-Max-
The first couple of classes were tedious. I was barely able to focus, and I sure as hell didn't learn anything. Not with Sky so close by. More than once I found myself staring at him, wondering how anyone could be so cute. And how hard and fast I had fallen for his cuteness.
Love at first sight? Was it actually possible? I hoped so. The sad part was that there was only a small chance he wasn't straight either.
But that didn't stop me from staring at him. Or waiting for the class to end so I could talk to him. Or hope that he'd turn around and smile at me... I tried to snap out of it and focus on the class again, but that didn't go too well.
Finally, years later, the lunch break started. While we gathered our stuff, I tried to find my courage to ask Sky if he wanted to eat with us. I'd never felt so insecure in my entire life, and my racing mind got the best of me. I mean, was it odd? Would he understand that something was going on? That I wasn't only interested in his company as a friend, but as something more? What if he realized I had a mad crush on him and ran screaming the other direction? What if he hated people like me? What if–
"You'll eat with us, right?" Troy asked Sky, who nodded with a smile.
Or I could just stop freaking out...
I watched them two start walking to the door and hurried after them. When we stepped outside and started heading towards the exit, I deliberately walked a few steps behind so I could watch Sky. He looked good in his new clothes. The old ones, as cute as they were, had hidden so much from me. He really was nice to look at. And I never hadn't even realized how fit he was. He didn't seem like a guy who'd work out, but I guess he had a strong physique because he was always spending so much time outdoors, wandering around the forests and climbing trees and rocks with heavy backpacks and everything.
"Max?"
And honestly speaking, his physique really was nice to look at. I was simply unable to take my eyes off him.
"Max? Bro! Snap out of it," Troy chuckled, waving his hand in front of my face. "Thirsty much?"
I ripped my eyes off Sky and realized we were already outside in the schoolyard. I turned to look at Troy. He glanced at what I'd been staring at and tried to hide his smirk.
"I could use some water," I muttered, feeling heat rising on my cheeks, and Troy started laughing again.
"That's not what I meant," he cooed, and I blushed harder. Then he turned all serious, which was pretty unusual for him. "You really like him," he spoke with a quiet voice.
It wasn't a question, so I didn't reply to him. Sky turned to look at us, and for a short second, I thought he'd heard us, but there was no way he could have since it was really noisy outside. It seemed like everyone wanted to enjoy the warm day, and the tables outside the lunch hall were already crowded.
"Let's try to find an empty table," I told Sky, who nodded with a smile.
Gosh... I really liked that smile...
Troy and I followed Sky in silence as we tried to find an empty table in the packed yard. Lucky for us, there were still a few tables empty in the back corner. The sun didn't quite reach that spot through the tall trees, but I preferred the peace and quiet.
Mainly because I wanted to hear Sky rambling on about animals.
I felt a little jolt of happiness inside me when Sky sat right next to me at the table. As we started eating, I could smell the light scent of his shampoo flowing around me, reminding me of the forest where we'd been looking for the owls. If I was completely honest with myself, I already missed that place, and not only because of how nice it had been spending time alone with Sky. I missed feeling like a kid, though I didn't miss the rat droppings. Or rats.
"Should we go see the owls again this weekend?" I asked Sky.
I probably should've waited for a bit.
His expression turned into extreme excitement in a split second, and he tried to speak with his mouth full. He started coughing violently, and only a second later, his face started turning red. It took me another second to realize he was choking!
"Sky?!" I yelled in fear and started hitting his back forcefully. It either was a false alarm or my attempts to clear his airways were working, since he only coughed a few more times and took a deep breath.
"Are you all right?" Troy asked with a worried frown.
"I'm fine... I'm fine," he croaked and turned to look at me, his eyes sparkling already. "Do you want to go Friday night? Or Saturday? Either way is fine with me," he spoke enthusiastically, completely ignoring the fact that he'd been choking on his food just a second ago.
He did look fine, but I was still too shaken to answer his question.
"You really need to be more careful. It's like you have a reaper following you around. If you're not walking in front of cars, you're choking on your food!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine..." he repeated with a tinier voice. "I wasn't actually choking."
"It sure looked like it," Troy said, and I nodded.
"I'm fine," Sky said, waving his hand. "So, weekend...?"
I stared at him for a moment, but then tried to relax. "Um... I'm fine with everything," I muttered.
"Great! Can we go on Friday already? Pretty please!" he pleaded.
How could I say no to him?
"Sure," I said and turned to look at Troy, who raised his eyebrow at me with a smirk.
I tilted my head in a questioning manner, but he looked away, chuckling by himself. Then I realized I was still holding my hand on Sky's back. On his lower back. I quickly removed it, wishing I wouldn't blush so easily.
"Hey, Sky," Troy said and looked at him. "Max and I were planning on playing video games at his place today. Do you want to join us?"
I frowned at him. We hadn't made such plans. We hardly even played video games!
"Can I?" Sky asked and turned to look at me, and those sparkly eyes of his put me down on my knees once again.
"Sure," I said with a stupid smile. "It'll be fun."
"I'm bad at it, though. I don't usually play any games," Sky said, his mood coming down a notch.
"That's OK. I'm sure Max would love to teach you," Troy said, stressing the word 'love' a little too much.
Sky looked a little shy all of a sudden, and I cursed Troy to the lowest part of hell.
"Don't listen to him. He's just being sarcastic," I said, giving Troy an ugly glare to shut him up. "I suck at video games too."
"That's true," Troy nodded.
"Oh," Sky said and smiled at me. "Then we can suck together!"
That was too much for Troy, and he burst into laughter. Sky peered at him with a confused look in his eyes while I tried to kick Troy to make him silent. It didn't help. He only laughed harder.
"Stop that, idiot!" I hissed at him.
"I'm sorry!" Troy gasped. "I can't!"
He started losing his breath, and he was hitting the table, still laughing.
"So now it's your turn to choke?" I sighed, turning to speak to Sky. "He's a moron, don't care about him. Sometimes when he starts to laugh, he can't stop. It's like a hysterical fit or something."
"Oh, I had a friend who did that too," Sky told me. "He wouldn't calm down until he was in an empty room."
"That's exactly like Troy."
"Can't – breathe – help...!" Troy cried while laughing.
"You'll be fine," I sighed in annoyance.
"Are you sure? He's all red," Sky said worriedly.
I glanced at Troy. He sure was turning red. I took a deep breath and stood up. I had waited for this opportunity to talk with Sky the entire morning, but I suppose saving Troy's life was more important.
"You are such a pain in my ass," I told Troy as I helped him up on his feet. "Sky, take his stuff, will you?"
"Okay," Sky said, and got up to get Troy's bag.
I put my arm around Troy, trying to support him while he kept laughing. I looked at Sky, who was following us, and noticed his own bag was still by the table.
"Yours too," I chuckled, and he turned red before returning to it. I shook my head in amusement and turned my attention back to Troy. "All right, let's get you to the nurse's office."
Only a minute later, I pushed Troy inside the nurse's office. When the nurse spotted us, she sighed and pursed her lips.
"Here again, Mr. Dominic," she spoke.
Troy tried to nod, and the nurse shook her head. She then helped him to lie down on one of the three beds she had in her office.
"Take deep breaths now, do you hear me?" she spoke to Troy, and I used the opportunity to sneak out of the room.
Sky was waiting for us outside with an increasingly worried look on his face. I stopped next to him and peered over my shoulder.
"He's going to be fine," I told him. "It's not the first time he gets like that."
"Okay..." he muttered and glanced at Troy before the door was closed.
"I'll stay here and wait for him," I told him, secretly hoping he'd stay with me.
My wish was granted! After I sat down right next to the door and leaned against the wall, I turned to look at Sky. I couldn't have been happier when I saw him sitting down next to me! Something good came out of Troy's fit, after all.
"Does this happen to him often?" he asked, but my head didn't register it.
He was sitting so close to me that our shoulders were touching. I was unable to think straight when he turned to look at me with his blue eyes. It took me embarrassingly long to understand that he was waiting for my answer.
"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked, turning my eyes to the opposite wall in hopes of getting a grip of myself.
"Does he start laughing like that often?"
"I guess," I said with a shrug. "It's usually not this bad though."
"I hope he's going to be all right," he said quietly and hesitated for a moment before he asked timidly, "Did I say something funny?"
"No, why?" I asked and turned to steal a glimpse of him.
"He started laughing when I said that we can suck together," he said, but then his eyes shot wide open as he added, "Ohh..."
He turned bright red. I was sure he now understood why Troy had found his words so amusing.
"He's just childish," I said. "You shouldn't worry about it."
"I... I... um..." Sky murmured, looking flustered. "I didn't mean that we should... I mean... I meant we can be bad at it together. I mean, not together, of course! Like, just... ugh... in the same room, and like..."
"Just give up already," I chuckled. "I know what you mean," I added, feeling sad. Together was never going to happen.
"Good, because... I didn't mean we should be together or anything... I like you as a friend..." Sky continued explaining, looking somewhere down at the floor.
There it was. As a friend. It hurt more than I could've even imagined.
"I know, I know..." I muttered and leaned my head against the wall, trying to hold back my sigh.
I wasn't sure why I had fallen for him so hard in such a short time. My only defense was that he wasn't like anyone else I'd ever met. He was so genuine. And kind. And cute. Adorable...
I'd always thought my interest in other boys was something everyone had experienced at some point in their lives. I thought it would pass soon, or that it was just innocent curiosity. But at that barn, it had finally hit me. I'd liked Sky from the moment I talked to him, even though he hadn't said a word to me. I liked girls too, but no one had ever made me feel the way I felt when Sky was around.
He was just so... Captivating.
"So, about Friday," Sky spoke hesitantly. "Are you sure you want to go?"
"Go where?" I asked, still deep in my thoughts.
"To see the owls," Sky said with a tiny voice. "Or don't you want to go anymore?"
"Oh! Of course! Sorry, I was just... Of course I want to go," I hurried to tell him, and he started smiling again.
The way he showed his expressions was really cute. I knew people who hid their feelings, but Sky didn't seem to have any trouble expressing his emotions. It was refreshing. Trying to guess how the other person was feeling was exhausting, but with Sky it was easy to pick up his mood.
"Do we need to stay the night at the barn?" I asked, trying to sound manlier than I felt at the moment.
"Yeah," Sky said and patted my knee, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
I laughed lightly at his words.
"I'm serious," Sky said with a small smile. "Forest is not a dangerous place if you know what you're doing."
"I trust you," I said and placed my hand on his without even realizing it.
I got lost in that moment, staring at him deep in the eyes, and he looked back at me with that tiny smile of his. Our hands were still joined together and resting on my leg. I didn't even notice what I was doing. Not until the nurse's door opened.
I cleared my throat and turned to look at Troy, who stepped out of the office, and I finally noticed I was holding Sky's hand in mine. I let it go to grab Troy's bag instead. I stood up hastily, my heart racing like I'd just run a hundred laps around the field.
Thankfully, Troy hadn't seen us sitting behind the door, not until I stepped away from the door.
"Here's your bag," I told him, showing it against his chest. "We'll be late if we don't hurry."
"Ugh... Thanks, bro. My whole body hurts now..." he muttered, looking extremely exhausted.
I was still so embarrassed that I couldn't find any words to speak.
"Let's get going," I just said.
I didn't look at Sky, or anywhere in his direction, for that matter. I was too ashamed to look at him. I wasn't even sure if he was still following us, but I couldn't turn around to see if he was.
The worst part was what he'd said. We were just friends, and it was painful to think about, but I held his hand in mine like an idiot. If he hadn't yet realized I had feelings for him, he most certainly knew now...
"Are you all right now?" Sky asked Troy, and I took a careful glance at them both.
"Yeah... My ribs and cheeks are burning but I'm fine," Troy said reassuringly. "But you'll join us for the gaming night today, right? I've got plenty of games I can bring with me."
"Of course!" Sky said, looking excited again.
I slowed down my pace so I could walk next to him. "It'll be fun," I said tentatively.
"Yes! But I don't really believe you suck," he told me, squinting his eyes at me. "You're too perfect! I don't think you even know how to suck."
Troy snorted loudly at his words and slapped his hands over his mouth, looking at us with pleading eyes.
"Oh, no..." I muttered.
"Oops... I didn't mean to..." Sky trailed off, looking at Troy with worry in his eyes.
"You don't know," Troy snickered, "how to suck...!"
"Here we go again..." I sighed.
"Sorry," Sky grinned apologetically.
"My ribs..." Troy moaned as his laughing fit started all over again.