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Chapter 14- Delectable Dating

Two young men, both students at the same school, both with their hearts pounding rapidly against their ribs as they sat across from one another at their table for two. Each of them took their turn to steal a glimpse of the other over their menus, both knowing that the other was doing the exact same. After all, even if they'd not seen it, there weren't too many options to choose between from the Pizza Hut menu. Did they want pizza or pasta, followed by what drink they wanted? It took a few minutes before the slightly shorter caught Jonah's eye, both of them taking a few silent seconds to just look at one another. Both boys had a look of uncertainty on their faces, said expressions eventually slowly shifting to a smile. They were awkward smiles, although, as Connor noticed the same expression appearing on the other male's face, his smile became genuine, letting out a light laugh, returned by Jonah, both of them now just laughing at nothing.

"I'd tell myself to calm down, but of course I'm going to be nervous," Connor admitted, looking down at the table. Having decided to leave his fingernails alone for that day, he instead focused on the napkin in front of him, pulling at the corner, folding it over and unfolding it again.

"This is a first for us, I guess," Jonah spoke with a lower volume than usual, his wide smile still on his face, "but if you get extremely uncomfortable, we can get out and go somewhere else."

The long-haired boy looked back to him, smiling slightly shyly as a subtle pink flush appeared across his cheeks. "Thanks," he almost squeaked, "so this is your first date too, then?"

Shrugging, Jonah's eyes drifted from his classmate to the window next to him, looking out at the street as people passed the restaurant by. "I'd say it is. At least, the first one that feels real."

"Did you go on any dates with your ex?"

"Don't call him my ex," Jonah said, sounding calm about the topic, "I said before; I don't actually consider it serious. We 'dated' for a week."

Connor shrugged in response. "I know it's weird to want to talk about him on a-" there was a short pause before he said the word "-date, but I'm curious about what you mean by that."

His eyes were enticing, the shorter teen boy leaning across over the table, his head tilted like it always did when he was intrigued or looking for an answer to something. The bright and curious expression on his face was as cute to Jonah as it always had been, his desire to reach out and stroke his face or take his hand getting stronger, but he had to restrain, the best thought in his head was that, if this date went well, then he could be finding himself doing these things often, without having to worry. Still, his mind was brought straight back to the subject at hand, thinking back to the male he'd so-called 'dated' while he still attended his previous school. He swallowed, looking back at the one enquiring, somehow not feeling awkward at all to be speaking of his 'ex' while on a date with the boy he currently had a crush on.

"We started off at a sleepover," he explained, "and he was showing me this weird romance movie. Honestly, he was less focused on the main couple, but way more on the guy's best friend trying to sort things out with his boyfriend. When he told me that he was bi-curious, I offered to help because I was the only other questioning guy he knew and we were both comfortable with the idea."

"I don't see why anyone would be uncomfortable with it," Connor muttered, though his attempt at remaining quiet failed, as shown when he saw Jonah raising an eyebrow, not continuing with his explanation. And so, he gave his reason for saying so. "I mean, you're a reliable and friendly guy, so why not?" Connor was obviously nervous as he explained himself. Jonah decided not to dwell on this, not wanting to make him any more uncomfortable.

"With my offer on the table, he seemed a lot less stressed out," Jonah continued, to Connor's relief, "so, I stayed at his house for the night, then the next morning we put a plan into action. For the next few days, we'd progress and build up, then we'd see if we wanted to carry on after that. Like, on day one, we held hands, day two, we went out for the day, which continued until we kissed on day seven. After the week went by, he decided that he wasn't all that interested in remaining in a relationship with another guy. That's all. We were on a schedule and I only did it because, if not me, nobody else would have."