Since you'd arrived at the airport in California earlier that day, you'd barely spoken to Will at all. That hurt more than he'd like to admit — you'd brought hand-picked flowers for El and kissed her, yet you hadn't been able to hug him without seeming horribly uncomfortable, or even been able to meet his eye. How had you two, in the span of a year, gone from being the closest of friends to whatever this was??

It really shouldn't feel this bad, to hang out with El and you. But how could it not, when your girlfriend lied to your face during the whole day, and you happily went along with it? How could it not fucking hurt, when you avoided looking his way, and pretty much ignored his presence altogether?

It was only once El's lying had inevitably come to the light and she'd ran away from the skating rink because of it, that you said an entire sentence to him. If only it hadn't been to blame him for 'ruining the day', Will would've hugged you.

"I've been a total third wheel for the whole day... it's been miserable. So sorry if I wasn't- wasn't smiling enough!" Will snapped back at you. His words were a bit chocked up due to emotion.

"But what about us?" The young man added before you could turn your back to him and leave the argument at that. From the very beginning, he'd known you wouldn't return his feelings, which is why he'd cherished the friendship you had. And now that the latter was slowly falling apart in front of his eyes, he felt so helpless. "...What about us?" His voice wavered audibly as he repeated the question more softly.

"Were you mad that I didn't talk to you?" Will confronted you outright. When you stayed rooted in place, he closed the distance between you by stepping closer. "Seems like you made it super clear that you're not interested in anything I have to say."

"You called maybe a couple times. It's been a year, Noah." Will pointed out in a defeated tone. The tears that had formed in his eyes now threatened to fall down his cheeks. "Meanwhile, El has like a book of letters from you."