Call Me By My Name

8

"Ah, I guess it's one of those days. You're early today?" Alex wondered as he and Theo approached their night owl friend. Settling their longboards beside them, the two sat with Gab, putting him in the middle.

There was a brief silence among the three while strangers with familiar faces on their boards and roller skates played around the skate park. Aside from serving as a hangout place before the street race event starts, the park is mainly a meeting place for people who are looking for worthy and rich opponents.

"I just want to come here before the twins do," Gab explains.

Alex, the eldest, noticed how awfully brief Gab is today. "You look anxious. Are you planning to break up with Chin today?"

"What?!"

Theo gained looks from everyone who heard his exaggeration. "Hey, it's only been about two days since we've talked about it, so stop overreacting." Alex rolled his eyes. He then faced Gab because his best friend seemed to not take the situation seriously. "Gab, you know that will surely affect your friendship, right? And there's Ian to worry about, too."

The feeling of loss is evident in the eldest's tone, while Theo's expression remains relaxed. He does not even look bothered that one of his circles might change for the better. And this is why a friend's sister or brother must be off-limits, he thought.

Gab tried to exhale the uneasiness in him. He knew that fact since the very first day he accepted Chinna's invitation to date her. "It will only hurt her more if we take this any longer."

"To be honest, you two together don't make sense to me."

"You already told me that." Clicking his tongue, Gab remembered hearing the same sentence from him last year.

"I've never even heard you say 'I love you' to her," Alex added. "If I didn't know you personally, I would've thought that your relationship is just 'friends with benefi—" His sentence was cut short by Theo's hand, which landed a bit harshly on his back.

"Thank you," Gab said sarcastically to Theo. "I would never take advantage of her. Ian will surely turn me into his punching bag if I do that." As for the part of saying those overused three words, it is not true that he never told Chinna that he loves her. He did, but only with a platonic meaning.

It was almost the same when he used to date Angel. The only difference is that Chinna is aware of Gab's true feelings for her, while the latter isn't because the boy used her for his immature plan.

"Are you going to talk to her as soon as they arrive?"

"No, I have to find the right timing," he says, although there is usually no right time for this kind of situation. It must not be prolonged, as his friendship with the twins is also at stake.

"He's right, Alex. His soon-to-be ex-girlfriend is not coming here just for him to make her cry right away."

"Hi, babe!"

And there was silence again. Riding on her customized skateboard, Chinna approached them so smoothly that the boys were startled but alert enough to zip their mouths shut.