Patrick stood at the bus stop, proudly wearing a new color of hair on his head. It was a brown that, when it caught the light right, shined. Much better than the mousey brown he had before, and much less obvious than the bleached blond.
"Ooh! My cupcake is going to camp!" Patrick's mom exclaimed, smiling sweetly at him with tears in her eyes.
"Mom, we've talked about the nickname..." Patrick grumbled, grabbing the straps of his backpack and twisting them. He looked off to the side, but his mother was over in the blink of an eye to hug him tightly.
"You're going to have so much fun! Oh, hun, get a picture!" Patrick's mother told her husband, releasing Patrick from her hug to instead wrap one arm around his shoulders.
Patrick smiled for the photo, not wanting to upset his mother. She was just excitable. Honestly, it was a feature that Patrick loved about his mom, even if it was a bit embarrassing at times.
"I'm going to miss you so much! Promise you'll write?" His mother asked as a small frown crossed over her face.
Patrick smiled at her, reassuringly. "Every week."
She smiled again, patting Patrick's head. "I'm going to miss you while your gone, Patrick."
"I'll look out for him, Mrs. Stump." Dallon called out as he bounded over to the family, carrying a large bag on his back.
"Thank you, Dallon." Patrick's mother laughed as she pulled him into a hug. She pulled away and smiled between the two boys, "Well, we should get going. Don't forget to write! I love you."
"I won't!" Patrick laughed, hugging his mother one last time. "I love you too."
Mrs. Stump waved as she walked over to her husband. When the two were walking to their car, Dallon nudged Patrick.
"So, they don't know?"
Patrick's eyes grew wide. "Are you kidding me!? They'd freak! She still calls me CUPCAKE, Dallon."
Dallon snickered slightly before apologizing. "Alright..." He nodded as Patrick's parents got into their car and the him of the engine could be heard. "Can I ask some wingman style questions?"
Patrick raised an eyebrow at his tall friend, but nodded. "Shoot."
"What do you look for?" Dallon asked, "Like, things you find irresistible about another human?"
Patrick felt his cheeks heat up. They hadn't had this conversation since they first found themselves growing interested in the opposite, as well as, the same sex. Patrick had found himself in the position of really questioning that after his first girl crush had gotten into a relationship with a guy that he found REALLY good looking. Not in a no homo way, but a very homo way. It was never something he mentioned to Dallon, however.
"A dick?" Patrick whispered with a slight shrug, "I-I mean... Girls are okay but... I've kinda been looking at more..."
"Kinky!" A different voice popped in. Dallon and Patrick turned to see a grinning boy with loosely styled brown hair, a open, floral button up shirt and sunglasses covering his eyes.
"Ryan!" Patrick squealed, covering his mouth as if it could help retract what he had said.
Dallon nodded towards the newcomer. "I thought you were getting shipped overseas for the summer, Ross."
Ryan shrugged, walking over to hug the red faced boy who was still covering his mouth. "I talked them into the cheaper method of camp instead." He grinned. "Nice to see you too, Dallon." He hugged the taller boy, who rolled his eyes with a smile before hugging back. Ryan pulled away and looked between the two boys. "So! What are we doin'?"
Patrick felt like his face was going to light on fire. Ryan was a close friend, but he didn't expect to really be coming out with his plan to everyone today. Although, maybe it wouldn't be too bad for Ryan to know...
Patrick's eyes dashed over to Dallon's, making contact before giving a small nod. Dallon nodded in response and turned to Ryan.
"We're going to get Patrick laid this summer." He said,making the grin on Ryan's face grow.
"Goody two shoes Stump!? This I gotta see!" He clapped his hands together, looking at Patrick. "Ooooh, it'll be so fun to help corrupt you."
"Tone it back a notch, Ryan." Dallon said, crossing his arms. "It's gunna be his first time, so he needs to take it slow."
"As slow as I can when I only have the summer to accomplish it..." Patrick mumbled under his breath. He did want to take Dallon's advice, but he also felt what Ryan was saying. He wanted to experience those things before he got back home; he didn't want to ruin it by taking too long...
"Can I be of assistance?" Ryan asked, messing up his hair. "Sounds like you guys plan on making camp fun."
Dallon looked at Patrick, who nodded. "At least it won't be that big a secret with three of us?" Patrick shrugged.
"Alright, Patrick." Dallon nodded as Ryan fist pumped.
At that same instant, the bus pulled up to the stop. The three boys hurried up to the opening doors and climbed inside, finding themselves to be the first ones getting picked up.
"This is perfect!" Ryan grinned, "Sit towards the back so we can go spy status."
"That sounds more like stalker status."
"All depends on your viewpoint, Weekes." Ryan winked, already on his way to the back. Patrick and Dallon followed, sitting about five seats from the back of the bus. Ryan had one whole seat to himself, while Dallon and Patrick sat together.
As the bus drove around, slowly gathering more occupants, Dallon and Ryan kept their eyes out for anyone Patrick may of liked.
"So, do you feel more on the guy spectrum of love?" Ryan asked, looking over at Patrick from where he leaned on the back of the seat in front of him.
Patrick nodded, looking down. "Girls are okay but... I just kinda find guys more... Appealing?" He looked back up with an unsure expression.
Dallon nudged Patrick's arm, playfully. "So, you like girls and boys?" He asked with a smile, "Not a problem! Plus, it seems like there's a majority of dudes here anyway."
Patrick peaked up at the front of the bus. There were two boys that seemed to be rather close for 'just friends'. One had short, snowy white hair that seemed to really pop with his black tank top. The other boy licked at his lip ring, gazing at the other boy. His hair was the polar opposite of the white haired boy, being completely black.
A few seats away from those two was a boy with curled blue hair on top of his head. He was playing on his phone, with one white ear bud dangling from where he hooked it around his ear.
A few seats away from him was another boy with a fringe of light hair covering one eye. He was looking at the two googly eyed boys like he was ready to barf, but he did seem to share many similar features to the white haired boy...
The bus stopped and the doors slowly opened. Patrick turned to it, unsure what he was really hoping for. He shrunk back a bit as two girls stepped onto the bus. One had shoulder length red hair, while the other had longer blue hair. The two looked around the bus for a minute before strolling towards the back of the bus.
When they started to pass by the boys, Ryan popped up with a goofy smile. "Hi! I'm Ryan, would one of you ladies care to share a seat?" He asked, scooting towards the window to leave one of the girls room to slide in.
The two looked at each other before the girl with blue hair turned back to him with a smile. "If I can have window?" She asked, sweetly.
Ryan's eyes grew wide before he nodded. "Yea-yea sure!" He hopped up into the seat and slid back to his original spot. The girl slid past him with a giggle and sat down.
"I'm Ashley." She said with a small wave.
"I'm Ryan." He waved back with the same goofy smile still on his face.
Dallon rolled his eyes, turning to Patrick. "We've lost him." He whispered to his shorter friend.
Patrick stiffled a giggled. "What a shame." He nodded, looking over to see Ryan looking at Ashley with googly eyes. "I doubt we'll hear from him until we get to the camp."
"Oh well..." Dallon sighed, looking up towards the front of the bus. "What do you think of the smurf up there?"
"Calling him a smurf isn't much of a turn on..." Patrick giggled with a roll of his eyes, "I dunno... He's kinda cute."
"So, possibility?" Dallon asked with a wink.
Patrick leaned back in his seat, listening to the hum of the bus. He looked out the window at the unfamiliar scenery, thinking over what he really wanted to do. Was he actually going to go through with his plan?.. Would it even work?..
He got pulled out of his thoughts when the bus finally stopped. He peaked up over his seat to see two dark haired boys climbing onto the bus. Patrick's eyes grew wide as one of the boys, who was wearing a jean jacket, looked over the bus with a hint of irritation.
"That guy..." Patrick whispered as the boy sat with his friend towards the front of the bus.
"Hot guy or hot guy's friend?" Dallon asked, a hint of infatuation in his own tone.
"Jean jacket." Patrick whispered.
"Hot guy's friend, good." Dallon nodded as a small grin passed over his face, "This summer is gunna be great..."