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“Will, c’mon, you can’t leave, it’s raining! Listen, I said I was sorry alright?”
Will kept walking. He couldn’t believe Mike. He had just ghosted him all day and talked about his girlfriend- no, ex-girlfriend, and now he apologizes? No. That’s not how it works.
“It’s a cool campaign, it’s really cool, we’re just not in the mood right now.”
Will couldn’t take it anymore. He lashed out.
“Yeah, Mike! That’s the problem! You guys are never in the mood anymore! You’re ruining our party!”
Mike hesitated for a moment before saying in a small voice:
“..that’s not true.”
“Really? Where’s Dustin right now?”
Mike didn’t answer.
“See? You don’t know and you don’t even care, and obviously he doesn’t either and I don’t blame him! You’re destroying everything and for what? So you can swap spit with some stupid girl?!”
Mike seemed genuinely offended. But he still didn’t make his disgusted face that he made with everyone else. He never made that face with Will.
“El’s not stupid! It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”
A look of fear flashed through Will’s face. How did he know? Will hadn’t told anyone..
Ohh.. he meant he didn’t like any girls at the moment. Will quickly regained his cool.
Mike seemed to realize what he had just said, and he instantly regretted it.
He sighed.
“I’m not trying to be a jerk, okay?”
Will was tempted to say, ‘ Oh yeah? How’s that working out for you?’ but he didn’t.
“But we’re not kids anymore,” Mike continued. “I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never going to get girlfriends? That we were going to sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?”
A tear made its way down Wills cheek. He nodded.
“Yeah. I guess I did. I really did.”
He got on his bike and started pedaling away.
“Will.” Mike said. “Will! Will, come on!”
Will hesitated but turned his bike around and pedaled back to Mikes house, stopping right before he got to the garage.
Standing in the pouring rain, Will said:
“And Mike, you know what? It actually is your fault I don’t like girls.”
And with that he pedaled away, feeling both proud and ashamed of himself.
He started to regret telling Mike that, but it was too late. It was done.
“Will! Come back!”
Mike got on his bike and started chasing after him.
Lucas stepped outside.
“Mike! Where are you going?”
“Just go home, Lucas!”
After a few blocks of chasing Will through the rain, Mike caught up and blocked Wills bike with his own.
“Will, c’mon! You can’t just drop a bombshell like that then bike away!”
“Listen, Mike. I don’t want to talk about it! Just leave me alone!”
“Will, this is important. You’re my best friend!”
“You really want to hear this?”
“Yeah! Of course.”
Will honestly didn’t care what Mike thought about him anymore. If all he cares about is El then why would he judge Will?
“Fine. I like you. And I don’t care what you think of that. You always wonder how it doesn’t bother me when someone calls me a queer, and now you’ve got the answer. It because they’re not wrong. You’re the one that helped me realize I don’t like girls. So- there. You asked for it.”
Mike opened and closed his mouth multiple times, as if he had something to say but couldn’t quite phrase it. He didn’t say anything.
“Now can you please move your bike out of the way? I want to go home.”
“No. Will. We need to talk about this.”
“No, we don’t. You like girls, I don’t, it’s really not that complicated. We’re different.”
Mike hesitated for a moment. But he spoke.
“We may not be as different as you think.”
Will froze.
“What?”
“Yeah. Um, I don’t think I ever actually liked El. I just took advantage of the one person who actually liked me. I tried to make myself believe I actually liked her, and that’s why I’ve been so obsessive. Because focusing on her is easier than focusing on the person I actually like. On.. y-“
He stopped.
“You know what? I don’t even know why I’m telling you all this.”
Mike moved his bike out of the way.
“You can leave now. Sorry about all this.”
Will dropped his bike. He took a step towards Mike.
“Will, what are you doing? You can go ho-“
He was cut off by Will’s lips on his own.
He pulled away quickly, an apology tumbling from his mouth.
But Mike stopped him. Then he kissed him back.
He brought his hand up to the back of Wills head. Mike could have stayed there for eternity, even with the rain pouring on them, but their kiss was cut off by the sound of a car door closing.
They both looked up quickly. There in front of the bright headlights was Joyce.
“Will? Mike? Wha-?”
Will turned bright red and quickly picked up his bike.
“Mom! What are you doing here?”
Mike stood next to him, blushing furiously.
“I- I was going to pick you up from Mike’s. I didn’t want you biking home in the rain.”
“Um, ok. Should we go?”
“Wait,” she turned to Mike. “Get in. I’ll drive you back home, it’s freezing.”
Wait. Was she pretending she haven’t seen them kissing? That was worse than confronting them about it.
“No, really, I’m fine!”
“Your going to get a cold. Get in”
Mine obliged.
Once the bikes were safely attached to the car, Will got in the back seat with Mike.
On the way back to Mikes house, Will and Mike’s pinkies were looped around each other’s.
Joyce pretended not to notice.
None of them mentioned what had just happened.
Once Mike had been dropped off and they were on their way back home, Joyce said:
“So- you and Mike, huh?”
Will turned red.
“No, mom. It’s not like that.”
“Will, honey, I know what I saw. It’s okay!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! It’s just, I wasn’t expecting it to be Mike.”
“Yeah. Me neither.”
And Will was being completely honest. He had always thought Mike was straight. He wasn’t prepared for Mike to actually like him back!
But sometimes, life throws things at you that you don’t expect. And sometimes, like in Wills case, they can make a person happier than they have ever been.