I guess it was because Sky had spent so much time wandering around in the forests and climbing up the trees and rocks.

“Max?”

I mean, Sky’s body was nicely toned, and I couldn’t get my eyes off him.

“Max? Bro! Snap out of it,” Troy chuckled, waving his hand in front of my face. “Thirsty much?”

I ripped my eyes off Sky, who was walking right in front of me in the schoolyard, and looked at Troy. He was trying to hide his smirk when he looked at what I’d been staring at the entire time.

“I could use some water,” I muttered, and Troy started laughing again.

“That’s not what I meant,” he cooed, and I blushed. Then he turned all serious, which was pretty unusual for him. “You really like him,” he spoke with a quiet voice.

I didn’t reply to him. We followed Sky in silence, trying to find an empty table in the schoolyard. Lunch break had just started, and everyone wanted to sit outside in the sunny yard, but we managed to find some room for the three of us.

Sky sat right next to me at the table, and I could smell the light scent of his shampoo flowing around me. It reminded me of the forest where we’d been looking for the owls.

I grabbed my lunch from the bag and started eating. No one spoke in a while, but soon it got on my nerves.

“So, should we go see the owls again this weekend?” I asked Sky.

His expression turned from plain to extremely excited in a split second, and he tried to speak with his mouth full. He started coughing violently, his face turning red, suddenly looking like he was choking.

“Sky?!” I yelled in fear and started patting his back forcefully.

He coughed a few times and took a deep breath, swallowing hard.

“I’m fine... I’m fine,” he croaked and turned to look at me, and his eyes were sparkling. “Do you want to go Friday night? Or Saturday? Either way is fine with me,” he spoke in enthusiasm like he hadn’t been just dying from his food.

He looked fine, but I was still shaken. It was like a reaper was following him around, waiting for his moment to strike. If he wasn’t walking in front of cars, he was choking on his food.

“Uhm... I’m fine with everything,” I muttered.

“Great! Can we go on Friday already? Pretty please!” he pleaded.

How could I say no to him?

“Sure,” I said and turned to look at Troy, who was smirking at me again.

I tilted my head, but he looked away, chuckling by himself. Then I realized I was still holding my hand on Sky’s back. On his lower back. I quickly removed it, wishing I wouldn’t blush so easily.

“Hey, Sky,” Troy said and looked at him. “Max and I were planning on playing some video games at his place. Do you want to join us?”

I frowned at him. We hadn’t made such plans. We hardly even played video games!

“Can I?” Sky asked and turned to look at me, and those sparkly eyes of his put me down on my knees every time.

“Sure,” I said with a stupid smile. “It’ll be fun.”

“I’m bad at it, though. I don’t usually play any games,” Sky said, his mood coming down a notch.

“That’s OK. I’m sure Max would love to teach you,” Troy said, stressing the word ‘love’ a little too much.

Sky looked a little shy all of a sudden, and I cursed Troy to the lowest part of hell.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s just being sarcastic,” I said, giving Troy an ugly glare to shut him up. “I suck at video games too.”

“That’s true,” Troy nodded.

“Oh,” Sky said and smiled at me. “Then we can suck together!”

That was too much for Troy, who burst into laughter. Sky turned to look at him with a confused look in his eyes, and I tried to kick Troy to make him silent. It didn’t help. He only laughed harder. Eventually he started losing his breath, and he was hitting the table, still laughing.

“Stop that, idiot!” I hissed at him.

“I’m sorry!” Troy gasped. “I can’t!”

“He’s a moron,” I told Sky. “Don’t care about him, he sometimes starts to laugh, and he can’t stop. It’s like a hysterical fit or something.”

“Oh, I had a friend who did that too,” Sky told me. “He wouldn’t calm down until he was in an empty room.”

“That’s exactly like Troy.”

“Can’t – breathe – help...!” Troy cried while laughing.

“You’ll be fine,” I sighed in annoyance.

“Are you sure? He’s all red,” Sky said worriedly.

I took a deep breath and stood up.

“You are such a pain in my ass,” I told Troy before I helped him up on his feet. “Sky, take his stuff, will you?”

“Okay,” Sky said, and got up to get Troy’s bag.

I put my arm around Troy, trying to support him while he kept laughing. I looked at Sky, who was following us, and noticed his own bag was still by the table.

“Yours too,” I chuckled, and he turned red before returning to it. I shook my head in amusement and turned my attention back to Troy. “All right, let’s get you to the nurse’s office.”

Only a minute later, I pushed Troy inside the nurse’s office, and the nurse pursed her lips.

“Here again, Mr. Dominic,” she spoke.

Troy tried to nod, and the nurse shook her head. She then helped him to lie down on one of the three beds she had in her office.

“Take deep breaths now, do you hear me?” she spoke to Troy, and I used the opportunity to sneak out of the room.

Sky was waiting for us outside with an increasingly worried look on his face.

“He’s going to be fine,” I told him. “It’s not the first time he gets like that.”

“Okay...” he muttered and peered at Troy before the door was closed.

“I’ll stay here and wait for him,” I told him, hoping he’d stay with me.

I sat down on the floor right next to the door and leaned against the wall. When I turned to look at Sky, he was sitting down next to me.

“Does he start laughing like that often?”

He was sitting so close to me that our shoulders were touching. I was unable to think straight when he turned to look at me with his blue eyes.

“Uhm? What did you say?” I asked and turned to look at the opposite wall.

“Does he start laughing like that often?”

“I guess,” I said with a shrug. “It’s usually not this bad though.”

“I hope he’s going to be all right,” Sky said quietly. “Did I say something funny?”

“No, why?” I asked and turned to steal a glimpse of him.

“He started laughing when I said that we can suck together,” he said, but then he added, “Ohh...”

He turned bright red. I was sure he now understood why Troy had found his words so amusing.

“He’s just childish,” I said. “You shouldn’t worry about it.”

“I – I – uhm...” Sky murmured, looking flustered. “I didn’t mean that we should... I mean... I meant that we can be bad at it together. I mean, not together, of course! Like, just... ugh... in the same room, and like...”

“Just give up already,” I chuckled. “I know what you mean,” I added with a hint of sadness in my voice.

“Good, because... I didn’t mean that we should be together or anything... I like you as a friend...” Sky continued explaining, looking somewhere down at the floor.

There it was. ‘As a friend’. It hurt more than I could’ve even imagined.

“I know, I know...” I muttered and leaned my head against the wall, trying to hold back my sigh.

I wasn’t sure why I had fallen for him so hard in such a short time. I could only say for my defense that he was different from others. And kind. And cute.

I’d always thought my interest in other boys was something everyone had experienced at some point in their lives. I thought it would pass soon, or that it was just innocent curiosity.

But at that barn, it had finally hit me. I’d liked Sky from the moment I talked to him, even though he hadn’t said a word to me. I liked girls too, but no one had ever made me feel the way I felt when Sky was around.

“So, about Friday,” Sky spoke hesitantly. “Are you sure you want to go?”

“Go where?” I asked, still deep in my thoughts.

“To see the owls,” Sky said with a tiny voice. “Or don’t you want to go anymore?”

“Oh! Of course! Sorry, I was just... Of course I want to go,” I hurried to tell him, and he started smiling again.

The way he showed his expressions was really cute. I knew people who hid their feelings, but Sky didn’t seem to have any trouble at expressing his emotions. It was refreshing. Trying to guess how the other person was feeling was exhausting, but with Sky it was easy to pick up his mood.

“Do we need to stay the night at the barn?” I asked, trying to sound manlier than I felt at the moment.

“Yeah,” Sky said and patted my knee, “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

I laughed lightly at his words.

“I’m serious,” Sky said with a small smile. “Forest is not a dangerous place if you know what you’re doing.”

“I trust you,” I said and placed my hand on his without even realizing it.

I got lost in that moment, staring at him deep in the eyes, and he looked back at me with that tiny smile of his. Our hands were joined together and resting on my leg. I didn’t even notice what I was doing. Not until the nurse’s door opened.

I cleared my throat and turned to look at Troy, who stepped out of the office, and I finally noticed I was holding Sky’s hand in mine. I let it go to grab Troy’s bag instead. I stood up hastily, and my heart was racing like I’d just run ten laps around the field.

Thankfully, Troy hadn’t see us sitting behind the door until I stood up.

“Here’s your bag,” I told him, and shoved it against his chest. “We’ll be late if we don’t hurry.”

“Ugh... Thanks, bro. My whole body hurts now...” he muttered.

“Let’s get going,” I said.

I didn’t look at Sky, or anywhere in his direction anymore. I was too ashamed to look at him. I wasn’t even sure if he was still following us, but I couldn’t turn around to see if he was.

We were just friends. And it was painful to think about.