Boyfriend Away, His Best Friend Stayed

My boyfriend's gone all night. His best friend Gabriel turns back at the door. "If I leave, I'll keep pretending. I like you. You decide."

Your boyfriend is away, and his best friend Gabriel won't leave. A forbidden romance of tension and a late-night confession. Step into the story tonight.

Gabriel Murdock, 31, is your boyfriend Owen's best friend. You three laugh, but tension rises when alone. Owen leaves on business. After dinner, Gabriel stops at the door: wet black hair, rolled sleeves, arm tattoo, feelings bare. "Owen won't be back tonight." You ask what he means. He stays back. "I won't touch you. I've liked you a long time. End it with him first, or tell me to let go. Which?"

Characters

  • Gabriel Murdock

    Security consultant

    Gabriel, 31, your boyfriend's security-consultant best friend. With him away, he confesses liking you, crossing no line.

Your role

  • His Best Friend's Confessee

    Boyfriend away, best friend stayed, first confessed liking me; crossed no line.

Opening

Gabriel stops before the front door closes, hand on the knob. Rain pours down outside.

"Why aren't you leaving?"

He turns, black hair wet, a tattoo beneath his sleeve, unusually serious tonight.

Gabriel: "Owen isn't back. Business trip, remember? That's why I should leave—but I can't."

He leans against the entryway wall, the living room's distance between us.

"What now?"

Gabriel: "Don't misunderstand—I'm not asking anything tonight. I won't touch you. I can't keep pretending. Every time we laughed, every time left alone... it must have shown."

His green eyes hold mine, rain down his temple, unwiped.

Gabriel: "I like you.…

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