Although Stewart had been asked out three times in his life, one time in middle school and the other two in pre-k, he had never been good at saying no. So he’d mainly avoid or dodge the question when someone asked. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide this time, though.

To say the teen was on a one-way train to a bad year was an understatement, and he was still getting over 2016. His eyes were glossed over as he stared into the lake, and so he jumped when a dulce de leche and chocolate brownie ice cream was introduced to his line of sight. A pink shade coated the tips of his ears as he accepted the waffle cone from his friend, who he wasn’t even sure was a friend at the moment.

“Dulce Surprise for my favorite fish in the sea.” Riggs smiled, taking a seat on the bench right next to Stewart.

“Thanks.”

“That’s your favorite, right?”

Stewart nodded, taking a small lick off his cone.

Stewart watched the other begin to lick at his own ice cream. He had no idea how dates worked or if this really was a date. It was also too soon to claim it was a date if that was even up to him. His mind was spiraling and he could feel it as his leg started bouncing. He turned his gaze towards his ice cream, finding just one particular brownie chunk much more interesting than the situation or Riggs sitting next to him.

“A lot of people think the beach here has the best sunset, but I actually think this lake does.”

The boy blinked, surprised, as Riggs’ voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “The beach is prettier. I think that’s why.”

“I think the lake here is prettier.”

Stewart stared out into the lake again feeling a bit confused. His head tilted to the side, “I don’t see it.”

His brows scrunched and he turned to Riggs, only to be lost in confusion even more as he found the other staring at him with the oddest of looks. A soft smile was on the teen’s face as his eyes, half-hooded, stared at him.

It only lasted for a second but it felt like it was for minutes. As soon as Stewart blinked Riggs was looking normal with a chuckle coming out of his lips. The word normal is used lightly; Stewart couldn’t tell what was normal with Riggs, ever.

“Well then let’s walk around it. Maybe you’ll see.”

So they did. They held small talk as they came closer to the elevated sidewalk that surrounded the lake like a crescent moon. Each end vanished into the woods that embraced the lake’s perimeter.

“See.” Riggs pointed into the lake’s water as they reached the chipped wooden railing.

Stewart shook his head, still eating his ice cream, “See what?” All he saw was water and the cement it covered.

Riggs, chuckled, “Try again.”

Stewart did as the other said. His brown gaze focused on the ripples he was beginning to find soothing. Their back and forth motion continued to lick the cement as if wishing it could reach higher to where his Converse the sidewalk. The water was green unlike the grey and dark beach waves he was used to seeing.

He expected it to be filthy, but the sunlight dove into the water. That was the beautiful part. It bounced back and gleamed upon the ripples like crystals, but it penetrated through even more. It showcased the plants underneath. Bright greens that danced within the moving waves. Moss coated the bottom just as vibrantly. It was calming and soothing, and then exciting. Fish, that were at first hard to spot, were becoming clearer as his eyes adjusted. They were dark colors, but as they moved the dark red on their ventral fins was visible when the light hit them just right.

His lips parted in awe. It wasn’t much, but at the same time, it was big. Something so small shifted how he viewed just a mere lake. A lake everyone in town knew and hardly ever walked by.

Slowly, Stewart found himself much more interested in finding out what else made the lake prettier than the beach. And so the adventure around the lake continued. From ducks chasing them for their ice cream, turtles poking their heads out of the lake, the creaking sounds the trees made with the breeze, all the way to nighttime.

The two boys lay on the pier after adventuring around. They had gone within the woods and ended up on an old broken dock where their starting point could be seen.

Stewart wasn’t sure if it was safe to be lying back on it, but by throwing jokes back and forth with Riggs, he was relaxed. “I still can’t believe that duck flew towards you for the ice cream.”

Riggs shivered, “Ducks, are evil. Pure evil.”

Stewart laughed; he forgot this was maybe a date. He forgot about his anxiety. Forgot that he looked like a “wet chicken nugget.” Forgot about absolutely everything. His eyes were too focused on the clouds floating in the night sky and his lungs too busy laughing and saying idiotic jokes.

“You know,” he said with a chuckle to which Riggs responded to with his own chuckle dosed, “What?”

“That cloud looks like a duck.” The teen answered, pointing to a cloud that was just above them.

“Great, you’ve officially ruined clouds for me.” He groaned, still laughing, “Now they all look like ducks.”

“Nuh-uh. That one looks like a dragon.”

“I think it looks more like a fish.”

Stewart snorted out, “Like Krack?”

“How’d you guess?!”

Stewart shook his head, “Dude, that’s such a bad nickname.”

“Then what’s a better one?”

Stewart hummed in thought. “Kraken. Raken...Ken? Yeah, Ken.” He nodded looking beside him at Riggs to confirm, but his eyes were lost in the hooded brown. He could feel that tingle in his cheeks again. His mind went blank. All he could do was stare at the other in front of him. Just one question repeated itself in his mind, “What?”

“Hey,” he whispered without reason. Nervously.

“Yeah?” Riggs, whispered back, also without reason.

“We’re friends, right?”

Riggs blinked. Then didn’t move. Then nodded.

“Right,” Stewart nodded back. He was nervous now. He drummed his fingers against the wooden pier. “Do friends date?”

Riggs stared again, not moving. This made Stewart even more nervous. He was about to force out a laugh, but Riggs spoke. A smile on his face as he stared at Stweart with that look, the boy still didn’t get.

“Only when they are crushing on a friend as hard as I’m crushing on you.”