6.
A few hours passed and everyone except Gavin went home since they all had early curfews. Luke was sitting on his desk as he scanned through Gavin's English homework. They'd pulled up another chair so that Gavin was right next to him, shamelessly staring at Luke who didn't even notice.
"So you just have to read the text and analyze it to answer these ten questions, then write an essay explaining the meaning behind it," Luke said, reading the page. "This should be pretty easy. Have you read it yet?"
Luke glanced at Gavin, waiting for his response. He blushed when he realized how intensely the older boy was looking at him. "Uh, Gavin? A-are you listening?"
"What?" he snapped out of his trance, still slightly distracted by the pink color flooding his cheeks.
"Have you um, have you read this yet?" Luke pointed down at the book, silently begging himself to stop blushing. He was hoping Gavin would be too oblivious to notice how he always got so bashful around him.
"Yeah," Gavin answered, still barely paying attention. "Well I tried to but it's boring."
"It's Romeo and Juliet," he laughed.
"Exactly. Boring."
Luke smiled to himself, shaking his head slightly as he began to answer the questions on his own since he'd already read the book before. Gavin's attitude quickly changed when he realized Luke was only doing his work for him. He didn't want that.
He casually slid the paper away from Luke and set it in front of himself instead. Luke watched him, confused but also surprised as Gavin took the pencil and started doing the work himself.
"I thought you didn't pay attention in class," Luke said as he peeked over Gavin's shoulder to see what he was writing.
"I didn't," he grumbled. In all honesty, he was spewing half-assed bullshit that barely made sense. His teachers would most likely be surprised he did it at all and give him credit anyway.
Luke's brows scrunched together as he read what Gavin was writing. "You know they both die at the end, right?"
"Shit," he swore before erasing his answer to the first question. "How did they die?"
"Romeo and Juliet's families had a feud that forbids them from being together. The whole story is about forbidden love and the impact it can have," he explained while Gavin actually listened this time, "but at the end, basically they both committed suicide to be together."
"What?" Gavin spluttered. "They killed themselves over some stupid crush they had that their families didn't approve of? That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard."
Luke frowned. "It wasn't just about some measly crush. They were in love. The kind of love that's worth dying for."
"They'd move on eventually," Gavin shrugged. "They shouldn't have just killed themselves because it was hard."
Luke hummed, pulling his legs onto his chair as he hugged his knees to his chest. "I agree that suicide wasn't the most viable solution, but I get how they felt."
"You do?"
"Yeah," he nodded before resting his chin on top of his knees. The position he was in made him look even smaller and Gavin's heart clenched at the sight. "If I were them; I don't think I would've killed myself over it, but all of Shakespeare's work is dramatized for emphasis. He was pretty much trying to portray how love can do crazy things to people. Especially when people try to prevent it."
Luke's eyes darted toward Gavin's plump lips for a split second. He wished he was brave enough to kiss him. The moment would've been so perfect. But he wasn't, so he looked back up with another one of his signature blushes.
"Wouldn't they have been easier off if they just stayed away in the first place? Then it wouldn't have hurt so much when they were separated," Gavin pointed out, feeling the tension in the room rise.
"Maybe, maybe not," he sighed. "Either way, it would've been a tragedy."
"How?"
"Any lost love is a shame. Whether it's strong or just starting," he murmured. "It's a sacred emotion that shouldn't be suppressed no matter what the circumstances are."
Gavin looked down at his paper again and most of the questions started to make sense this time. "You sure know a lot about this stuff, huh?"
Luke grinned shyly, liking Gavin's praise. "As long as you put in the effort, just about anything is doable. There's only one class I've ever struggled in."
"Really? The Luke Wilson isn't perfect at something?" he gasped, exaggerating his words. "What subject could there possibly be that you're not good at?"
"Spanish," he huffed, embarrassed. "I wish I didn't have to take it but it's part of the graduation requirements."
Gavin's lips quirked up as excitement grew in his chest. "Yo puedo ayudar con eso." (I can help with that.)
Luke blinked at him. "Can you repeat that?"
"Esto va a ser divertido," he smirked (this is gonna be fun).
"Ohh," Luke drawled. "I didn't know you speak Spanish."
"No sabes muchas cosas de mi." (You don't know a lot of things about me.)
"You heard me correctly when I said that Spanish is what I'm bad at, right? Meaning that I have no idea what you're saying."
"I know, but this is fun. I can say whatever I want and you'd have no idea," Gavin laughed.
Luke fiddled with his hands nervously. He didn't like not being able to understand things, but at the same time, Gavin was teasing him and that made butterflies erupt in his stomach. That meant Gavin was comfortable around him. He couldn't help but smile. "Don't be mean, I'm helping you, remember?"
Gavin tilted up Luke's chin when his eyes focused on the ground. Their gazes met and it made both of their hearts start pounding. "¿Por qué estoy tan atraído por ti?" he whispered (why am I so attracted to you?).
"What did you say?" Luke questioned.
"I said that I have a proposition for you," he lied. "You help me with my shit and I'll teach you Spanish. That way we're even."
Luke wanted to deny him, he wanted to say that he didn't need anyone else's help and that he could do it on his own. But if he agreed then they'd be able to spend even more time together. "I guess that sounds fair."
"Sounds like we have a deal," Gavin grinned widely.
"That means we're going to be spending quite a bit of time together," Luke blurted out, cringing as soon as he said it.
But he relaxed when Gavin snorted. "Yes, it does, captain obvious. Is that a problem?"
"No, not at all. Just an observation," he replied timidly. "I suppose this means we're kind of friends now."
"Friends" wasn't exactly the title he wanted, but it was better than just being his best friend's little brother. They'd just have to work up to it. Or Luke would just silently hate himself for missing every single opportunity he got. That was the more likely outcome.
"Of course we're friends," Gavin scoffed. "And I'm slightly offended that you're just now realizing that."
"Sorry," he mumbled bashfully, cheeks flooding with color once again.
"Está bien. Es difícil enfadarse cuando eres tan lindo." (It's fine. It's hard to get mad when you're so cute.)
"Stop saying stuff I don't understand," he complained. "I feel stupid."
"Ahora sabes cómo me siento," he chuckled (now you know how I feel).
"Gavin, stop," he pouted.
Gavin's stomach flipped at how adorable the younger boy was being. Bottom lip jutted out, hair dipping into his eyes that were batting at him pleadingly.
"Okay, I'll stop," he gave in. "For now."
"Thank you," he sighed, glancing back down at Gavin's homework. "We should finish this before you have to go home."
Gavin's happiness faltered when he noticed how dark it was outside. Going home was the last thing he wanted to do. Not because he didn't want to see his family, but because he didn't want to leave Luke.
"Unless... unless you want to stay."
Gavin's eyes traveled to Luke who was blushing like crazy. He too didn't want Gavin to leave just yet.
They were starting to get more comfortable alone together and he didn't want to part ways, ruining that. Plus, he always missed Luke when he wasn't around. He was on his mind constantly. He hated and loved it at the same time.
"I want to, but I need to get back to watch Bella," he exhaled, disappointed.
"Oh," Luke said in a small voice, embarrassed that he finally put himself out there but got rejected. He kept reminding himself that Gavin wanted to stay and was just busy, but it still hurt nonetheless.
The older boy realized his sudden sadness and hesitantly reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "I'll see you at school tomorrow though. We can talk more then, okay?"
"Mhm," Luke mumbled, refusing to make eye contact anymore.
Gavin felt guilt slowly start to eat away at him, but couldn't ask his brothers or Elena to take his turn watching Bella just because he wanted to spend more time with his crush. They were all stressed enough. It'd be shitty to add to that.
But Luke looked so disappointed and it was killing him inside. It was obvious that the blonde was attracted to him and he knew that Luke must've taken it the wrong way. He was torn but in the end, had to put family first.
"Thanks for helping me today. I had fun," he said as an attempt to cheer Luke up a little.
"You did?" he questioned, wondering how on earth Gavin could've had fun when he looked so bored. He didn't know the jock was checking him out every chance he got.
"Yeah. I like spending time with you." He tried to sound casual as he put his homework back in his bag, but even he knew that he was coming across as flirty.
Half on purpose, half not being able to control himself.
"You do?" Luke repeated in shock as fireworks went off in his gut. He felt so happy it was nauseating.
Gavin rolled his eyes playfully. "Yes, I do." He slung his backpack over his shoulder and pulled Luke out of his seat by his wrist. "See you tomorrow."
Luke melted when Gavin hugged him. He felt so small and protected in his arms. He wanted to savor the moment and lock it away in his mind forever, but he was too startled to enjoy it and Gavin pulled away way too fast- before he could even hug back.
"I-I um, I uh, b-bye," he stuttered, watching with wide eyes as Gavin walked out.
He immediately collapsed onto his bed and buried his face in the pillow, squealing like a little girl.
A/N
I've got prewritten chapters done up until chapter 26 already lmao this book is probably my favorite out of all my others so far & the smut... 😦🖐🏻