Ethan placed his hand on his backpack strap, hiking the bag further onto his shoulder. He had left his class in a rush, eager to get out of the boring room and into the cafeteria. He had reached into his pocket, planning on pulling out his phone when he felt a hand, pulling on his arm.

He luckily had the sense to let go of his phone before his arm was tugged back. Ethan turned around, his eyes raising in surprise when he saw who it was. He wasn’t sure who he expected to see, but whoever it was was not Scarlett Hale. 

“Ethan, hey!” She smiled, bumping her shoulder against his. Ethan chuckled to himself, smiling back. “How are you?”

“Hey to you too,” He responded, slowing down his walk so she could stay in line with him. Scarlett ran a hand through her extensions, adjusting the smooth hair away from her face carefully. Ethan and Scarlett began talking, the two of them joking around as they made their way to lunch.

In the last two weeks, Ethan and Scarlett went from two people who went to school together to casual friends. Aiden had finally made his move and asked Scarlett out earlier that week, and since then they all started hanging out for lunch.

Ethan had to admit that he was really excited for his friend Aiden. Aiden had never been the best at starting friendships simply because he got too into his head so dating had been completely out of the question. Now, Ethan was able to see his best friend finally shoot his shot. Plus he got a couple of pretty cool friends out of the deal.

The two finally got to the cafeteria and heard someone calling out their names. Ethan turned to their usual lunch table, finding Aiden, Meaghan, and River (the third new friend Ethan had been introduced to that week).

Scarlett practically jogged over to the group, soaking up all the attention she got from the others at the table. Ethan trailed after her a little less enthusiastically. A lot, actually. He was happy to see them and get a break from learning and such, but he was a little distracted. 

He sat down after briefly greeting the rest of the group and pulled out his phone. His phone opened to its last tab, and Ethan was once again fixated on the device. It was Chris's number. He had been pulling up his number and staring at it since he got it—which was nearly a week prior. Ethan wanted to text him desperately. But Chris was the one who asked for his number and he hadn’t texted him yet. 

Although Ethan was itching to make use of the other boy’s number, he feared that it would seem creepy or weird to text Chris first. And, because his slight crush and gayness were still under wraps, Ethan had no one to tell him that he was being ridiculous.

Ethan tapped his finger against the side of the phone case, gnawing at his bottom lip. Should he do it? He wondered, thinking over it again. Should he just take a leap of faith?

He vaguely heard Aiden say something along the lines of “don’t know what you’re talking about” but was still debating whether to text Chris or not. Ethan was drawn out of his thoughts and back into the current conversation when he heard his name. 

“ . . . Ethan was even there when you asked me,” Scarlett said, turning to Ethan expectantly. “Right, Ethan?”

Ethan’s brain went blank for a moment, trying to come up with a response. He had barely been listening to the conversation and now he had to speak?

Then he suddenly remembered the huge event that occurred at the beginning of the week when his best friend Aiden finally asked someone out. 

“Yeah,” Ethan replied with a nod. How could he forget? Or really, how had Aiden forgotten? Ethan would have assumed that was the only thing that was ever on Aiden’s mind. For Ethan, Chris was the only thing on his mind and they weren’t supposed to go on a date. Ethan pushed the thought out of his mind. “I can’t believe you don’t remember.”

Aiden asked for a moment and stared at the table, furrowing his brows in thought. Ethan saw the exact moment when Aiden realized what he had forgotten. But, Ethan was surprised when instead of blushing and further organizing his date with Scarlett, he began talking about taking all of their friends to Muskoka over the weekend. 

While he was incredibly excited, he was also curious about what changed Aiden’s mind. Was he too nervous about a date so he wanted to avoid it, or was he no longer interested in Scarlett? Either way, Ethan thought it was very abrupt. But, he wondered if there was another aspect to this that he didn’t know about yet. 

They quickly invited their closest friends, chattering excitedly about going to a nice cottage for the weekend. However, Ethan nearly froze in his seat when Aaron mentioned bringing Chris along as well. Chris would be coming with them to a fancy cottage hours away from the city. Ethan then completely forgot that any others would be going to Muskoka. 

All he saw was Chris and him. Snuggling together on a couch. Chris pulling Ethan onto his lap and kissing him in front of the warm fireplace. Chris separating their lips, trailing kisses down Ethan’s neck . . .

Ethan blushed and buried his face in his hands. Meaghan shot him a look, curious about his sudden odd reaction, but Ethan didn’t clarify. He tried to get his mind out of the gutter and back to tamer topics. He realized that this situation could be dangerous for his heart and for keeping his sexuality a secret. He tried to be positive, reminding himself that all he had to do was survive this weekend. How hard could it be?

—————

It was after the initial excitement that reality set in and they all realized that they had to get their parents to agree first. Ethan, despite being nervous about the prospect of not being able to go, also found some relief in it. The situation made him really nervous and this would fix any possibility of embarrassment. How could he make a fool of himself in Muskoka if they never went?

Miraculously, though, all of their parents agreed and they decided to meet up after school to plan transportation. Ethan chatted with Aiden, River, and Meaghan as they stood right in front of the school gates. As it was the first time Ethan had seen Chris outside of class in days, Ethan was pretty jumpy when he finally saw Chris. Chris, in all of his dark-skinned toned body goodness, was smiling the second he joined the group. 

He greeted nearly everyone he saw casually since he knew Aaron and Scarlett’s friends well. Then, the way that he politely introduced himself to River despite having never met him warmed Ethan’s heart.

It was a tiny gesture, but instead of just acting like he wasn’t there, he made the effort to get to know him. Ethan stopped his ogling when he realized that Chris would probably be making his way over to him. He abruptly turned, staring up at a large tree with feigned interest.

Ethan was thinking about how the leaves were surprisingly shiny when he heard a smooth deep voice from behind him. 

“Hey,” Chris grinned, his gaze quickly sweeping over Ethan before it moved to the tree, then back to Ethan. “I had no idea that you were so into trees.”

Chris was clearly just teasing him, but Ethan decided to go in the oddest direction and actually talk about the tree.

“The leaves are just really shiny,” Ethan commented, his mouth moving faster than his self-awareness. “Don’t you think so? I swear leaves don’t usually look like that.”

Then his self-awareness caught up. Ethan went beat red and Chris started to laugh softly at the sight. Although Chris seemed a bit surprised by his response, he went along with it.

“You know, I heard that some leaves have a shinier layer so water won’t penetrate through,” Chris told him, now looking up at the tree as well. “It is pretty shiny though.”

Ethan was a bit in awe. Despite his awkwardness and an even weirder train of thought, Chris was still talking to him. And, he didn’t look like he wanted to leave. Ethan smiled brightly.

“Yeah, pretty shiny.”

The two were then called over because everyone had arrived and they wanted to start planning.

They established during the meeting that Aaron, Scarlett, and Chris all had cars. Scarlett would take her friends to their houses to pack then take them all to Aiden’s before we left for Muskoka. Ethan’s heart had nearly stopped when they suggested that he and a few others go with Chris. Chris and him in a small car, their arms inches away from touching. 

But, the vision was shot down when it was mentioned that Chris lived in the opposite direction. It made the most sense to have Aaron take the rest and for Chris to go alone. While Ethan was disappointed, he figured that it was probably for the best. He might do something stupid, again, if he was in a car alone with Chris. 

Ethan was relaxing, accepting that he wouldn’t be driving with Chris when another issue was mentioned.

“Wait, I’ll have to pick up my two younger siblings, Mark and Jasmine,” Aaron, mentioned, suddenly remembering the younger Tyler’s. “There won’t be enough space to take everyone back to Aiden’s.”

There was a bit of muttering when Scarlett brought up another idea.

“Why doesn’t Chris pick up River and Ethan and take them to Aiden’s,” she suggested, looking over at Chris expectantly. “You can just drive straight from your place and River and Ethan don’t live too far from one another.”

“I’m fine with that,” Chris replied, pulling out his car keys like he was already set to go.

“Then that settles it,” Aiden stated, clapping his hands as if that was closing the meeting. “I’ll see you all in an hour or so.”

Everyone began going to their respective cars but before Ethan left, Chris caught his eye and sent him a heart-stopping wink. Ethan turned away, blushing up to his ears. With the image of him and Chris, arm in arm while they drove still vivid in his mind, Ethan couldn’t look at Chris properly. If Ethan was reacting like this to them driving together, how would he survive the entire weekend?