𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦. | 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝

15

"You ready?" Clay's voice filled up the empty atmosphere of the car. George sat in the passenger seat, messing with the cuticles on his fingers. George swallowed back his nerves before turning to the blonde, forcefully placing a smile on his face and nodding.

Clay unplugged his phone from the aux cord, pocketing it. He turned to George and took one look at his face, slightly frowning. "You'll be fine, George. I promise they want you here too." Clay softly mumbled, throwing a reassuring smile his way.

The pair had agreed to spilt and go to their own homes before driving to Karl's house. George- for a reason unknown to Clay- didn't have his license yet, automatically opting Clay as their driver.

The drive to Karl's house had mostly been quiet, neither of the two wanting to disrupt the music Clay had begun to play from his phone. The blonde offered aux privileges to George, but he politely declined and shrugged off Clay's protests.

"I know, I know," George sighed, clasping his hands together tightly. "New people just make me nervous, that's all." George turned to Clay, the blonde letting out his own sad sigh. "..Y'know, I can take you home anytime you'd like," Clay offered.

George quickly threw his hands up. "No! Sorry, that's- that's not the impression I'm trying to give off." He quickly backtracked, taking a fistful of his hair in his hand. "I wanna have a good time, I just don't want to bring down the mood or make an idiot out of myself or.. ugh-"

George sighed, throwing his head back against the headrest. Clay hesitantly reached over and gently placed his hand on Georges forearm. "You won't mess anything up George, I swear it. These guys are my best friends and I just know you'll get along fine."

Clay rubbed small circles with his thumb on George's forearm. "Deep breaths, okay? If you ever need a break, the bathroom from Karl's room is just down the hall and too the left." Clay nodded, keeping his eyes looking straight into George's goggles.

George's breath seemed to hitch in his own throat, threatening his next words to come out as a hoarse whisper. He only nodded in reply, letting his head slightly dip down. George let out a small, "Yeah, okay." Before picking his head back up.

Clay smiled- slowly retracting his hand from George's arm. "Good." The blonde grinned, patting his pockets once more before turning off the ignition and opening his car door. "Now, let's go have some fun."

-

It had been a few hours since the pair had arrived at Karl's. Needless to say, Clay had been absolutely right.

"You're such a liar!" Alex playfully snapped, sending the other three boys into an uncontrollable fit of laugher. "There's- there's no way- you actually- actually thought she liked you back!" Clay managed to get out between wheezes.

"You were in sixth grade!" Karl giggled to himself, bringing his hands over his mouth to hide his laugher. "So? Romance can take at any age." Clay doubled over laughing, clutching his stomach. George, Karl, and even Alex began laughing even harder at the sight of him.

The four continued their laughing fits until they all began calming down, a few chuckles picking up here and there. "Alright, Clay, if that was so funny, how about you tell me about your love life?" Alex jabbed back, a sideways grin on his face.

The blonde tsked, dramatically rolling his eyes. "I've never really been a romance guy." He shrugged, keeping his eyes away from everyone's curious gazes. "Never really had any crushes or looked out for anyone particular."

"Bullshit!" Alex leered, beginning to laugh again. "I've seen so many girls looking at you at school, you're telling me you've never payed any interest?" He giggled, crossing his arms.