"So who's that?"Carson asks.
"Kyle Avery. Remember. He's the kid I used to talk about. The one who I couldn't beat."He rolls his eyes at the last part.
"Oh yeah. You can't beat that little pip-squeak? Come on, Oliver. Thought you were better than that."
"I won't let him beat me again."
"That's the spirit."Carson laughs and then looks at Oliver with a grin.
"Oh no. I know that look. What did you do now?"he backs away a little from his trouble making friend.
Carson is Oliver's bestfriend, despite him being a year older. Oliver and Carson always dreamed of going to the same university. And they both had the same dream one so they worked hard to get in.
Carson has always been a trouble maker. Pranks and jokes were his thing. And he was sneaky.
He had a way with people, though. It was almost impossible not to like him. He was supportive, funny, and knew just how people were feeling. He always knew what to say to people no matter what they were feeling. Oliver always envied that.
He was also carefree. He didn't care what other people would think of him. If he wanted to do something, he'd go for it. And he wasn't shy at all. He spoke his mind. Oliver wished he could be like that, too. Instead he feels like he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders all the time.
"Well, it's not something I did. It's actually something you did."Carson snickers and looks right at Oliver's confused face.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"Well some people are talking about you and shortie. About some ~tension~ you two have. If you know what I mean. Especially since you seemed to like his ass."He laughs out loud and elbows Oliver in the side lightly.
Oliver blushes a little, but tries not to show it. "I have my reasons for that!"
"I always knew something was up with you. You had girls practically begging for you, yet you never dated any of them."He grabs his stomach in pain from how much he's laughing.
"I do not like guys!"Oliver snaps. "I never went out with them becuase they didn't catch my attention. None of them were real. They all wanted me becuase I was attractive, rich, and famous."
Now that he thinks about it, Oliver never really seemed interested in girls. He's never had a crush on any girl. I mean, sure he's thought they were cute, but he didn't think much more than that.
"I'm pretty sure at least one girl liked you for you."Carson says. He sounds genuine, but Oliver can tell he still wants to laugh at him for what happened with Kyle.
"I don't know. I don't want to date someone who's fake. I want someone to love me. The real me. Not the me I put up for the cameras."He puts his hands in his pockets and looks at the floor.
"I'll be your friend no matter what you like. Whether it's boys or girls or, for some reason, animals. I'll be supportive."Carson rests a hand on Oliver's shoulders and gives him a genuine look.
Oliver smiles and brings his eyes up to look forward. "Thanks, Carson."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ugh I just don't understand this."Kyle whines and lets his head fall to the table in front of him.
"Well you're gonna have to if you want to pass the exams that are coming up."Leah says.
"Why can't I just swim my lessons? Swimming, I can do. School, not so much."He puts his hands to his cheeks and yawns.
It's been at least three days since Oliver touched Kyle. They haven't really talked much. Thankfully, Oliver has seemed to calm down on the grabbing and touching.
Kyle can't stop thinking about it, though. It sucks. Every time Kyle closes his eyes, Oliver's beautiful face appears and makes him open his eyes.
The worst part is that they share a room together.
•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•
Kyle walks down the hall until he arrives to the door that leads to his room. He turns the door knob and walks in.
Oliver is laying down on his bed, shirtless and with wet hair. He must have showered.
For some reason, this makes Kyle blush. "Can't you put a shirt on or something?"
He's seen Oliver without his shirt plenty of times throughout high school. Since they shared the same locker rooms and would swim almost every day. But now Oliver's body seems different. It seems more muscular and more toned. He looks hot. And his wet hair just adds to it.
"It's hot, Avery. We're in Florida, in case you haven't noticed. We're known for our extremely hot weather."Oliver responds. He doesn't look up from his phone. He's texting rapidly and his face looks annoyed. His tone sounds angry, too.
"Hey, are you alright?"Kyle asks. What could be bothering him? I mean it is super hot and they have a bunch of tests coming up. And they have to study what seems like every single day. But it's more than that.
Oliver finally looks at Kyle. He has that cold look in his eye again. "I'm fine. What would you care anyway?"
"I care. You might not, but I don't want anyone to be upset. Especially when I know I can help."Kyle responds.
This seems to tick Oliver even more off. "No, you can't help me. Becuase unless you know what it's like to have an abusive dad who doesn't care about anything other than his fame, you can't help me."
Kyle's face goes blank and he stays silent. How do you respond to that? Kyle doesn't know what it's like to have an abusive dad. His parents have always supported him in everything. Every one he knows has supported him. His parents, Leah, Aunt Alyssa.
"Do you...wanna talk about it?"Kyle suggests.
Oliver glares at him for a minute. "No. Not really. Not with you anyway."
"But I can help. I can be supportive-"
"No you can't! You haven't suffered anything."Oliver snaps a bit loudly. "You've always had it easy. You were naturally gifted and you had tons of supportive people. You wanna know what I had? A dad who beat the crap out of me when I wouldn't win. That's the motivation and support I got."
Oliver is now standing in front of Kyle. His face angry and his eyes look cold, but sad at the same time.
"You never talked about any of this.."Kyle mutters. This whole time, Oliver has been suffering and nobody knew. No wonder he was harsh and a jerk.
"Yeah, well, who cared anyway? Only other person who knows and does care is Carson."he steps back and runs a hand through his wet hair.
"Oliver, you could've told me. Or the counselors. Or a teacher. Just someone."
Oliver laughs bitterly. There's no humour in his voice. "Nobody would believe me anyway. Besides, he would probably get out easily."
He steps back and sits on the bed. His eyes look sad now.
Kyle sits down in front of him on the floor. "You can talk to me. I'm here now, Oliver. I'm sorry I didn't realize this sooner. And that you had to go through it alone."
Oliver looks at the boy in front of him. This beautiful, genuine boy before him. He hated how much he wanted to tell him about his problems. How he wanted touch him again and feel his lips under his. This boy was an angel.
A curse and a blessing. A gift, but a punishment.
'Oh crap. Am I really gah...No, no I'm not. What am I thinking?'
"Just...get away from me."Oliver says, standing up.
"Oliver, please. I know you want to talk about it. I can tell."Kyle stands up after him.
Oliver can't take it anymore. He turns to face Kyle and walk up to him. He pushes him and he lands on the bed with a 'thud'. Then, he crawls on top of him. Each of Oliver's legs are on each side of Kyle's hips.
"O-Oliver?"Kyle asks, his face a bright red.
"Stop acting like you care."Oliver says.
"I-I do."Kyle respond, his heart beating faster with every second Oliver is on top of him.
Oliver watches as Kyle does everything he can to not make eye contact with him.
'Damn it! Why is he so damn cute?!'
They both hear the doorknob turn and someone walks in.