Rumored Nights

William follows Ryan quietly, his heart beating quickly mostly from anticipation. His heart also aches because he knows he is setting himself up for heartbreak. William shivers as a gust of wind blows through the dry air. He folds his arms around himself, trying to keep himself warm. He regrets not grabbing his leather jacket before he left, but he didn’t have time. Another gust of wind breezes by William, he rubs his hands up and down his goose bump covered arms trying to generate enough heat so he doesn’t have to worry about his teeth clacking together.

Ryan stops, William’s heartbeat jumps increasing to an almost unnatural pace, his mind races trying to find any sound he could have made to attract Ryan’s attention. But luckily Ryan just stops to tie his shoe and continues on his way. William sighs silently and slows his pace so that he is farther away from Ryan; he needs that beautiful boy to keep going, not look back, to keep his focus in front of him.

A tickle creeps to the back of William’s throat, causing him to cough. He tries to stifle it, but he didn’t do that great of a job, because he stops and looks around startled. Before Ryan can turn around and see William behind him, William dashes behind a tree. He peers through the branches and watches Ryan scan the street, trying to locate the source of whatever he heard. William bites his lip, silently reprimanding himself for the sound. Now Ryan will be on full alert and more jumpy than ever.

Ryan turns back around and continues walking his pace now quicker, now full of fear. William waits a few seconds before continuing, he matches his speed with Ryan’s, but he makes sure that he is far enough away that hopefully nothing he does will bring attention to him. He stays a silent as he can, and is aware of every move Ryan makes, trying to predict when, and if, Ryan will turn around.

As they reach Ryan’s house, William brakes away, and heads to the back of the house. He climbs over the fence, like he has many times before, and creeps to a window, the window to Ryan’s bedroom. As he gets settled into the bush, the place that has housed him on his other trips to Ryan’s house, the bedroom flickers on. William bites his lips, hoping that this night, like every other, nothing will happen, but he has a strong sense of foreboding. He has the feeling that Ryan is going to do something that he doesn’t want William to know, and William wants to know what. Of course he has suspicions, but he can’t be sure if it is true.

He watches Ryan strip off his plain t-shirt, revealing his slender body, and dump it on top of his laundry basket. Ryan opens his closet and looks through his collection of beautiful dress shirts. He selects a blue paisley print one, William’s favorite, and puts it on.

Ryan looks at himself in that mirror, inspecting how he looks. He runs his hands through his untidy brown hair nervously. He pulls at his shirt to remove nonexistent wrinkles as the doorbell rings. William bites his lip, hoping that the only reason that he dressed up is for dinner with his band. He waits watching the room, waiting for Ryan to leave and turn off the light. Ryan leaves, but the light stays on. The fact that the light is on means that Ryan is coming back, coming back with whoever is at the door.

William hears Ryan’s voice talking to someone else who is talking really fast. The voice sounds familiar to William but he can’t place who it is. Ryan leads another man into the bedroom, and William’s heart stops when he sees who it is. No wonder he recognized the voice, it is one of his best friends. William shakes as he sees Ryan kiss the tall slender man William thought he could trust.

“Ryan, I’m sorta hot, do you mind if I open the window?” William hears Gabe ask, the sound muffled by the glass in the window. Gabe removes his purple hoodie, revealing a multi-colored flannel with a black under shirt underneath. William sees Ryan respond, but Ryan’s voice is to quiet even begin to hear through the glass. The next thing he knows Ryan is walking towards the window, and he has nowhere to hide. He lies down on the cold ground, just as Ryan opens the window. Ryan looks around as if he expects something to be there, William figures that he is still paranoid from earlier. William holds his breath; waiting for Ryan to pull his head back inside, but instead Gabe joins him, poking his head out the window.

“It’s a beautiful night tonight,” Gabe sighs looking up into the cold dark sky. Ryan smiles at Gabe, his brown eyes glittering with happiness. He reaches over and caresses Gabe’s olive skin.

“Not as beautiful as you,” Ryan purr kissing Gabe on the cheek .

“Or you niño,” Gabe winks at Ryan. William watches them jealousy and anger flaring up inside him. How dare Ryan cheat on him, William loves him, that’s why he followed Ryan, to save the one thing that means so much to him, their relationship. William would do anything to save this relationship, but apparently Ryan doesn’t want to work with it. Ryan would apparently rather be with Gabe.

Gabe and Ryan retreat back inside and William slowly sits up so he can see inside the room. His rage boils up inside him, making him want to explode. He watches as Ryan looks into Gabe’s eyes, Ryan’s eyes are full of love, more love then William has ever seen from Ryan. Anger flares up making it hard for William to just sit there and not launch himself through the window and attack them both.

William tells himself that he will get revenge; he will not let Ryan do this to him. If he must deal with pain, then others must to. Ryan is his world, and if he can’t have Ryan, then Gabe most definitely can’t.

William lies back down, and listens to Ryan and Gabe talk, spewing words of love to each other at times of silence. He waits tell he hears Gabe leave, tell he sits up again. He smiles when he sees Ryan walking around his room. Ryan takes his shirt off, and slowly slips of his pants so he is walking around in just his underwear. William feels his heart flutter at seeing Ryan’s mostly naked body.

Ryan picks up a pair of sweatpants, and pulls them on covering his underwear. William smiles, when Ryan picks up his guitar, he loves hearing Ryan play; it makes him feel all floatie inside. Hey lays back down, letting Ryan’s music float out of the open window. As Ryan plays, William thinks of ways to get his revenge for his pain. He doesn’t want to hurt Ryan, his love, but what must be done, must be done.

Ryan finishes playing and shuts the window. William sits up just as Ryan turns out the light. William gets up slowly, not wanting Ryan’s attention to be drawn towards the window. William knows what he is going to do the next time he catches Ryan cheating on him with Gabe.

For the next week William follows Ryan, the whole time concealing his plan in his pocket. Finally the day comes when he catches Gabe already at Ryan’s house.

William’s heart stops when he sees Gabe standing on Ryan’s front porch. He stops, frozen, hoping Gabe doesn’t see him, but Gabe only has eyes for Ryan. William grips his “plan” in his pocket, anger swirls in his gut.

“Gabe,” Ryan yells, running up to the beautiful tall man standing on his porch. They kiss and Ryan caresses Gabe’s smooth skin. Gabe whispers something un-audible into Ryan’s ear, making Ryan giggle. Ryan grabs Gabe’s hand and starts dragging him away from the house.

“Where are we going, niño?” Gabe asks laughing. William follows shocked at this change of events. He follows at a distance, but matching their slow, leisurely pace. William tries to listen in on their conversation, but they both are talking to quiet for him to hear.

He bites his lip, his body full of nerves for what he is about to do. He doesn’t know why he is so freaked about what he is going to do, there is no way it can’t work, no way he will get caught, well not until it is too late.

Ryan leads Gabe to the closed gate of the park. Even in the shadows William can see Ryan’s boyish smirk. Gabe kisses Ryan before both of them climb over the chain link fence. Now, the fact that they are on the other side of the fence poses a problem for William. He can’t get over the fence without making a sound, and any sound will draw both of the men’s attention.

William watches the two men as he is stuck on the other side of the fence. He knows eventually they will move far enough away, or be distracted enough, that they won’t notice him climbing over the fence. He feels trapped behind the fence as he watches the love of his life kissing another man. He can’t help but feel a little guilty about what he is going to do, but he knows that if he doesn’t, he will have to live with pain, and let Ryan get away with breaking his heart.

William watches them fade into the darkness under a tree. After a while, he starts to climb the fence, slowly, carefully, trying not to make a sound. Once at the top, he pauses, waiting to see if they show any sign of hearing him climb over the fence, they don’t, but he does hear Ryan’s unmistakable giggle. William bites his lip as, again, a flame of jealousy starts in his gut. He jumps off the top of the fence, eager to end his pain. William creeps in the shadows until he can see the happy couple sitting under a tree.

Anticipation fills William, making him even more uncertain if he can carry on with his plan. He stops himself to think. He has come this far, how come now he is having his doubts. He is almost too close to turn around, and give up his plan. He is torn, he can’t let Ryan do this to him, can’t let his heart be smashed by the one man who he loves. But yet William can’t bring himself to hurt that man, the one who he loves, the one who betrayed him with one of his good friends. He needs his revenge, but it hurts him that Ryan is the one that is receiving his revenge.

He creeps forward, eliminating all choice to go back. He grips the object in his pocket, the thing that will complete his plan. Now he can hear the hushed voices of the two of them, although he still can’t make out the words that they are saying. Slowly he walks forward, careful to stay in the shadows, but not as careful as he was, now either way he will win.

He steps on a twig, it cracks, but he doesn’t falter, doesn’t stop. The couple stops talking; now the night is full of a stiff silence, full of anticipation. He stops behind a tree, concealing him from them, but he can see the two of them clearly.

William clears his throat, and both Ryan, and Gabe jump.

“You think I didn’t know?” He says, his voice hushed, but he can tell they can hear him. “You think that you could get away with it? Well you thought wrong.” He steps out from behind the tree hiding him.

William feels his rage building up inside him, ready to burst once he gives the signal. He pulls out the object in his pocket, the object that had been with him, every time he followed Ryan, after he found Ryan’s secret. The object just dangles there in his hand. William smiles, when both their eyes grow wide with shock.

“William, is that…” Ryan says quietly, trailing off as his eyes fall on the object.

“Oh this?” William asks holding it up. An evil glint glimmers in William’s eyes as he looks from Ryan to Gabe. His eyes linger on Gabe and he grins sweetly, but is unable to hide his now fiery hate for him.

“No,” Gabe breaths, as he realizes what William’s going to do, a second too late to stop him. William trusts his knife, the object, into Ryan’s heart. Ryan lets out a gasp, as blood flows out of the wound. Life drops from his eyes like sand in an hourglass.

Gabe’s eyes fill with tears as he kneels over Ryan’s slowly dying body. He looks up at William, shocked that he would actually kill some.

“Why,” he whispers, the word chokes on his throat. “Why?”

“Because, if I can’t have him, no one can.” William states, brutally aware of how cliché that sounds. His heart pains from the fact that he just killed his one true love.

“You bastard,” Gabe yells, picking the knife up off the ground. He tackles William and holds the knife up to William neck.

“Go ahead, do it, I won’t stop you,” William says looking up at Gabe. William’s cold, sad eyes, looking up into Gabe’s crazed, but yet also sad eyes.

“If you don’t kill me, I’ll do it, I don’t need you to end my life.” William mutters calmly, trying to stifle his emotional pain out of his voice. “You don’t have the guts to.” He mocks with a sarcastic grin.

That does it; Gabe punches William in the face, breaking his nose. Then he stabs William in the chest. William coughs, and feels the pain of the knife puncturing his lung.

“You deserve to die.” Gabe says, his voice robed of emotion, as William starts to black out. Gabe walks away not stopping to look back at Ryan, his love, or William, the fallen ex-lover of his love.