“Hey,” Willem responded slowly, leaning his shoulder against the wall near the door. Raising an eyebrow, he nodded his head towards where the trio of friends were all talking quietly among themselves. “I figured that you were busy with them.” It came out as more of a question than a statement, Willem silently cursing his own uncertainty.

Shaking his head, Mathias leaned against the wall next to Willem. “No. Or I mean, not exactly. Gillian was just talking about how he's going to be joining the hockey team since the coach finally convinced him to, I guess. It's always good to have another reliable teammate, though we'll have to see how it all pans out with his actual skills.”

Willem ran a hand back through his hair, feeling exhausted. “Hockey…” The sport where Mathias and Lukas were on a team together… “Yeah, that sounds great.” He wanted to feel upset, but he just felt drained. “I'm sure if the coach was insisting that he join, then he must be at least somewhat decent.” It wasn't as though Willem really knew much about Gillian to be a fair judge of that himself.

“Yeah, all of the other team members are looking forward to it. Or most of them, at least,” Mathias said with a shrug, and it was there for only a split second, but Willem could've sworn that Mathias just grimaced.

It was an interesting revelation that made his thoughts want to spiral into a hundred other possibilities, but he pushed that to the side for right now. “That's good. Hopefully the team will be able to work together and you guys will do well.” Willem nudged open the door, stepping out with Mathias in tow since the other had yet to let go of Willem's arm. “So about last night--”

“Mathias.”

The icy voice caused both of them to freeze, though Mathias was the one who recovered first, pulling his hand away from Willem. “Hey, Lukas. How were your classes today?” he said, turning towards the overhang where his boyfriend was waiting in the shade though he made no move to go towards him. It confused Willem but he wasn't going to focus on that right now.

Willem turned slowly in Lukas's direction, his expression carefully neutral as he took in Lukas's appearance. Compared to Mathias and Willem, the man looked remarkably well-rested. His chin-length hair was straightened and had been dyed a platinum blond, the fringe being pinned back out of his face. His jaw was set in a stubborn line with lips that seemed to always be pulled back into an eternal scowl. Cold, gray eyes held little friendly emotion as they trailed their gaze over Willem. He wore expensive-looking black slacks and a pale blue silk long-sleeve button-up with a navy vest on top of it. The black dress shoes he wore looked as though they had just been recently polished.

The way Lukas carried himself was obviously that of someone who had been pampered and pretty much fed everything on a silver spoon. The clothes he was wearing, if Willem had to take a guess, more than likely cost more than Willem's entire closet combined. It made him cringe internally at the sheer wastefulness of money. There was a cockiness and arrogance in Lukas's demeanor that covered up an even darker side to the man that Willem could see. It was cold, calculating, ruthless...and heartless. Looking into his eyes, those dead gray eyes, Willem could tell that he had no soul. And the eyes never lied.

Willem hated him.

“You're late, Mathias,” Lukas stated, crossing his arms as he glanced at the watch on his wrist, blatantly ignoring Willem for the time being.

Mathias sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Lu, we literally just finished practice. We ran a little bit over because the coach was talking to us about the upcoming game that we have this upcoming Tuesday. It was important.”

Polishing his nails against his shirt, Lukas scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Well if that coach can't do his job right, then he should be fired.”

“Lukas…” Mathias's voice was tight, which Willem knew was a sign that he was starting to get upset or angry. What Mathias even saw in that asshole to justify staying with him for so long, Willem would never be able to understand or see.

Before Mathias could say anything else, another voice cut in. “Actually, the entire point is that the coach is doing his job. Besides, there's never a set ending time to the practices. It ends when it ends. With the season finals getting so close, the practices are going to be a bit longer just so that we can make sure that we're well-prepared for the games,” Antonio stated as he stepped out of the locker room with Gillian and Christopher close behind him.

The presence of the other three seemed to only darken Lukas's mood, causing him to turn away with a huff. “Whatever you say.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm. It ate away at Willem's nerves and the thin control that he had on his rising temper.

Before he could even think to do anything rash though, Christopher spoke up. Willem didn't know much about the guy, other than the fact that he always seemed to hang out with either Antonio or Gillian, was good with computers, and spoke with a French accent. “Again, we have a game on Tuesday, so we need all the practice that we can get to fine-tune our skills. It's going to be one of the biggest games of the season because it's going to decide if our team will move onto the semi-finals and give us a chance at making it to the finals.” He seemed to pause in thought for a few brief seconds. “Surely you must've known about the game? The whole school knows about it and everyone is going to be there. I would think that you would be there in honor of your boyfriend participating in the game?”

To Willem's surprise, Mathias opened his mouth as if to protest before his gaze cut over to Lukas. Whatever he had been about to say, he must've thought better of it, merely rubbing the back of his neck with a perplexed expression on his face.

Crossing his arms, Lukas raised an eyebrow, tapping his fingernails along the length of his forearm. “Of course I'm going to be going. I've gone to almost every single one of Mathias's games. How could I not? For all of our differences, I still love him.”

Willem narrowed his eyes slightly, thumbing the strap of his duffel bag. That line from Lukas felt like it had been rehearsed too many times. There was no way that he would be that caring or that he even was capable of love. It had to all be part of an act in order to gain sympathy and maintain his image as a caring boyfriend in front of everybody. The worst part of it was that everybody seemed to believe it. It made Willem want to slam his head against the wall in frustration that nobody could see how fake and two-faced Lukas was acting.

“Well if that's the case,” Gillian spoke up, clapping his hands together in front of himself like he just had a brilliant idea, “this Sunday we're going to be having a bonfire. You know, just to relax and hang out that evening before the game on Tuesday. You're welcome to come out and join all of us since I know Mathias is going to be there.”

“Actually--” Mathias tried to speak up but he was cut off by Lukas, causing Mathias to bite his tongue. It made Willem want to punch Lukas in the face. Not to mention that it seemed like Gillian was speaking for Mathias without his consent.

“Well then, I would love to go. You will give me the directions after the meeting the hockey team has on Saturday, since I presume you'll be there, Gillian,” Lukas instructed, jutting his chin out like a petulant prince. “I would've been offended if you hadn't invited me.”

Gillian let out a laugh before going over and giving Lukas a pat on the back that seemed to almost knock the wind out of the shorter male. “Don't worry, buddy. We wouldn't want that. Besides, it'll be fun to have some bonding time together. You always end up showing up to watch Matt but you never really stick around for any of us to get to know you,” Gillian stated, the guiding hand on Lukas’s back causing the man to walk forward as Gillian continued to talk. “Obviously we don't know each other that well, but when I was talking to Coach Falkner yesterday, he said that you were definitely one of the top players on the hockey team. I know he's praised my skills, but I doubt I have the same experience as you do…”