Chasing Summer

Maybe

It only took a few minutes of driving around to come to the conclusion that Eren was too much of a distraction for me, and he wasn't even doing anything special, just leaning out the window to take pictures with that hunk of metal he called a camera. The car was filled with nothing but soft clicking noises that happened every time he snapped a photo. It shouldn't have been so distracting. It should have been easy to keep my eyes on the road, but whenever he leaned forward, his shirt rode up on his back, revealing smooth, tan skin that had me wanting to reach out and touch him.

Shit. I was gay. I was so gay. I might as well accept it now.

"So," Jean said while leaning forward to gaze at me, "where are we going, wandering eyes?"

I shot him a glare that I hoped would kill him on the spot, but he still sat there with that stupid smirk on his face. "I don't know. It's not like there are a lot of options."

"We could always go up to Gayle's Peak."

"Why? People only go there to lose their virginity."

Jean narrowed his eyes in a way that made me regret saying anything about virginity. "Oh," he said, "I think everyone in this car knows you want to lose your virginity."

Eren's head snapped in my direction and I wanted to throw Jean out of the car, maybe even run him over in the process. In fact, that sounded like a grand idea—anything to make him shut his mouth for longer than two seconds at a time, because he was determined to ruin my life.

"I will kill you," I mouthed to him, squeezing the steering wheel with brutal force.

Jean ignored me to turn to Eren. "Why do you look so surprised? Didn't think he was a virgin?"

"Well, uh, no," Eren admitted. "I mean, he's really..." he trailed off, hiding his face in his hands.

"He's really what?" Jean prompted.

"Good looking."

"You hear that, Levi?" Jean said, nudging my arm with his elbow. "Eren thinks you're really good looking."

Jesus, take the wheel, because I was going to crash this car. An avalanche of butterflies had taken up residence in my stomach because of that simple comment. I swear my insides felt like molten jelly, which made me sure that I was sporting flushed cheeks, and that in itself was too embarrassing to handle.

"Let's just go to Gayle's Peak," I muttered, and then added in a whisper, "No one will be able to find your body there."

Jean laughed at that, but I couldn't even focus on him. Eren hadn't stopped staring at me. He had this strange look on his face, and I wanted to know what he was thinking, but at the same time, I didn't want to know at all. I should've taken my own advice and stayed far away from him, but it seemed that I wasn't even capable of doing that. That plan had lasted for all of six hours, and I wondered if I could stay away from him for the next fourteen days.

After a while of being out on the open road, I calmed down some. I kept telling myself that none of this mattered. Once I was gone, I'd forget all about Eren. Maybe I'd even find someone else in whatever city I settled in, but when he turned to face me in his seat, I realized that I would never find someone like him.

With a look of hesitation, he reached out and brushed the spot on my forehead that was now bruised. "Does it hurt?"

"No," I said. It didn't hurt at all when he was touching me.