Chris looked calm as he drove the car, one hand on the wheel and the other resting at the manual gear shift. Dylan shifted in the passenger seat. He felt nervous and giddy and Chris was way too hot for Dylan's wellbeing. He wanted to punch himself.
He was the co-captain of the soccer team and one of Greenhills best students, for God's sake. He, if anyone, could manage a date with Chris Davis. Still, his heart was beating way too hard and his cheeks were burning.
Chris turned his head to look at him. "I'm not going to murder you, you know." He said, a smug expression on his face. It made him look very kissable, Dylan thought to himself. He chuckled.
"Well, you never know," Dylan shot back, relaxing slightly. Chris grinned. It was nice, not being the one to drive. It was weird... but nice.
A little voice in Dylan's head screamed at him that it was a bad idea, that nothing would go well, but he was starting to ignore it. Instead, he focused on how good it felt, how at ease he was beginning to become.
"You still haven't told me where we're going," he said after a moment, looking out of the front window. The sun was still shining brightly, casting its golden rays over the car.
"We're going to a café if you must know," Chris said as he turned at an intersection, "and then we're going to walk in the woods for a bit-"
"So you are going to murder me!" Dylan exclaimed with a grin.
"I wasn't finished," Chris laughed, "we're going to walk for a bit and then we're going to eat dinner."
"Okay," Dylan smiled and relaxed further into the seat. It was a nice car, nicer than the one that he had. Chris must have saved up for a long time to get it.
"So, what did you do today?"
"I've read some, and showered, that's about it," Dylan smiled as Chris pulled into the parking lot of a small café near the edge of town. "What's this place?"
"This is Aunty Dotty's Coffee Shop. She makes a mean pie and I've been going here all my life. I used to go here with my brother-" Chris stopped himself and Dylan tilted his head a bit. "Anyway, come on."
Dylan got out of the car at the same time Chris did, and they started walking up toward the patio. When they'd gotten up, Chris held open the door and Dylan felt his cheeks heat up.
The inside of the shop was very cozy. As the sun was still shining bright, and the drapes were pulled away from the windows. The only other light source was some lit candles that decorated the tables and various cake stands. The tables were made with dark wood and had chairs to match.
It was as close to empty as it could be, with only two people whispering in one of the corners.
"Dotty?" Chris called into the café. A rustle was heard from behind the counter and a few moments later, a large, grandma-looking woman emerged from what seemed to be the kitchen.
"Christopher!" The woman exclaimed with a thick Brooklyn accent, "where have you been? I've missed you. How's ya brother?"
"I've been busy, I'm sorry," Chris took a light hold of Dylan's hand and lead him toward the counter where Dotty was leaning.
"That's alright, baby," she smiled and turned her gaze toward Dylan, "Well, I never! Hi, honey, I'm Dotty." She reached her hand out and Dylan shook it, the other arm slightly hidden behind Chris.
"Dylan," he smiled politely.
"It's very nice to meet you, Dylan," Dotty beamed up at him, "I've never had Chris come in with anyone other than his brother, you must be quite the young man." Dylan shot a glance toward Chris, who was already looking at him. The intense stare made his cheeks flush and his stomach flutter.
"But enough of my blabberin', what do you wanna order?" Dotty stopped leaning against the counter and took a step back.
"Two hot chocolates and, uh, two blueberry pies," Chris answered almost instantly. Dylan smiled. Chris must have really planned the day out. Down to the food. Dotty nodded with a smile.
"Alright, you boys can grab a seat and I'll be out with it in a minute," she made a waving motion with her hand, gesturing for them to find somewhere to sit.
They chose a table in the corner by the full-wall window toward the terrace. The sun was still shining bright as it ever so slowly inched its way toward the horizon. Dylan shrugged off his jacket and hung it over his chair, then sat down.
"So, what is this place?" Dylan asked when Chris had also taken a seat.
"This is where I come to be alone," Chris said, a gentle smile on his lips, "not many people know about this place, and it's usually only tourists that pass through every once and again."
"So why did you take me here?" Dylan asked.
"Well, you said that you don't know much about me, so I'm changing that right now."
"But you don't know a lot about me either," Dylan raised an eyebrow.
"I know that you'll be a marine biologist after college, I know that you have two siblings, one of whom doesn't live at home. I know that you like learning but not studying, yet you still do it because you have to if you want to achieve your dreams."
Dylan stared, his mouth agape in wonder. And confusion.
"How do you know all that?" He asked after a moment. Chris gave him a weak smile.
"It's just things that I've noticed. Or things that you have told me."
Dylan continued staring, mostly in awe of the person in front of him. He'd never have thought that this was how it would turn out. A moment of silence passed between the two of them, and just then, Dotty waddled out from the kitchen.
"Here ya are, boys," she beamed as she placed the slices of pie in front of each one of them, "I'll be out with the chocolate in just a moment."
Dylan took a deep breath, feeling the steam from the pie enter his nostrils. It smelt absolutely heavenly, but it was probably a good idea to wait. It was still fresh out of the oven and he didn't have any desire to burn his tongue off.
A moment later Dotty returned, a large cup in each hand. Dylan was pretty sure that he was drooling as she placed the cups down on the table. There was everything that you could possibly put on hot chocolate; whipped cream, marshmallows, crushed candy canes, chocolate shavings, and drizzle.
Chris chuckled from the other side of the table and Dylan tore his eyes away from the artwork in front of him.
"I know, right?" The raven-haired boy grinned. "Dotty makes the best hot chocolate that I've ever tasted, and I've tasted quite a few."
"I didn't take you for a hot chocolate person," Dylan answered, his eyes moving back to the cup.
"Who isn't a 'hot chocolate person'?" Chris laughed. He lifted his cup and took a sip, and Dylan followed suit.
"Okay, you wanted me to know more about you, so tell me," he said.
"What do you want to know?"
"Tell me about your family."
Chris squirmed. "There's not much to say. Mom is a dentist and dad is an engineer. We have a relatively small house because mom wants to travel a lot, or well, they want to travel a lot. Dad used to be a football coach."
Dylan nodded. "So that's why you started?"
"That's why I started."
Dylan wanted to ask about his brother. But he hadn't said anything about him when he asked about family, which had to be a sign that he didn't want to talk about it. Hell, it wasn't like Dylan liked talking about William, at least not pre-Norway.
"Why don't you take art, then?" Dylan asked. "I mean, you can do more than one thing, right?"
Chris drank some of his chocolate. "I suppose I could have, but dad doesn't like me doing anything other than football. He says that if I want to get a scholarship, I need 'full focus forward'."
"Can't you get an art scholarship?"
"I wouldn't know, I haven't researched any of that," Chris shrugged, "it's better not to fight him."
"That sounds dumb," Dylan frowned and Chris laughed.
"I suppose it is."
"But you still do it?" Dylan continued. He felt calm and giddy at the same time. The mystery that Chris had been wasn't that much of a mystery anymore.
"It's better that way."
Dylan sank back into his chair and the quiet washed over him.
"You should taste the pie," Chris smiled, "it'll be the best you've ever tasted."
"You think so?" Dylan grinned, raising his eyebrows, "That's high praise."
"It's been earned," Chris smirked and took a bite of his. The satisfied hum that escaped his lips proved his words and Dylan leaned forward and grabbed his spoon, ignoring the heat that spread from his cheeks up to his ears.
The moments he'd put the piece into his mouth, he had to stifle the urge to moan.
"That," he breathed, "is some good pie."
"I told you," Chris grinned from ear to ear.
An hour later, after they'd talked about everything between heaven and earth, except for what Dylan wanted to hear about, Chris rose from his chair.
"Alright, while I would be more than happy to sit here with you all day, I've got some more things planned," he took his jacket.
"Ah, yes, the walking in the woods," Dylan smiled. "And you're 100% sure that it won't end in me being murdered?" Chris chuckled.
"Stahp," he groaned, "I'm trying to be romantic here."
"Why are you trying so hard?"
There was a short pause, and a sigh, before Chris smiled and said:
"Because I know that the rumors about me from the junior year aren't painting a very good picture of me, and I... I don't know, I just want you to see that not everything that you hear is true."
"You know, I've already figured that out on my own," Dylan said gently as he stood, too, and took his jacket off the chair. Chris grinned at him, then went toward the counter to pay.
"Nonsense," Dotty said as soon as they'd come close, "it's on the house, darlings."
"Thank you," Dylan replied with a wide smile.
"As long as you promise come back sometime!" She called after them as they left the coffee shop.
"Will do," Chris called back as the door closed behind them.
The cold November air quickly embraced Dylan and he shivered. The shiver was mostly due to him not putting his jacket on, but the ever descending sun wasn't helping. Winter was arriving quicker than he'd thought it would.
The two of them got into Chris's black car again and the latter quickly turned on the heat in the vehicle.
"So where are we going now?" Dylan asked as he fastened his seatbelt.
"Well, I was thinking that we could walk the trail by the hill," Chris backed out of the parking lot and didn't look at Dylan, but Dylan could see slight tinting of the dark-haired boy's cheeks. He grinned.
"That sounds great," he breathed.
The trail was a pretty long away from Dotty's Café, and as Chris drove Dylan looked out the window. Rushing past the trees with Chris next to him made him feel content. It wasn't like the content he'd felt before, though. The content that he felt when he got a good grade was nowhere near as good as the complete and utter calm happiness that he felt now.
He turned his head to look at Chris. The other was looking at the road, but when he noticed Dylan staring, he turned his head and met his eyes with a wide smile. Fuck, Dylan thought as he returned the smile, I am falling way too fast.
///