Beau Riley
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Our friendly date ended well, and a few days have passed since then.
Everything was fine, actually.
It's just that whenever I would meet Sage in person, he would sometimes look at me in a daze. I had to snap my fingers in between his brows to wake him up from his stupor. Then he would blink at me before breaking out into a blush.
I had to admit that every time he blushed like that, I couldn't stop myself from simping over his looks. He looked like a prince who was caught red-handed in the kitchen holding a jar of cookies. He looked cute whenever he blushed.
Although I'm curious what made him blush like that, I decided to just wave it off to avoid looking like a gossiper in front of him.
Things went on like that until something happened between us.
He invited me to watch a swimming sports event at school since it happened to be our break time and our free schedule finally matched for once. Sage told me he was a fan of all sports and that he wanted to support his swimming friend right now.
Of course, I agreed to come with him. There's nothing much to do anyway. It also served as my free pass to spend more time with him. Who would ever reject a beautiful Sage Johnson, right?
And so we watched the swimmers race in the pool. Everything was good about it. The vibe, the players, the event itself—we even hugged each other when his friend won the race.
It's just that when everyone was finally going home since the event had already ended, both of us were waiting for his friend to come out. We stopped by the pool to assess how deep it possibly was.
"I'd say it's 4 feet," he murmured with his sturdy hands on his snatched waist. He looked absolutely breath-taking in his navy blue t-shirt and black cargo shorts. His legs were straight and had the right muscles. It was also flawless and fair.
I shifted my gaze away from him as I stared back again at the pool. "3 feet," I replied as a counterargument.
He laughed at that. "Who knows, maybe we're both wrong and it's actually 5 feet."
I rolled my eyes at him with a silly smile on my face. "Whatever, Johnson."
"Whatever, Riley."
We both laughed again.
Our little bubble was suddenly interrupted when a guy appeared in between us. He grinned at me and then at Sage. "Hey, hey, hey! It's my first time seeing your little friend, Sage!"
"Anton," Sage called out with a smile as he also anchored his arm around the swimmer's neck. "Congratulations, bro."
"Thanks!" Anton beamed at us. He then looked at me with squinted eyes. "You are...?"
"Oh, I'm Beau." I hastily introduced myself with a shy smile. I even fixed my thick eyeglasses out of habit.
He returned my smile with a brighter one. "You know, I actually have a standard when it comes to my friends, and they always have to race against me. Do you swim, Beau?" He unexpectedly removed his shirt as he grabbed a pair of goggles before handing out one for me.
"Uh, yes?" I hesitantly replied to him with a nervous smile. "I don't think I can ever win over you, though."
"Relax, it's just a friendly match. I just feel like my bond with a friend gets stronger when I swim with them together," he said with a casual smile. "Right, Sage?"
Sage reassuringly patted my shoulder. "Don't worry, I've been through this before. Just swim with him. If something goes wrong, I'll dive in for you," he whispered with a wink.
Somehow, his words reassured me.
I nodded at him and then looked at Anton to signal to him that I'm all in this. He smiled back at me with a thumbs up. He handed me a black swimming trunk, which I immediately carried with me inside the locker room. I switched into that, leaving my white t-shirt with me.
I miss my hoodie.
Anyway, when I went out of the room and walked towards them, Sage was already looking at me. His eyes were a darker shade of green as he scanned my figure with pursed lips.
I couldn't help but feel a little bit conscious about it. Did it look weird on me?
Nonetheless, I only gave him a small smile as I took off my shirt and handed it to him. "Cheer for me," I teased him.
However, he did not respond to me. Sage only stared at the t-shirt in his hand with a blank look.
Whatever's going on inside his mind, I could never know. And so I went beside Anton, who praised my body for being 'beautifully slender' and 'fair'. I shrugged his compliment off with a scoff before we dove in together.
It wasn't really a bad experience. I trusted Sage's words when he told me to just take it casually. As expected, Anton ended up winning. He had to wait for another minute or so before I reached the end. He fist bumped me with a wide smile.
I reached the stairs and shook my wet hair away from my field of vision. My eyes accidentally met Sage's.
I automatically smiled at him as I reached out for my white shirt in his hand. "I told you to cheer for me," I muttered in a playful tone.
I was expecting him to joke back at me or congratulate me for making it out alive. However, he surprised me when he suddenly cupped the side of my face with his heated hand.
"It's weird. You look so beautiful right now. Even better than in my dreams," he whispered in a daze as he scanned every nook and cranny of my face. His thumb caressed my cheek up to the edges of my eyes. "You make me feel hot and think of a lot of bad things."
My lips parted in shock. "Sage, what are you talking about—?"
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, guilt etched in his deep voice. "I don't think I'm going to be satisfied with just being your friend anymore."
I looked at him with wide eyes as he sighed heavily. His minty breath sent shivers down my spine as I felt it against the skin of my face.
"I've been thinking about this lately..." He paused and looked at me, his green eyes sparkling with so much emotion. "Beau Riley, I think I'm attracted to you. I think I'm gay."
"YOU'RE WHAT?!"