Walking into Noah's house, I feel that familiar feeling again - I want to be here. Out of all the places, this one feels like... home?

Noah heads to the kitchen and picks up a list from the counter. He reads it for a moment then turns to me. "Mom asked me to put some stuff in the attic and clean the yard."

"Okay, let's do it," I blurt out immediately.

"I didn't mean it like..." Noah blushes. "It's..."

"Come on. Let's just do it."

"Okay... If you really want to," Noah smiles a little. We leave our bags in the living room and head to the hall where a stack of boxes is aligned against the wall.

"How... are we supposed to reach it?" Noah asks, puzzled, looking at the ring of the attic hatch on the ceiling.

"You need a hook or a rope."

"I don't think I have either."

"Ladder?"

Noah shakes his head. I don't wait for further suggestions; I just jump and grab the ring. The hatch opens, revealing a ladder behind it.

Noah smiles. "You do have a knack for it," he says, taking the first box. "Why did you drop out? From track and field, I mean."

I lift another box. "I just... I don't know." I shrug. "It was boring and demanding. Not fun, you know?"

"I guess..." Noah nods and starts climbing the ladder. "But... I thought... it could be... fun if... if we were both on the team."

I can't see his face from here, but he stutters as he sometimes does. He's said it before. Does he mean it? Maybe I should try to come back? Convince the coach to take me back?

I'm surprised by this thought. Why would I want something like that? I mean, practices weren't bad, but they often overlapped with other things. And competitions? They were a pain too. My sneakers are still in bad shape, though with the money I've made recently, I could buy a new pair, I guess.

Noah descends and looks at me. Right, I haven't answered him.

"I... I don't know," I say. "I'm not sure. It's too demanding." I pass him the next box. "I hate living by schedules. If I want to run, I just run."

"I see," says Noah, disappearing into the attic. He doesn't press further.

When we're done, Noah leads us to the kitchen where we share a meal. This time it's simple mac and cheese, but I enjoy it nonetheless.

"Do you want to watch something or play?" asks Noah while we eat. "Or take a shower?" He adds and chuckles.

"Do I stink?" I ask, looking at him directly.

Noah suddenly becomes nervous and stutters, "N-no, I didn't mean it like that... I just... I mean, I didn't take a shower after PE either, and I thought... I mean..."

As much as I enjoy watching him flustered, I stop his rambling. "I'm kidding. I don't need a shower."

Noah looks at me with wide eyes. "Yeah, okay," he finally says, dropping his gaze to his food.

It's a strange side of him. He says something and then gets embarrassed or confused. While I feel at ease around him, he might feel differently. I hope he doesn't think I'm like Tanner...

Well, I am like Tanner in many ways. But... I don't even know how to express it properly.

"We can clean the yard first," I offer, trying to change the subject.

"Oh... you don't have to... I'll do it later," he says, still only glancing at me.

"Come on," I insist. "The weather's good. Might as well do something outside." I get up, and Noah follows. We dress again and step outside.

The cleaning consists of removing empty boxes and some trash from the yard and dragging them to the bin.

It takes us only a few minutes. My phone rings as we come back to the yard for the last trash bag. I look at the screen and see Tanner's name. Even though I don't want to, I answer the call.

"Sup, Scarface. Where did you run off to?" Tanner says.

"Home," I reply, exhaling.

"And what's there, homeboy?" he sneers, not waiting for my answer. "Come to the spot."

"Don't wanna," I say lazily, glancing at Noah near the fence.

"Come on," Tanner presses. "I'm bored, and I don't have anyone to get shit-faced with. And I really want to get wasted tonight."

"You're at the spot. There's always someone to get wasted with," I counter.

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" Tanner smirks. "I want to get wasted with you."

The way he says it makes my skin crawl. I know what he means.

"Okay, princess," Tanner continues, not having received an answer from me. "I'll grab some booze and come over."

It takes me a moment to realize what he's saying. "No!" I blurt out, then add more calmly, "Don't. I'm not home anyway."

"You just said you were."

"I was, but now I'm not. I have some stuff to do."

"Like what?" Tanner persists.

"Just stuff," I say. "I gotta go." I end the call and put the phone back in my pocket.

"Don't let me keep you," Noah's voice suddenly chimes in, and I look up at him. "I mean... if you have somewhere to be..."

"No," I reply. "It's nothing like that."

I'm where I want to be. It's a desire, unexplainable but very clear to me. I'd rather be carrying boxes with Noah than hanging out with Tanner, no matter how strange that sounds, even to me.

I jump over the fence to be on the same side as Noah.

"You make it look so simple," Noah says with a smile.

I look at him, then at the fence. "It's really simple."

I've never had the desire to show anyone how to do tricks. Showing off is one thing, but I prefer to learn by myself. I'm no teacher, but Noah makes me do strange things, and for now, I'll go with it.

I grab the fence with my hands, jump up, and move my body to the other side. I've done this so often that it's hard for me to do it slowly. I try to remember how I learned this, where I started. I try really hard to remember when I see the interest in Noah's eyes as he comes closer and also puts his hands on the top rail.

"Ok," I say. "Let's see. It's better to take a running start or at least swing back, like this," I lean back, holding onto the fence. "Then jump. This leg," I point at my left foot, "goes here, on the fence. And the other one - just carry it over. Like this."

I try to demonstrate the whole sequence as slowly as I can. Noah looks determined, and it makes me want to smile. "Are you going to try it?" I ask.

"Yeah... yeah," he says seriously, squinting his eyes. "Jump, step, carry over."

"I'll back you up," I say, jumping to the other side. "So this time, you won't crack all your nuts," I smile, and Noah smiles too.

He runs up, grabs the fence, puts his foot down, but trips and falls. I manage to catch him before he could scrape his face on the asphalt.

"Thanks," he mumbles, clutching my arms and getting to his feet.

"Maybe..." I start, but Noah is already running up and making a jump again. This time he falls over the fence, but I think my process was pretty much the same. And for some reason, I like his persistence and the sincere joy when he finally manages the clean vault.

"Leighton! I did it!" Noah turns to me, beaming.

"Yep, congrats on your first vault," I smile at him.

"Hey, punks."

We both turn to the voice; Tanner strides down the path toward us.

"Are you giving private lessons now?" he asks sarcastically. I wish Noah and I had gone inside a minute earlier. I don't answer Tanner; I just look at him. "Well, if you're done here," he continues, unperturbed by our silence. "Leighton and I have things to discuss. No offense, Starboy," he gives Noah a half-smile.

I taste something vile on my tongue. Maybe that's why it's numb, and I can't say a word. Noah looks at me, then nods. "Sure. See you," he says and heads home.

Tanner and I stand on the path alone, both of us silent. This feels strange. Even stranger than when Tanner kissed me and we jerked each other off. Now he silently glares at me, seemingly waiting for something. He's probably angry that I turned him down. He even bothered to come here...

"So, we gonna just stand here?" Tanner finally asks. Exhaling heavily, I head towards my house with Tanner trailing behind.

Walking into the house, I feel a stark contrast to how I felt at Noah's home. With Noah.

It starts getting into my head. If this continues, I won't even want to come home anymore, and I doubt Noah will let me live in his room.

What the hell am I thinking?

Tanner, in the meantime, opens his backpack and puts several cans of beer on the table.

"Not here," I say curtly, although what I really want to tell him is to stuff the cans back into his backpack and get out.

Tanner grimaces, but puts them back and heads to my room. With Tanner's presence, it feels even more bleak and unwelcome. I wonder if Noah could fix it...

I'm definitely having some weird thoughts lately...

Tanner sits on the floor. The can hisses as he opens it and takes a few sips. He offers me one, and I take it, the cold wet metal chilling my skin. I also take a sip from the can - the taste is as disgusting as always - and put it on the table. I'm waiting for Tanner to speak because he didn't come here for nothing. Definitely, not to buy me a beer. He said he wanted to get drunk, but he could have done that without me. However, Tanner is silent, drinking his beer, looking anywhere but at me. Maybe he's thinking about something, but I doubt it's anything good.

"Fred spilled some shit," Tanner finally breaks the silence. Good, it was starting to get to me.

"What's the story?" I ask to keep him going.

Tanner takes another sip from his can. "Said he fucked over the Miller brothers."

I raise an eyebrow, "And he's still breathing?" These guys aren't local, but they're famous around town. They're involved in all kinds of shady shit. I keep my distance from them. We all do.

"Yeah, barely," Tanner smirks. "They roughed him up good."

"You're not thinking of messing with them for Fred's sake, are you?" I ask. "He isn't worth the hassle especially if he was dumb enough to piss off those crazy fucks."

Tanner side-eyes me with a smirk. "Nah, told him the same. But-" he takes another swig, "-he thinks he might've found their stash."

Tanner's hint is clear.

"Are you fucking nuts?" I snap.

"And what if...?"

"Are you fucking nuts?!" I raise my voice. "Fred's already been pounded. And it's fucking Gassy Fred we're talking about. He's lying! He ain't found shit; he's just trying to save face after getting his ass handed to him!"

"Come on, Leigh," Tanner laughs it off.

"No, you fucking come on!" I'm getting heated. "Even if he stumbled on something, he's fucked it up. Going after it now? It's asking to get killed!"

"Maybe now, yeah," Tanner concedes, seeing my face, "but later..." He trails off and continues to coax me. "Just think about what they could have there..."

"Drugs, money, guns," I cut him off.

"Ain't that what we need?" Tanner grins. For a moment, a part of me wants to say "fuck no." But it fades, leaving me with a lingering doubt.

"This is a death wish," I say flatly. "I'm not getting dragged into it."

But before Tanner can argue - and I see that he wants to - the front door creaks open. For once, my mom's timing is impeccable.

Tanner's arguments will have to wait. I'm sure he'll unload them on me later. But for now, frowning, he rises from the floor. "Let's continue this somewhere else," he says. I shake my head.