By the Way, I Love You

A New Year's Eve Story.

Evan Ruiz is a straight college student hiding a life-changing secret: against all odds, he has fallen desperately in love with his gay roommate and best friend, Tom.

Evan has only ever dated women, but Tom stumbled into his life with everything he ever wanted in a partner: he is sweet, caring, and beautiful like an Old Master’s painting. After a period of denial and confusion, Evan finally accepts an unexpected reality: he is in love with his best friend, and cannot run anymore. But how can he tell Tom in a way that won’t complicate their friendship beyond repair?

That’s when he hatches a plan that backfires spectacularly.

Desperate for advice, Evan writes an anonymous love confession and plea for help on Reddit that starts getting shared – and then goes viral. Since the piece holds more than enough identifying characteristics to reveal the truth, Evan knows he must either confess his love to Tom or risk him finding out via social media, which could ruin everything.

Backed against a wall, Evan decides that when Tom returns from his family’s annual holiday trip on New Year’s Eve, he will sit down and profess his love and tell his story, starting from the first day onward. And as the clock strikes closer to midnight, Evan learns Tom is hiding a secret of his own, too…

But will their New Year’s Eve be remembered as a messy goodbye, or a sparkly new beginning?