“Gav, Collin is going to kill me!” I groaned, burying my face against his shoulder.

                “Aw, calm down Trav! It’ll be okay!” Gav said cheerfully, patting me on the back and offering me a bright smile.

                “Gav, Collin just got done telling me not to kiss his little brother,” I said miserably.

                “It was just on the cheek!” Gav protested. “Maybe Collin won’t get angry about it!”

                I gave him a look that let him know how crazy I thought he was. I buried my face back against his shoulder and sighed. Hopefully Alex would calm his brother down before I was brutally murdered.

                “Gav!” Mrs. Drake called, opening the bedroom door. She smiled at us happily. “Gav, what do you kids what to eat for dinner?”

                “We’ll just have some steak mom,” Gav said. “Now go away woman! I have to convince Trav that his boyfriend’s homophobic prick of a brother isn’t going to kill him!”

                “Okay! Have a groovy time my dudes!” she said before shutting the door.

                “Trav, if you laugh, I’ll kill you.”

                “…”

                “I mean it.”

                “…AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.”

                Gav tackled me back on his bed, frowning deeply as he slapped his hands over my mouth to try to shut me up. “It’s not funny!” he whined. “You’re not the one who has to live with that crazy woman!”

                I licked his hand violently as I choked on my own laughter. I managed to pry his hand off my mouth and rolled over, hiccupping now from my laughter.

                “I…love…your…mom!” I managed, rolling back over and clutching my stomach.

                Gav grabbed my hands and pinned them to the bed. He leaned over me and brought his face close to mine, pouting.

                “Stop laughing!” he said.

                And I did.

                Gav’s face was so close to mine that our lips were nearly touching. He was pouting, but his attractiveness still shone brightly. His eyes were looking deeply into mine, and time seemed to freeze.

                My breath had caught in my throat. A powerful sensation to tilt my head and connect out lips swept over me, and I almost did. It took everything in me to fight that desperate want.

                Gav grinned and got off of me, pulling me back into a sitting position and ending the moment. He pat my head as if I were a dog.

                “Good boy Trav! Thank you for stopping your laughter,” he said smugly.

                I rolled my eyes. “You’re mom is so freaking weird. Now I see where you get it from,” I said, trying to calm my racing heart and act normal.

                “BOYS! DINNER!” his mom called.

                “That was fast. I have a feeling she already had it ready for us,” Gav said, rolling his eyes and grabbing my hand.

                He pulled me out of his bedroom and down to his dining room. We sat down next to each other as Mrs. Drake handed us plates with steak and mashed potatoes.

                “Thanks Mrs. Drake!” I said as I began to eat.

                “No problem Trav!” Mrs. Drake said with a smile as she sat down next to Gav’s dad at the table.

                “So, Trav, what’s the drama in your life?” Mrs. Drake asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

                “Uh...My date to the senior ball just has a really, really protective older brother,” I mumbled, not really wanting to talk about it. Collin was going to kick my ass for sure tomorrow.

                “He doesn’t want to talk about it mom!” Gav said, rolling his eyes.

                “Hey, hey, hey. Don’t be hatin’ cracka!” his mom argued.

                Gav face-palmed himself and groaned. “Dad, make it stop.”

                “I can’t stop her Gavin. She does it to try to understand you better,” Mr. Drake said, unconcerned as he turned his attention back to the food in front of him.

                “Trav, I’m moving in with you!” Gav announced.

                “Nah, you can stay here,” I said, laughing and continuing to eat.

                I left Gav’s house a while later. The next day, I met up with him and Gage in the main lobby at school.

                “So, today, Trav dies!” Gage said, patting me on the back.

                “Shut up!” I whined, smacking his hand away from me. “I’m sure Alex will save me!”

                “Yea, that’s a great plan Trav! Rely on the kid who is afraid of his own shadow!” Gage said in fake excitement.

                I pouted as the bell rang. “You watch. He’ll stand up to Collin for me!” I said, sounding more confident than I actually felt.

                When gym rolled around, the three of us changed before heading up to the track. I couldn’t help but keep looking all around for any sign of Collin or Josh.

                “Someone’s a bit jumpy,” Gage said with a smirk.

                “No I’m not. I’m just, uh, trying to find Alex!” I lied.

                “There he is,” Gage said, nodding.

                I turned and paled. Alex was walking next to Collin, his head down and his gaze on his shoes. Josh and Collin were talking to each other, and Collin had his arm around Alex’s shoulders. To anyone else, it probably looked like a brotherly gesture. Just casually hanging on Alex. But I knew what it really was.

                Collin was making sure Alex didn’t come over to me.

                That meant that Alex probably didn’t know about Josh seeing me kiss his cheek at the movies. Oh, wonderful. Now Alex couldn’t calm Collin down about it, because he didn’t even freaking know that Collin knew about it!

                Collin looked up and spotted me. He pulled his arm away from Alex and said something to him before moving over towards me and my friends.

                “Guys, don’t leave me,” I hissed. They nodded.

                “Hey Trav,” Collin said pleasantly, stepping up in front of me.

                “Hi Collin,” I said cautiously. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alex watching us nervously. Well, that explained Collin’s pleasant façade.

                “Josh told me about the movies. Maybe I didn’t make myself clear enough. When I said I didn’t want you kissing Alex, I meant I didn’t want you kissing him anywhere. His cheek, his lips…no part of him,” he said, that smile still on his face despite the venom in his voice and the hate in his eyes.

                “Collin, you’re too overprotective of him. You can’t control his life forever,” Gage said flatly, speaking up since he knew I wouldn’t. “You’re trying to control your brother’s love life. Worry about your own.”

                “Shut up Gage,” Collin growled, his nice-guy smile instantly dropping off his face. I glanced over and saw Alex starting to move towards us. Josh grabbed his arm and said something to him. Alex bit his lip and watched us anxiously.

                “You faggots are changing Alex, and I don’t like that,” he snarled.

                “Oh, so sorry we make your brother laugh and have a good time,” Gage said with a shrug. “We are truly terrible people! I can understand why you hate us.”

                “Gage, I am not afraid to break your fucking face,” Collin said, stepping towards Gage.

                “Why is there never any teacher in this class? I mean, jeez!” Gav said, shaking his head.

                Collin and Gage ignored Gav, too busy glaring at each other. I had to say, Gage was the last person I wanted to get in a glaring match with. Despite his height, he was a very intimidating person.

                “Collin?”

                Collin jumped and turned to face Alex. He slapped the pleasant smile back on his face. “Alex!” he said joyfully. “Hey, I didn’t see you there! Just messing around with Trav and his friends,” he lied.

                Alex’s gaze flickered between Collin and Gage doubtfully, but he didn’t say anything. Collin ruffled Alex’s hair and slung his arm back around Alex’s shoulder.

                “Well, I’m done here. Let’s go back over to Josh,” Collin said.

                “Can I stay with Trav?” Alex asked timidly.

                Anger flashed through Collin’s eyes so quickly that I was pretty sure Alex had missed it. Collin pulled his arm away from Alex’s shoulders and nodded slightly. “Yea, sure,” he said, trying to keep up the happy act for the sake of his brother.

                He shot me a viciously threatening look before making his way back over to Josh. Alex came over to me and began to twirl his hair around his finger.

                “Did he say something mean?” he asked me quietly.

                “No!” I lied, forcing a smile. “He was just making sure I had a ticket for you for senior ball!”

                Woo, nice lying skills Trav. Gage is rubbing off on you.

                “Oh,” Alex said, not actually looking like he believed me. But he let he drop for now.

                We began to walk around the track. I reached for Alex’s hand but stopped myself for two reasons.

                The first reason was that Collin was watching us. If I grabbed Alex’s hand, I would only be making the situation worse. It was better if I didn’t piss Collin off too much before senior ball.

                The second was that that little incident with Gav last night suddenly sprang up into my brain. I had to figure things out. I had never talked to Gage about it, and I knew I had to do that soon.

                I glanced at Gage. He was talking to Gav about The Walking Dead, not paying attention to me or Alex. I bit my lip and tapped his shoulder.

                “What do you want?” he asked, glancing at me.

                “Want to head to the locker room? I know you said you had to go to the bathroom,” I said casually, praying he would play along.

                To my intense relief, he did. “Yea, let’s go. We’ll be right back,” he said to Gav and Alex before the two of us left gym and went to the locker room. After making sure the locker room was empty, Gage turned to me and crossed his arms impatiently.

                “Alright, what’s up now?” he asked.

                I explained everything to him quickly and he sighed, rolling his eyes. “Trav, why can’t you get it through your head that Gav is straight? He’s with Rose! He’ll never be with you,” he said, cold but honest.

                “Well tell that to my heart!” I said miserably.

                Gage shook his head at me. “Trav, there are different kinds of love. There’s physical love, which you’ve never experienced, you fucking prude. There’s family love. There’s the feeling when you love somebody. There’s the feeling when you’re in love with someone. And then there’s hopeless love, which is what you’re plagued by right now,” he said.

                “Well, what do I do?” I asked.

                “You lie to yourself. You tell yourself you’re over Gav, and you tell yourself you only want Alex. And pretty soon, you’ll believe yourself. Then it’ll eventually be true,” he said with shrug.

                “Easier said than done,” I grumbled.

                “Look, I’m trying,” he snapped impatiently. “It’s not my fault you can’t get a simple fact through your thick head!”

                He sat down on the bench, looking thoughtful and annoyed at the same time. “I have a plan Trav.” He smirked and looked at me. “I’m going to have to break your heart so you can finally move on from Gav.”

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A.N.- Ohhhhhhh! What do you guys think Gage's plan is? ;D