About a Guy

Today, I finally got up the nerve to ask this really cute girl out I’ve had a crush on for over eight months. Turns out she isn’t a girl. FML

Gabe adjusts his shirt. He’s ready for this. He really is. Okay, maybe not, but he likes to convince himself he is.

He’s going to ask out the girl of his dreams. She’s so beautiful, with shoulder length chestnut hair and luscious hips. She has beautiful lips too: thin, but not. She has the most perfect complexion he’s ever seen and high cheekbones to match. She always dresses casually in loose shirts and jeans, but it makes her seem like she’s laid-back and ready to take on anything. She’s also tall, which he felt was a huge turn-on. He’s tall, and she’s tall. It’s a match made in heaven. He also loves how she doesn't even wear any makeup. It’s sexy to him that she can be so gorgeous without it.

Will is perfect.

Now, before you go making fun of her name, it’s not her fault. Gabe assumes they named her “Wilhelmina” or something equally monstrous, so she went by Will for short. Who wouldn’t? Honestly, that’s just a terrible name. He can’t fault her for that. She’s too perfect.

For eight months he drooled over her and every move she made, watching her and her wiry body every moment he could. They never once spoke, but he could feel that they had a connection. When the end of junior year approached, he felt like he had to ask her out, or he was going to explode. He obsessed everything she did, and if he didn’t have an excuse to see her during the summer, he’d probably die.

So, there he stood, shoving his baseball cap into his locker and slowly approaching to where Will is standing and talking to a couple of girls. He hates that they’re there, but he has to fulfill his mission. It’s his duty.

“Um, hey, Will?” he asks nervously.

Will turns to look at him, her big brown eyes cautiously surrounded by an array of long lashes. She has such beautiful eyes that Gabe feels himself going weak.

Keep it together…

“Yes?” she asks, her voice soft.

Gabe is trying hard to stare in her eyes and not at her pale lips. “Uh, I was, um, wondering if… you know, you’re not busy tonight or whatever, if you’d like to go see a movie or something,” he mumbles, scratching at his tanned forearms nervously.

The girls next to Will giggle, and Will herself smirks. Gabe doesn’t know what’s so funny. He probably looks like a complete idiot, he bets. That’s why they’re laughing.

“You’re Gabe, right?” Will asks.

Gabe is stunned she even knows his name, so he just nods.

That smirk is still on Will’s face, and she chuckles slightly. “And you’re straight?”

Gabe once again nods, but slower this time.

Will nods now, somewhat sympathetically. Her eyes look at him as if saying, “You poor thing.”

Gabe gets scared. Shit. What if Will’s gay? Then he’ll never have a chance. He can’t compete with a chick.

“Gabe, I’m not a girl.”

Gabe blinks a few times. “W-what?” he stammers.

“Shocker, I know,” Will states, putting her hand (wait- his?) on the smooth hip that peeks out from beneath his/her shirt.

Gabe’s mouth continues to open and close like a fish. He can’t believe his beautiful Will is… a dude. Like, his brain just refuses to grasp this fact. He can’t believe it. He can’t. “You can’t be…” he mutters stupidly.

Will raises one eyebrow and puts his thumb and forefinger on the button of his pants. “Wanna check?” he asks.

Gabe shakes his head. “I’ll take your word for it,” he mumbles.

“Listen, I’m sorry, okay? I have a little sister, and in six years, you can have her. We look a lot alike, so…” Will trails off.

“Look, we won’t tell anyone,” the girl to the left Will says. Gabe remembers her name is Hayley. She has really bright red hair and is kind of spazzy. “You’re actually the second guy this week.”

This, oddly, doesn’t make Gabe feel any better. He can’t believe he just asked out a man/woman. Man dressed as woman. Sort of. Whatever it is, he’s fucking embarrassed as hell. “Um, thanks,” he murmurs, turning and walking away. There’s just nothing else to do. He’s humiliated, more so than he’s ever been in his entire life.

Fuck my life.

* * * *

As soon as Gabe gets home, he puts on the most depressing music he has on his ipod and connects it to his speakers. He curls up beside his bed, still thinking about Will.

He can’t believe Will is a William. He should have known. Come on, what girl goes by Will? He/she had also had incredibly small boobs. Really, nearly (key word: nearly) non-existent, but come on. How was he supposed to know Will was a guy? Shows how fucking observant he is.

Sighing, he wonders if it really matters. Is gender really an issue? Everything was fine until he found out that Will was actually a dude. But it there really much of a difference? Sure, there's the dick issue, but he has one too, so that's not really that out of the ordinary. Tons of people are gay.

But he's not. Not as far as he knows, anyway. He just has never really found guys attractive. They're sweaty and gross and burp too loudly.

William's not like that, though. He's soft and pretty and everything that Gabe likes about a girl. It couldn't really be that different.

Gabe groans and dials a number into his phone.

* * * *

"Seriously, what could possibly be so urgent that you had to break me out of my film class to drag me into Starbucks?" Victoria questions, taking a sip of her Frappacino through the top of the green straw.

Gabe huffs. "It's not my fault you decided you wanted to take classes after school like a lame ass. Anyway. This is important. It's about Will," he whispers the last part quietly, just in case someone from school is lurking and could over hear their conversation. Victoria is his best girl friend (friend that's a girl, Ryland can't be trusted with these things) and he needs her guidance more than ever.

Vicky rolls her eyes. "Not this again. Christ. Seriously, if you're not going to ask her out, then shut up already. I'm sick of you thinking just because I'm a woman that-"

"Will's a William," Gabe states, cutting her off.

"...I want to hear all of your- Wait. What?" she demands.

"Will is a dude. With a dick. Yeah," Gabe mutters.

Cocking her head to the side for a moment, Vicky bursts into a fit of laughter.

"This is not funny!" he insists, trying to keep his voice low.

"You're right. It's fucking hysterical! Oh my God. Leave it to you, Gabe. Leave it to you to fall for a cross-dresser," she shakes her head.

"Dude, he's not a... Um. I mean, come on, it's not like he struts around in sequins and bright red lipstick! I just figured that he was just kind of tom-boyish, you know?"

Vicky's still laughing. "Dude, you got the boy part right."

"I hate you. Like, so much right now," Gabe grumbles. "I shouldn't have said anything." He goes to stand up, but Vicky grabs his wrist and pulls him back down.

"Ok, I'm sorry, alright? Tell me what happened," Vicky presses.

Gabe takes a deep breath and runs his finger around the mouth of his mug. "Well, I went to ask Will out-"

"Oh no," Vicky breaths, playing to role of the concerned best friend.

"Yes. It was terrible. And then he told me and it was like... humiliating," Gabe admits, letting his head thump on the table. "Fuck my life, fuck my life, fuck my life."

"I'm sorry. Gabe. I know you really liked her- um. Him. Just don't let it get to you. School's letting out soon, and you won't-"

"It's not. It's not that. I just. I think that I might... Still like him? I don't know. I mean, he's basically a girl anyway, so what's the difference?" Gabe asks, trying to convince himself.

Vicky pursed her lips and taps her fingernail on the side of her cup. "I think you should go for it. I mean, you've liked him for a really long time. So what if you thought he was a girl? It's not that big of a deal, really."

Gabe nods, thinking. "I think I'm going to do it," he decides.

Vicky grins. "That's the spirit. Now go out there and get your man," she urges.

"I will!" Gabe exclaims, leaving his coffee on the table and hurrying out the door.

He returned two seconds later.

"Shit, I don't know where Will lives," Gabe tells Vicky, sitting back down across from her.

Chuckling, she answers, "Off of sixteenth. Nate lives around there and we saw him in his driveway once."

"Which house?" he questions.

"The one with the huge tree in the front yard. There's a big tire hanging from it. Kind of hard to miss."

"Alright. I'm off," he announces. "I'll call you later to tell you what happens."

Shaking her head, Vicky says, "Later, loser."

* * * *

Vicky was right. It was kind of hard to miss the tree. It was old and towering, the branches stretching out a great deal beyond the wide trunk. The tire was swinging in the breeze, the rope frayed at some spots from obvious use. Gabe had the urge to swing on it, but he figured that would be weird if Will came outside and caught him or something.

He tries to mentally prepare himself the best he can, taking deep breaths and shaking out his arms. He makes his way to the front door and tries to block away the humiliation he endured earlier this afternoon. He knocks on the door, saying a slient prayer to himself.

The door opens, revealing a girl around twelve with big brown eyes looking up at the much taller boy. This must be Will's little sister...

"Can I help you?" she asks putting her hand on her hip.

"Um, uh, I was, uh, looking for Will?" It comes out as a question, but the way the girl is staring him down is sort of intimidating (though he'll never admit it in a million years).

"WILL!" the girl shouts, "THERE'S A MEXICAN AT THE DOOR FOR YOU!"

"Hey, I'm not-" Gabe starts to defend.

"Ask him what he wants!" he hears William's voice answer from inside.

The girl cocks an eyebrow up at Gabe and states, "You heard the man. What do you want?"

"I. Um. Just wanted to talk to him for a sec," Gabe replies shakily.

"HE SAYS HE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!" the girl shrieks back into the house.

Gabe starting to second-guess if this was a good idea.

"God, bitchy much, Courtney?" Will says, walking to the doorway and pushing the girl inside then turning to look at Gabe. "Oh, hey. Long time no see." He smirks slightly, and Gabe swallows.

"Um, yeah. Hey," Gabe murmurs.

William crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow. "Is there something you needed?"

"Um. Ya. I kind of, um. I still wanna... date you?" There goes Gabe with the statement-turned-question thing again.

"You wanna date me, huh? Even though I'm actually a dude who looks a lot like a girl?" Will verifies.

"Um. Yes," Gabe answers. He feels like he's going to throw up and puke all at the same time. His hands are shaking, he's pretty sure, and it's just short of incredibly embarassing.

Will cocks his head to the side for a moment and studies Gabe carefully. Gabe blushes slightly under his gaze and looks down at his obnoxiously bright sneakers.

Gabe can't breathe. His chest is locked up and his stomach is twisting. What's worse is now there's lips over his, there's fucking lips now, and he can't inhale. It's like this crazy fucking thing, and he doesn't even know what's happening. It's like the life is being sucked right out of his mouth.

But in a totally good masochistic kind of way.

Will leans away, saying, "Pick me up tomorrow at eight." Just like that, he's back in his house as if nothing ever happened.

Inhaling deeply, Gabe realizes he's actually still living. He touches his lips with nimble fingers and closes his eyes, doing nothing to stop the smile from growing on his face.