a pillow and held it close to him.