Summertime

It took Gabe maybe a week or two to figure out that, no. There is no William Ross in the state of Illinois. And no, William and Ryan aren't related. And when he thought to bring that up to Ryan's boyfriend type person who goes by Brendon, he snorted and shrugged, "Unless you count the Wal*Mart family." And when did Gabe even meet these kids? Jesus. He comes to the decision that he needs to stop becoming friends with fans he meets at shows, it just never ends up well. Not like he could even call them friends, more like stalkers.

But still. After drilling Brendon for another five minutes he finds out that William Ross is actually called William Beckett, and it wasn't actually hard to get that information considering Brendon has some weird fear of Gabe and shrinks back whenever he gets remotely aggressive (not like he had to or anything, JEEZ) and the younger boy nearly cut Gabriel off mid-sentence to tell him the answer to the question like an overzealous student. "William Eugene Beckett Jr., definitely gay, likes apples and was just kicked out of his moms house. He'll probably fuck you--please don't hit me." The frantic younger boy sputtered, raising his hands to the level of his eyes.

Gabe isn't even sure how this fear made it's way into the poor younger mans heart, he's never even been close to hitting Brendon in the face. Not even once. But still, the boy has had some irrational fear that Gabe never thought would have an upside but in the end it turns out he CAN reap the benefits of being feared. Claps for Gabe.

What's with the new found obsession with one William Beckett, you ask? Well--Gabe... he's seen many boys like William before. He really has, he knows the type like the back of his hand. Skinny jeans and long hair, mostly they say 'dude' too much and haven't picked up a book in their lives but still have the inside of some CD booklet memorized. He really, really gets it, that was him. They work part time jobs but generally believe they'll make it in the music industry eventually. And hey, maybe they will. After all, he did end up being Gabe Saporta of Midtown and that has to count for something, right? He likes to think he kind of made it. But yeah. He knows the type, to say the least.

But there was something about the innocent way William carried himself that got Gabe hooked, to be honest. He reminded the older man of a little girl trying on her moms dress and heels, trying too hard to be seductive but failing because... how could you be seductive when you look so damn adorable? And... oh GOD, Gabe has never felt like such a pedophile. But still, William has definite potential. One day he might even ooze sex appeal, but right now despite how hard he tries --and the poor thing obviously tries hard-- he cannot be sexy. That's why Gabe first decided to ask Ryan about him... Innocent people intrigue him, especially innocent people trying to play the role of experienced but failing.

That's why he STARTED to obsess. That is, until he got his full name, myspace and facebook from Brendon. Because of these pages Gabe found out that William doesn't use the word dude, ever. He really loves to read, and downloads all his music illegally therefore doesn't own a CD booklet. Gabe also found of that William, he didn't expect to be famous, but he knew he needed to pursue music. "And if that means playing my guitar on the street corner, so be it," states the page. Also, he officially lives with his friend Mike Carden but they aren't dating because it still says "single" in his details, and Gabe feels like William would be the one to think enough to keep that up to date, so he trusts him.

Of course the page also reveals the fact that William Beckett isn't as innocent as he once thought. His pictures albums are full of pictures with his friends, fondling and drinking though he was obviously underage. Gabe KNOWS judging a book by it's cover is bad, William is walking proof of that, but he still can't help but to feel a little disappointed. He sort of wants to smack the small boy with a yellow Michigan shirt and bright red cup with matching bloodshot eyes... the same kid who was most likely high when the photograph was taken. For some reason he thinks of that boy and the man he saw at Wal*Mart as two different people. The man he saw at Wal*Mart looked thoughtful, the type that would sit back and read instead of going out and partying with his friends. Kind of a prude. Maybe like an angel, he thought William was an angel and that might be the problem. But yet, even now that the innocent thing was proven wrong he still found himself completely infatuation. He liked him even more now, if that's possible.

Also something that caught his attention was that the kid had a Midtown album on myspace. How is it possible to be so fucking awesome? In it were different photos of him and his friends at Midtown shows, some were of the two talking (which... he must have been too drunk to remember), one was of him being lifted up by some random dude and you could even see Gabe himself in the background laughing. This album had the most pictures out of any of the other ones on Will's myspace, it was completely full of picture after picture at random venues that they'd played and Gabe had to admit he was pretty surprised. He didn't know that he would gain such a big following from the local teens when the band decided to hole up in Chicago for a few months. He were all having problems with New York, different problems but problems nonetheless so they all decided to just up and go.

They chose Chicago because Rob had family there... and why the fuck not? Still, the problems seemed to follow them because now instead of the problems revolving around their personal lives they started to revolve around the band. They haven't stopped fighting since they arrived in O'Hare. And... okay. To be honest it's all his fault but fuck, he can't help but to feel like everything's falling apart. And now everyone minus the fans hate him (because they don't know he's such a dick...) and there are big chances that there's a break up in the near future.

Pete's the only one who likes him, he pouted one evening on said friends couch. Pete knows William, which Gabe finds really weird but apparently "everyone knows everyone in the Chicago music scene" but that doesn't even make sense to Gabe because William isn't IN the Chicago music scene, he isn't in a BAND. When he points this out Pete pauses and shrugs, "Patrick introduced me to him, okay? Jeez. Your jealousy isn't attractive, Gabriel." He hates Pete Wentz, sometimes. He then took the time to add, "Besides he's been dabbling with a band since like, last year. I don't think they were really serious until a couple weeks ago, though." And Gabe just shrugs back and asks why he should care.

They both know why he should care.

Midtown decides that they can work through their problems and they do, but it still feels like a poorly sewn on patch that will break any second.

Gabe hasn't seen William since that night at McDonalds, almost two months ago. It isn't even that he lost interest at all, it's just that he has no reason to go to the store, Robs grandma shops for him.

When Pete tells him that The Academy Is will be attending the tour with Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy (and Midtown, of course, that goes without saying) Gabe isn't sure if he's anxious or just plain surprised (after all, he hadn't heard anything about William's band since Pete mentioned it almost a month and a half ago) but it feels odd knowing they'll be together for an extended period of time. He also feels weird knowing William will no longer be Wal*Mart boy and for that reason alone he decides that he needs to go to the store.

Before Wal*Mart boy throws in the smock.