[pics i took of the sky, self control by Frank Ocean]
word count: 2558

in dedication to frank ocean for finally putting me out of my misery and releasing blonde.
-

Dalton Jones was quiet.

Although I already knew this from sitting beside him everyday for about a month. He'd had weird habits that could help you decipher how he was feeling and just how much when he didn't have the words to speak.

Since picking me up, we'd spoken few words but he made sure to stay right beside me. He'd had a single dandelion in his hand when I met him outside, most likely plucked from my grass since there was a field of them but really, it was the thought that counted. Dalton never knocked, always just stood outside patiently at the time he was supposed to be there. On our first date, as soon as he'd seen me, he'd smiled cutely, cuter than I'd ever seen him smile and shoved his hands gently in the pockets of his nice-fitting, black shorts once the flower was in between my fingertips.

I was wearing my favorite blue tee, it matched the color of his eyes I'd noticed. Dalton's lips were pulled into a small smile.

When we'd gotten into the main part of Evans, a short walk over and he'd called a taxi service to take us downtown. There we sat pressed side-by-side in the packed car.

"So," deciding to start a conversation in fear that it'd be awkward, I kept my eyes on the small partition that separated us from the man up front. It was said to be a 20 minute ride and then a little walk to get there, although we both seemed content to sit there quietly, I saw it as an opportunity to get to know the Aussie boy.

"So..." He'd trailed off, raising a dark eyebrow at me, eyes cutting to mine. And I was briefly taken back by how blue they were, small little pools curving around his pupils, my reflection hitting off of them. My eyes had zeroed in on his face then, so close to mine yet far enough to where I didn't cringe in discomfort. Down the bridge of his slightly upturned nose, I took in the freckles and rosy red dusted across his cheeks. His heart-shaped lips were almost-red, bent up slightly at the Cupid's bow and parted to reveal the gap between his slightly-bigger two front teeth that made him even more adorable.

Dalton Jones was gorgeous.

Shifting my eyes away, I faced the front, more persistent than before and attempted to ignore the little smirk on his lips. Clearing my throat, I tried again, "S-so... How's America treating you?" That was the most I could come up with at such an awkward time. His cool blue irises were stuck in my head and every time I blinked, my heart pounded.

He shrugged, leaning further into the seat but obviously, he had no space and his thigh was pressed against mine. His hand was on his knee, so close to touching me and Dalton had no problem with our close proximity... Nor had he had a problem focusing his icy eyes on me. "I can't always find things, I dunno. They don't have a metro system... there's not really anything and for fucksake, the mozzies are everywhere."

"Mozzies?"

Smiling at that, Dalton chuckled, rephrasing his sentence and my eyes had sheepishly caught him. I kept my gaze on his almost-white hair as he explained his lingo in words I could understand, "mosquitos."

"Oh, yeah," trying to figure out how to be less awkward, I offered advice. "Try some repellant?"

"Yeah, no."

So we sat there and I kept my eyes on the screen in front of me, cheeks burning and internally cursing myself to hell when Dalton had shifted his hand over to my thigh, innocently. Just that action alone had forced me to jump, shivering when he leaned forward and closer to me.

Breath on my ear, he gave off that chuckle again and I could hear him nibbling at his bottom lip. "You're cute."

-

"Tell me about yourself." We were walking, Dalton had paid for the cab ride and soon we were in Downtown Augusta, everything was closer together here although not as close as the north and there were some people on the street but not many. It definitely wasn't like Atlanta but it also wasn't like Evans.

Passing an old run-down shop, Dalton looked over at me and I scrambled for something to say. Up until the inquiring, we'd been walking in silence, admiring the flowers that were blooming and the grass that was greener over by the lakeside. There was this cute little old-timey feel to downtown, really a shame that we never went here really.

Shrugging, I'd looked up in the sky, feeling his eyes on me as we drifted a little closer. Dalton and I weren't really touching but I could feel his body heat on mine and although it was a bit awkward, it felt nice.

"I live in an eight person home, almost all of us are adopted but it doesn't feel that way. Um..." Struggling to figure out what to say, I fiddled with my fingers and decided to elaborate on that, "Me and my little sister are from LA and at was really weird to adjust here but I'm used to it now, it's been like eleven years."

Dalton nodded, small smile on his face and looked up at the street signs, "yeah, it's a bit... empty here." There was something weird about the way he said that, voice soft and eyes a little glassy as if he were recalling a memory. He'd look up at the sky a little before looking back at the ground and his smile turned into a soft laugh. Just one or two gentle sounds before his hand curved around a dog tag he'd pulled from under his shirt.

"What about you?" Blinking over at me, his bright eyes were welcoming and he leaned his head to give me all his attention. He was still smiling at me, closed lipped and waiting. Chewing on my lip and playing with the hem of my shirt, I met his eyes and for the first time on this 'date,' I could look at him and speak properly.

He was less intimidating when he smiled like that.

"How's this different from Australia? Have any siblings?" I'd questioned, biting at my lip as we walked side-by-side. He was getting closer and closer now as we walked and I was mentally preparing myself for when his hand would grab mine... but it didn't and he shook his head silence overcoming us.

"Oh, hey, Gabe."

That voice made my heart speed up, it bumping against my ribcage as Wyatt Stevens called out to me. It'd been approximately fifteen minutes of walking slowly, Dalton and I just catch glances of each other every few minutes and in between that and the walk to some restaurant, we were nearing the place he was talking about and my calves were singing heavy metal songs. I was groaning in my head about the heat, it was around 91 degrees and I was dying on my feet. Why we didn't just take the cab all the way to the restaurant was besides me but I didn't want to voice it because I didn't want to be a burden.

We'd been passing a little beat down building when I'd caught sight of my former crush, Wyatt Stevens, and butterflies climbed there way up from my stomach, lodging themselves in my throat and preventing me from speaking. Okay, maybe I still liked him...

I was speechless, Dalton softly nudging me with his elbow and I coughed out a response, cheeks bright red, "H-hi, Wyatt." He gave me that bright smile and my eyes trailed down to the camera clutch in his hands as well as a little black bag he must've bought from the corner store, the camera case hanging off his shoulder and a box underneath his arm. "Are you taking shots for your portfolio again?" I'd suggested, helping him out and holding onto the box so he didn't drop it. I could feel Dalton's eyes on the side of my head as I grabbed at the box and pulled it away before almost falling at the sudden weight.

He laughed softly, passing me the bag instead and trading it out for the box before placing the camera on top and gesturing for me to do the same with the bag.

"No, I'm actually taking Mari's senior pictures." Jerking his head to the park across the street, I looked over, three girls catching my sight and my heart dropped.

"Mari?"

"My sister," he quickly explained, "she's paying me 30 bucks a shot, good if you ask me since I'm barely anything special."

Tilting my head, I furrowed my brows, not understanding where that was coming from. I'd seen his photos, been apart of his photos, they were amazing. "You're really good, Wyatt."

"Yeah, yeah." And I swear I saw a small blush on his cheeks as he turned to the boy beside me who was glaring suspiciously at him. Still, his gaze nor smile didn't waver, "So, you're the phenomenon."

Dalton let out a stiff nod, leaning closer to me and I didn't notice until I felt the fabric of his shirt rubbing against my bare arm, shivers flew up my spine and goosebumps erupted. He chuckled lightly at Wyatt, voice holding all the humor his eyes had lacked and he gave a half-smile, tucking his hands in his pockets. "That I am."

Feeling a bit guilty, I smiled when the silence became awkward, my cheeks hurting. Shifting a little in my place, I chewed on my bottom lip and attempted to explain, "We're actually on a-"

"We're hanging out." Dalton was quick to fill in, cutting off my sentence with a hidden jab to my gut and I coughed. Leaning a bit forward, I rubbed at my rib, Wyatt's eyebrows furrowing. He definitely didn't see the hit, leaning forward a bit to grab onto my arm gently and pat my back, questions in his eyes and my heart was pumping pure fucking iron.

When I'd calmed down, prolonging my cough just so he could touch me more, I again realized that I was on a date with Dalton and Wyatt really needed to go because I didn't want to like him anymore. Tucking my long limbs into myself, I gave him a small, awkward closed-lipped smile, leaning back on the heals of my feet.

And Dalton sent me a small look of concern when my breath hitched at the way my old crush pushed a strand of his chestnut hair behind his ear, fiddling with the hem of his loose white tee before holding the box with two hands again. He was seemingly nervous, I wasn't sure why but I'd barely seen nervous Wyatt and never for this long, he was cute when he didn't really know what to say.

Dalton. Dalton, think about Dalton. "Yeah." Completely covering up what I was going to say, the aforementioned boy spoke over me, voice tight yet friendly facade plastered on his face, "We're heading to Rhinehorse."

He shouldn't have said that, should've sprung for something cheaper like Taco Bell because two guys in a fancy restaurant just 'hanging out' sparks confusion. Wyatt tilted his head, sort of like a puppy would do and turned his gaze into me, I quickly and guiltily averted my eyes. "That place is expensive. Mari went there on a date once, good thing the guy was loaded." I could hear the light laugh in his voice and my chest did that thrumming thing. That weird warning sign before the earthquake, that abnormal churning in my stomach and maybe this was the horror film.

And I'd be the first one dead.

Nodding, Dalton no longer pushed a smile, the corners of his mouth straightened out and he gave a sigh as if he were irritated with Wyatt. Instantly, I shrunk closer to him, trying to express my apology for my heart fluttering when Wyatt was near. "Yeah."

It was silent for a bit, eyes trained on my hands and Dalton had discretely placed a large hand at the small of my back. I wasn't quite sure what he was doing but feeling his body next to mine was already intimidating enough and him holding onto me like this kind of made me want to recoil. Widening his eyes, Wyatt smiled at something past my shoulder and I turned around to see who I presumed as Mari waving him over.

Clearing his throat, he sent me an apologetic smile, "Well, my money's on the line. I'll catch you later?"

"Yeah, definitely." I really couldn't help the tightening of my stomach or the fond smile that found its way too my lips at the thought that he wanted to see me. Dalton must've noticed this, his eyes cutting over at me, digging his nails gently into my skin, I flinched.

Briefly, I felt his breathe on my cheek as he looked over, our proximity way too close and goosebumps erupted along my lower back. And then he dropped his hand, steeping away almost as if it were a normal thing to get so close and then distance yourself so far away. We were back to walking and Dalton had opened his mouth to speak but I never got to hear it because Wyatt had spoken up, we were almost hitting the corner to turn onto the restaurant's street and the boy had caught up. His loose hair was everywhere as his bun flopped to the base of his neck. Cheeks red, Wyatt stopped in front of me and bit at his lip.

"Gabe?"

"Hm?"

His voice was soft, eyes on the ground where he'd placed his box and when his eyes caught mine, I'd stopped breathing, "I'm planning this hike with some other photography students next month, we're going to North Carolina. You can... You can come if you like?"

"I know nothing about photography." I laughed, trying to figure out his motive. He knew I was clumsy and the exact opposite of artistic and invited me on a trip with a bunch of picture-takers that see beauty if everything. Wyatt doesn't like you, Gabe and you like Dalton.

"I know but you're pretty cool," he scratched at his arm awkwardly, right underneath his sleeve before readjusting his septum piercing. The one he'd been wearing that day was a pale pink hoop and I swear, it matched perfectly with my flushed cheeks, "plus I've worked better than ever since I took those pics of you. You're like my muse if that makes any sense."

A hand closed around my wrist and the guilt was back, my teeth gritting in a false smile and I nodded. "Okay. Yeah, that sounds great."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Gabe."

And Wyatt was gone, nearly tripping over his feet as he made his way across the empty street. "Good luck on your pictures."

Dalton Jones stayed real quiet after that.