𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 | 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞

¹⁵ | Three words

ᴍᴀᴇᴠᴇ ᴡɪʟʟɪᴀᴍꜱ

"𝐈'𝐕𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 I'm going to do it," Adam tells me in the early hours of the morning, just as the sun began to peak over the trees--casting deep oranges and fiery pinks across the sky.

We laid on my porch all night, reading books and whispering our greatest desires and fears to one another. Neither of us slept, our legs tangled together. We watched for shooting stars, making a different wish for each one. When the street lights flickered off and back on again, we did not flinch. We did not question the hour. Sometimes you just need a sleepless night with your best friend to feel okay again.

"Decided what?" I ask, sitting up to look at him.

He faced the marbled canvas above us, its colors changing like warm watercolors--the stars fading away. "I'm going to finish the year at Eden Hall on J.V. with you. But I'm going to that school I told you about, on the East Coast."

I do not panic. We will both still be under this same sky, no matter where the other is. "What made you change your mind?"

"I want to be everything I can be. I want to come back to myself," Adam says. "I can't do that here."

"Did you talk to Charlie?"

He nods. "I think I'm done putting everyone else before me. I'm going to put myself first, this one time. It's my life, I can't control Charlie. But I can control how I let myself get treated. It will be different there, I know."

"I'm really proud of you," I mention. "You deserve to be put first."

"You know, I'd take you with me if I could," he comments. "But I think you have things here now. You have a life that you can't just leave behind--well not again, at least."

I laugh and hit his shoulder. "I hate you so much."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

I rest my chin on the palm of my hand and I stare at Adam. "You are such a beautiful person, you know that, right?"

He smiles. "I think the same thing about you."

"I don't want you to ever think that you still won't be my best friend, not even when you're thousands of miles away from me."

"You are always my best friend," Adam agrees. "It's you and me."

"Me and you."

"True blue."

☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆∵☆

"𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐋 of you should be doing," Orion says, sending a quick side eye to Goldberg. "I've done some homework. And I'm not going to lie to you, the Varsity team is good. The way they wiped your faces in the dirt last time was no fluke."

I glance at Adam and he glances at me, a small smirk on his face. I try not to laugh and whisper for him to shut up.

"So if you want your pride back, you have to be willing to work," Orion continues. I can hear it in his voice that he saw me and Adam's little encounter. "There's nothing glamorous about it. In the pros, we call it blue-collar hockey."

I could instantly tell that blue-collar hockey and I were not going to be fast friends.

"Now, if there is one thing the Varsity team does very well--they are vultures around the net. They pick up every last piece of loose trash. That's how they beat you. Not the first shot--but the second and third. They bang in the junk. So if we wanna win, you're gonna have to pick up the trash."