You're Still My Favorite Melody

"What are you doing here?" William asks, in a tone that catches me off-guard. He sounds more pissed than I’ve ever heard him before.

"I went out with Pete and Patrick and they ditched me so I ended up back here," I explain, but William gives me a skeptical look.

"That isn’t an excuse to be here with him," he hisses.

"I don’t need an excuse to hang out with Gabe!" I shout and I don’t care if Gabe can hear me. This whole thing was getting ridiculous.

William sighs and leans back against the counter, as his lips turn downward in a frown. "You’re being difficult," he mutters, his hair falling into his eyes.

I sigh, "I just don’t see why I need an excuse to hang out with him."

"I don’t think you should anymore."

"Well maybe I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t so busy all the time," I retort.

"Sabrina," he begins slowly in a condescending voice.

"What?" I hiss.

William lets out an exasperated sigh, "I don't want to fight with you."

"Then don't."

"It's not that easy. I mean I know he has an um... has a thing for you...and I just need to know...if um...is there something going on with you two?" he ask nervously, ducking his head in embarrassment.

"What? God no. William, Gabe and I are friends. Nothing happened and I don't," I pause to walk over to William and slip my arm around him, "I don't have any feelings for anyone but you. I love you remember?"

I knew damn well that my feelings for Gabe would probably never go away. Try as I might whenever he walked into a room, I couldn’t stop my heart from skipping a beat. But I was dating William not Gabe.Gabe William was what I wanted. I loved William not Gabe. I had to. I couldn’t hurt William; I needed to forget my feelings for Gabe, however muddled they were.

"I know and I love you too, but-" William asks, lifting his head.

"No buts William. Nothing else matters okay?" William smiles and mumbles an 'okay' before pressing his lips against mine. William is pulling me closer to him when I hear Gabe clear his throat.

William pulls away and glances at Gabe expectantly.

"Are you still helping me with my essay?" he asks, leaning on the counter and watching me carefully.

"Um, actually, I should go find Pete and Patrick," I say nervously and Gabe’s face falls.

"You can find them later," Gabe insists but I shake my head.

"No, really, I shouldn’t have left them alone," I say, briskly walking to the door.

Gabe follows me to the door, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," I say simply and I start heading for the stairs but Gabe grabs my arm.

"Let go," I hiss.

"Not until you tell me what’s wrong," he retorts, keeping a tenacious grip on my arm.

"Let go," a voice I recognize as William’s orders in a harsh tone. William’s standing in the doorway, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed. Gabe gives William a challenging glare and doesn’t drop my arm.

Oh shit.

"Maybe you don’t care about what’s wrong with Sabrina but I do," he hisses and William steps out into the hallway.

"She’s my girlfriend not yours; whatever her problem is, isn’t your business, so let go," he retorts with just as much venom in his voice. Gabe takes a few steps forward–pulling me along with him-- so that he’s an inch away from William, still gripping my hand. This was just like high school.

"And what are you gonna do if I don’t?"

Only worse.

I step between the twochildren boys and laugh nervously, "you guys are friends right? Friends don’t fight."

I didn’t know how they had become friends but I was honestly too weirded out by the whole situation to ask. And just as quickly as they had become friends they were fighting and to be honest I couldn’t keep up. I just needed to make sure they didn't kick each other's asses.

"Sabrina do you want me to let go?" Gabe asks, turning his attention to me.

"Do not do this now," I hiss and Gabe snorts.

"It’s never the right time for you is it?" he asks, stalking off.

I sigh and turn back to William who gives me an annoyed look.

"What? " I ask.

"You expect me to think there's nothing going on?" he asks, sending a glare in the direction of Gabe's retreating form.

"William don’t," I say, mirroring his irritated tone.

"I don’t trust him," he mutters.

"You’re living with him Bill, I think it’s time to start," I retort and William gives me an uneasy look.

"I was planning on moving out actually."

"To where?" I ask, growing wary of William’s unease. Moving could never be good.

"Chicago," he mumbles, suddenly becoming interested in his shoes. I was motionless, utterly confused and shocked.

"Chicago?" I choke out.

"Yeah I got an internship...I start on Friday, so I’ve got to leave on Thursday." William was leaving?

"When did you find out?"

"A week ago," he says, averting his eyes.

"Oh, well I'm glad you decided to tell me before you left,"I mumble.

"I'm sorry, I just...well the timing was always wrong and-"

"So the timing is perfect now?! Three days before you leave?" I ask incredulously.

"I know and it's short notice but I wanted..well I want you to come with me," he says, searching my eyes frantically for an answer.

"I..uh...what? I don’t..I mean I-" I stutter, staring at anything but William’s probing eyes.
I wanted to go really I did, but to leave everything I knew a second time? And was I even ready to live alone with William?

"I know it's crazy but it's only for a few months and well I think it'd be good for us. And I...I know it seems like an ultimatum but...I don't think we can keep doing this if you stay," he continues, and I stare at him in absolute shock. Was I missing something?

"You don’t have to decide right now. Just go home, think about it and tell me on Thursday," he says in response to my silence.

Okay that was three days. Three days to decide the rest of my life. God did I hate ultimatums.