All Alone.

Thoughts

After Jeremy fainted and Michael caught him, Rich pulled out a bottle of water. He handed it to Michael, who let some trickle down Jeremy's face. "And you thaid you're not a couple." Rich grinned. Michael blushed but before he could retaliate Jeremy woke up. And his head shot up and his face collided with Michael's and Jake, who somehow had his phone out, took a picture at just the right moment. Rich leaned over to see Jake's phone. It was priceless. Both of them were strawberry red, and Michael had the most hilarious shocked face. Rich laughed. "Send me that one." He nudged Jake in the arm to get him to look up. He looked up to see Michael and Jeremy rubbing their noses and awkwardly detangling themselves. Michael looked up to see Jake holding his phone. "Please don't post that." he begged, but he wasn't very convincing. "On one condition." said Jake. "You both owe us a game of truth or dare." Michael sighed. "Okay." He fiddled with the sleeves of his hoodie absentmindedly. Meanwhile, Kurt and Ram were chatting about some school when Rich interrupted them. "Jeremy ith awake." he grinned. "You want to explain or thould I?" Kurt took charge, explaining the whole situation to Micahel and Jeremy. "We weren't sure you'd be able to see us, so that's why we did all that." he finished. Jeremy seemed to be adjusting. He mumbled something to Michael who laughed. "Hey!" exclaimed Rich indignantly. "No thecreth or we'll have to athume you guyth are flirting." he then realized how obvious his lisp was in that sentence and blushed slightly, his cocky attitude wavering for a brief moment before he regained his confidence. Michael and Jeremy didn't seem to notice as they both flushed pink and stuttered something about jokes. Before they could get another word in, the bell rang, and the group separated. 
Jake had math class next, and Rich had History. Michael and Jeremy had science together. Kurt went with Jake and Ram went with Rich. "Why aren't you going with Kurt?" asked Rich. "Well, I didn't want you to be lonely or anything." Ram responded. Rich had a feeling that this wasn't entirely the case but resolved to think about it later. When he arrived in class, he sat in seat near the back. Ram sat in the empty seat next to him. "How are we gonna talk?" asked Rich quietly. "Look at this class." he replied. "No one's gonna hear you." he looked thoughtful for a second before asking "So, you and Jake live together. Are you... dating?" he asked. "No. We're jutht friends. I mean we're really good friendth, and I can thee why you'd think we're dating. I mean, who wouldn't want to date Jake? He's strong and smart and thoughtful and handsome..." Rich trailed off, staring off into space dreamily.
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After Math Jake was heading to Science when Kurt asked him what he thought of Rich. "Well, I love him. I mean, like a friend way, I don't like, have a crush on him. I mean he's cute and sweet and spunky and caring and he's got that adorable lisp, but I don't- and even if I did, he wouldn't like me back. I've been his friend for too long-" Jake was cut off by a freckled boy in a blue polo and a cast, seemingly 17-ish rushing past him. "Oh, sorry." called the boy. Jake watched as the cast boy approached a taller kid with long hair who, after an exchange that Jake couldn't hear, shoved cast boy, causing him to fall to the floor. Jake decided to help cast boy and headed over to him while the taller boy argued with a girl who looked very similar to him, probably his sister. "Hey, are you okay?" asked Jake to the cast kid, holding out a hand for him to stand up. "Yeah, I-I'm fine." stammered the smaller kid. "My name's Jake by the way." said Jake cheerily. "Oh, I'm E-Evan" Evan stuttered. Jake turned to the taller kid who was probably only equal in height to Jake. "Apologize to Evan." he demanded. He could be intimidating if he wanted to, and right now he wanted to. The tall kid said something under his breath, but then turned to Evan. "Hey, I'm really sorry for shoving you, I kind of have anger issues. My name's Connor." he held out a hand for Evan and they shook hands. To Jake's surprise, he seemed genuinely sorry. Connor smiled slightly and waved to Evan as he walked away. "See you around Evan." Evan seemed shocked and thanked Jake before walking away muttering something about first names. "He seemed nice..." mused Jake, having forgotten about his conversation with Kurt.
{Time Squip}
It was the end of the next day and Jake had invited Michael and Jeremy over for that Truth or Dare game Michael had promised. Rich was really looking forward to it. "Stop running around." laughed Jake. "I... can't..." Rich panted, "I'm pumped for thith game." "It's just truth or dare." Jake chuckled. Rich was so cute. What are you thinking? He mentally scolded himself. This is Rich. He's your best friend. Nothing more.
The doorbell ringing interrupted his thoughts. "I got it." called Rich. Michael and Jeremy entered, looking nervous. "You wanna play?" I called to Kurt and Ram. "Sure, why not." shrugged Kurt. "Ram?" he asked. "Yeah, okay." Ram said amiably. "Alright," said Rich "Warm up. Raise your hand if you're one hundred percent straight."