“First off, congratulations to our Grade 12 graduates!” Ethan heard students cheer at the morning announcement. Despite the fact that only a third of those in his class were seniors, others still cheered simply because it was the final day of school. “It’s been a long road for you all and we faculty wish you the best in your future endeavors.”

Ethan chuckled softly, watching his classmates’ responses to the announcements. There was an electric energy surging throughout the room that was undoubtedly due to the fact that it was the last day of school. As a current sophomore, Ethan couldn’t celebrate being freed from the mandatory school system quite yet, he did have one more year to get through. But he and his classmates were still ecstatic to begin their two-month-long break. 

Like the others in the room, Ethan made promises to himself to enjoy this break to the fullest. He imagined beaches, parties, and exotic destinations. In the end, his summer often turned into several sleepovers at Aiden’s place and semi-fun trips to crowded beaches with his pale parents. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain over either. Ethan’s wish this year, though, is for that to change. He wanted to make some epic, life-long memories before his uber-serious junior year. 

Ethan caught the large group in the front laughing as they threw wads of crumpled paper at one another. The way that Ms. Jade just shook her head silently told Ethan that she had already given up on a fight with the students before it began and had resigned herself to her fate. Chris sat among them, a bright smile on his face as he whipped some paper at one of his fellow ‘jocks’.

Ethan didn’t know how long he continued to stare, but by the time Chris' eyes met his, the hand holding his jaw upright was beginning to ache. The darker boy’s eyes were thin with the intensity of his smile and grew thinner when that smile widened again. Ethan smiled back before looking in the other direction. He and Chris had grown so close that sharing a look like that no longer felt awkward or odd. It still felt like a truck was slamming into his heart, but Ethan just got used to that feeling. 

Ethan noted that the two of them also helped each other a lot before their finals that year. They studied together often and Chris became the first person Ethan went to if he wanted advice and vice versa. Now that Aiden had gotten over the craze of finally being in a relationship he and Ethan spoke and messaged one another constantly. But Chris was a close second. 

Ethan was very proud of that fact. He was happy with the current state of his friendship. Ethan knew all of Chris' friends and Chris knew all of Ethan’s. A month ago, when Ethan showed up for yet another rugby practice, Chris introduced him to the entire team. Ethan was still good acquaintances with many of them. 

It felt like their lives were deeply intertwined. Every time Ethan thought about it, a warm smile graced his features. Knowing that he would never have Chris, this is what Ethan always wanted for them. So Ethan was happy and satisfied.

Chris took their shared smile as an invitation and within the next few minutes was walking over to Ethan’s desk. Ethan’s brows rose as Chris slumped into the empty seat in front of him. Chris had an extra bounce to his step, possibly due to the silly game he’d played with his friends, and directed that bright smile right at Ethan. Ethan clenched his hands to hold back a swoon. 

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

Ethan bit his lip to hold back the extra words he’d wanted to add.

Hi, you looked really good from over here while you were playing. Is not something bros casually say to one another. Even one bro already knows the other is into bros, the gay bro probably shouldn’t be casually flirting with his bro.

“You excited to finally be done with school?” Chris asked.

“-for this year.” Ethan added immediately.

“What?”

“‘You excited to finally be done with school for this year’ is what you meant to say in order to not give my brain false hope.” Ethan explained easily, earning a sharp laugh from Chris. While Chris saw this as a joke, Ethan was being completely serious. Whenever someone made the mistake to phrase the end of the school year that way, for a split second he thought that it was really over. 

Chris seemed to get this from the pout on Ethan’s face and began to laugh that much harder. At first, Ethan let him. Chris was incredibly handsome and his appeal tripled as he laughed. Ethan tried to just admire him and forget the reason why he was laughing. But, the fact that Chris was laughing at him just became glaringly obvious. Especially when Chris would stare at him as he continued to laugh. 

Ethan’s soft smile dropped and he crossed his arms, upset.

“Stop it, you bum!” Ethan yelled, attracting some attention from their peers. Chris' laughter actually slowed and he turned to Ethan with a teasing smile.

“Oh, so I’m a bum now.” Chris began, an air of arrogance entering his voice. “Well I guess bums can’t invite guys named Ethan to group dinners at Montana’s.”

Ethan froze and his eyes grew wide as the words processed. In a split second, he was suddenly on top of Chris, tugging on the other boy’s arms frantically. Chris laughed at Ethan pulling at his arms until they were loose around his waist before throwing his own paler arms over Chris' shoulder.

“Please, Chris! You are my bestest, bestest friend!” Ethan begged a high-pitched tilt to his voice. “I want to go to Montana’s!”

Ethan’s childish antics was getting them pointed stares. Ethan was hugging Chris a bit too close for a bit too long to be platonic and Ethan’s joke was being interpreted as flirting by everyone except for those involved. Chris' lower half was a bit uncomfortable during this ‘joke’, but he continued to laugh and left Ethan where he was. 

After a couple more seconds of this, Chris relented and told Ethan that he could come. Once Ethan was seated back in his chair, Chris elaborated on more of the details.

“Aaron and I were talking about it last night. We thought to kick off the summer right, we should have a celebratory dinner at Montana’s.” Chris explained softly, no longer speaking loud enough for the entire class to hear him. “You’ll have to pay for yourself and we’ll text everyone the address and time when it’s decided.”

Ethan nodded with an excited grin.

“Cool. It’s been a while since I’ve been there.”

Chris' smile widened as he leaned over Ethan’s desk and into his space.

“Good.”

Ethan’s grin dropped, confused.

“Good?”

“I can help you out.” After hearing Chris' words, Ethan’s breath stilled as he stared into Chris' dark brown eyes. Chris' stare was so dark and so distracting. Chris glanced over the entirety of Ethan’s face and Ethan swallowed harshly, his nerves getting the best of him. Ethan’s question of why is he looking at me like that was answered with Chris' next words. “Let me pick you up later. There’s no reason why you should take the bus there.”

Ethan pulled back. He was pleasantly surprised by Chris' sudden offer but needed to shut it down immediately.

“Chris, I’m fine taking the bus.” Ethan told him, only to be met by Chris' firm resolve. 

“Fine isn’t happy or eager to take the bus.” 

“But the bus is fast enough,” Ethan argued desperately. 

“And my car is way faster,” Chris replied without missing a beat. “I’m coming to pick you up, end of discussion.”

“But, Chris . . . ” Ethan complained, placing a hand on the other boy’s arm. “I don’t want to inconvenience you like that. Do you really want to drive all the way to my house before going to the restaurant?”

“You act like your house is so far away from mine. You realize it barely takes me half an hour to walk to your neighborhood?” Chris reminded Ethan with a soft chuckle. Despite all Chris' assurances, Ethan still felt guilty about making Chris drive him. Chris saw this, and decided to use his final bargaining chip. “If I come to pick you up and you have already gone on the bus, can you imagine how much of an inconvenience that would be? Going all the way to your place only to find that you’ve already left.”

Ethan’s jaw dropped at Chris' low blow, but Chris' simply smiled, resting his chin on his palm. 

“You don’t want to be that inconsiderate, do you?”

Ethan let out a heavy sigh.

“You suck.”

“I know you do, but what am I?”

Ethan choked on his laughter.

—————

Ethan sat up in his seat, excited at the sight of the restaurant. He and Chris were getting closer and closer to Montana’s with its pale grey cobble stones and dark brown wood. It was the classic American cookhouse appearance from a Canadian company and Ethan loved every bit of it. As Chris brought his car into the parking lot, Ethan could already spot some of their friends out front. 

The first person Ethan ran up to was Rachel, who he pulled into a tight hug.

“We’re finally in Grade 11!” Ethan cheered with a shorter Rachel still in his arms. Rachel laughed while peeling Ethan off of her. 

“You already said that during lunch, Ethan.” She reminded him teasingly. Rachel stayed calm for a second longer before squealing herself. “But, yes! We’re juniors!’

As she and Ethan celebrated amongst themselves, Courtney walked over to join them. 

“Rachel, come on. ‘Juniors’ is such an American thing.” Courtney complained with a grimace. Rachel froze as if she hadn’t noticed this herself. Seeing her reaction, Courtney added, “You must watch too much TV.”

“Wait, what does TV have to do with saying juniors and seniors?” Ethan asked Courtney. While he knew she was just teasing Rachel, he did feel a bit defensive of her. 

“Have you ever heard someone call a kid in Grade 10 a sophomore other than on TV?”

Ethan would have told anyone that asked that the only reason why he didn't respond was because Scarlett and Chris joined them, interrupting their conversation. The truth was that Courtney was completely right and he didn’t have any rebuttal. Still, Ethan took advantage of the interruption.

Chris was the first to join them, a short hey being his only greeting towards the two girls. Scarlett joined them right afterward, slipping her phone into her bag as she came. Her face lit up at the sight of Ethan and Chris, despite the fact that they had seen each other a few hours earlier at school.

“Hey guys!” She smiled brightly, pulling them both into a hug at the same time. “Excited to be in Grade 11?”

“Excited to be done with another year, actually,” Ethan answered, his own unique flare in his response. “But sure, the new power is also nice.” 

Chris placed his elbow on Ethan’s shoulder, a classic platonic position to be in with a friend or sibling. But Ethan was incredibly aware of how Chris' bare skin lay on his shoulder and brushed against wisps of hair that had grown too long. Ethan’s stomach clenched. 

“Power?” Chris repeated, chuckling at the thought. “You mean being the second group to leave for assemblies. That seems like a pretty lame power to me.”

The five of them continued to laugh at the notion of getting more from their new grade, but Ethan had a hard time focusing. Chris' arm never left. And, when he got tired of leaving his elbow, he threw his entire arm over Ethan’s shoulders.