“Hey Tristan” he said, his arms resting along the chain linked fence between us. 

I felt the heat rise up to my face again, a full fledged smile, only meant for him, breaking out on my face, “Hey there, stranger.” 

His smile reached his eyes as he heard my voice, the feeling that it was only us in the universe lingered heavily between us. It was a feeling that I had become instantly addicted to. 

“Hey Gage” 

Our trance was broken. Gage’s head turned to meet the wide smiles of the girls that were still coexisting with me on the other side of the bleachers, an aura of desperation from them tickled me even more. My body stiffened at the sight of Gage looking at them with a raised brow, my laughter threatening to explode out of my body at the look on his face. 

“Oh.... Hey” He answered, barely acknowledging their existence before he looked at me once more. 

His dazzling smile returned as his maple colored eyes met mine, the gleam in his eyes only being meant for me. Deep inside my inner self jumped up and down at the silent victory that I had achieved over the girls, their crestfallen faces lingering outside of my peripherals, a sight that jolted me with happiness.

I felt special.

Like I had gained some sort of traction in my battle with others, especially the girls, for the attention of the walking Adonis before me. A moment that would forever be burned into my memory for years to come. 

“Earth to Tristan” Gage’s voice echoed in front of me. 

My eyes blinked as my mind came back from space,  ““I’m here. I’m here” 

He chuckled at my reaction causing my face to burn like it was on fire. “So, am I still taking you home?”

“Of course!” I replied as I feigned shock, “Do you think I would risk this heat if I wasn’t in need of your services?”

Gage rolled his eyes at me, the smile never leaving his eyes. “Oh, I forgot how special I was to you.”

“I mean, I’ve always known that I could always count on my trusty chauffeur” I winked. 

He laughed at my words.

“Oh, so I’m your chauffeur now?”

“Darn tootin’”

“Looks like Gage the chauffeur might just make you walk, You sassy little shit” He smirked.

“You know you love me!”

Gage’s face softened for a moment before becoming playful once more, the small action being witnessed by me— and hopefully not by the girls.

“Maybe” 

I jokingly gawked at him, my face turning towards girls to show them my reaction to the audacity of his words. They looked back at me with similar expressions, their faces looked to be in disbelief of our openness with each other, confusion hidden behind their eyes. This type of interaction had always been a common occurrence for me and Gage, a silly banter that, in itself, could be posed as subtle flirting. Something I had become accustomed to over the years, a routine of always being ourselves with each other and forming a bond that was unbreakable. A bond that I— in my 17 years of life— cherished with all of my heart. 

Gage was my best friend. 

My body stood up with a mind of its own, a finger pointing at him in an exaggerated manner, “I call shenanigans, you asshole!”

Gage’s chest shook with laughter once more, a smile forming on both of our faces at the blatant lie he had spoken. Samantha and Jodie still watched us with bewildered faces, their faces trying to decipher our relationship to each other, since I had been quiet up until that moment. 

“You got me” Gage surrendered, putting his hands up in mock defeat, “Practice should be about over, let me get my stuff and we can get out of here.”

I nodded, my eyes trailing after his form as he ran into the crowd of his fellow teammates to get his belongings. Grabbing my backpack I felt the eyes of the girls boring into me, their pointed stares radiated jealousy from their side of the bleachers. A cocky smirk pulled at my lips, I turned to descend down the steps of the metal stands, feeling their eyes follow me all the way to the bottom. I had made sure to look and maintain eye contact with them the entire way, my smirk silently irritating them. 

Turning away from their burning stares I exited the stands towards the walkway, making my way towards the parking lot where Gage’s car was parked. In the distance I could see the white Volvo that his parents had surprised him with for his 18th birthday, a smile filling my face as the memory played back in my head. He had been so excited that day, tearing up from the overall excitement of finally having his own car. His parents had told me that they were happy to spoil their eldest son for making it to his senior year of high school. Many pictures were taken that day, Gage posing like a man on top of the world in front of his new car. I had silently chuckled at the outrageousness that had ensued afterward as he had driven all over Brindlewood in his new ride— which consisted of going down to Kay’s Ice Cream shop where his teammates were. 

“Tristan!” 

My body turned around at the sound of my name, seeing the walking adonis that was my best friend jogging towards me. The smile on his face the same addictive smile that always got me. My heart fluttered at the expression on his face as he jogged over to me, causing my cheeks to burn at the sight. Every time I saw him, in the weirdest way, felt like the first time I had met Gage Alexander, the butterflies filled my stomach and my senses always became hyper-aware, bringing forth my lovely anxiety. I could never understand the entirety of his hold on me and what it meant for our current ‘relationship’. It was something that had started to haunt me before the start of our senior year, filling me with even more anxiety the instant that I dwelled on it. But it always went away the moment I looked in to his maple colored eyes. 

“Hey! You ready to go?” Gage huffed, the smile never leaving his face. 

Snapping out of my thoughts I looked up into the face of the guy that, until recently, had started to swim in my dreams the moment I closed my eyes at night. 

I felt a smile still on my face, “Always.”

With that he led the way to his car, my eyes boring into his back as my thoughts continued to trouble me like they always did. We were in our last year of high school and the new school year felt like it promised to be quite the year for us. I could only hope that our senior year would be one for the books, that me and Gage would survive and come out the other side ready for the rest of our lives. All I had to do was make sure everything went smoothly and that nothing got in our way, so that we could walk the graduation stage together in June. After that I planned to have the summer of our lives before college, hopefully having everything figured out by that time. 

Gage looked back to me with a concerned look, “You doing okay back there, bud?”

“Yeah, just been in my head all day is all,” I replied, moving my legs a little faster so that I could catch up to him.

“Anything I should be worried about?” He looked down at me with a raised brow. A concerned look evident on his handsome face.

“Nothing I can’t figure out on my own.”

“You sure?”

“Yes Gage” I rolled my eyes, giving him a small smile at his concern. 

With that he dropped the subject, putting a hold on our conversation that I knew he would bring up later on. We had arrived at his car, the white of his Volvo glowing brightly in the hot fall sun. He stared proudly at his car, a smile reappearing on his face as he looked at his pride and joy sitting before us. Looking up I witnessed the shine of Gage in the sunlight, the sheen of his sweat giving him a slight ethereal glow once more. A vision which made me realize that, in that moment, I knew two things to be true.

Gage was my best friend.

And that I was completely, perfectly and incandescently in love with him.