Driving Backwards

Bill was so happy. No words could even describe his happiness. His mouth was probably in a huge capital "U", but he couldn't care less. Gabe was picking him up. Gabe was fucking picking him up and taking him to his house. If this wasn't heaven, he didn't know what was.

As soon as the bell rang, he jumped up without even stopping at his locker for his homework. He probably wouldn't do it anyway, so it didn't matter. He just wanted to see Gabe.

"Wear a condom!" he heard Sisky call after him.

"Fuck you!" William replied, his voice too cheery to sound threatening. He going to see Gabe.

As soon as he got outside, he saw a bunch of people standing on the front steps. He wanted to fucking push them out of his way and tell them to fucking move, don't you see I'm waiting for someone?!

It was when he saw the top of a blue van that he was concerned. That was Gabe's van. He needed to get to it, but a fucking crowd was in his way.

He stood there for a moment, wondering what he should do, exactly. There were only so many options that he could take at that point.

Opting for the most obvious one, he squeezed his skinny body through the crowd the best he could. Truth is, he was one of the tallest, so really, he wasn't fooling anyone, but it made him feel better about his stature. Finally, he saw what all of the fuss is about.

Gabe Fucking Saporta. Standing there, in all of his completely beautiful glory. He looked casual, in his black hoodie and normal guy's jeans (which Bill thought is a shame, really). Girls were completely pressed against him and talking to him in high pitched voices, and Gabe looked a little uncomfortable, yet accepting. He talked back to them, keeping himself guarded, yet giving them what they wanted.

Then, their eyes met, and Bill blushed. He was jealous, he had to admit. All of these little girls were all pressing up on hisman friend. How could he cause such a stir? Well, nothing interesting really happened at Barrington High. Really. Nothing.

"Hey, Bill," Gabe said, causing everyone to turn and look at him.

"Um, hey," Bill replied awkwardly, not liking the glares all of the girls seem to be giving him. Ya, bitches, be jealous.

"You ready to go?" Gabe asked.

Bill nodded silently and Gabe opened up the van door for him. He climbed into it, and Gabe shut it behind him.

"Goodbye, ladies. See you around," Gabe told them, giving them a big smile. Bill rolled his eyes. Always such a ham. Gabe got in next to Bill and started up the engine. "Hey there. How was your day?"

William shrugged. "Completely ordinary," he lied. Wrong. There was something completely unordinary about Gabe Saporta picking you up from school. "Why were all of those girls all over you?"

Gabe smirked. "Not sure. I was, like, standing there, and they just all ran up to me like I was some sort of god," he answered.

"Don't get so full of yourself," Bill mumbled. "They were probably just fangirling over the van."

"Yes, because my van leaves so much lust in the hearts of women everywhere," Gabe stated, rolling his eyes.

"Please, I'd do this car," Will retorted.

"I'd like to see that," Gabe smirked.

William blushed slightly and looked out the window, watching the trees as they passed by. It was still cold outside, but spring was right around the corner now. It was scary how much time was passing. Soon, he'd be graduating and going off into the real world. He didn't know if he really wanted to grow up. He wanted to stay here, in Gabe's van, forever young.

"Don't think too hard. Your brain might explode," Gabe remarked.

Bill stuck his tongue out at the older male playfully. "Sure."

Gabe smiled at him. "So what are we going to do today?" he asked.

Bill blushed for a moment, imagining all of the things that could happen in Gabe's room, on his bed, with the radio playing Coldplay's "Yellow" on repeat. "Uh, I don't know, it's your house," he mumbled.

Gabe pulled into his driveway, and Bill recognized it, of course. He'd been there twice, but never actually went inside. "I guess that's true," Gabe agreed, taking the key from the ignition and getting out of the van.

Bill decided to follow his lead, getting out and following him to the front door.

"Okay, there's a lot of pictures everywhere," Gabe warned, "And I don't even know who half of the people are. It'd take me an hour just to point out the ones I do. Just don't ask. It's a Spanish thing."

Bill nodded as Gabe opened the door. The lights were all off, so it took him a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light.

Gabe wasn't kidding about the picture thing. "Hey, my grandma's sleeping, so we have to be quiet, okay?"

William nodded once more. Jeez, could he get anymore submissive? Yes please.

They crept up the stairs quietly, and Gabe headed toward a door. Bill continued to follow as Gabe opened the door to the room.

Bill blinked. "This is so not you," he states.

Gabe looked around at the clean expanse of sheets and bare walls. "How would you know?" he asked. "Maybe I'm, like, OCD and have to have everything neat all of the time."

"No," Bill disagreed. "You're not."

Gabe pursed his lips. "It's sad that you're right," he stated, closing the door behind them. "But it's not my room, you know? It doesn't feel like it. I don't even know how much longer I'm going to be here."

William froze and looked at Gabe, eyes wide. He had never previously thought of that. He had just figured that Gabe would always be there when he needed him. It never occurred to him that Gabe living here wasn't permanent. Did Gabe know something he didn't?

"Hey, relax, I'm not, like, moving yet. Breathe," Gabe whispered, gently grasping Bill's thin bony wrist in his hand.

Bill looked away, hiding his blush. "I don't care if you move," he mumbled.

"Really?" Gabe asked. "Hmm."

Bill could feel his pulse moving through Gabe's fingertips and coming back to his own skin. "Doesn't matter if I do."

Gabe was silent then and released Bill's wrist. "Sit down, relax," he said, changing the subject completely and nodding towards his bed. "You want something to drink?"

Bill tried to swallow down the lump in his throat. "Um, water?"

Gabe nodded and turned on his heel, momentarily leaving him alone.

Bill took this opportunity to look around the room. There was nothing on the walls, no clothes on the floor, no nothing. It felt incredibly bare, and so un-Gabe. He walked over to the closet and pulled open the doors.

That explained the cleanliness. Clothes and shoes and CD's were thrown into the bottom of the closet like it was a garbage dump. Bill chuckled to himself. This was Gabe. He looked up at the clothes he had hanging, and one particular article caught his eye.

The purple jacket.

He reached out and gently touched the fabric, loving the soft feel beneath his fingertips. He really missed this jacket. He leaned in to smell it, hoping to capture a bit of Gabe's musky scent. What he was met with was the smell of Bubble Yum, Oreos, and ocean breeze body wash.

The jacket smelt like him. Gabe hadn't worn it since he'd returned it. He couldn't have. If he had, it would smell like cigarettes.

He heard his pulse in his ears. What did that mean? Was Gabe intent on keeping his scent in tact? God, he hoped so. He knew Gabe liked him, but it was good to know that Gabe was creepy enough to want to be able to smell him. Did that sound bad?

He quickly shut the closet doors and scrambled back to sit on Gabe's bed, staring at his nails as if he was bored.

Gabe appeared a few moments later with a bright pink cup. "Here you go," he stated.

"Thanks man. Really. This is just my shade," Bill replied, grabbing the cup and taking a sip.

Gabe grinned. "I know it is," he agreed, sitting next to the boy.

Bill took a chance and scooted closer to him, tracing his finger around the plastic rim. "So, why haven't you worn your purple hoodie?" he asked casually.

Gabe, who was in the process of drinking, started choking on his water. "Excuse me?" he asked when he got his barrings.

"You heard me."

"Um. I don't know. Just sort of shoved it back there."

"Liar," Bill coughed.

Gabe glared at him. "Whatever. How would you even know? Sniffing my jackets to see if you could smell me?"

Bill blushed. "No."

"Mhm. Sure."

"Pft, I'm not the one who's playing hard to get here."

"What are you talking about? I'm not playing anything!" Gabe insisted.

William locked eyes with him. "Okay, so you tell me you like me, tell me we're just friends, then invite me to your house? If that's not a tease, I don't know what is."

"Because I'd rather have you in my life than not at all!" Gabe argued.

"I don't understand why we can't date. Like, my brain is coming up with no reasons why we shouldn't."

"Are you joking? There's a million reasons!"

"Name one."

"I'm too old for you," Gabe stated.

William rolled his eyes. "Five years isn't that much. Next."

"You're graduating this year. You're not going to want to have an old dude hanging around."

"Ya I will. Next."

"I'm a bad influence on you."

"Last time I checked, you didn't have a vagina and you didn't give birth to me."

Gabe scrunched up his nose. "You have a point there."

"You're running out of excuses, Mr. Saporta," William teased.

"Bill, if my grandma dies, I'm going to have to go back to Jersey."

"Then keep feeding her every day!"

Gabe glared at him. "You are a huge pain in my ass."

"Does this mean I win?"

"No."