"Damn…" Nick sang, eyes following the boy - somewhere in his earlier twenties with the dirty blonde hair, green eyes and sexy distressed skinny jeans -, that just passed by their table in the food court. Indiscreetly, the teen lounged back his stool, resting it on two legs, nearly breaking his neck in the process of staring after the boy. Until someone kicked against the unstable stool causing Nick to fall backwards to the ground and yelp in surprise.
"The fuck 's the matter with you?" The boy growled as his face appeared above the table top again, aggressively returning the stool in earlier position, on four legs this time. He snatched his drink from the table, irritated, slurping through the unnecessarily amount of straws - designed for discomfort more than anything else -, like a small child with his eyes fixed on his friend.
The other boy just shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the question with a returning question. "Do you remember that you have a boyfriend? Or has your mind filled with air and leftover brain fluids from the brain cells that used to be in there forgotten that?"
Nick glared at his friend, chewing on the three straws in his mouth. Silently cursing him and focusing on the sound coming up from behind.
"Wes! Nick! We've been searching everywhere for you bastards."
Nick turned around and was met by a pair of lips that were familiar to him. The boy responded quickly, but not strongly. He pulled back after counting 'till five, figuring it was enough already and smiled up and the blond boy belonging to him. "Hey there."
"Hey there." Was the response as the boy pulled up a seat next to Nick, joining the grown group of five guys sitting at the table.
"I swear, I never get over the Valentine's Day shopping. There's pink and hearts everywhere and it's hurting my eyes and—"
"You're jealous because you don't have a Valentine?" David finished, nudging his friend's side as he pouted slightly before hitting the sportsman on the shoulder. The boys laughed at the comical appearance of their old friends. David grabbed a hold of Wes's face and pulled him in close for a big sloppy kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry, you can be my Valentine, I mean, apart from Jessica, of course." The boy continued with a dreamy look plastered on his tan face.
A collected groan crossed the table and all other guys rolled their eyes, exaggerating as much as possible. This caught David's attention, for once, and he glared at each and every one of them. "Why is it that you guys don't like her?"
The reply came fast and from an unexpected corner, like I'd been ready and waiting to come anytime soon.
"Because she's a vengeful bitch!" Trent yelled, throwing his arms up in the air, nearly missing Nick's chin by an inch. From the other side, Wes placed a reassuring hand on Trent's shoulder, reminding him to think of his blood pressure. David stared at his friend flabbergasted, mouth half open, ready to say something that wouldn't pass his vocal chords.
"Well…" Jeff tried. While he was leaning most of his weight on the arm that rested on the back of Nick's chair he used his hand to brush through the lower strands of his boyfriend's hair. He was about to drag out the conversation into a what lighter subject but he didn't miss the look Nick was giving another random, but fairly hot, by passer, which almost immediately shut him up.
It didn't pass the others either and while Nick seemed oblivious to the shared looks that shot across the table, the three outsiders all watched Jeff's expression carefully. It hadn't been the first time, after all.
"Well," Jeff tried again, failing to sit up straight the first time, drawing a strange look from Nick, which he ignored. He sat up straight, sighing soundlessly before continuing. "You guys ready to move? Before we miss the trailers, I mean." Without another answer he stood up, gathering a handful of bags that he'd stuffed under his stool and make way in the general direction of the cinema. The other's followed quickly, but not before shooting each other a worrying glance, apart from Nick who seemed as oblivious as ever.
It so happened that - when they had met up with the rest of their group outside the cinema, including Sebastian, Hunter, Thad and Blaine, and got their tickets -, Wes, David and Trent did their best to block Jeff from sitting next to Nick. Keeping the two apart at all cost. Not that they had a difficult job, since Jeff had already taking up the task to ignore his boyfriend for the rest of the evening. Even if that meant the horror of the passing over and over the chocolate flavored popcorn until they all were very agitated, since Nick and Jeff were the only ones eating the stuff.
The other boys didn't need anyone to tell them what was happening, it had happened before. Perhaps more times than necessary. And no matter how hard they tried to avoid it, bad weather hung above their heads. They'd all notice the silent tears treating to spill from Jeff's eyes as he tried to swallow them down and pull up a brilliant, almost convincing, smile. The annoyed features that haunted Nick's face whenever his boyfriend was too nice, or too clingy or too something. The sad love songs that quietly escaped from Jeff's mouth when he passed the school grounds, alone. The obvious disinterest from Nick in anything his boyfriend had to say and most of all, none had missed the endless fights at night that echoed through the halls where all their dorms were located. They had thin walls.
It wasn't until the movie ended and all the boys joined outside the main entrance when the first signs of a dropping bomb appeared. No one really understood what happened but Hunter figured that they were missing one person. As they looked around they noticed Jeff's silhouette just a few feet away, shaking violently as if he seemed freezing in his expensive, and surely warm, leather jacket.
"Jeff, is everything alright, buddy?" Hunter had asked carefully, and the boy moved. Not more than a minute later Jeff walked back to the group again, Colgate smile plastered on his face, not covering the obvious red glow in his eyes, though. He had nodded, patted Hunter on the shoulder and nodded for them to move to the bus station with the words: "Perfectly fine. Let's get moving before we miss the last bus."
And so they left, in utter silence. Going back to Dalton Academy where they all parted for their dorms. Nobody spoke about Jeff's weird actions. And so night turned into day. Not just any day though, the dreaded and longed Valentine's Day.
The second sign happened when all the boys sat at their usual table, chatting happily, eating the special Valentine's Day served breakfast with extra waffles and fresh strawberries, handing out and receiving their presents.
Somewhere in between the conversation about whether strawberries were a fruit or a vegetable – In which David, in the end, convinced the others that it were indeed vegetables because "I saw it on Discovery Channel and go Google it if you don't believe me!" -, Nick had draped an arm around Jeff's shoulder. The latter didn't see it coming and cringed more violently at the sudden contact than meaning to.
"Jeff?" Nick questioned, genuine concern lacing his voice, as he watched Jeff turn away from him completely, suddenly very interested in his breakfast.
"'M okay." He answered with a mouthful. Nick rolled his eyes and tugged softly on Jeff's elbow, turning him to face Nick. But Jeff wouldn't have it. He freed his arm forcefully, grabbing his bowl of untouched strawberries and fled the breakfast hall in high tempo.
None had seen Jeff for the rest of the morning. It was late in the afternoon when someone had found him sitting on a steel bench, hidden from view, in the garden. Sebastian should've known that the third and last sign had been right in front of his nose, by then. There were flowers lying by Jeff's feet, stomped on and crushed under the weight of Jeff's foot.
Too bad for either of them that Nick and Hunter were tagging along a few feet behind Sebastian, and they also found Jeff's hiding place. And so it resulted into a screaming match, Jeff versus Nick, with Hunter and Sebastian as a crowd.
"Why are we still doing this?" Jeff questioned, roughly whipping the sleeve of his hoodie across his cheek to stop the tears from rolling down further.
"What are you even talking about?" Nick shot back, throwing his hands up in the air, incredulously. "You're the one who's been acting ridiculous lately!"
Jeff chuckled, venom dripping all over the sound from that chuckle. He moved closer towards his boyfriend, entering his personal space. "You're the one who's not in love anymore." Jeff's lips pulled up in an victorious smirks, making him look evil in a way Nick or any other person had never seen before. "I'm not stupid, Nick."
He waited for Nick's come back but the boy just looked dumbstruck, unable to bring anything out. Instead, Jeff pulled out a little box from his hoodie and grabbed Nick's hand, pulling his palm up and placing the small box in his hands. "At least pretend to love me, because I don't care if the love is real, remember?"
The words, of course, had been said before, a long time ago. They had meant so little at that time, because both boys knew that they were utterly and hopelessly in love with each other, but it was easier to ignore it than to admit it. Those words had been spoken by Jeff in a drunken state, halfway during a childish game of Fifteen Minutes In Heaven. Nick had laughed, shaken his head and had pulled Jeff back into a deep, passionate kiss. That had been the start of the relationship, but neither had to pretend, because both knew it was love they felt. So those words were forever laughed at and ignored. Until now.
Nick was still left speechless, staring at the little box in his hand that obviously contained a ring. He didn't need to look to know. There was a painful twitch in Nick's heart as he opened the box anyways, unaware of the small audience that had gathered around to watch. Nick was right, there, in the velvet holder, sat a beautiful silver band with something engraved on the inside. "'Cause I don't care if the love is real."
Nick choked on a sob and turned away, pushing through the crowd, heading back for his dorm, only to realize there how much he had messed everything up. Because, unlike Jeff had said, Nick was still in love.