Chapter 4

Will woke up late again the next morning, cursing himself for having napped for so long yesterday; it threw off his entire schedule. He didn't have time to shower, pulling on clean clothes and running to the pub for his morning coffee before heading off to class. He didn't have time to think about anything other than running late, coffee, and school. After his first lecture, he ran into Neil in the hall, thinking he must've come out of a different class in the same building.

"Hey Neil. How's it going?"

"Will! Good to see you man. Sorry about lunch yesterday. Brian is a little…well, a lot to take in sometimes. And Sonny was acting rather strange, but yeah. I'm doing great. How're you doing today? Crappy morning, yeah?" Will nodded; it was still raining and Will hated the rain.

"Do you have time for coffee?" Neil nodded enthusiastically and they started walking to the cafeteria in the main building to grab crappy coffee together. It wasn't bad, at least Will didn't think so, but it was cheap and most students preferred the Starbuck's coffee. Will would rather drink $2.00 coffee, rather than spend $5.00, especially if the sizing was the same. He just thought it was ridiculous, but he did indulge now and again. Coffee was coffee to him, and he needed it desperately to make it through each day. They grabbed a table in the cafeteria, sitting down and chatting about their stupid business test that was coming up in a couple of weeks.

"Can we do a study session or something beforehand? I'm worried I don't know what I'm doing." Neil laughed which made Will smile.

"Yeah, sure. It's good for me to go through the material with someone else anyways. Helps it stick in my brain better." Will wanted to ask Neil about Sonny, seeing as earlier he mentioned Sonny acting strange yesterday at lunch. "So, you mentioned that Sonny was acting strange yesterday? How so?" Neil set his coffee down, running a hand over his face.

"Ugh, I don't even know. I think Brian's gotten to him already, which would be a shame. Sonny is a stand-up guy; nice, smart, charming, generous. Everything I could ask for in a boyfriend, but I think Brian has his claws in him already." Neil frowned slightly; maybe Neil wanted Sonny for himself? Will was a little jealous at that thought. "I mean, Sonny and I are just friends, and I don't want to be his boyfriend or anything," It was like Neil could read Will's mind, countering the thoughts that just went through his head. "But I just want someone to love him the way he deserves, you know? Someone like you, Will. You seem like a stand-up guy." Will choked on his coffee at Neil's words. He didn't want Neil to know that he indeed wanted to be Sonny's boyfriend, or at least get closer to him for now. Neil patted him on the back to help his situation, and they both chuckled when Will was back to normal.

"Are you and Brian…close? He was kind of a jerk to you yesterday." Will felt bad for Neil if they were really friends.

"He's not really my friend. And I'm glad that someone else sees his jerky side, too. Sonny introduced us, I'm not sure where they met…I wanna say it was a bar somewhere in town, but that's not important. Brian doesn't like me; he thinks I'm a "bad influence" on Sonny; like that could ever be true!"

"A bad influence? Seriously, Neil? That's ridiculous! I've known you for like a month, and you're the nicest guy I've ever met. You could never be a bad influence. If anything, I'd say Brian is the bad influence on Sonny." Will's voice became kind of distant, and Neil wondered why.

"Will. You said you met Sonny yesterday before we had lunch?"

"Yeah, and I get what you said about acting differently. He was completely different when I met him and had coffee with him earlier." Neil just nodded. Will looked at his watch.

"Shit. Sorry, Neil. I gotta get to my next lecture. I'll see you in business lecture?" Neil smiled and nodded. When Will ran off, Neil just watched him go, wondering what Sonny had been like when Will had first met him. Sonny sure had been acting differently since he met Brian, which was only a few weeks ago. Time sure does fly by. Sometimes he could see the real Sonny come out, but mostly it was like the shell of the old Sonny mixed with the new Sonny, and Neil didn't like it. Neil needed to get to the bottom of this, and maybe he could use Will's help to do so. In the short time Neil had known Will, he knew that Will was a nice guy. He couldn't tell if he was gay or not, but he saw the way Will had been looking at Sonny and Brian yesterday at lunch, and the way Will casually asked about Sonny today. He knew that Will and Sonny would be perfect together; at least the old Sonny would be perfect for Will. Neil wasn't sure if he wanted this new Sonny to become closer to the sweet Will that he had gotten to know. Only time, and a little investigating, would be able to tell what was going on with Neil's best friend, and he was determined to find out what was going on with this Brian character.

Will was done with all but one of his lectures for the day. His business lecture with Neil was next, and he felt like he needed more coffee in order to get through it. He glanced at his watch, not knowing if he really had enough time, but he decided to chance it. He literally ran from the building his economics class was in toward the nearest coffee house, which happened to be this place called "Common Grounds". He had never been there, but it sounded cool enough. All he needed was his coffee and he would be good to go. He ran into the coffee shop, hoping the line wasn't too long, and almost fist pumped when he saw he would be the only person in line. There were people sitting at the tables throughout the shop, but nobody was waiting at the counter. It was Will's lucky day. When he got to the counter, he asked for a large black coffee to the barista that had his back turned away from the counter. When the barista turned around, Will's day turned to a very unlucky one. It was none other than Sonny behind the counter. Crap. Sonny's eyes were vacant and there was no expression on his face; however, Sonny had his head tilted down, so Will was hardly able to see his face at all. Will felt disappointed at the lack of reaction from Sonny at him being here. Will didn't have a lot of time to deliberate on this fact though, as he was on a clock for making it back to his class on time. Neil would save him a seat if he didn't make it on time, but it was embarrassing to walk into any lecture hall late.

Sonny placed the coffee cup on the counter, looking down. Will noticed that Sonny hadn't fully looked up at Will this whole time and he wondered why. Sonny mumbled the price, and Will gave a few extra bills to Sonny, saying keep the change, before turning to leave. At the last second, Will turned back around, startling Sonny, who had been looking at Will's retreating figure. He looked down quickly again, but Will had seen it already. It was too late, no going back now.

"Sonny. What. Is. That?" Sonny's hand instinctively went to his neck, trying to hide the bruise on his skin. Will was closer to Sonny when he asked him again.

"Nothing. It's nothing, Will. You seem like you're in a rush, so I'll talk to you later." Sonny turned away from the counter, but Will caught the hand he still had placed on the counter. Sonny stopped dead in his tracks.

"Sonny, is that…?" Sonny just nodded, knowing exactly what Will was going to say, and he didn't want to hear it out loud. "Shit. I have to go or I'm gonna be late for class. I'm coming back later." Sonny didn't say anything, but Will released his hand as he turned to go back to campus. Thoughts were racing through Will's head, and he wasn't sure how to get rid of them. The image of Sonny's neck, covered in a dark purple bruise in the shape of a hand print would haunt him for the next couple of hours. And more than that, was he supposed to tell Neil? If he did, how was he supposed to do it?

He made it to lecture with only a minute to spare, and of course the professor started talking right as Will walked in. Maybe that was a good thing. Then Neil wouldn't ask him what was wrong, since he would be able to tell clearly from his face that something was indeed wrong. Neil smiled over at Will and the smile fell from his face when he saw Will's pale face, wide eyes, and bitten lower lip. He hadn't known Will for all that long, but he knew that a look like that wasn't ever good. He leaned toward Will to ask him if he was okay. Will, sensing the question coming, closed his eyes tightly and shook his head, silently pleading for Neil to stay silent, at least for right now. They both started taking notes on the lecture. Neil kept glancing over at Will, who was still haunted by the image of Sonny he just saw less than 10 minutes ago. After 30 minutes of the professor lecturing, Will put his head down, knowing he would be able to get the notes from Neil. He just needed time to breathe, time to think, time to figure out what the hell was going on.

Was Sonny being abused? Was it a first time, one-time only event? Or has this been going on for a while now? Will had just seen Sonny yesterday, and everything seemed fine with him, at least physically from as far as he could tell. But that look Sonny had given him in the bathroom, the words he uttered to Will there, it was all so different from the Sonny he had just seen in the main restaurant, and that was strange.

Neil shook Will's arm gently, trying to wake him after lecture was over. Neil noticed Will had put his head down a little while into class, but didn't want to bother him. He knew he would have time to talk to Will about it all later. Now was his chance. Will jerked fully upright, groggily looking around the room, probably wondering where he was. He rubbed his eyes and yawned in an adorable way that would make any guy swoon, and then turned to look at Neil, who was looking at him expectantly.

"What's wrong, Will? You came in here later than usual, and you looked like you'd just seen a ghost."

"I don't know how to tell you this…or if I should even tell you this." Neil was worried now.

"Hey. Man, what's wrong? You can tell me anything." Will liked that Neil was becoming such a confidant for him, or at least would be in the near future. Will felt as though Neil was someone who wouldn't tell any of his secrets, even if Will told him the worst things that happened in his life. That was someone he needed in his life; and he thinks that Sonny really needs him now, too. Maybe now more than ever.

"I went to get coffee before class. I was in a rush, but I went to Common Grounds…"

"Wait, you went to the coffee shop that Sonny's owns?" Will looked confused.

"Sonny owns it? How is that possible? He's so young…"

"Yeah, he opened it a year or so ago. I helped him out with it, but his family was really supportive about it. Anyways, what about your visit to Common Grounds? What happened?" Neil asked cautiously, hoping nothing bad happened.

"I saw Sonny there, he was working. But he wouldn't look at me. He was looking down, and then…I turned to leave, but decided to say something to him, so I turned around to find him watching me leave…"

"Wow. Isn't that a good thing, Will?" Neil winked and lightly punched Will on the arm, even though he knew this probably wasn't the best time for that kind of behavior.

"Neil. This is serious. Sonny had a big bruise on his neck and it…it was in the shape of a hand print. Like somebody tried to choke him, or they were holding him down or something. I don't…What do we do?" Will didn't realize that his eyes were filling with tears, but Neil did. Neil realized that Will really must like Sonny, even though they just met.

"You like him, don't you Will?" Neil asked him, curious to find out his real sexuality.

"Yes." Will blushed, looking down at the desk in front of him. He looked up suddenly though. "This isn't the time for that, Neil. What about Sonny? Do you think…?"

"Brian. That motherfucker." Neil growled out the douche bag's name, hating him even more now than he did just yesterday.

"I'm not positive if it was him, Neil…But I feel like it was. I mean, he was all over Sonny yesterday at the restaurant, and when Sonny followed me into the bathroom, Brian glared at him, or me, I couldn't really tell, when he walked in, too." Neil was seeing red; he was angry that Sonny was being forced to hang out with, and do other things with Brian, things that he didn't want to picture in his head.

"I think we need to go see Sonny. Now." Neil started gathering his things, wanting to go see his best friend. Will put his things away too, grabbing his cold coffee, and tossing it into the trash on the way out the door of the lecture hall. He hardly drank any of it, but he didn't need it right now. Right now, the only thing on his mind was Sonny. Love at first sight really was something, wasn't it?

To be continued…