Chapter One

WILL'S POV

Will took a deep breath and looked over his reflection once more. He wanted to look perfect for his first time ever meeting Gabe. He messed with his hair a little more and chose to wear his blue flannel, the one he was sure would match Gabe's eyes perfectly. 

Wait...why do I keep thinking about him like this? Will thought to himself. He kept finding himself thinking about Gabe's perfect hair and his amazing, handsome smile. Oh god...Will thought. Am I falling for him?

Will brushed that insane idea away. No way would he be one of those people who fall in love with someone before even meeting them in person. He grabbed his keys and drove to school. 

GABE'S POV

Gabe stood next to the doors of Blaine High School, patiently awaiting the bus from Andover to show up and take him away. His Humanities class was taking a field trip to an art museum and he was excited. But he wasn't freaking out over getting to see some stupid paintings and sculptures. He was thinking about another masterpiece, one with warm brown eyes and perfect, wavy brown hair. Will. Gabe's secret crush. Although Will was unaware of it, Gabe had been slowly falling harder and harder for him ever since Will slid into his DM's. And now, here Gabe was, shaking and sweating because the day had come for them to finally see each other in person.

"Heyyyyy Gabe." McKenna suddenly appeared, rubbing up against his shoulder. Gabe rolled his eyes. 

"Um...hi McKenna." Gabe replied. 

"Are you excited for the field trip? Excited to finally meet Emily?" McKenna said in a very passive aggressive way. She was convinced that he had a crush on a girl in Will's class, Emily. Really, that had been part of Gabe trying to get to Will but it had all worked out without him really have to speak to her. 

"Oh, I'm not really that into her. Anyways, she told me she already has a man." Gabe said.

McKenna's face lit up more than it should have. "Oh, that's too bad. Well, there are other girls out there Gabe. Sometimes they're standing right in front of you."

"Ummm...I don't think so McKenna but alright." Gabe knew McKenna was trying to get with him while her boyfriend was away but he honestly just couldn't see them together. Anyways, he wasn't exactly sure he wanted someone in the military coming after him for stealing his girl. 

McKenna sighed and walked away from him, over to where Logan was standing. Logan had been glaring at them ever since McKenna had approached Gabe but her face lit up when she heard Gabe reject McKenna. Now, she had a strange mischevious gleam in her eyes that Gabe didn't think he liked very much. 

Suddenly, the bus pulled up and Gabe's thoughts immediately went back to Will...his moment had come.

WILL'S POV

Will spent most of the bus ride to Blaine talking to his classmates and silently freaking out. 

"Caroline." Will tapped her on the shoulder, trying to tear her attention away from Gina and Melanie. 

Caroline, rolled her eyes. "What do you want Will?"

"Do I look okay? Like, if you were seeing me for the first time what would you think? Feel my hair, is it soft enough?" Will asked.

Caroline looked at him as if he was crazy. Gina looked over at him and said "Calm down Will. Gabe will like you just the way you are." 

Melanie felt his hair. "It feels the same as it always does."

Will felt his face heat up at Gina's mention of Gabe. She was kidding, of course. No one knew he and Gabe had been casually flirting. Everyone had joked about it but that's all it was. No one knew how much of it was actually true. Will leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, trying to ignore everyone and calm himself down.

"Here we are. Time to pick up the rest of our classmates." Ms. Leaf Johnson called out. Everyone from Anoka whooped. Brian told them to all shut up as he was trying to re-read the Aeneid. He had been ranting about it the whole bus ride so far. "Why did the Trojans have to try to take Rome in the first place anyways?" He complained to Ms. Leaf Johnson. 

Will anxiously rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans. The moment had finally arrived.

"Will, can you not breath so heavy? It's kind of distracting. No offense." Abby said as she tried to read her book.

Damn. She called him out. Will apologized and took a deep breath to try to calm himself some more. 

He looked up and watched as the students boarded the bus. There was McKenna and Logan, both looking pissed of at each other. McKenna looked especially salty. Will rolled his eyes. He knew both of them had the hots for Gabe but honestly, neither of them deserved such an amazing man. 

Will tried to sit up higher in his seat and started bouncing up and down. The twins boarded, followed by some other people. Where was Gabe? Will was starting to get impatient, when suddenly...

He was there. Gabe. On the bus. Breathing the same air. He looked up and his eyes met Will's. Will watched the shock spread over his face and a blush slowly creep into his cheeks. He grinned and walked up to Will's seat. "Can I sit with you?" He asked.

Will didn't speak for a moment. Stunned, he realized what Gabe asked and shot backwards in the seat to let Gabe sit down. "Yes, please, um sure bro."

Gabe sat down and flashed him a grin. "Bro?'

Will blushed and looked down. "Sorry, I'm really awkward."

Gabe smirked. "I like awkward. Makes me feel better about myself."

For the rest of the bus ride, Will and Gabe made small talk. It was hard to have a one on one conversation since Gabe practically had celebrity status in the CPHS humanities class. Everyone was excited to finally meet him. Emily, Mikayla, and Claire in particular would not shut up. Will was getting slightly jealous and thinking of telling them to back off of his man, when suddenly Ms. Leaf Johnson announced that they had arrived at the museum. Gabe gently took Will's hand and gave it a little squeeze, then stood up and started to get off the bus. Will followed him and silently prayed that no one had seen what had just took place. 

"Alright, everyone." Ms. Leaf Johnson addressed the class as everyone finished getting off the bus. "Here we are, at the museum. You're all free to go off and explore. Only rule is that you have to always be with one other person at all times. Remember your assignment will be to write a short essay on one of the pieces in class tomorrow so be thinking of that as you wander. Otherwise, we will meet back here for lunch at 1."

Gabe turned to Will. "Would you be willing to be my partner?" 

Will blushed. "Of course, I'd love to."

"Wiiiilllllll." McKenna appeared out of nowhere. "Wanna be my partner cutie?"

Oh, god. Not her. "I think I'm going to just hang out with Gabe today, McKenna."

"Yeah, I called dibs." Gabe said. 

McKenna pouted. "Okay, but DM me if you wanna go have some fun together later Will." She winked and walked back to Logan. Logan glared when she saw how close Will and Gabe were standing together.

Gabe softly touched Will's hand. "Shall we?"

"Let's go." Will said. They headed into the museum together.