One Day, Robots Will Cry

William opened his phone and read the text Gabe had sent: Oh, not much. Drinking an amazing blueberry drink Lacey made. OMG you have to taste it! I'm chilling in Jessica's room with her and Pete.

Sighing to himself, William replied: Try not to get too plastered.

Why did Gabe have to be at that stupid party? Why couldn't he be at home? Then, William could practically walk there from him mom's house.

Instead, he was sitting in the living room, still. He wanted to leave the room so badly, but his step-dad insisted he stayed here that way they could have "family time". That was always a big disaster, and today would be too.

"What do you keep pulling out that phone for?" his step-dad, Steve, questioned.

"I'm just texting my friend," William said, as plainly as he could. Not my boyfriend, because his ego is too big...

Steve nodded, "A girl friend?"

"No, just--"

"Oh my God, kid," Steve interrupted, "are you ever going to get a girlfriend?"

William felt his left eye twitch. There was no way he could say he was gay, which he was unsure of himself. "Well, I don't know...these girl around here are crazy," William said, which was true. Or the kind of girl he thought might be his type anyway... It seemed like every time you turned around they were making out with each others boyfriends. It's not like he kept up with any of it.

"That's all women," Steve said flatly.

"Excuse me," William's mother interjected.

"Including you, Mary!" Steve exclaimed.

William lifted his eyebrows, he was unsure of what he was witnessing. It could've been one of two things; either a fight was about to happen or they were joking. It was honestly hard to tell which.

"What qualities do I posses that are crazy?" she questioned.

William looked back at his phone. There was a text from Gabe: I won't! When do I ever get plastered?

Rolling his eyes he replied: Try every weekend.

"For one, you're getting mad cause I made a simple little joke," Steve said.

"I just asked a question," his mother said calmly.

"Well, you took me too seriously," Steve said, always having to put in an asshole remark. William's stomach was in knots, and he didn't know if it was his parents or Gabe. "William, you think you're ever going to get a girlfriend, or are you a faggot like I've always assumed?"

William choose his words carefully before he began, using the filter between his brain and his mouth,"I don't know if--"

"You don't know if your gay or not, huh?" Steve said.

Breathing in heavily, William replied, "No...I was going to say that--"

"You are gay?"

William's firsts balled up tight, "No, I'm not."

"You're pants tell me different."

Out of habit, William looked down. Yeah, he wore his pants tight...so?

"So you wanna answer my question?" Steve said sharply.

William blinked several times and tried to hide the anger from his face, "Well, Steve, do you have a real job, or are you out cheating on my mother like I've always assumed?"

William's mother gasped.

Steve's eyes widened, and that vain in his forehead popped out, "What did you just say?"

Goddamn it, why does that filter stop working at the worst moments? His eyes were wide, "I just...I don't know why--"

Steve jumped to his feet, "Alright, you faggot, I suggest you go upstairs."

"You gonna answer my question?" William muttered under his breath. When his back was to Steve. He moved slowly toward the stairs, trying to keep himself composed.

Before he knew it, Steve grabbed the back of his shirt, "You think I'm deaf?!"

William shook his head.

"You're damn right!" he shoved the William toward the stairs.

Scurrying to his room before he said something else, William pulled his phone from his pocket. Gabe had texted him back: : (

Groaning, William slammed the door of his room. It was still a wreck, of course. Now was a good time to clean it he supposed. First he decided to text Gabe back: No frowns allowed from you tonight. You're going to make me feel guilty.

He shoved his phone back in the pocket of his pants--his tight jeans, that probably came down too low. First, he gathered all the clothes from the floor and piled them up on his unmade bed.

--------

Gabe replied to William's text: Aw, dont b like that

He shoved his phone in his pocket and downed the rest of the cup. Lacey and her concoction were getting better and better. Gabe was with his clique, which had grouped around Pete the DJ. They were all dancing ridiculously and singing obnoxiously.

By now, Gabe obviously didn't care what kind of music was playing as long as he could do some sort of dancing or singing. By now he was basically plastered...

Lacey was dancing way too close to Gabe, grinding and such. But, it was all in good fun, even the occasional kisses. Even though Gabe and Lacey seemed to both get extra friendly when they're intoxicated...especially as intoxicated as they were now.

Pete shot Gabe a look, but Gabe didn't seem to notice.

In somewhat of a daze, Gabe let his arms wrap around Lacey's waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and they just kind of started making out.

Pete covered his face with his palm and shook his head.

No one's gonna think I'm gay now... Gabe thought pulling Lacey tight against him and moved his lips to her throat, down her neck, to her collarbone.

Lacey bit her lip, slightly smiling, "Um, Gabe..."

"What?" he breathed between kisses.

"Stop, unless you want this to--"

He pressed his lips back down onto hers.

------

William stared down at his phone. The reply Gabe gave wasn't exactly legible. That meant he'd gotten a bit drunk. Sighing, still he replied: I'm not being like anything. Except missing you, I'm definitely being like that.

He put his phone back on the side table. His room was clean and everything was back in order. The voice of his step-father echoed loudly through the house. It wasn't like they were even arguing, his voice was just loud and obnoxious.

Right now, he felt pretty empty. The room was cold and the air was thick with smoke. He missed Gabe really bad right now.

Unless there were one of these stupid parties, they spent a lot of time together on the weekends. Even if they were hanging out with their other friends, Gabe always gave William some sort of special attention. Gabe was always picking on him, or pushing him, poking him, when they got drunk enough, dancing with him. It didn't matter who was there, William always got special attention.

During gym class, when William ended up feeling like crap because he couldn't play football, or soccor ...or dodge ball...Gabe would walk around the track with him until he felt better. In Mr. Wright's class, they were always lab partners. In Dr. Dickhead's class, (Gabe had made up the nickname from their Psychology teacher, Dr. Carpender) they sat beside each other and joked about how their teacher needed to get laid. Gabe would sneak out of art class to come to the music room and listen to him play guitar, just to be there. Gabe got him through school without going insane.

Not being with Gabe or talking to Gabe...made him feel sort of empty.

Sure, they were texting each other, but the texts were becoming more and more drawn out. Gabe was getting too drunk to text.

Then, his phone vibrated. He picked it up. It was from Pete: What the hell is going on between you and Gabe?

William furrowed his eyebrows. What did Pete even want to know for? Sure, he was usually trying to help. What was he supposed to say to that? He replied: Honestly, I have no idea.

Soon, Pete had texted him back: Well, he's going on about how he's not gay. Dancing with girls and making out with girls. I'm sorry to tell you man, really. I've been trying to get him to leave, he won't.

A sudden pain struck William. His chest locked up and he felt tears forming in his eyes. Really? Was he that bad? He decided to text Pete back: Oh, well...I guess nothing then.

He let the tears flow freely, there was no reason to hide his pain. He pulled his knees to his chest and clutched his phone. Why did he even need to know? If Pete wouldn't have told him, he would've never know...

His phone vibrated. Pete said: I think he's in denial. He's afraid of what people are going to say, and he's gotten drunk enough to try and prove a point to himself.

William wiped his eyes. That much was true and he knew it. Still, Gabe had kissed him more then once. They cuddled. He replied: That's probably true...

That's all he could say. He was hurting, and as the night went on...he had a horrible pit feeling.