I could never escape his taunts and personal torment, especially when either Gage or their teammates were around, he took pleasure in making sure I felt, in a way, singled out by him. A target for his jabs and passive aggressive words, the only reason for his actions being to look better than me, and to feel justified for those feelings. Usually Gage stopped him before it got out of hand, but unfortunately he was still at the register talking to that girl. 

“Why Tristan, does it bother you that he’s over there talking to her?” Brent cocked his head, his antagonizing tone evident in his words, “ Does it make you sad that he might get her number and forget all about you?”

I kept my face stoic as he taunted me, “Gage is his own person, I really don’t have a say in what he does or who he does it with. I’m just his best friend, not his keeper.”

Brent looked at me like he didn’t like my answer, my body fought to keep its cool as his taunts played over and over in my head. I couldn’t let Brent win, he was only goading me because there had been an audience for him, people for him to play to. But this time he wouldn’t win, especially if I had anything to do with it.

“Only his best friend huh?” he pressed, poking around for weaknesses in the fortress that was my mind. 

I glared at Brent with everything I had, hoping that he felt the weight of my irritation with my stare. 

“Who’s my best friend?” Gage’s voice appeared from behind us. 

Brent and I visibly jumped at the sudden appearance of our friend, our attention focusing on him as he took a seat next to me, a drink being placed into my empty hand. My hand closed around the hard plastic of the soft drink, the coldness of the bottle grounding me, allowing for my annoyance to become dissipated with Gage’s gesture. 

“So what were y'all talking about again?” Gage asked, taking a drink of his coke. 

Brent looked at Gage like a deer in headlights, the inner workings of his thoughts visible from behind his blue eyes as he tried to figure out what to say. A smirk slipped onto my face, the satisfaction of watching him frantically gather his thoughts, in some weird way, pleased me. Gage had always made it a point to be the middleman between Brent and I, managing our hostility towards one another so that the two of us could coexist with each other. The rest of the guys—the teammates that happened to join us during our heated exchanges— usually tried to be passive about our arguing, but they seemed, or from what I had observed, to take Brent’s side. I knew they silently questioned Gage and I’s friendship, but I figured they didn’t see it as much of an issue as they always remained silent about the topic, allowing for Brent to be the only one to challenge me directly. 

“Bro, did you or did you not flirt with that girl up at the register?” Brock asked, taking the spotlight of Brent and I. 

“The girl at the register? Oh you mean Katie?” Gage replied, causing me to silently hold my breath, “Nah, we were talking about something that happened in Government yesterday. Dude I was just being friendly, plus she’s not my type.” 

A triumphant smile filled my face as the breath I had been holding released like a gentle sigh, the churning in my stomach becoming an afterthought.

“Aw man, that's what Tristan said” Their other teammate stated, my victory visibly hitting Brent like a subtle blow to the stomach, “But, dude,  I never knew you had a type.”

“Yeah I do. I’m a sucker for brunettes, even more of one if they have light green eyes. It's the best kind of combo in my opinion” Gage explained, sending a wink and a cheeky smirk in my direction. 

My eyes widened, the blood in my body suddenly became settled in my face as I looked away, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. The fact that Gage’s type of ideal person had fit my description was like something had clicked, like he had answered the question from the other night in his own way. My brain filled with infinite possibilities of what his answer meant and the future of our relationship—no matter what path it led us down. The feeling of happiness swelled within my chest, my heart suddenly feeling light and beating at a mile a minute, my emotions finding harder and harder to contain themselves. As fast as the glee started, it was suddenly deafened as I looked at Brent, who still sat across from me. The coldness of dread filled my veins, replacing the happiness that had just resided there a split second before.

The thought that Brent would catch on before me and Gage had figured anything out lingered in the air, a vague weight that seemed to be only felt by me. Brent finally came into my point of view, his silent pouting visible as he sat not paying me or the others any attention. Brent hadn’t noticed the exchange between us. The feelings that had started to overwhelm the feelings of joy within me had cancelled each other out, allowing for me to sit there in a strange state of equilibrium. In that moment, I felt at ease at the thought of being able to have more time to figure out my feelings with Gage, but in the back of my mind I knew I needed to stay on my toes. 

We still needed to sort it out. 

“Hey Tristan, you ready to get out of here bud?” Gage asked, breaking me out of my daze. 

“Guys, you’re heading out already?!” Brock sputtered. 

Brent looked up from his pouting, “It’s a little early don’t you think?”

“Well unlike Tristan, I take forever to do my homework, so I need to get a start on it before it's too late” Gage replied, scratching the back of his head. 

His other teammate, who’s name still eluded me, looked at Gage with a raised brow, “Why don’t you just get Tristan to help you or even do your homework for you?”

“Not gonna happen, because he knows better” I smirked, shrugging my shoulders while raising my hands, looking at my best friend mischievously, “I like him, but I don’t like that much.” 

Gage looked at me with a deadpan expression, “Ha Ha very funny, bud.”

I smiled at him, the smile reaching my ears as his expression never changed, the smile evolving in laughter as Brock made a sound like the cracking of a whip with his mouth. Their other teammate laughed as well, Brent staring at us with an unamused expression. My head snapped around with the feeling of Gage’s long arm wrapping around my shoulders, learning me in the direction of his white volvo.

“We’re leaving now, we’ll see you guys later!” He shouted back, his attention focused on making it to his car. 

“See you guys!” I turned to wave at the sound of Brock’s voice, Gage’s arm squeezed slightly keeping me faced forward. 

“Hey you know what I said was hilarious,” I said, looking into Gage’s face as the distance between us and his friends grew larger the further we walked, “That was Grade-A comedic gold between me and Brock.”

“Oh yeah, the both of you were super hilarious” he said, his words dripping with sarcasm. 

“Oh c’mon we were just joking” 

“I know, but he made it sound like I use you for better grades”

“They know you’re not, they’re probably surprised because they think I help you all the time, even though I don’t” I replied, trying to twist the situation onto a more positive note. 

“Yeah we know that, but they don't” He said, leading me to my side of the car. 

“Don’t you think you might be overreacting, just a little bit?” I asked, finally twisting my way out of his grasp. 

He opened the door to my side of the car as I stared at him, waiting for him to answer me. 

“Maybe a little, but I’ll get over it” he mumbled. 

“Well if you're going to be like that” I crossed my arms over my chest, “Then I guess I won’t be helping you with your homework anymore.”

 “You can’t be serious?” He looked at me startled. 

“Of course not, but you need to get over yourself. It was just a joke”

“I know, I know” 

“Okay. Now let's go so that I can help you with your homework” I smirked, earning me a tender look from Gage.

“Thanks, Tristan” 

“You’re lucky that I love you” I replied, earning the soft smile that I had started to become addicted to as he walked to his side of the car.

If he only knew the meaning that hid behind those words.