I pull out my phone to see thirty messages on the group chat. I'm not sure why we made that thing. Every time I've ever been in a group chat in the past something has gone wrong, like now. I'm only ten minutes late and everyone's freaking out.
I knock on the door and Guy opens it immediately.
"Where were you?" he asks.
"Nice to see you too," I say, walking past him into the kitchen.
"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
"My overprotective boyfriend was worried about me?" I tease.
"I... yeah, he was."
Guy's face turns bright red and I can't help but laugh.
"It's not funny!"
"It's adorable. I was only late because I was getting snacks," I say, placing my bag of groceries on the bench.
His eyes widen, "Snacks you say?"
I shake my head, "Have a look."
Guy doesn't look in the bag, he simply slides it further across the bench before leaning up against it.
I grin, "Think you're smooth, huh?"
"Do I have to step up my game?"
His voice comes out deeper than usual and I have to bite my lip to stop myself from smiling.
Guy inches closer to me and whispers in my ear, "I'll take that as a yes."
He places his hand under my chin and pulls me into a kiss. I feel weak but I don't want him to stop.
"Oi!"
Guy removes his lips from mine and we turn to see Lola standing in the living room.
"Yes?" I ask.
"Aren't you two meant to be downstairs?" she asks, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"We're allowed in the basement?"
Usually Spencer doesn't let anyone except Emmett down there. Guy and I used to make jokes that that was where he hid bodies, but Spencer liked to call it his 'man cave.'
"Only for tonight since it's New Years and all."
Guy lets out a chuckle, "I think he just found a better hiding place.
I shake my head as I follow Guy and Lola downstairs into the basement.
"There you are!" says Tessa.
"Sorry I was late."
"No problem. Can we finally play pool now?"
I look around the basement. It's covered in band posters, has multiple couches and of course a pool table in the middle.
"Yeah, it sounds fun."
"Alright, gentlemen first," she says gesturing to Guy and I.
Guy flashes me a mischievous grin and hands me a cue. I have a feeling that this will be an intense game.
-----------------------------------
"Why won't you just win already?" Guy asks, panting.
"I thought you said you were going to wipe the floor with me."
"That was half an hour ago."
"Maybe we should just give up."
Ava, Tessa and Lola yell in unison, "NO!"
I let out a groan and lean against the pool table.
Guy is about to take his turn when we hear someone coming down the stairs. We turn to see Spencer standing with a serious expression on his face.
"Guy, I need to talk to you," he says.
"What's up?" Guy asks, putting down his cue.
"You know how Dave hasn't messaged you in a few weeks?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Turns out he's in jail."
"Why am I not surprised? What did he do?"
"Robbed a bank."
"Wow."
"Yeah, it's all over the news. I just thought you'd want to know."
"Thanks."
Guy picks up his cue again. I know what he's doing, acting all tough and like it doesn't bother him. But I know it does. Spencer leaves the room and I approach Guy.
"You okay?" I ask.
He looks away, "Yeah."
"Look me in the eyes and say it."
He turns to look into my eyes, "No, I'm not okay."
"How about we go upstairs and talk about it?"
He puts the cue down once more before following me to the living room where he takes a seat beside me on the couch.
I was expecting that I would have to prompt him into opening up but I'm glad to see that he is quick to get everything off of his chest.
"I don't see how he can keep fucking up over and over again. You know, I thought that he would have cared enough about my mum to stay with her when she was about to have a goddamn kid. And I thought he'd care enough about me to not rob a fucking bank and get himself locked up for God knows how long."
I place my hand on top of his, "I think he's just one of those people who doesn't really give a shit what he does."
"Yeah, and what does that say about me? I've spent my whole life trying not to be anything like him but he's still my father. What if I end up like that?"
"You won't. I know you Guy, and I know that you aren't like that. Yeah, you drive me fucking insane sometimes but I..."
I love you.
"I care a lot about you. Everyone who meets you does because you're a good person. And whether your father is or not has no bearing over that."
I wanted to tell him I love him so badly, but it's only a couple of weeks until he heads off for America, and I don't want to make this any harder than it needs to be.
Guy flashes me a half smile, "Thank you, I needed to hear that. Even the part about me driving you insane."
We both laugh and I'm glad to see him in a better mood.
"Ready for me to thrash you in pool?" I ask.
He grins, "You wish."
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After many rounds of pool, all of which I won, my friends are tired of trying to beat me.
"Who's next?" I ask.
"Let's just chill out until midnight," says Tessa.
I reluctantly take a seat on one of the many couches.
"It's been a crazy year, huh?" she continues.
"Tell me about it. Our friend group has changed so much, but I think it's for the best."
It's odd to think how much has changed. At the beginning of the year Mason left, then Amelia. That's something that I never thought would happen. Now we have Ava, and I think we are all truly grateful to have her as a friend.
"Not just that, but we've changed as people," says Lola, "I mean I feel like I've gotten a whole lot stronger after what happened with Chad. Tessa has been making amazing progress with her art. Ava and James have both gotten so much more confident and Guy got into music school."
She's right, we've all been through so much this year, and it's helped us improve ourselves in ways that we never thought were possible.
Ava joins in, "And James got top in our year group."
Tessa giggles, "That's not a change."
"I know, he's always ahead of Jason. It's still cool that they are both still doing well though, right?"
"True."
"You know what is a change?" asks Guy.
I turn to face him, "No, what is it?"
"You, Ava and I are out of the closet."
"Oh yeah."
I seriously can't believe how far I've come. Not that long ago I was only out to one person that I'm not even friends with anymore, and now I'm in an openly gay relationship. I'm so proud of myself as well as Guy and Ava.
Tessa smiles, "And you know something we all did? We made it through year 12. I don't know how we're going to survive year 13 without Guy though."
Guy chuckles, "I'm sure you'll be fine, it's whether or not I'll survive grade 12 I don't know about."
"Yeah, Spencer won't be there with you, will he?"
"Nope, it's a boarding school. It'll just be me and a few boys who will probably keep me up at night while they rehearse."
Tessa laughs, "If there's anyone I know that can make it through that it's you."
Ava lets out a small squeal, "Look!"
We gather around her and watch as the countdown on her phone reaches three seconds. We begin to count down in unison.
"Three, two, one, Happy New Year!"
I look around at my friends who are all smiling eagerly. I know that no matter what happens, no matter where we go, we'll all be alright.
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"Flight NZ53, this is your final call."
I watch as Guy gives Spencer a final hug before walking towards me.
"I should probably get going."
"Yeah."
He gives me a hug, followed by a kiss. When we lock eyes again I have to hold back tears.
"I wasn't going to tell you this," I begin, "But I know I'd regret it if I didn't. I love you, Guy."
"I..." he begins, before I cut him off by placing my finger over his lips.
"Don't say it back, I can't bare to hear you say it back."
"Okay. I'm going to miss you so fucking much."
"Me too. We're breaking up, huh?"
I can see that Guy is also holding back his tears, "Yeah. But hey, you're always going to be my best friend and this isn't goodbye. I'll see you later, okay?"
I force myself to smile as I reply, "See you later."
I watch as he hurries to his flight, and I miss him already. I hope that he's right, I hope that I can see him again. I'm not sure how I'll handle it until I do.