"That's bullshit!"
Charles exclaimed wildly, hitting his hands on the table. He was always being overdramatic. Trent watched him with his head in his palm. He didn't want his friends to make a big deal over his breakup with Sydney, his girlfriend of two years.
"Well, that's what she said, okay," Trent said, just trying to get his friends to stop talking about it.
"But that's not fair," Ryan chimed in, "how could she want to slow the relationship down to get to know you first when you've known each other since third grade?"
Trent just shrugged. He didn't know how to get out of the conversation besides just walking up and leaving.
"Well, how are you feeling about it?" Drake said, worried. Trent looked up and smiled, "Honestly guys, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."
Drake watched Trent carefully before letting the subject go. He hated seeing his friend sad, but Trent truly didn't look upset. Drake and Trent have known each other since middle school, which has given Drake the displeasure of seeing Trent have a few breakups. Of course, now that they were in high school, the relationships were lasting longer. Trent was known for being very friendly and likable around their school, which is very true and most likely the reason most girls liked him at one point or another. Even some guys.
Drake himself never really had many girlfriends. Only one through freshman year of high school. He was never interested in relationships, and he usually chalked that down to his focus on other things like school. He was usually quiet around people who weren't his friends, and he wasn't keen on meeting new ones. As far as he knew, he didn't even know how to be romantically involved with a girl.
Michael was the next to speak, but their food was called from the cashier. They were at Whataburger, their usual hangout. Ryan got up to get it.
"Let's switch the subject, I have a great idea." He was making wild hand gestures. "Since my Youtube channel has recently reached 10,000 views, and a-350 subscribers," He said excitedly. "I would like to film a video around the school, like a 'day in the life'."
"No offense Michael, but I doubt any of your subscribers care enough to watch that." Drake chuckled. Trent and Charles laughed along.
"Oh c'mon, some of the thousands of viewers might want to."
The whole table, almost on cue, simultaneously rolled their eyes. Including Ryan, who had just sat the food down. All of the guys murmured thank yous and picked up their wrapped burgers.
"Drake, why do you order such weird stuff?" Charles asked after Drake unwrapped his burger with swiss cheese, bacon, and honey mustard sauce.
"What's wrong with it?" Drake asked, taking a large bite.
"Well it sounds kinda disgusting," Charles replied like it was obvious.
Trent rolled his eyes. "Come on, Charles. You think everything you haven't tried is disgusting. I think it looks pretty good." He eyed the burger and then his own. They ate in silence, except for Michael occasionally bringing up his video idea again.
Trent finished before the others did. He rested his head on his hand patiently, watching the others eat. Drake always liked the way he did that. It was aesthetically pleasing to look at, like those stereotypical 'cute' guys in romantic comedies. Drake wouldn't say that out loud, let alone admit to himself that he liked Pretty in Pink or Say Anything. In hindsight, he didn't even recognize how feminine his tastes were. Trent was the one who pointed it out quietly when they were talking together. Fortunately for Drake, he never made a big deal about it.
"Hey guys, I gotta go to Michael's before we go home," Drake said, throwing his trash away.
Michael, truly confused, "Why do you have to come to my house?"
Ryan rolled his eyes, "He meant the art store, you fool."
"Well, I'm sorry I didn't get that." He replied, mock angrily.
"That is kinda confusing," Charles said, looking down and thinking to himself.
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.