Love at First Spark

14 | September: Boxers or Briefs?

She didn't even complain about being the DD for the night like I would've expected. "You deserve the win, babe. Go get it. Even if nothing happens tonight. And I know I like to tease you, but Braden really is a special guy."

"Thanks, El." I hugged her, the first hug we'd shared in a long time. She was my best friend, the type of friend I got lucky to have."

Braden cleared his throat as he reappeared wearing the sweats. He ran a hand through his hair. "Hey. Figured I'd keep the shirt on at least until I go to sleep." He glanced at Eloise

"Oh, don't keep it on my account," Eloise said. She winked at me. "I'll be in my room."

Then suddenly we were alone again and my heart started to panic.

Braden's gaze drew over my face and down to where the hem of my shirt flirted with my knees. "Cute."

"Hey!" I flicked his arm. "I'm wearing shorts underneath, doofus." I lifted the hem and the black fabric peeked out.

His eyes darkened with desire as he stepped closer, brushing my hair over my shoulder. His finger lingered on the skin of my collarbone.

Our bodies teased the chance to touch. My hands reached out to clasp our fingers together.

His mouth inched closer.

"You want anything more to drink?" I asked, backing away and heading to the kitchen to get myself a soda. Two could play at this game. He'd done the same thing to me the first night I came over to his place.

"I'll take a cola if you have one."

I got us each a drink then headed back to the sofa where Braden had already setted in on top of the blankets.

"So there's actually another reason why I came over tonight," Braden said, taking a swig of his drink.

"What's that?"

He stretched an arm out over the back of the couch. "There's this outdoor camping retreat happening soon and I wanted to know if maybe you'd go with me."

"Oh, wow." It was a big ask and I wasn't usually one for the outdoors. But it was also a chance to spend more time with him.

"None of the folks who are going have connections to the school," he continued. "So no one should get any sort of idea about you and me. If anyone asks, we can say we met at that bar."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, like they're gonna believe we're just friends when we tell them we met at a bar. But I do see your point."

"We can come up with a different story if you want," he said. "I don't want you to feel uncomfortable if you decide to come with me, so I figured as close to the truth as possible would be best. I also know the group pretty well—they know my situation and they know not to pry."

"I appreciate that." I picked at a spot of lint on the blankets and my gaze traveled over to the coffee table which was still covered in scattered papers from my classroom. "I'd love to go with you, I think it would be a fun chance for us to do something away from people who know the two of us if that makes sense."

Braden nodded. "I know right now we still have to look over our shoulders when we hang out outside of your place or mine."

"Yeah. So for this camping retreat, is it like tents or cabins?" I asked, snuggling into his embrace.

"Tents. I have everything we'll need," he replied. "There's a lake too, so bring whatever you would for that and we'll be hiking a bit so make sure you have good shoes."

"Sounds like you've done this before."

Braden ran a hand across the stubble on his jaw. "Linda was never really one for camping, so I usually go alone to be with my friends. But it's more fun with someone who I care about by my side. A whole weekend in the woods with games and twenty-somethings just getting away from reality."

"Oh, that's another thing—is this just a bunch of your guy friends?" I wasn't too thrilled about spending a whole weekend in a sea of testosterone.

He shook his head. "No, it'll be a decent mix. And with that said, I'll bring my extra tent so you can have your own."

I swallowed. Right, my own tent. We couldn't share because we weren't really together. We didn't want to give people the wrong idea.

The wrong idea that would've felt so right.

"Unless you'd want to share." The words came crashing down around me, breaking the fantasy.

"N-no, a separate tent will be fine. It'll be nice to get away. It's been a while since I had time to sort of forget reality, you know?"

Braden nodded. "Absolutely. And Linda will have Lucy the whole weekend so we don't have to worry about any of that."

"That's good." I bit my lip. "Screw it, you know what? I'm in."