CHAPTER ONE

God, I fucking love Rollies ice cream, Ryan Huff thought as he took a spoonful of his strawberry flavored rolled ice into his mouth. He paused for a moment, closed his eyes and savored the taste of it before gulping it all down in one go.

"Can you stop moaning?" His best friend Nora deadpanned, making him open his eyes to glare at her.

Ryan shook his head as he took another spoonful, not necessarily bothered by her words because well, the ice cream just tasted so good that he could not even consider not moaning. This was the reason why they come to Rollies every Sunday evening.

Rollies was a cute ice cream bar in the center of town, just a few blocks from the town hall. Since it's inception three years ago, Ryan and Nora had made it a weekly tradition to visit it. Not only did it help in satisfying the two best friends' cravings for ice cream, it also gave them a reason to hang out at least once a week outside of school.

Going to Rollies had become a strict part of their routine, so much so that when they met their other best friend, Ruxie, they couldn't help but invite them to join the ritual.

Ryan smiled to himself as he watched Nora try to take every last bit of the chocolate ice cream in her cup, putting it to her lips as she tilted her head back and smudging the corners of her lips. She was cute and precious and kinda funny, which was a trait he really liked in her.

She was also really pretty with curly black hair, light green eyes that sparkled with joy whenever she spoke, and full pink lips. Her pale skin was marred with freckles just below her eyes and over her cute button nose. She also stood at an average height of five feet and five inches, just three inches shorter than Ryan.

Ryan had known Nora Jacobs for about four years. They met in the last year of middle school when Ryan first moved into Redwood Valley. Since he left his friends behind and was new, the black haired girl kind of took him under her wing and introduced her to her friend group. However, after entering high school, they all parted as some of those friends moved to other high schools and others just made new friends.

Like the latter, Ryan and Nora met Ruxie in freshman year and the three friends had been inseparable since.

"When do you think Ru will get here?" Nora asked when she was done practically licking out all the contents of her cup.

Ryan shrugged as he checked his phone. "They said in about two minutes," he said as he looked up and smiled when his eyes landed on Ruxie who had just walked into the bar. "Oh there they are!" Ryan exclaimed as he waved them over.

Ruxie was taller than both Ryan and Nora at six feet, and they wore it with Pride, teasing them often about how short they were. They were dark skinned with pretty brown eyes and long curly hair that was dyed purple. Ruxie absolutely loved wearing jewelry so it was no shock to Ryan to see them wearing about three chains on their neck, all in different lengths, a couple of rings on both hands and a nice charm bracelet that he remembered they got from their vacation in Morocco last summer.

Ruxie was currently wearing a cropped orange tank top with a pair of light blue mom jeans and a pair of brown sneakers. They also had on their favorite Burberry jacket which Ryan absolutely loved.

"Hi!!" Ryan greeted when Ruxie neared their table.

"Yo," they smiled with a little wave and then sat down, looking at their friends empty bowls. "Y'all couldn't wait a little bit? The fuck?" The seventeen year old almost groaned making both Ryan and Nora chuckle sheepishly.

"Sorry," said Ryan, his face flushed. He knew that Ruxie had warned them to wait so they could all enjoy the rolled ice cream together but he simply could not resist. "Let me get yours, on me."

Ruxie didn't mind that and smiled widely, clasping their hands together as Ryan got up.

The blond haired boy asked his friends what they wanted and then walked towards the counter, almost bumping into another boy who seemed to be walking away from there.

"Sorry, man," the boy whispered and his voice instantly brought on goosebumps to Ryan's skin. He knew that voice, he could tell it immediately. No matter where he was, no matter how small it was, Ryan could tell just who it was from the tingles that shot through his spine when that person was near.

He looked up slightly, hoping to get a glance at the owner of said voice but unfortunately for him, he was long gone before Ryan could take a peek. It seemed that he was in a hurry and Ryan could tell that from the urgency with which the apology came.

Sighing, he shrugged it off and went to get the ice cream he had promised his friends.

He couldn't think about him right now. Today was his day to have fun. It wasn't a day for silly crushes which he had held on to since freshman year. But Ryan couldn't help it.

Even the slightest action from Drew Grisham set his heart on fire.

The first time Ryan saw Drew was on the first day of freshman year. He was sitting at the cafeteria with Nora when Drew and a couple of his friends walked in. At first, Ryan didn't notice him. But then Drew walked past their table, looking as hot as ever with his wavy brown hair, tan skin that glowed in the rays of the sun which seeped in through the windows. He was wearing a simple white T-shirt and jeans with the swim team's custom sneakers and his varsity Jacket that had his name written at the back.

Ryan couldn't help but stare at the tall boy who walked past with his friends. He didn't remember the exact conversation he overheard, but it had something to do with Drew being added to the swim team that year. But it was when one of Drew's friends tripped on Nora's bag and almost fell and Drew helped catch his friend, that Drew's eyes landed on Ryan.

He was sure the boy did not notice him then, but Ryan did. He really did, and he continued to notice him from them on. It was like that thing where you never see a certain person until you take notice of them one time, and then you start seeing them everywhere. That was how it was for Ryan.

And what put the final nail in the coffee was how whenever Ryan happened to make eye contact with Drew, Drew always seemed to stare at him for a moment longer.

It weirded Ryan out, but not in the way that made him disgusted or annoyed. No... having Drew stare at him like made him feel wanted, as if Drew was checking him out.

Except that Ryan couldn't act on his crush or the thoughts he had about his crush because Drew also happened to be straight and that sucked.

Ryan tried to get over him, he really did. But it just wasn't happening. It seemed fate liked to play with his heart, just like how they caused him to bump into the boy this Sunday at Rollies.

Ryan got his friends' cups of ice cream and went back to their table after paying for all three.

"Ryan," Nora called out, grabbing his arm tightly when he sat down. "Drew just walked by," she exclaimed.

Oh, Ryan thought.

"And he looked at me!" Nora squealed.

There it is. Ryan mustered a small smile as his own ears reddened with guilt.

There was also one other thing that kept him from moving on to Drew. His best friend Nora had a crush on him.