“Nice view,” I said.

“Mhm.”

“Will you miss it?” I asked.

Beau shifted next to me. “The ocean? Yeah.”

“No, home.”

Our arms brushed when Beau leaned forward. I barely caught his gaze out of my peripheral vision. I wasn’t sure where I was going with this, and if I had then maybe I wouldn’t have asked.

“When you leave for school, will you miss it? Our little town of Graysbury sitting in the middle of nowhere with only a run down grocery bag, a mediocre park, and a dirty river to entertain us.”

“I probably will, eventually.” He snorted. “Not really the town I’ll miss though.”

“Your parents?”

He nodded. “And friends, Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Martin too, of course.”

“Not me though.”

Those words hung in the air, as if they were a threat. My hands clenched until my knuckles were white as snow.

I refused to face him, not even when he breathed my name, “Devin?”

“There’s a path along the cliffside.” I pushed off the fence. “Probably has a nice view too.”

He gripped my arm. “Dev—”

I pulled away, trudging along to the path I noted earlier.

Then I ran.

The path was a wave of its own, no more than an old, uneven bike trail. A measly wire fence kept tourists safe from the uneven cliffside. Soft showers of water wafted up with the wind from below. I tasted the sea, only coming to a stop when spotting a fork in the trail. One way led further down the shoreline, the other was a set of steps to a small rocky beach.

I took one step down. The dirt was wet. My foot sank. I fell forward. There was a bruising hold on my arm. I was dragged back, tumbling into someone’s arms.

“Watch where you’re going!” Beau grunted. Warm breath tickled the back of my ear. There was something equally as warm beneath me, his lap, which I was sitting in. We fell onto the trail when he rescued me from my own stupidity.

He glared. “Are you an idiot? You could have smashed your head in!”

I wriggled out of his grasp.

“Devin!” He shouted.

My stubborn self continued the trek down the lumpy stairs. Tense fingers clung to the dirt until it stained my nails. There was rummaging behind me, signaling that he followed. I moved faster. The ground was unsteady. Damp. Rocks and shells crunched beneath my feet. I kicked a rock into the water. Another. Then another.

“What are you doing?” Beau sighed.

I didn’t answer.

“Are you really giving me the silent treatment?”

I kicked a chunk of dirt with the next rock. I hoped it would take a little bit of me with it. Let these feelings sink into the sea. Crush them with pressure. Disappear into the dark. Take them away to where I wouldn’t face them again.

“Why are you acting like this?” His voice was suddenly right beside me. I jumped away, but his abrupt hold was firm. Fingers twisted into my shirt then slipped onto my bicep, keeping me in place. “What you said earlier—”

“Forget it.” I tried to brush away his hold. He only replaced it with another. “I was just running off at the mouth, ok?”

“Bullshit.” He was searching for something, eyes boring into my own. I never felt more exposed. “Why are you suddenly acting like you don’t want me to go?”

His grip tightened when I tried to escape. His tone was sharp, accusatory. “You are the one that’s been the most vocal about how damn happy you are that I’m leaving. What changed?”

“I don’t fucking know, ok?!” I shoved him. I didn’t know what else to do. Or I was scared of what I wanted to do.

There was too much in my mind at once. Childhood memories of us staying up all night challenging the other to check for a monster under the bed. Long days spent at the park, sneakers crunching against asphalt, our labored breaths under the summer sun. Cooling off at the river, laying on the muddy bank, him laughing when I thought I saw a snake and jumped probably ten feet in the air. Dressing up on Halloween and eating candy until we were sick. Taking notes for him in class when he missed and claiming all his good grades were thanks to me because of it. Him calling me an idiot while teaching me math for days on end, only for me to barely pass when the test came around.

All these little instances of us that built up to so much more.

All these little instances of us that would eventually be no more.

I knew I wasn’t walking the path alone. Beau was only a few steps behind. His gaze seared into my back, but we never spoke a word. Not even when we came across the path to the fort we passed on the way in. Trees lined either side, closing us in until we reached another cliffside where the old, abandoned fort sat covered in graffiti and rust.

The fort had open bunkers, only one was shut with clasped iron doors. Rust ate away at the hinges. Within the bunkers there was graffiti and broken bottles. Signs of parties likely from the locals. Steps led to a second level where the windows had iron fences at eye level.

There was a lone bunker on the side, closest to the ocean. I crawled to get inside. It was too small for anyone to stand in so I sat drawing shapes in the dirt with a twig even when Beau silently joined me.

We were alone. Sitting on a dirt floor. Surrounded by rusted fences, crumbling stone and colorful graffiti. A lock hung on the fence. Sunlight cascaded in; orange, red, and yellow. Like fire against Beau’s pale skin. Like the fire in his hand that crept over my own, linking our fingers.

I didn’t pull away. I didn’t admit to myself why. I wondered if Beau knew.

Were we the same? Was I Beau’s dandelion? A weed he couldn’t rip out.

I hoped so.

“I’ll miss you,” he spoke softly.

I was going to call him a liar, but couldn’t bring myself to do it when met with a firm green gaze. One that was too close and too far all at the same time.

“I’ll miss you the most, Devin,” he repeated, like he honestly didn’t think I heard him the first time. Like he had no idea what he was doing to me.

When he leaned in, the sun cast fire in his eyes. And when I leaned in, I let that fire burn me with a kiss. A kiss locked in a bunker by the sea. The taste of salt. The metallic smell of rust. Beau’s soft lips. His hand in mine.

We thought we could leave it behind, but our hands held tight on the silent walk back to the car.