Short Stories (bxb)

Twenty-Four Hours Pt.5: Two Boys, Ten Thousand Flowers

     "Nah," Ethan said, shrugging. "I'm gonna tan." He wasn't even trying to keep his eyes on Michael's face, but he could get away with it thanks to his dark sunglasses. Michael was dripping wet, which was always a plus, and he had a slender, toned kind of body, which was exactly Ethan's type—but then again, everything about Michael seemed to fall under Ethan's type, so maybe he was just so into him that his type kept adjusting to include his characteristics. "I still haven't put on my summer skin."

     Michael smirked. "I don't know, I think you look pretty great." Then he turned and left before he could turn red, silently asking himself where the hell that had come from, because he wasn't usually the one to be so forward. Maybe flirting was his brain's weird way of compensating for all the turmoil going on in there—a product of him forcing himself to act normal when just thinking about Ethan made him want to punch himself.

      Ethan was grinning as he watched Michael jump into the pool. That boy was going to be the death of him.

The whole day went kind of like that. With Michael accidentally flirting more than usual and Ethan absolutely loving it, because he took it as a sign that Michael really was interested. So Ethan was going to make a move. Tonight. He didn't know how, or where, but he couldn't stand waiting any longer, and even his fears from the night before wouldn't be enough to stop him. Not when he wanted it so bad.

The only problem: he didn't know how to get Michael alone. It seemed that they were only together when they were around other people, and Ethan was classy enough to want their moment to be private. It almost seemed like Michael was avoiding situations where the two of them could end up alone, which made Ethan hesitate, but he figured that was just the nerves getting to him.

That night, Gabby proposed that they all play Truth or Dare. Again.

"Jesus," Ethan groaned. "I swear, I've played these dumb games more in the last month than I did during my entire teenage career. Since when are you all so obsessed? Like, are you twelve?"

"Oh hush," Gabby said, rolling her eyes. "It's fun. And it was Bobbie's idea, so don't come for me."

     "Hey," Bobbie grumbled. "You don't gotta expose like that."

"Don't be a buzzkill, Eth," Katie said, and Ethan huffed.

"You're all lame," he said.

"Does that mean you're not playing?" Donny asked.

"Of course I'm playing," Ethan said grudgingly, because he had nothing better to do.

Except for maybe kiss Michael. But Michael seemed interested in playing, so that option was gone.

Truth or Dare was mediocre as usual, and Ethan was sufficiently bored until Laeli's turn came and she, with a big smirk on her face, chose Katie. "I dare you," she said slowly, that smirk of hers—which never meant anything good—growing. "To pick any person in this circle and be the Allie Hamilton to his or her Noah Calhoun. I wanna see sparks. This is kind of an indirect dare," she said, looking around the group and pausing for a moment when her eyes landed on me, "for whoever she picks, too, because you have to kiss her back."

Ethan could just about kill her. It was no secret that his friends all thought that he and Katie should get back together. And Laeli knew Katie would pick him. It was no surprise when she began walking towards him.