“Bye Gideon. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at noon,” I said, kissing him.

                “See you then Greyson,” he said, smiling and leaving.

                I shut my front door and turned, sprinting upstairs. I grabbed Sonnet and Ethan and dragged them into my bedroom, pushing them onto my bed.

                “If you wanted to have your wicked way with us, all you had to do was ask,” Ethan said.

                I shut my bedroom door and spun to face them. “I NEED TO TAKE HIM ON A SPECIAL DATE AND I’M ABOUT AS ROMANTIC AS A TOASTER.”

                “I don’t know. Toasters are pretty romantic,” Ethan said.

                “Ethan, I’m being serious!” I said, dropping onto my chair and groaning. “What do I do?”

                “Well, you know Gideon better than any of us. He’s your best friend. What do you think he’d want to do?” Sonnet asked.

                “I don’t know,” I said, suddenly feeling upset. “Jude could take him anywhere. Jude could afford to take him to the moon, if he wanted to. I’m a broke teen boy.”

                “Oh, snap out of it,” Sonnet said, rolling her eyes and slapping me. “You know Gideon doesn’t care about money. Quit feeling sorry for yourself just because you’re unemployed. You could take him to the moon, or go for a walk down the street. He doesn’t care, and you know it.”

                “If you want to have a practice date, I’ll help,” Ethan offered, grinning.

                “Ethan, I hate you,” I told him patiently.

                I began to pace around my room, desperately wishing I had a beard so I could stroke it. Where the hell was I supposed to take Gideon? Where had Jude taken him? WHAT DID HE LIKE TO DO?

                There was a knock on my bedroom door and then Will poked his head in. I motioned at him to come inside, and he did.

                “Hey Benji. Is that dick leaving you guys alone?” he asked.

                “Yea. Thanks so much for that Will,” I said gratefully.

                “Anytime,” he said with a nod. He glanced at Sonnet. “Let’s go, brat.”

                “I’m coming fatass,” Sonnet grumbled, getting up.

                “Will, where do you go on dates?” I asked.

                “Well, I’m a college student. So a cheap dinner and then a hike, typically,” Will said with a shrug.

                “Oh please. Will doesn’t get dates, Benji,” Sonnet said.

                “I’ll give him a date,” Ethan said with a wink.

                “Sonnet, please get some straight friends,” Will groaned.

                “If you ever go gay for Ethan, I will murder you William,” Sonnet threatened.

                “I don’t plan on going gay for anyone. I’m straight,” Will grunted.

                “I’ll change that,” Ethan promised.

                “Come along William. Before Ethan does dirty things and converts you,” Sonnet said, waving to me and dragging her big brother out of the room.

                “Where am I supposed to take Gideon? He’s going to think I’m pathetic!” I cried and fell back against my bed.

                Ethan poked my shoulder. “I don’t think he’ll find you pathetic, Benji.”

                “I have to impress him Ethan,” I mumbled. “It’s our first date.”

                “You are such a girl,” Ethan said, rolling his eyes. “We’ll figure something out. Sit up and let’s brainstorm, you desperate little thing.”

                                                                                                ***

                “Ben, we’re going to the store!”

                My mother’s voice had me blinking my eyes open sleepily. I rolled over and squinted at the sunlight flooding in through my window.

                “Ethan?” I asked, looking up.

                He was slouched against the wall, fast asleep. I realized my head was resting comfortably in his lap.

                “Benjamin?” My bedroom door opened my mom stepped in. She took in the sight of me and Ethan. “Fell asleep last night, huh?”

                “I don’t remember,” I said, rubbing at my eyes and sitting up. I reached out and shook Ethan’s shoulder roughly. “Ethan, wake up.”

                “Call Mr. Flintstone, I can make you bed rock,” he mumbled out. He leaned too far to the side and let out a yell as he ended up toppling over onto my pillows.

                I snickered at him and pulled him so that he was sitting up. “Good morning Ethan,” I said.

                “Ass,” he grumbled, running a hand through his hair.

                “Well, your father and I are going to the store, Ben,” mom said. “We’ll be back in a little. Call me if you need anything.”

                She shut my door and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. My eyes widened in shock and I scrambled over Ethan’s lap.

                “Easy killer,” Ethan said in surprise. “You can finagle the hell out of me all you want, but at least warn me first.”

                “What time is it?!” I cried, grabbing my phone off my nightstand and checking it.

                I let out a breath of relief, realizing that I still had an hour before I had to pick up Gideon. I jumped out of bed, grabbing clothes and sprinting to the bathroom without another word to Ethan.

                I hurried through a shower, towel drying my hair and brushing my teeth. Once my clothes were on and my hair was somewhat tamed, I hurried back into my bedroom.

                Ethan was still sitting on my bed, watching me as I hurried around my bedroom, trying to find matching socks. I let out a frustrated growl and raked my hand through my hair.

                “I don’t have any matching socks!” I cried in despair.

                “Oh no! The world is ending! It’s not like you own flip-flops or anything!” Ethan cried in horror.

                “Ethan, I-”

                “Hate me, I know.” He chucked a pair of flip-flops at me.

                “I have to go before I’m late getting Gideon. Come on, I’ll bring you home,” I said.

                He hopped off my bed and followed me out to my car. We got in and I started towards his house, suddenly realizing something.

                “ETHAN I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO TAKE HIM FOR A DATE. WE NEVER FIGURED ANYTHING OUT,” I cried in absolutely terror.

                “Calm down,” Ethan said, patting my shoulder as I pulled into his driveway. His mom was outside watering plants, and she smiled cheerfully and waved at us.

                “What do I do?” I asked in panic.

                “Personally, my dream date has always been something simple. Like going to the park, pretending we’re 5 years old again, and listening to He Is We,” Ethan said thoughtfully. He grinned at me. “But that’s just my hopeless romantic self.”

                He got out of my car. “Good luck Benji. No matter what you guys do, I’m sure Gideon will love it. He just likes being with you. I can tell,” he said with a shrug, shutting the door and wandering over to his mother.

                I drove to Gideon’s house, my mind racing. I needed to think of something, and quick. I had to impress him.

                I pulled into his driveway and my heart stuttered in my chest as he came out of his front door. He was dressed simply enough. Just black shorts and a rainbow colored T-shirt that said South Carolina on it.

                But the sight of him always seemed to leave me breathless. He was so attractive, and the bright smile on his face when he spotted me made his eyes light up. Knowing that just seeing me could make him light up like that did unhealthy things, yet perfectly welcome, things to my body.

                Gideon slid into the passenger seat and kissed my cheek. “Hi Greyson,” he greeted, that same bright smile on his face.

                “Hi Gideon,” I said trying to act normal despite not knowing where I was taking us.

                “So, where are we going?” he asked.

                “Uh…it’s a surprise,” I said nervously, backing out of his driveway and starting to drive slowly. My mind raced and I mentally sighed, finally deciding on a place. I sped the car up a little.

                Gideon plugged my iPod into the car and started playing Alesana. I relaxed as the two of us began to sing together.

                “Please don’t hate me for what I’ve done, run away with me, I’ll be everything you need,” we sang.

                “I can’t lose you again, I’m nothing without you, I’ll never let you down,” I sang, glancing at Gideon, still unable to believe that he was actually my boyfriend.

                I pulled into a parking lot and stopped the car. Gideon looked at me curiously as I got out of the car, but copied me nonetheless.

                I went around and took his hand in mine, walking with him. He glanced at me, that curious look still in his eyes.

                “This is our date?” he questioned.

                “Do you want to go somewhere else?” I asked, terrified for his answer.

                “No. No, I think this is perfect,” he said, smiling as we approached the playground at the park.

                We got on the swings, still holding hands haphazardly as we kicked off the ground together. Our arms jerks back and forth as we swung, but I found that both of us started laughing at how awkward it was.

                “Remember when we used to play Scissors?” Gideon asked as we leveled out, swinging back and forth at the same time, our tired arms finally catching a break as we went higher and higher together.

                “And you accidentally kicked Sonnet because she tripped,” I said.

                “And then she pulled me off the swing and threatened to shove my head in the sand,” Gideon said, laughing fondly at the memory.

                “I had to jump off the swing and it took me and Will to hold her back long enough for her dad to come and drag her away from you,” I said, also laughing now.

                “Aw man, remember when we used to hang upside down from monkey bars? Can we try to do that again?” Gideon asked eagerly.

                I nodded and the two of us released hands, jumping off the swings. I stumbled and fell down in the sand surrounding the swings as Gideon just barely managed to keep his balance.

                He came over to me and helped me up, dusting the sand off of me. I smiled at him and we grinned at each other.

                “Race you to the monkey bars!” we cried and took off at a run.

                Gideon beat me, climbing up and onto the monkey bars. He hooked his legs around one of the bars and let himself drop upside down. I copied him, my hair falling into my eyes as I hung upside down.

                “We used to pretend we were bats,” Gideon said.

                “And then our parents would yell at us and drag us down, screaming about how we could break our necks if we fell. But we did it anyways,” I said, smiling.

                Gideon reached out, cupping my face in his hands. Our faces were turning red from being upside down, and as I reached out and cupped his face in my hands as well, his face was warm under my fingers.

                We pulled each other close, our lips coming together. A jolt went through my body and I pulled him even closer.

                Gideon’s hand slid up, tangling in my hair. His free hand moved from my cheek to the back of my neck, holding my face to his.

                Our lips worked together, fierce and gentle, passionate and careful, desperate and contained, screaming our feelings for each other, trying to communicate everything without words or looks. Just the press of his soft lips against my own.

                We pulled away, gasping for breath. Gideon brushed my hair out of my eyes, staring into them. His feelings seemed to be spilling out of his gaze.

                “I love you Greyson,” he whispered, reaching out and taking my hand in his.

                “I love you Gideon,” I said, squeezing his hand.

                Feeling the blood pounding in my head, we released each other’s hands. We carefully lowered ourselves off of the monkey bars, taking a minute to let our headaches pass.

                Gideon pulled me into a hug. “Jude took me to fancy restaurants. He bought me nice things. He tried to be thoughtful. But I never enjoyed any of those dates as much as I enjoyed this one. Just remembering the past, and realizing how far we’ve come together. It meant the world to me Greyson,” he said sincerely.

                I leaned up and kissed his lips. I rested my head on his shoulder and we rocked their together in comfortable silence.

                I would have to thank Ethan for this. His idea of a dream date had allowed me to impress Gideon. I just hoped that someday, Ethan would find a boyfriend who would take him on his dream date. He deserved it after everything he had been through.

                “I love you,” Gideon said, breaking the silence between us. “I really love you Greyson.”

                I had been bullied to the point of tears. I had been tortured watching Gideon and Jude together. I had suffered in silence for years with unrequited love for Gideon. I had driven myself crazy trying to confess my love to him. I had gone through so much pain ever since discovering my feelings for Gideon.

                But those words made it all worth it.

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A.N.- NOT THE LAST CHAPTER. But...I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY. I haven't updated in like 2 months and you guys probably hate me if anyone even reads this anymore I am so sorry T.T I'm surprised no one ever tries to pull a Misery on me with how bad I am at updating. So, I hope you guys forgive me, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter D: