"Where's the waterfall?" I ask out of curiosity. 

"It's just up ahead," Calvin says as I fall silent to see if I can hear running water. 

"Wanna race?" I tease, taking my hand from his pocket. 

"To the waterfall?" He slips his hand out of my pocket and I nod, "You're going down Oliver Night." 

He sprints off and I sprint after him. I catch up to him before quickly taking the lead. When I take a chance to look back at him, he looks shocked. I don't blame him. I thought he would outrun me because of how much fitter he is, but apparently, I can run. 

Towards the end of our sprint, Calvin closes in on me until we are almost racing side to side. He's not about to let me win though, I can see it in his eyes. With the waterfall right in front of us, Calvin takes his chance. He sprints up to me, grabbing my waist and pulling me back as he sprints forward. He uses the fence around the waterfall to stop himself and I stop behind him milliseconds later. 

He stares at me wide eyed while we try and regain our breath, "Nobody told me you could run." 

"Not really, you're just slow," I say smugly, "and play dirty." 

"Mhmm sure," He shoves me lightly and I laugh, "What else don't I know about this uncovered side of you?" 

"That's for me to know and you to find out." 

"Really? How do I find out?" He asks. I choose to leave that part unexplained. He doesn't give up, "Tell me. Come on." He grabs my waist from behind, picking me up. I laugh and try to push against him, but he tightens his grip and holds me tighter. Too bad I'm not secretly hiding self-defensive technique. "Come on, you baby," he teases. 

"I don't think you could handle the real me!" I flaunt, giving up on getting out of his persistent grip. 

"Bullshit," he puts me down but still holds me tight against him, "I'm sure I've seen worse. Would harassing it out of you work?" 

I could make him regret that choice of words. 

"You're definitely trying to," I scoff, "but I can think of a handful of other ways to persuade me." 

He narrows his eyes at me and smiles, "You truly are something. Our first kiss and you're already full steam ahead." 

I blush and slap him away. Someone walks within earshot and he drops it. I was more thinking bribery, but he doesn't need to know that. 

We stand there and watch the waterfall as it streaks down the rockface, making small curtains and pools of glistening water. Crowds of people walk past us, but for once, I don't care what they think. I don't care if they question our classes. And I definitely don't care if they think we're being gay... because, well, we are. 

We spent hours exploring the gardens. Occasionally, we actually visited the park's popular attractions. But most of the time, we were just goofing off and looking for those elusive secrets. Until we got tired and stumbled across a nice, quiet little patch of grass and sat down. 

I lean against Calvin and he plays with my hand. "You know, you're a pretty good kisser for someone who won't answer if they've kissed someone before," he says as he looks down at my shape that's slumped into his shoulder. 

I shrug and sit up, "And you're just a good kisser in general," I tell him. 

"Mm?" He mumbles as he watches my lips. 

"Yeah." 

I start to close the space between us. Calvin runs his hand through my hair and I lean in and kiss his top lip. 

"Who taught you how to kiss Oliver?" He asks, mock-accusing me. 

I smile and shrug. 

"Well, if you won't tell me, I'll just imagine you spend your time watching sappy romance movies or kissing tutorials." 

"I'm not that desperate." 

"Yet here we are," he says with a slight smirk, gesturing to the very minimal space between us. I push him backwards and he laughs. I watch him try to recover by casually laying in the grass like that was his plan all along, propping himself up on his elbows. He looks amazing. The soft hues of the late afternoon sun draping across his skin. A part of my heart hurts just looking at him. It's a good hurt. 

With the crowds gone and the park silent, I loosen up a little. I crawl over, leaning down to kiss him. He runs his hand down my back pulling me in beside him so we're both lying in the grass. Our bodies pressed together perfectly. 

My heartbeat grows quicker. I'm sure we've both hoped we'd get this far, now here we are. I don't think I've ever felt like this. 

"Oliver," Calvin whispers moving his face to meet mine. He kisses me, running his hand along my lower back. I cup his face to pull him in, deepening our kiss. I missed this even though I know I've never had it. 

We eventually stop kissing but stay pressed against each other. I can feel Calvin's breath on my neck as the light above us fades and the sun starts to set over the Lower-class wall, leaving us under an orange and purple sky. 

With our legs intertwined, we lie in the grass. We watch each other in silence, taking everything in. The purple edges of the sky grow as darkness continues to corrupt the sky. I close my eyes and drag in a long breath of cold evening air. 

But then my alarm goes off and the peace is ruined. 

I pull it out of my pocket and turn off the alarm before I slowly untangle my legs from Calvin's and sit up. He sits up too. 

"Sorry," I apologise, "I set an alarm to remind me I need to get home early enough so I can cook dinner." Calvin smiles at me softly. He doesn't say anything, he doesn't have to, neither of us want to leave. I threw my phone to the side, I gave myself time to waste, so I may as well waste it. "Sorry if this is desperate but..." I place myself on his lap, facing him, "I don't want to leave." 

He looks me in the eyes, "I don't want you too either." 

There's something genuine about his voice. It's obvious he isn't just saying that because he likes the position he's in or because he's only thinking about his own selfish desires. He genuinely wants this. 

I kissed him again. It's warm and gentle, with our lips moving slowly. It's passionate too, but not in the rough or sloppy sense, more in the longing and softness of the kiss. His hands slide up to carefully cup my face, running his thumb along my flushed cheeks. Our bodies relax, our eyes are closed, our breath is slow and our hearts beat rhythmically in our chests. 

No word could better describe this moment than perfect. 

Calvin gradually separates our lips and my eyes slide open. He doesn't want me to be late, even if it means leaving this moment behind. I take a deep breath and get up, helping him to his feet while I'm at it. 

"Shall we head back to the station then?" he asks. 

I look back at our imprints in the grass, wanting to lay back down with him and never leave, but I don't. 

"Yeah... we may as well," I smile back. 

Sluggishly, we make our way back to Calvin's car and start our drive to the station. We weave through the streets under dim streetlights and an indigo sky. I watch the world pass by my window. I can't put into words how much I don't want to leave Calvin's side. I don't want to spend a second without him. I don't want to have to get back on that dodgy train to my goddamned zone. I want to stay with him. But before I know it, we're at the station. 

I reluctantly pull myself from the passenger side of the car. Calvin gets out and walks around to me so I lean into him sleepily. He kisses my head and pats my hair down. 

"You're pretty short huh?" He says, stating the obvious. 

"Yeah, yeah Mister Six-Foot-Something," I mumble into his shirt. 

He corrects me, "Six foot two." 

"See, I'm not short, you're just tall," I argue. 

"How tall are you?" 

I mumble my answer, "Five foot eight." 

He nods and I step back from him. "I had fun today," I say. 

"Was this your first date?" Calvin questions me. 

I have to think my answer over. Let's just say it's complicated. "Technically." 

"You're so ominous," he comments and I shrug, "so, for all I know, I could be your first date and first kiss?" 

I roll my eyes, not bothering to contain my smile, "Mhmm, and if you were I would be one lucky guy." 

He narrows his eyes at me, "I can't tell if that was sarcastic or not." 

"Me neither," I laugh and he pushes me playfully. 

There's a moment of quiet between us that not even the busy noise of the station could fill. Neither of us say anything, we just watch each other. I briefly glance at the time, it's just barely hit 5:30PM. I'm glad I gave myself that time to waste. Mum would've killed me otherwise. 

"When can we meet next?" Calvin ask, breaking our silence. 

"Tuesday at the library. I've got an assessment that I have to work on Monday." 

"So, you actually do your homework?" He jokes. 

"I wouldn't get straight A's if I didn't." He laughs and I stand there proudly with my arms crossed across my chest. 

"Goodbye Calvin Wood," I say and curtsy. That earns a snicker from Calvin. 

"Goodbye Oliver Night," he says and kisses me again. 

Then, we go our separate ways. 

- - - 

I push through our front door and make my way to my room. 

"Is that your sweater, Oliver?" My mum calls out. 

Dammit. I didn't even see her. I was so caught up in my own world. I mean, who wouldn't be... I just had a date, a real date, with Calvin Wood. "Uh, yeah." I say as I frantically pull it off and shove it under my bed, putting one of my other sweaters on. 

My mum appears in my doorway then and startles me. She sways and grabs the doorframe to keep herself up. She's drunk... again. "I swear you were wearing a white one." 

"Nope," I lied. 

"Well hurry up with dinner already." She snaps, scowling at me as she swings around and walks back down the hall. 

Thank god. 

I sigh in relief, then make my way to the kitchen. I noticed dad's home. "Dad? You're back earlier than usual," I say sleepily. 

"Yeah, my boss changed my shift. He's been lining me up for some special two-week training course a few hours away from here so I can finally get that promotion." 

I grab some ingredients out of the fridge, "Oh crap, that's awesome! You've been waiting a long time for that promotion." I look at the open alcohol bottles on the bench. "It will hopefully do us good. When is that?" 

"About a month from now." 

"I bet you're looking forward to it." 

He nods enthusiastically and gets up to help me with dinner. He seems to notice the faint smiles I try to keep to myself as I remember my date with Calvin and nudges my side trying to figure me out. But I just shrug him off and he doesn't say anything.