Forever and Always

Gabe Saporta was a photography student in NYU living in an apartment with his childhood best friend and boyfriend William Beckett. Will was taking up an art course so his building was still near Gabe’s so they can still have lunch together during their breaks.

Gabe is a naturally friendly guy, which is good because as a photographer he has to talk to the models he’s shooting. He’s out-going and loves to socialize with other people. The only problem of Gabe is he gets invited to a lot of parties, some to photograph and some thrown by his friends. Sure at parties he has a few drinks but there are some nights where it goes too far.

Will who is more of an introvert hates that Gabe has a habit of going out almost every night and coming home drunk. Will’s idea of having fun is just staying home on a Friday night with his boyfriend having a movie marathon. He loves his boyfriend but having to take care of Gabe every night is exhausting.

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It’s a Friday night; Gabe has had the most stressful week of classes because the entire week his professor said he came up with a project that is worth 30% of their major grade. The project is the students are supposed to make a photo essay of 3 different things.

1.What they think love is.

2.Something important from their childhood
3.Favorite place.

Gabe already had the perfect idea. He was going to make a collage of him and Will in Central Park.

He was excited to go home and tell Will all about it. Suddenly he on his walk home he got a call from his and Will’s friend Pete.

“Hey man!” Pete greeted.

“Hey what’s the plan for tonight bro?”

“Just come down to my apartment later. Everyone is going to be there! Bring Will if wants to come tonight.”

“Sure man. I’m on my way home from class now. I’ll just pass by my apartment then make my way to yours. Its about 7, how about I show up at around 9?”

“Yeah perfect! See you later Gabe.”

“Yeah see you later Pete.”

Gabe made his way down the hall of his apartment building to his and will’s apartment 436. When he opened the door he felt something was wrong. He couldn’t tell what it was but the apartment felt emptier. Usually Will was watching tv when Gabe got home from class on fridays.

“Will???”

“Will are you home??”

Gabe thought to himself “ Oh he’s probably out buying food or whatever.”

He slipped his shoes off and sat on the couch. He realized there was a letter addressed to him on the table. He picked it up and opened the letter; it was a bit crumpled and he noticed the tear stains at the end of the page.

Dear Gabe,

This is me being a wimp but I’m sorry. I need a break. I’m staying over in my parents this weekend to think about everything. I’m sick of having to take care of you when you come home drunk out of your mind from party after party almost every night. I know I’ve told you to lessen your alcohol in take but seriously Gabe. I’m tired of having to be responsible of your actions and waking up at 3 am to pick you up from Pete’s apartment and dragging you down the stairs and into the car. I love you but seriously I need a break.

Love ,
William.

Gabe sunk further into the couch. He didn’t even realize the tears that were streaming down his face. He thought to himself “I never even realized how Will felt. Maybe I was too drunk to even notice how mad he looked whenever he picked me up from parties??? I cant believe what a jerk I am!!!!

Gabe was so angry he ended up kicking the coffee table and causing himself more pain. He just fell to the floor and curled up into a ball crying.

He woke up to his phone ringing at about 10 pm. It was Pete.

He sighed and answered his phone.

“Hello???” Gabe thought “Man I sound fucked up.”

“Gabe!!! Where are you? Its 10. Wait bro are you okay?”

“Will sorta just disappeared. Sorry I fell asleep I’ll be there in like 15 minutes.”

“WAIT 2 SECONDS GABRIEL EDUARDO SAPORTA! WILL LEFT?”

“He wanted a break from me apparently. He was sick and tired of taking care of my drunk ass every weekend. But its fine, I’m on my way to your apartment now.”

“Gabe are you sure you still want to go?”

“I’m a big boy Pete. I have my own ways to cope.”

“Whatever you say bro. See you.”

“Bye.”

Its 4 am. Gabe was currently drunk sitting on a park bench in Central Park going through the pictures he took on his phone. When he was at Pete’s he decided to numb the pain of Will leaving by the only way he knew how: drinking.

He doesn’t know how much he drank that night but it was more than enough for him to not feel the pain anymore. He remembers begging Pete to bring him to Central Park, Pete felt bad so he didn’t even question Gabe’s request anymore.

Gabe wasn’t even sure if Pete was with him. The last time he saw Pete he was on the phone. He heard footsteps when he looked up there he was; William Beckett was standing in front of him. His arms crossed across his chest, his big brown eyes staring at Gabe.

“Willy Baby! I thought you were mad at me. Why are you even here? You said so in your letter that you were in your parent’s house but now you’re standing in front of me.” Gabe slurred.
Will let out a sigh.

“I’m here cause Pete called me at 3 in the morning begging me to come pick you up. He was saying how you were crying on his shoulder saying how bad you felt that I left and how you drank more than you ever have in your life. I’m surprised you’re actually still standing and not in an emergency room getting your stomach pumped.”

“Well what can you say babe? I have a stomach made out of iron.” Gabe was still flipping through pictures on his phone and ignoring the fact that Will was mad at him. He came across one of his favorite pictures of Will and himself.

He put his phone up and showed it to Will.

“Look Will, its you and me on our first real date. I remember that night so well.” Gabe let out a laugh. “I took you out here, in Central Park! We fed the ducks and had a picnic under the tree, over there.” Gabe pointed at the tree that was straight ahead. “I even kissed you for the first time under that tree. We’ve had so many memories here. Our first kiss, the first time I said I love you to you, even our first fight was right outside Central Park. Now look at us, we’re in central park and this is the first time we fought that I’m crying like a baby in public.” Gabe lifted his sleeve to wipe the tears that started falling in the middle of his monologue.

Will sat down beside Gabe and faced him. He also was wiping the tears out of his eyes. He grabbed Gabe’s hands and held them with his.

“I’m really sorry for leaving you like that and just leaving a letter explaining it all to you. I love you and I know you know that. We’ve been together for what? 6 years now but I’ve known you since we were 3; that’s like 18 years of our lives. In those 18 years we became parts of each other. We both know how we are exactly. You know I’m not good with confrontation and emotion that’s why I left it in a letter. I didn’t want to face you when I said I wanted a break. You’re just the stronger half of us. I may be more responsible but you’re the one who deals with all the emotions that I can’t express.”

Gabe was just speechless. He didn’t know what to say or what to do. The only thing he thought of was to carefully remove his hands from Will’s and place it on Will’s face. He wiped Will’s remaining tears and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips.

“Gabe??? I said that entire speech and you didn’t even say anything.”
Gabe let out a laugh.

“Babe, I’m sorry. I just didn’t know what to say. For once, you’ve left me speechless and I couldn’t even think of what to do but just to kiss you. I love you too. I promise this time I’ll fix my ways. More Friday nights spent hanging out with you and limiting my drinking habits. 3 beers for a night and that’s it nothing more.”

Will smiled at his boyfriend.

“That sounds like a good plan babe.” He then leaned into Gabe and gave him a kiss.

“Will, what time is it?” Gabe asked.

Will glanced at his phone.

“Oh wow, its about 5:30 am.”

Will looked around and noticed that it was dawn. The sun was about to rise.
Gabe put his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders

“You know, when I got home. I was planning on telling you about this photo essay that’s due for my course. It’s supposed to be about 3 things; your favorite place, what you think love is and something important from your childhood. I was planning on making it a photo collage of us in this park together because you are the most important thing from my childhood and you are exactly what I believe love is. I’m happy I realized I was in love with my best friend when I was 15 because seriously, that was the greatest decision of my life.”

“I’m happy you made that decision to finally ask me out when we were 15 because I knew I was in love with you when you started going out with that Lisa girl when were 13.”
“Oh my god. I remember that girl! Gosh she was so shallow. She only dated me because I was the tallest guy in the 8th grade. “

Will started laughing so hard that he teared up. Gabe decided it was the perfect moment to snap a picture of his boyfriend.

Will realized that Gabe took a picture of him and started pouting. “Why did you take a picture of me?!”

Gabe just chuckled. “Because you look great babe.” He gave his camera to Will who was surprised because the picture did come out nice. In the picture he was laughing so hard but he looked happy. It was genuine laughter and nothing fake. All the tension from his and Gabe’s fight was gone.

Gabe and Will took pictures for Gabe’s photo essay and took advantage of the pretty surroundings since it was dawn. They stayed in the park till the sun rose and watched it under the tree where they had their first kiss. They were both getting tired so they made their way back to their apartment and fell asleep in each other’s arms.

Months later, Gabe decided to stop drinking so much when he went out and started having more date nights with his boyfriend. Gabe and Will never fought again after that night. He aced his photography project and his professor commented how he loved how happy Gabe and Will looked in the pictures. He was able to understand the assignment completely.
One day, they were there in the same Central Park under the exact tree. Gabe has been planning this day ever since Will forgave him. They were having a picnic like they did on their first date but instead Gabe was there to ask Will to finally marry him. When he pulled the box out Will was so happy he was crying. Gabe went down on one knee and said, “ I want you forever, forever and always. Through the good and the bad and the ugly. We’ll grow old together, forever and always.” Will of course said “Yes.”