Stewart groaned in protest as Emely pulled on his locks and wrapped them in a roller. “Emely, come on,” the teen whined in pain. He couldn’t see past the cucumbers that were on his eyes, and the paste he had on was getting itchy.

“Stop whining! When I’m a doctor-slash-hairdresser you’re gonna be whining about how I can’t do your hair anymore. I’ll be so busy in ER rooms.”

“You won’t even make it to slash anything if you keep yanking that hard.”

“It’s not my fault your curls were abandoned by you.”

The middle child was regretting letting the twelve-year-old practice on him. He wasn’t convinced by their mother. She had made a speech of how it was great bonding time, and built love and sibling-hood. Stewart was starting to realize it was a mere ploy. But the teen was promised a new game for this so he sat begrudgingly.

The doorbell rang and Emett’s call was heard from downstairs.

Stweart grabbed one of the cucumbers on his eyes and took a bite, “So what’s that smell anyway?”

“It’s aguacate, rice water, and sabila.”

“You put aloe? Em, my hair is gonna stink!”

The girl groaned in exasperation, “Gosh, you’re such a baby today. If you’re like this because of Riggs, please, find new ways to deal with your teenage hormonal indecisive attitude.”

The teen stayed quiet because he couldn’t think of a quick comeback, and blushing because it was kind of, sort of, definitely true. He placed the second cucumber in his mouth, “You’re the one on your perio–”

His hand was smacked before he could finish that sentence, “Stop eating the cucumbers, and I’m going to ignore that pity party sentence.”

She stood from the bed and Stewart looked up at her, “I’m done with your rollers, and you can wash off the face mask in ten more minutes. You should probably stop ignoring your buzzing phone by the way.”

“What buzzing phone,” Stewart questioned.

Emely shook her head and picked up her items before walking out of the room. Stewart sighed and looked at the phone that was laying next to him. He had taken Emmett’s advice about not ignoring Rigg’s for a full minute and a half, before he started avoiding the phone again for two days. He felt bad, and it wasn’t his lack of knowledge for feelings that he was avoiding his phone, but the anxiety that came with them.

He munched on his cucumber and opened up the image files on his phone. Don’t I like Dean though?

The only images on the phone were those taken from freshman year. His fingers moved on their own as he opened up a text box.

<< Hey Dee! >>

He began right before deleting the text. He didn’t necessarily feel like texting the childhood friend. Much less did he know what he would say if he did want to do it. Right as his eyes glossed over even further, his phone buzzed. His eyes widened as he stared down at the name on the notification box, Dee. Next, a rock hit his balcony door and made him jump. He stood.

Here it was. Dean throwing pebbles at his balcony like old times. Something was missing though, as he walked slowly towards the glass. Something not present in his step, a feeling going unfelt in his chest.

He approached his sliding glass door. The humid night air greeted him and made him wrinkle his nose. Another pebble was tossed, barely missing him and landing into his room.

“Jesus! You almost killed me!”

He heard shuffling and the vines next to his porch shook in protest.

He shook his head as a tuft of dark hair became visible over the railing. But it wasn’t short, it was long and wavy.

“Riggs?”

The guest smiled sheepishly at the other, reaching for the railing and stumbling as he grabbed a hold and slipped over it. Riggs straddled the banister with a relieved look on his face before he started swinging his other leg over the wooden frame. Again, he lost his balance going backwards. Stewart leaped forward and grabbed Riggs’ forearm tightly to bring him towards him. He caught him clumsily, causing Riggs to topple over and nearly bring them both onto the floor.

After a frozen moment, they both laughed. “Jesus, I thought surfers were supposed to have great balance.”

“Well excuse me, I never had a banister for a surfboard!”

Stewart laughed again, “What are you doing here? Also, you know there’s a front door, right?”

Riggs scratched the back of his head, “I was worried you’d be upset, but Emett kept telling me to go round the side.”

Stewart blinked, “He did?” That means Riggs must’ve been the one ringing the doorbell. The male felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and then he remembered. He had been avoiding Riggs.

Shit.

“Well, uhm...hi.”

“Hi.” Riggs was staring at him with a soft, yet withheld smile. One where one corner of his lips quirked up, but the other corner was pulled back. Stewart became distracted by those lips, they were pink in the dim lighting that came from his room and looked so soft.

Riggs walked closer and reached for his hair. That’s when Stewart remembered the rollers. The face mask. His eyes widened and he covered his face with his hands, “Oh my god, Riggs.”

Riggs laughed.

“This is so not funny!” Stewart stormed back into his room and straight into his bathroom where he immediately began to wash off the concoction Emely plastered onto his face.

Rigg’s laughter followed him, “Stewart it’s okay. You don’t have to take it off.”

Stewart blindly reached for a towel to dry his face. In his flustered state, he couldn’t even complete that action. He finally felt the soft cotton in his grasp, but his face heated up when his fingers brushed against skin.

“Here you go,” Riggs said.

Stewart mumbled a muffled thanks as he rubbed his face. He didn’t want to reveal it once it was dry though. He wanted the cotton to gobble him and take him to some other dimension. Perhaps one where he was much cooler than what he was being, and his heart wasn’t making his chest warm as it hadoukened his ribcage.

Taking a deep breath he revealed his cleared face and placed the towel on the hook. “Hi,” he whispered.

“Hey,” Riggs whispered back.

“Emely did it.”

“Hmmm, she’s cheating if she starts off with someone who already has perfect skin.”

Cheesy, yes, but there went the heat again. “Uhm,” He cleared his throat, “so what brings you here?”

“Oh,” Riggs looked away, “I uh–”

Stewart watched in confusion as for once, he wasn’t the only one blushing. Riggs managed to look back at Stewart. “I was worried I upset you.”

And just like that the boy was filled with guilt. Ignoring Riggs wasn’t very nice. Anxiety wasn’t an excuse. Riggs hadn’t been just a date. He was his friend. Stewart tugged on his lower lip with his teeth.

What could he say? What should he say?

He took in a deep breath before releasing it slowly, “I’m sorry, Kai.” Riggs visibly flinched and Stewart decided that perhaps using the teen’s actual name over his nickname was too intense. “I…we should talk.”

“Oh.”

The atmosphere shifted, and Stewart hated it. He wanted to make things clear. He needed to make things clear.

He led Riggs back to his room where he offered him a seat on his desk chair and Stewart sat on the bed. The teen’s brown eyes landed on the surfer. Riggs looked like a kicked puppy. He was sitting backwards on Stewart’s chair, arms and chin resting on its backseat as he lightly spun side to side.

Stewart began to speak, taking off the rollers in his hair, “The other day, I hadn’t really known it was a date until I asked.” He avoided eye contact with Riggs when the boy looked up at him, “I know, it’s stupid. But I,” his throat felt dry, “I never expected to be asked out, especially not by you. Before you asked me out I liked someone else, or rather I thought I did. I don’t know what I feel for him right now. I realized I haven’t really known for the last few weeks because I was so lost in the idea of it. And after having him as a crush for such a long time, it’s strange to wonder if it was a crush or just an infatuation.”

He ran his fingers through his liberated hair nervously, “I…wanna continue whatever this is, but I was wondering if we could go slow?” He grabbed one of the rollers to fiddle with it. “I know I’m saying I have a crush, or had? But I also am trying to say,” he finally lined his gaze with Riggs, “I really liked spending time with you.”

Stewart studied Rigg’s gaze and how it went from confusion, to awe, and then a bewildering smile. The slow side to side movement on the chair became a faster swinging motion. “Alright, I don’t mind that at all.”

“You don’t?”

“You’ve never seen me in a dating light, you’re figuring stuff out about yourself. You’re human and you’re trying to figure out where things fall in your life. I think people tend to forget others aren’t just what they see. They’re not only the category they have assigned to them. For instance, you’re not just a Tails Pet worker, you’re a brother, a son, a student, a best friend. I think the moment you said yes, I forgot about that.” That soft smile was back, and that gaze that spoke of pure adoration. “The only category you were falling into was that of the guy I like, so my brain was way ahead of what you currently are mentally and emotionally. As my friend, you know I get ahead of myself.”

Stewart chuckled lightly at that.

“I’m sorry if I overwhelmed you. I want you to know we can go slow, and if at any moment you need a pause, or you realize I can’t fit into the category of ‘that guy I’m dating’. Know that the category of friend isn’t gonna go anywhere.” His eyes widened and his hands fluttered, “I mean of course unless you want it to go away.”

Stewart laughed and shook his head. Just shook it as they both stared at one another, blushing.

“Let’s go on a date.”

The words were so clear and bright that they took the attention from every other lingering thought, feeling, and words the two boys had been focusing on. Stewart couldn’t believe they were coming from his lips. The calm feeling in his chest, however, along with the sudden urge of confidence made him feel elated. And that bubbling feeling made colors he didn’t know he had shine through.

“Really? When?”

Stewart smiled, “Now.” He went to his TV and grabbed the remote for his console. Then he picked up a blanket from a drawer and sat at the end of his bed, patting the spot next to him. That blush was still there, those jittery feelings were there, but so was the confidence. So was the ever-growing endearing feeling he was developing for Riggs.

Riggs stood and plopped down beside him.

“Let’s start with a movie and then maybe some games.”

Riggs smiled, “That sounds like the perfect date.”