All I Want

Tommy's POV

Half an hour had passed and I was beginning to wonder where Richie had gone. All I saw was him leave the room abruptly, then heard the front door slam as he left the house. I had shrugged, thinking that he was just merely going to get something from his car, but after a while I started to wonder. I wasn't worrying, exactly: Richie's a grown adult- he can look after himself. I was simply curious.

I was slouched on the leather sofa in the recording room, and I glanced sideways to see that Chris was fiddling around with his phone- no doubt playing some crappy iPhone game that was just wasting his battery and his money.

"Hey, do you know where Rich went?" I asked, and he shrugged, raising his eyebrows.

"Beats me." He replied, and I nodded before turning my head back to it's original position. 

Suddenly, in my peripheral vision, I spotted Chris and Ricky doing some sort of weird silent communication. There was a lot of eyebrow raising, head tilting, and odd facial expressions.

"What the hell are you two doing?" I asked, confused. They both turned to face me with sheepish looks on their faces.

"Well?" I asked again, curious. Ricky bit his lip, looking down at the floor before meeting my eyes again.

"Look, we weren't gonna tell you, but now you've kind of left us no choice." He said guiltily. I raised an eyebrow.

"What weren't you going to tell me?" I was starting to get that gut-churning feeling that you get when other people know things concerning you that you don't. Chris let out an awkward stutter and put his phone down, forgetting about his game for a bit.

"It's..... something to do with Richie." He sighed. It was clear that they were finding it difficult telling me, and I started to get worried. Was there something wrong with Rich? Something I didn't know about?

Ricky glanced sideways at Chris and they both did that weird silent communication thing again before he turned back to me and sighed.

"Well, he would kill us if he knew we told you, as he hasn't got the balls to just tell you himself yet, but-" He paused, and Chris took over.

"Rich is... kind of.... in love with you."

I froze. What?! I can't of heard that right.

"He's... in love with me....?! Richard- in love with me?!" I repeated to them, frozen in place.

"Yeah, he is. Please don't hate him!" Ricky narrowed his eyes as if he was scared of my response.

"I'm not going to hate him. That's just..... woah. Thats... unexpected." My mind started racing, so fast I could barely keep up with the thoughts. One, however, stood out. How come he told them, but not me- his best friend?

"Did he tell you this?" I asked, looking up at them. Chris bit his lip.

"Uh, no, but it's blatantly obvious! Like, extremely obvious. I'm not even sure he tries to hide it."

I pondered over this for a moment. Was it? He seemed normal to me... Maybe I was just too blind to notice?

"Promise that you wont tell him we told you? He'd absolutely murder us." Ricky pleaded, glancing towards the door in fear. I frowned.

"I-I won't, I promise." I nodded in assurance. 

At that exact moment, the sound of the front door being opened caused us all to momentarily panic. Alright, Richie's back, just act normal!

I fidgeted around in my seat, how can I act normal now I know that he's in love with me?!

The recording studio door opened, and I looked towards it apprehensively. Richie awkwardly bit his lip as he walked in, shutting the door carefully behind him. I looked at him, I mean, really looked at him, for the first time. His skin was almost permanently a milky white, remaining extremely pale even when we went to Thailand and Singapore. He was also tall, I suppose. Not as tall as me, but tall enough to be considered, well, tall. I studied him, and noticed how the dark brown of his hair was reflected in his eyes, giving his features a sort of balance.

My gaze traveled downwards, my eyes trailing over his chest towards where his t-shirt hung loose over what I knew was a flat stomach. Suddenly, an unexpected feeling caused my stomach to clench, a shiver running down my spine. What the hell was that?! It could't have been caused by the way I was watching Richie......
Could it?

I was confused, and my brain was racing as it was trying to process all this new information. I was nervous and excited all in one, and it was making me feel sick.
Unable to relax myself, I furrowed my eyebrows before standing up and striding over to the door, my shoulder bumping Richie's (who was just stood there in confusion) in my haste to get out.

Once out in the hallway, I let out a long breath of air I didn't even know I'd been holding, and rested my forehead on the wall in front of me.

What the hell was wrong with me? I get told that my best friend is in love with me, and instead of feeling disgusted, I actually feel..... kind of excited? And what about that feeling I got when studying his body? That's not normal in a platonic relationship, right?

Subconsciously, my mind wandered back to Richie, with his strong jawline, his perfect rose-red lips, and his gorgeous cheekbones...

Oh damn.

I had to get out of this house.