“Alright, what did you need to talk to me about?” Gage asked, shutting his bedroom door and locking it.

                I sat on his bed and ran a hand through my hair. “Uh…Alex,” I said, not really knowing how to tell this to Gage. I had called him about an hour ago, telling him I needed to talk to him.

                “Well, what about Alex?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me and leaning against his dresser.

                I choked back a laugh at the fact that Gage was short enough to lean against the dresser. Oh, poor little Gagey.

                “Well…um…promise you won’t laugh at me?” I asked quietly.

                “Yea, yea, yea. I promise,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Now out with it. I don’t have all day, you know.”

                “You’re the only person I’ve ever kissed and I’m scared that I’m going to get nervous and mess it up when I kiss Alex,” I said in a rush.

                Gage stared at me. “You’re a fucking idiot,” he said, face-palming himself.

                “You can’t laugh!” I reminded him. “You promised!”

                “I’m not laughing,” Gage said, shaking his head. “I’m too annoyed with you right now to laugh. How stupid are you? Did I not tell you the option was open?”

                “But you wanted me to sleep with you. And I don’t want to do that,” I pointed out awkwardly.

                Gage came over to me and shoved me back on the bed roughly. He grabbed my wrists and pinned my arms down, bringing his face close to mine.

                “I’ve had practice in a lot of areas,” he breathed, smirking at me. “Now pretend I’m Alex.”

                He leaned down and gently pressed his lips to mine. Oh god. What had I gotten myself into now?

                Still, I closed my eyes and pretended that Gage was Alex. I kissed him back, trying not to deepen it.

                Gage pulled away from my lips. “Kisses get deeper, Trav.” He winked before bringing his lips to mine again.

                He bit my bottom lip and I opened my mouth, letting his tongue in. It exploded my mouth eagerly, battling with my own tongue playfully.

                Gage pulled away again and helped me sit up. “What are you worried about, ya goof? You’re fine,” he said.

                “But I’m scared I’ll get nervous around Alex!” I said miserably.

                “Trav, you’ll be fine,” Gage said, smacking me in the forehead.

                I whined and rubbed my head, pouting at Gage. “You didn’t have to be so rude about it,” I grumbled.

                “Pain makes you learn your lesson,” he said matter-of-factly. “Now shut up and calm the hell down. You’ll be fine. Now, I could just be guessing here, but I’m going to spitball and say that Alex has never kissed anyone in his entire life besides his mom. So he’ll be the nervous one.”

                “I guess you’re right,” I said, hoping that Alex wasn’t as nervous as I was.

                “It’ll be fine,” Gage said, getting up.

                “But you still don’t have a date Gage,” I said.

                “Trav, let’s do a little math problem, shall we? Now, this morning, Gage woke up with 12 fucks. At the end of the day, Gage had a box of a dozen fucks. How many fucks did Gage give today?”

                “None?”

                “Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner!” Gage cried in fake excitement.

                “You’re mean!” I whined.

                “I don’t care if I have a date. If I need to, I can get one the day of. I’m not pathetic like you. No offense,” he said with a shrug.

                “Oh yea, why would I take offense to that?” I grumbled sarcastically, standing up.

                I sighed. “So, Collin Radke will be watching me all night and you’ll be watching Gav and Rose all night,” I said.

                Gage shook his head. “I know Gav is a horny bastard, but I know Rose wouldn’t sleep with him. Like I said: She likes you. Still does, actually. She’s just with Gav to make you happy. And I kind of think she pities him. It is pretty pathetic to watch him make all those attempts to get with her and be constantly shot down. But I don’t need to keep an eye on them.”

                My phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket, answering it. “Hello?”

                “Hey Trav. It’s me,” Alex’s quiet voice said.

                “Hi Alex! What’s up?” I asked.

                “Um…Well…I was wondering if you want to come over and eat dinner with my family. My mom wants to meet you,” he said nervously. “If you don’t want to, that’s totally fine! Really, you don’t have to!”

                “No, no, no. It’s fine,” I assured, even though I was secretly terrified. Mrs. Radke wasn’t a homophobe, but she might still be as terrifyingly mean as Collin.

                “Okay. Uh, we eat at 5.30,” he said.

                “Awesome! I’ll be over in a little,” I said before hanging up.

                I casually put my phone in my pocket. I turned and gripped Gage’s shirt, dragging him up to my face.

                “SHIT HE WANTS ME TO MEET HIS MOM. DINNER WITH THE FUCKING RADKE FAMILY. WHY DID I AGREE? SLAP ME!” I cried.

                Gage glared and smacked me across the face. I released him and he shoved me back a little. “I hate it when people grab me!” he said angrily. “You know that!”

                “Why did I agree to eat dinner with him and his family?!” I cried miserably, dropping onto Gage’s bed.

                “Hey, just go over there and be you. Worst thing that happens is they don’t like you. Big deal,” he said with a shrug.

                I groaned and stood up. “I better get going. Bye Gage,” I said hopelessly.

                “Bye Trav,” Gage said, giving me a small wave.

                I left and made my way to Alex’s house. I rang the doorbell and Alex opened and let me in. I took my shoes off and he bit his lip nervously.

                “I’m so sorry about this Trav. My mom just wanted to meet you since we’re going to the senior ball together,” he said apologetically.

                “Hey, don’t worry about it,” I said, offering him a reassuring smile despite the terror I felt inside. Oh please, please, please let Mrs. Radke be nice like Alex, and not mean like her older son.

                I followed Alex to the dining room and he motioned at me to sit down next to him. We were the only ones in the room, but the table was set and there was food out.

                Collin came into the room a minute later, looking angry. He shot me a glare before sitting down across from me.

                Alex’s mom entered the room a after a few minutes of awkward silence. I recognized her from when I had seen her asleep on the couch.

                “Hello there,” she said with a friendly smile.

                OH THANK GOD SHE WAS LIKE ALEX.

                “Hi,” I said politely, wanting to cry with joy that she wasn’t like Collin.

                “Mom, this is Trav. Trav, this is my mom,” Alex mumbled shyly.

                “Well, it’s nice to meet you Trav,” Mrs. Radke said, shaking my hand.

                “Nice to meet you too ma’am,” I said, releasing her hand.

                My phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my pocket. “Hello?” I answered.

                “GAGE TOLD ME HOLY SHIT DID THEY TIE YOU DOWN AND INTERROGATE YOU ARE YOU ALIVE COME ON TRAV ANSWER ME!”

                I winced. “Gav! Stop screaming in my ear!” I cried angrily. “I’m not deaf! Jeez!”

                “Well if you’re talking then obviously you’re not dead!” Gav said in annoyance.

                “I SAID DEAF!”

                “…No need to raise your voice. Library voice, Trav. Library voice.”

                I face-palmed myself. “What do you want?” I asked in annoyance.

                “Just making sure you’re okay. Gage told me you were at the Radke’s house meeting Alex’s parents. Are they mean like Collin?!”

                “No,” I said, hearing the relief in my own voice. “But I’ll call you later Gav. I’m busy right now.”

                “Okay! Good luck Trav!” Gav said cheerfully before hanging up.

                “Could he possibly talk any louder? He’s the most annoying kid ever!” Collin snapped as he watched me put my phone away.

                “Collin, stop it,” Mrs. Radke said, rolling her eyes and putting food onto our plates. She sat down next to Collin and we began to eat.

                “Alex, can you please go ask your father if he wants anything to eat?” Mrs. Radke asked. Alex nodded and got up, leaving the room.

                Mrs. Radke turned to me and smiled. “Thank you for taking him to the senior ball. I know most people are mean to Alex because he’s so socially frightened.”

                “You better not be mean to him,” Collin snarled. “If you even say anything that hurts his feelings I’ll-”

                “Collin, hush up,” Mrs. Radke said with a sigh. “Trav here doesn’t seem like a mean person. Alex will be fine with him. I’m sure of it.” She smiled at me kindly.

                “Dad said he’s not hungry,” Alex said, returning to the room and sitting down. He began to nibble at his dinner before slightly pushing his plate away from himself.

                “Alexander, you better finish your dinner,” his mom said sternly. I nearly laughed. It was the first time I had ever heard anyone call him Alexander. I knew his name was Alexander, but I had only ever heard him being called Alex.

                She got up and left to go to the kitchen. Collin turned and glared at me again.

                “Just remember what I fucking said,” he growled. “And Al, mom’s right. You better finish your dinner!”

                Did he just threaten me and then go all loving-mother mode?

                Alex nodded obediently and began to pick at his dinner again. I had a feeling that Alex didn’t eat a lot. Personally, I ate like a freaking whale. I just really loved food.

                “You shouldn’t even be at our fucking house,” Collin continued, still glaring at me.

                “Please stop swearing Collin,” Alex whispered. “Please. And stop being mean to Trav. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

                “Sorry Alex,” Collin said, dropping his eyes down to his empty plate.

                Wow. It was almost hilarious just how much power Alex had over his big brother. And Alex didn’t even seem to realize that Collin would do almost anything Alex told him to.

                “Well, I have to get to work now. But it was so nice to meet you Trav!” Mrs. Radke said with a smile. She gave Collin a one armed hug and kissed Alex’s forehead before waving and leaving the house.

                “I probably should’ve told you that she wasn’t going to question you or anything. She just wanted to meet you,” Alex said, blushing lightly. “Sorry if I freaked you out.”

                “It’s okay,” I said. JEEZ ALEX YOU COULDN’T HAVE FREAKING MENTIONED THAT SHE WASN’T GOING TO START THROWING QUESTIONS AT ME?! This whole Collin acting as a protective mother thing was going to drive me crazy. I would almost rather be questioned by Alex’s real mother.

                Collin got up and glared at me again. “I’ll be in my room if you need my Al,” he said before leaving the room.

                “I’m sorry about Collin. Hey, can I ask you a question Trav?”

                “Sure,” I said curiously.

                “Did you like Gav?”

                I froze and sighed, nodding. “Yea, I did,” I mumbled, not wanting to add that I still did.

                “I knew you did. I always thought he was stupid for not seeing it,” Alex said, blushing a little when he said stupid. He began to twirl his hair around his finger. “But I’m really glad we’re going to the senior ball together.”

                “I’m glad too!” I assured, wrapping an arm around him.

                He blushed more and I smiled at him. He was so adorable. I just hoped that my feelings for Gav wouldn’t get in the way of me and Alex. I wanted to just go to the senior ball and have a good time with Alex.

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A.N.- What do you guys think is gonna happen at the senior ball? ;D