Emily clapped, indicating a sealed deal. "Good, because tonight there's that Man U Chelsea clash that I want to watch with you two, me and Matt trolling you all the way while you get your asses beaten."
Gale sprang up in his seat. "Since when have you ever supported United in any match?"
"Today. It'll be fun," she said gleefully.
"It won't," Gale said, narrowing his eyes. "And not just because we'll thrash them, but you can keep dreaming."
It certainly wouldn't be fun being around Matt for two hours, but with Emily around he figured he could manage, somehow.
"Whatever," Emily said. "I have to rush back to the house now and do some stuff. I brought your truck over, you're welcome."
Gale's eyes widened in disbelief. "You drove my truck?"
"Uh yeah..."
"Jesus, Em. Since when could you..." he trailed off as he pushed past her, headed for the outside.
Emily rolled her eyes and went after him. "Jeez, I didn't crash it."
"Not trusting you," he said, as he hurried even more, and Emily held back a snort.
When they got outside however, Gale's truck was still outside Emily's house, and he let out a sigh of relief, then rolled his eyes at her.
"Testing," she said laughing, then rushed past him to her house.
"What on earth did you do to your room?" Emily shrieked the moment she stepped foot in Gale's room, Matt behind her.
Gale followed the trail of her eyes, to her bare walls. His football posters were gone, leaving his cream walls bare. He shrugged. "Nothing."
"Is it because of that girl? I know you always feel like getting rid of everything when you are feeling low." She said narrowing her eyes at him.
"What girl?" Gale asked, confused.
"That girl you like, remember?"
Gale's face scrunched up a bit, then he remembered telling Emily that he liked a certain person, whereby she immediately assumed was a girl. His eyes shot over to Matt instinctively, to find the other guy watching him over Emily's shoulder, teeth gnawing on his bottom lip. His pulse picked up and he looked away fast.
"Uh, no," he told Emily. "I just wanted new ones."
"You'll have to tell me who it is now, you know?" She told him, getting further into the room.
"Tell you what?" He asked, scratching the back of his neck.
She rolled her eyes. "Who the girl is. Jeez, where's your head today?"
Distracted...
"No I won't."
"You don't have anything to blackmail me with anymore," she said grinning.
Yeah, now that Matt knew she liked him...
"I'll find something. Stop ranting now, the game is almost starting," Gale said and hopped over his bed, grabbing the remote and settling against the headboard. There was a plasma on his wall, which he tuned to Supersport.
Emily took Matt's hand and pushed him forward. "Have a seat."
Matt hesitated, then took a seat against the headboard too, but left space between him and Gale where Emily should have sat. Instead, she gesture to him and said, "Scoot."
Gale shot her a look, and she gave him a meaningful one. Clearly this was one of her ways to get them talking again.
Gale wasn't sure that was a good idea.
It wasn't.
"Come on, Matt. It's almost starting," she urged, looking at the screen where the line ups were on display.
Matt finally moved over and she sat beside him, so that he was between her and Gale.
"You guys want popcorn?" Emily asked, switching her gaze between the two.
"This is football, not a fucking movie," Gale replied, eyes stuck on the screen.
"Yeah so? Still getting it," Emily said and before anyone could respond, she jumped off the bed and left the room.
With her gone, it was as if the room fell into deep silence, even with the sound of the commentator as the two teams filed onto the pitch.
Gale had never been so tense watching a football match. Any normal football loving duo would be discussing the line ups at that point, but there was a much bigger elephant in the room to deal with.
All he knew was that he wasn't going to say sorry this time, he wasn't going say it had been a mistake.
He hoped Matt wouldn't say it wasn't a big deal, because it was.
"I couldn't tell her no," Matt broke the silence finally, his voice low. "I know it wasn't right, leading you both on, and I was going to tell her we couldn't go out again, but...she already looked so down because I didn't talk to her when we got back last night, and I just couldn't...I--"
"It's fine," Gale whispered, looking at the match kick off but not really seeing anything. He understood what Matt meant.
"I'm sorry," Matt added softly. Gale could see him looking at him in the corner of his eye.
He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "About last night?"
Matt was quiet for a while, then he shook his head. "No." Gale was still holding his breath when Matt added, "For hurting you."
At that moment, Gale felt the urge to become incredibly selfish. Especially because as he moved to make himself more comfortable, his hand brushed against Matt's, an instant shiver coursing though his entire body.
He wanted the guy.
He couldn't deny it anymore, and he definitely couldn't control it.
It was even more than that, it was like a need. Like he needed to see Matt so that he could go ahead with his day, so that he could fall asleep, so that he could think of any other thing that wasn't him.
His heart beating a crazy rate, and thumping so hard he could hear it in his ears, he froze his hand, letting it rest over Matt's and stay there.
He couldn't concentrate anymore, the sound of the TV seemed to come from far away, and the colours of his room lifted to oblivion, leaving only his awareness of Matt beside him, and the feeling of their skins together.
Matt didn't pull his hand away, giving his a squeeze.
"Gale--"
"I don't know," Gale muttered, the words barely making their way out of his throat. "I don't know how I can stay away from you."
Then he pulled his hand back, jumped over Matt and out of the bed and left the room, disappearing down the hallway.
Matt was still trying to gather his wits when Emily appeared, a large bowl full of popcorns in her hand. She took in Gale's absence immediately. "Uh, where's Gale?"
Matt rubbed his hands together and focused on the TV. "Uh, he had to, he had to go to the bathroom."
Emily made a face. "Weird, that guy never leaves his seat during a match. Anyway," she concluded, walking forward and taking a seat beside Matt. "Who's in goal for Chelsea?"
Gale returned to the room ten minutes later, hands stuck into his shorts pockets. His eyes roamed the room as the others turned to look at him, but they didn't miss the fact that his eyes were red and his nose rosy.
Emily's hand stopped mid flight, clutching a handful of popcorn. "Are you okay?"
Gale nodded, moving towards the bed. When he took a seat beside Emily, she didn't jump to the other side of Matt, luckily.
"Uh, you don't look so good, so I guess I'll have to give up the privilege of roasting you about the fact that you guys are one nil down," she said, watching him.
Gale perked up, his eyes zeroing in on the left top corner of the screen. "What the..." he trailed off as he noticed the score. "Oh fuck. Who?"
"Rashford, seventh minute," she supplied.
"We can't lose," he muttered, settling back. "We can't."
"You are, currently," Emily whispered.
The game ended two nil, dampening Gale's mood even more. Halfway through the match, Emily had leaned into Matt, getting all comfortable, which added onto Gale's conflicting emotions.
He wished Emily wasn't his best friend. Or rather, he wished Matt was with another girl who wasn't his best friend, because then he couldn't have wasted a second before trying to get him for himself, make him his.
He sounded like some love sick fellow but he was fine with that, he would be anything for Matt.
It wasn't his fault he couldn't forget how Matt had pushed him against the truck, how he had held his face so delicately, how he had moved his soft lips over his...
His lips on his jaw,
On his neck,
Wanting him to just touch him...
But here he was, watching him leave with his best friend, with absolutely no idea what he was going to do.
...how he was going to survive.
...how he was going to stay away.
He didn't want to.
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