Nico

Turns out my parents called me so they could drag me along in their sightseeing. They were very excited as they talked about a couple they met this morning during their romantic walk on the beach.

I'm not really paying attention.

My mind going back to that moment on the beach. Will was looking at me, staring, really. I decided not to mention instead I kept watching the sea, letting him continue his inspection of my face while I tried to understand what was going on: Why was Will acting this way? Why do I like it so much?

I'm still thinking about it when we stop to get lunch.

"... Solace is a cool name," I hear the end of my father's sentence.

What?

"Wait. Solace? Did you just say Solace?" I ask.

"Oh, looks like someone wasn't paying attention," my mom comments, teasing.

My father chuckles.

"Let the boy be. He must have many things on his mind. And yes, I said Solace, that's the last name of the couple we're having dinner with today, that part you heard, right?"

"That we are we having dinner with them? Yes, I heard," right now. "Uhm, this couple ... Do they have a son?" I ask, not knowing if I want to be right or wrong.

"Yes, they've talked about him a lot. His name is Will," my mom says.

My heart quickens.

"Will Solace."

"Yes. Do you know him?" mom asks.

I thought I did. Not so sure now. I'm not sure of anything anymore.

"He's the classmate I was with when you called me."

"Oh! Perfect. You'll have a friend," says mom.

"Sure," I say, not very certain. Will has been good so far, but you never know.

Back in my hotel room, I try to finish my algebra homework. I hoped something as difficult as this would get me to stop thinking about Solace.

It doesn't work.

Will is all I can think about. What is up with this sudden change? Is it all a ruse?

My guts say no. Will was never truly mean, just unbearable.

A knock on the door scares me out of my thoughts. I look at my watch. It's dinnertime. I didn't notice so much time had passed.

I open the door expecting one or both of my parents, but instead come face to face with Will Solace about to knock again.

We froze in place, both looking at each other with surprise, me for being Will on the other side of the door and he probably because I opened the door so abruptly.

Will lowers his hands slowly, putting both of them in his pockets looking shy.

I put one of my hands on the door and the other on her casing, blocking his entrance and view of my room.

"Hi," he says.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

Will takes a deep breath and seems to relax. He opens one of his radiant smiles and, just to be funny, he bends down, passing under my extended arm, entering my room uninvited.

I turn around, following his movements, exasperated. "I didn't say you could come in."

"Your mom sent me to tell you to get ready so we can go to dinner," he says, ignoring my complaint, while walking to the center of the room and looking around.

"She sent you?" I ask.

Will looks back at me, seeing as I'm still standing near the door. "All right, I'll admit. I offered to come," he says, a smile on his face.

"Why?" I ask as I close the door since he already entered.

Will Solace is in my room. I take a deep breath while I repeat in my head, "That's not a big deal" to try to calm my nerves.

"I wanted to see your room."

"We are in the same hotel. The rooms are practically identical."

I snort exasperatedly when he doesn't respond, instead looking around as if absorbing the details. His eyes focus on my things, like the mess of books I left on my bed trying to decide which book to read later and my notebook and algebra textbook open on my desk.

While he watches everything I can not help but watch him, Will is dressed in a black v-necked shirt that molds to his muscles and shows how much defined they are, a dark-colored jeans and dark blue sneakers, his hair is messy and his fringe almost falls on his eyes, but it isn't long enough for that, my fingers are itch with the will I have to run my fingers through his hair, his skin is tanned and looks so soft. I just want to close my eyes and imagine myself exploring his hair, those muscles …

Stop raving, Nico! Don't go there. It's not gonna happen.

"You really are a nerd," he says, pointing at the mess of books on the bed.

I grimace at his comment. Will turns to look at me with a smile and notices my frown. His smile immediately disappears.

"Sorry, I don't mean it as an insult. What I mean is that you're very… bookish," he says, looking straight into my eyes.

Was that a compliment?

It doesn't matter if it is. It's not a big deal. I tell myself, but for some reason my heart is behaving strangely, and it doesn't help the fact that Will keeps looking at me with those fucking blue eyes.

"Bookish?"

"Yeah," he answers, now unsure.

"That's the best you can come up with?"

"Well… aren't you?"

"I suppose."

"I mean it as a compliment."

"Thank you," I say

"What were you doing?" he asks, pointing at my desk.

"Trying to finish my algebra homework," I say.

Will walks to my desk and bends down to glance over my homework.

"You got questions 3, 6 and 9 wrong," he says before I can ask what he's doing.

"What?"

"What, what?" he asks, straitening up and looking back at me.

"You just glanced at it."

"So?"

"So? How can you even tell is wrong? Did you even finish this homework?"

"Yes, I did the same day the teacher handed to us, which is why I can say for sure you got these questions wrong."

"The same… what?"

"What?!"

"Okay, smartass," I say, walking to my desk and sitting in my chair so I can look it over. "What is wrong with it?"

Will gets behind me, he bends down, resting his left hand on the desk so he can see my resolution.

"You are totally ignoring pemdas."

A shiver runs down my spine to the tip of my toes when Will says it right next to my ear. I block a sigh from coming out of my mouth and then I register what he just said.

"What?"

Will laughs.

"You solved the equations in the wrong order. First you solve what's in parentheses, that part you did right in this question, but not on the others and on this other two you went to solve the multiplications before the Exponents. Those resolutions are all over the place. I know I dont know you very well, but I know you are good at algebra. Even if you were solving it wrong, you would at least follow a pattern which leads me to believe you weren't exactly paying attention while doing those."

Will looks over at me, and I look back at him, and he is so close.

"Perhaps I wasn't," I look back at my notebook. "What is the correct order?"

"The correct order is Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiply, Divide, Add, and Subtract."

"And what did you say before?"

"You mean pemdas?"

"Yeah."

"It's an acronym. Didn't the teacher talk about it in class?"

"I don't remember. Can you detailed to me again?"

He does as told and I stare at him when he finishes.

"What?" he asks smiling awkwardly, straitening up and stepping away from me.

He goes to sit in my bed, rummaging through my books.

I know Will has good grades, but he never pays attention in class and he is always the first to finish the tests, so I always thought he had help from the teachers because he's on the basketball team. And now I feel bad for assuming something without proof.

I turn around in my chair to look at him.

"You fooled me."

"How?" Will asks, confused.

"You're smart."

"I guess."

"I would not have guessed that."

"Why not? I don't have bad grades."

"Sure, but you never pay attention. You are always fooling around or doodling in class so I always though…" I hesitate to finish the sentence.

"… that because I'm on the basketball team, the school would fix my grades," Will finishes for me.

"It's not unheard of," I say defensively

"Well… I guess… people see what they want to see, right? And they usually have this particular view of me."

I get up and go sit next to him on the bed.

"I'm sorry," I say when he looks at me.

"It's fine. Nothing I haven't heard before."

"I still can not believe it."

"That I'm smart?"

"No, that you are also… bookish." I throw the adjective from earlier back at him.

"Not how I would characterize myself. I'm not particularly studios, I just understand things easily and have a great memory."

"A nerd then. Can I spread this to school?"

"Sure."

I arch my eyebrows.

"You don't care?"

"About what?"

"Your reputation?"

Will snorts. "What reputation?!"

"Of a player in basketball but also with girls who doesn't care about his grades."

Will's good humor seems to evaporate, and he looks at me with a serious, half-sad expression on his face.

"Is that how you see me?" He asks quietly.

I think of his question. Yes, that's how I see him. And that was always the main reason it has always been so easy to distance myself from him and ignore the attraction I feel.

But now everything I thought of Will is proving to be wrong. That didn't make me forgive him for all he did, but it sure put me one step closer to that.

"That's how I had to see you, because that's how you presented yourself to me all these years," I answer, looking him in the eye.

Will nods in agreement.

"That's fair. And it proves we don't really know each other," he says.

"So, if you're not a player, in basketball and with girls, who doesn't care about his grades and has the unfortunate hobby of messing with me, who are you then?"

"Well, I am a basketball player," he smiles at me and I can't avoid smiling back. "But not a player with the girls. It's not that I don't care about my grades, I do, I just get things pretty fast, which leads me to lose interest pretty fast and from now on I will find another hobby other than messing with you."

"How are you not a player? I've seen you with tones of girls."

"Did you?" he asks, looking genuinely confused.

"Yeah."

"You know, just because you've seen me talk with a girl doesn't mean I… got with them," he says, having difficulty getting the words out.

And is that a blush I'm seeing?

"What about the stories I've heard?"

"What stories?!"

I laugh at how flabbergasted he looks.

"You don't know?! Is like every other week I would hear a girl talking about getting freaky with you in… uncommon places."

Yep. Definitely a blush.

"I don't recall getting freaky with anyone in any places," he answers, his voice shaking.

"No one?"

"No one."

"But… You've done it right?"

"What?" Will asked, confused.

"Sex." I explain.

Nico. Shut up! My conscience tells me.

Will's eyes widen. He doesn't seem to believe the word "sex" came out of my mouth and then he laughs, but it's a nervous laugh.

"I cannot believe Nico Di Angelo is asking me this," he says incredulously as he stands up from the bed.

Neither does he. I say to myself, but since the question has been asked, and the curiosity installed in me, I refuse to turn back.

"What is the big deal? I'm a curious boy."

Will looks at the floor and shakes his head in disbelief.

"If you don't answer, I'll think you're a virgin." I say without taking my eyes off him.

He raises his head, and his blue eyes capture mine with an intensity that was not there before.

"I am," he says.

Now it's my turn to widen my eyes.

"You're kidding," I deadpan.

"I'm seventeen. Just because I play basketball doesn't mean I have to have sex with all the girls I kiss."

I get up coming up to him.

"Exactly! You are seventeen, war of hormones age. Didn't you ever want to? I mean, I'm sure you had offers," I say, curiosity getting the best of me and unconsciously I lean closer to Will.

Will looks at me and seems to think for a moment while I wait for his answer. I can swear he looked at my mouth, but then he looks me in the eye again and I wonder if I'm imagining things. He seems to come to a conclusion and when I think he will answer me…

"Would you look at the time? How about you go take a shower, get dressed and meet us downstairs in the lobby so we can go to dinner?" he says, walking to the door.

"You're avoiding my question."

"You'll know sooner or later, but not now. Go, you have to get ready for dinner."