“Are you ready for your second date?” I asked Lex over my headset.

We were playing NHL—I’d gotten a bit of a taste for it now that I’d picked it up again. I wasn’t blessed with a PS5, but my setup was adequate. Lex was kicking my ass, as predicted, but I was improving.

“This doesn’t count?” he asked. “I thought this was date number two.”

“Ha. Nothing counts if it isn’t something you’d do with my sister. And we’re not even in the same place.”

“I would totally play NHL with your sister. And she could always come over.”

“Sure. She could come over, but you’d be sorely disappointed when she didn’t pick up the controller and join you. She only likes stuff on her phone. Word games. Puzzles. I can’t get her to even look at any console games. Just as well. I don’t have to share.”

“About this date…” Lex prompted.

“Right. I was thinking about Darcy’s art museum assignment. I know the perfect place. Are you up for something of a trip? The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto is second to none, but it will take about an hour to get there.”

“I’ve heard of the ROM. I’m kind of surprised my mom hasn’t dragged me there already. Have you been there before?” he asked.

“Not as often as you'd think. We went there on a school field trip when I was in elementary school. And my mom took me and Nadine a few years ago. But it’s been a while.”

“From what I’ve heard, it sounds amazing. I can put up with a bit of a commute to go on a date with a hot guy and look at some art.”

I blushed involuntarily, glad he couldn’t see my expression over the headset.

“A hot guy. Right,” I mumbled.

“What? You’re a catch. Dreamy, even,” Lex said.

I ignored that statement. Lex liked teasing me, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. He neatly won our final game. I tossed the controller onto my bed.

“One of these times, I’ll beat you,” I said.

“Promises, promises.”

“Oh, I wanted to mention. You probably caught onto this, but I don’t think we should tell other people that we’re going out on dates. Not because there’s anything wrong with two dudes dating, you understand. But if you’re going to end up with my sister, it will be weird if people think we were going out with each other first.”

“Right. Gotcha. As far as anyone is concerned, we’re just friends. Just a couple of bros going out on platonic outings to romantic locations.”

“Lex…” I said in a warning tone.

“No, I got it. I won’t so much as breathe the word ‘date’ while at school. Besides, we really are just a couple of bros going on platonic outings. Right?”

“Right.”

“When is this second date going to happen?” Lex asked.

“This coming Saturday? We’ll take the train.”

After I signed off with Lex, I did some research. There was one traveling exhibit I wanted to hit for sure—it was the entire reason behind the trip.

Other than that? The choices were overwhelming. There was no way we could make it through the entire museum on our date. Not unless we wanted to go through the place like Olympic-class sprinters, and the docents would probably frown on that. I decided to leave most of the decisions up to Lex.

***

In art class, we’d moved on to expressive line and contour.

“Today, you’ll be doing an exercise where you produce a drawing using only a single line. Don’t lift your pen from the paper the entire time. And don’t worry about things being perfect. Think of this as taking a line for a walk,” Mr. Darcy said before directing us to pick up our materials.

Lex did this amazing view of an amusement park with a ferris wheel in the center and roller coasters twining around the sides. He did it from memory. He said it was Six Flags outside of Chicago.

“Do you like amusement parks?” I asked.

“Yeah. I love the old wooden roller coasters for some reason.”

I shuddered. “Those things are death traps. They’re disasters waiting to happen. Give me one of the modern coasters any day. I want a smooth ride.”

“Those are great too,” he said.

My drawing was much simpler than his. I did something that vaguely resembled a tree with some leaves. Lex looked over and admired my work. He didn’t even come off as condescending. This was a real gift, considering I didn’t see anything of quality in what I’d produced.

“Are you busy after school today?” I asked.

“Not really. Why?”

“It’s Nadine’s first home game. I thought I’d go cheer her and Anjali on. I wondered if you wanted to be there as well.”

It wouldn’t hurt supporting someone you might end up going out with. Nadine would probably like to see him there, and it would be nice to have someone in the stands next to me.

“Sure, that sounds great. Bonus: I understand the rules of soccer, so I’ll have some idea of what’s going on.”

“That is a bonus,” I said.

The girls played on the turf on the west side of the building, which had a few benches for the fans. There was a better field with bleachers, but that was reserved for the boys team.

I was surprised to see quite a few fans on the sidelines. There were a number of boyfriends cheering on their significant others from the looks of things.

We were playing against our main rival, a French immersion school from across the river. Nadine and Anjali were both on the bench at the start of the game, so it was hard for me to get very excited about things on the field. At the end of the first half, it was still scoreless.

“Is it always this nice in the fall?” Lex asked.

The temperature was nearly perfect for watching the girls play. The sun was low on the horizon and there was a slight breeze.

“More or less.”

I loved the fall. I hoped the weather would last through October. I didn’t really look forward to the cold.

In the second half, the coach put Nadine in at midfield.

“Go seventeen!” Lex yelled.

I was pretty sure Nadine heard, but she didn’t turn to look at us. All of her attention was on the field.

As time wore on, the game became increasingly chippy. The ref had to hand out more than one yellow card to each side for various fouls. One of their players tripped one of ours just outside the penalty box. One of our players did a sliding tackle into someone’s ankles. I think one of the cards was for talking back to the referee.

When Nadine got knocked to the ground and didn’t get up immediately, it took everything in me not to rush to the field.

Lex put out his hand and rested it on my arm. “She’ll be fine. There’s nothing you can do anyway. They’re taking good care of her.”

I couldn’t see what was happening. She was surrounded by the coaching staff. Soon enough, she stood up under her own power and left the field. Everyone applauded.

“See? She’s fine. Nothing to worry about,” Lex said.

Once the final whistle was called, I crossed the field to check on Nadine.

“She’s fine,” Anjali called out before I had even reached the team. “Just got the wind knocked out of her.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked.

I put my hand under Nadine’s chin and looked at both of her eyes to see if there was any sign of concussion.

“I didn’t hit my head, idiot. I landed flat on my back,” Nadine said.

“That can rattle your brains just the same. Did they check you for a head injury?”

“Yes, of course.” Nadine sighed. “And if you’re going to be like this, I’m not sure I want you at my games.”

“Good game,” Lex said, stepping forward.

The final score had been one to one, which was not very satisfying, but it had been a pretty good game. Nadine had played well enough until she’d been knocked off her feet.

“Yeah. Good game,” I said. “Am I taking you home?”

“If you don’t mind waiting for me,” Nadine said. “I’m going to wash up real quick.”

She ran back to the locker room with the team.

Lex shook his head and chuckled. “I’m not sure you’re cut out to be a soccer fan. At least not if your sister is playing,” he said.

“What makes you say that?”

“I thought you were going to rush the other team and deck the girl who took your sister out.”

“She had it coming,” I said.

“You’re a good brother but a terrible fan.”

Nadine was back outside in no time. “Thanks for coming to the game,” she said to Lex. “It’s nice to have fans in the stands, even if we don’t really have stands.”

“I like soccer. It’s fun to watch,” Lex said. “Plus, someone needs to keep your brother in check.”

“Thanks for that. He can be a real handful. I’m glad you were there to keep an eye on him,” she said.

Lex grinned. “Any time.”

“Hey. I was fine,” I added.

Nadine snorted. “I can guarantee from what Anjali told me that you were not, in fact, fine.”

“I was fine,” I repeated.

Both Nadine and Lex laughed at that.