I opened my eyes and sat up, stretching. Ezra was lying on his bed, an earphone in, scrolling through his phone.

                “Good morning,” Ezra greeted, pulling his earphone out and smiling at me.

                “I’m hungry,” I said, pulling my glasses off of my face and rubbing the part of my ears where they had been resting. I forgot to take them off before I went to sleep last night.

                “Hi hungry, I’m Ezra,” he said.

                “Oh my god,” I moaned in horror. “You’re like a cheerful Mitch.” I picked up a pillow and chucked it at his face. “Stop that.”

                He laughed and stood up as I put my glasses back on. “Let’s go eat!”

                I got up as well and followed him downstairs to the kitchen. There was a girl sitting at the counter and the smell of waffles attacked my nose, making my stomach growl.

                “I made extra for you,” the girl said, not even bothering to look up at us.

                “This is my charming sister, Rachel,” Ezra introduced.

                “Hi,” Rachel said, though I wasn’t sure if she was saying hi to me or to her phone considering the fact that she still hadn’t taken her eyes off of it.

                “Hey. I’m Rio,” I said.

                Ezra went over to the waffle maker, starting to the pull the lid up. Rachel’s head shot up and she glared at him.

                “Ezra, cut it out. I was making food!” she snapped.

                “Oh, someone is grumpy,” Ezra said, pulling his hands away.

                “Idiot,” she growled.

                The waffle maker beeped a few minutes later and she got up, shoving Ezra out of the way. I watched him curiously, seeing his anger starting to swim, but then he smiled and moved away from her as she got her food and left the room.

                “She seems pleasant,” I said.

                “She has her days,” he said, pouring batter into the maker for us.

                Once we had our food, we sat down at the counter together and started eating. His mom came downstairs and glanced at us, smiling.

                “So, are you two going to be hanging around the house today?” she asked.

                “Nah, we’re heading out after we eat,” Ezra said.

                “We are?” I asked.

                “We are,” Ezra said with a nod.

                “Okay,” she said cheerfully and left the kitchen.

                We finished eating and went upstairs. We changed and got ready before leaving the house together.

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

                Ezra shrugged. “Anywhere. My house is really boring,” he said. “There’s nothing to do there.”

                “We could go to the park,” I offered.

                Ezra smiled easily. “Sure! Sounds like a fun time to me.”

                We walked in comfortable silence until we had reached the park. We started walking towards the swings and I glanced over at the play set. I mentally groaned.

                “Rio,” Mitch said. He was sitting on the monkey bars with Jace and Shane.

                He motioned me over and Ezra followed me there. I looked up at Mitch, squinting a little at the sun.

                “Hiya Mitch,” I said with a grin, my eyes sliding over to Jace. “Jace! Long time no see.”

                “I couldn’t stay lucky forever,” he said miserably.

                Mitch glanced at Ezra before returning his gaze to me. “What are you two doing here?”

                “It’s a park, Mitchell. Anyone can come,” I said patiently.

                He lightly kicked me in the head. “Shut up.”

                “I can feel the love,” I said, backing away from him and rubbing my head.

                “What happened to your jaw?” he asked.

                I grinned darkly. “My brother got a little upset at dinner last night.”

                “Man, and I thought our dinners got violent,” Shane said to Mitch.

                “There was that one time you slammed my face into a bowl of mashed potatoes,” Mitch said.

                “I thought mom was going to kill me, but it was totally worth it,” Shane said happily.

                “You abuse Mitch a lot,” I said, laughing. I winked at him. “You can abuse me too, if you know what I mean.”

                “If you mean that I can hit you with the car, then yes, yes I can,” Shane said.

                “Who’s he?” Jace asked, nodding towards Ezra.

                “I’m Ezra!” Ezra said with a cheery smile.

                “That’s Mitch’s boyfriend Jace,” I said.

                “I apparently gave Ezra that scar,” Mitch informed Jace.

                “Damn, you do nice work,” Jace said, eyeing the scar.

                “It was painful,” Ezra said with a nod, rubbing the scar.

                “Do you guys want to come over?” Mitch asked, probably feeling safe since if Ezra tried anything it would be four against one.

                “Sure,” I said, glancing at Ezra.

                “I’m down!” he said.

                Mitch jumped down off of the monkey bars and the others copied him. We followed them over to their car and I watched as Jace and Mitch took off sprinting towards the shotgun of the car.

                Jace body slammed Mitch to the ground and jumped in the seat, slamming the door and locking it. Mitch pushed himself to his feet, glaring at Jace.

                We climbed in the back together as Shane got in the driver’s seat and pulled out of the parking lot. Mitch crossed his arms, still glaring at Jace.

                “You’re an ass,” he said.

                “I know,” Jace said smugly.

                We got out of the car once we were at the Marion brothers’ house. We followed them inside and down to Shane’s bedroom.

                “Let’s play truth or dare,” Shane said. “I’m really bored. And for every dare you don’t do and every truth you don’t answer, you have to take a mini shot of vegetable oil.”

                “No,” Mitch said in horror, having gone through that trauma once before.

                “Yes,” Shane said, smirking. “It makes sure no one pussies out.”

                “I can live with that,” Jace said, laughing.

                “Alright, I’ll start,” I said, grinning. “Mitchell, truth or dare?”

                “Truth,” Mitch said.

                “Pussy. Have you ever bottomed to Jace?” I asked.

                “It’s quite the experience,” Mitch said.

                “Oh my god I didn’t need to know that,” Shane groaned, shaking his head.

                “I asked him that just for you,” I said, patting Shane’s back.

                “Shane, truth or dare?” Mitch asked.

                “Dare,” Shane said. “I need something to get my mind off of that horrible piece of information.”

                “Rio can help you get your mind off of it,” Jace said. “Dare them to make out!”

                “I dare you to make out,” Mitch said.

                “You whipped piece of shit,” Shane said miserably.

                “It’s me or vegetable oil,” I said. “Pucker up.”

                “I’d almost rather have the vegetable oil,” he grumbled, moving over to me.

                “Make it seductive,” Mitch said. Jace was grinning evilly as he watched his best friend.

                “Yea, yea, yea,” Shane said, rolling his eyes.

                He leaned forward and our lips met. We started slow and quickly deepened the kiss. Shane parted my lips and our tongues met, rubbing together, exploring each other’s mouths. I pulled Shane closer, deciding to put on a good show for Jace.

                Shane cupped my face in his hands, our mouths and tongues working together passionately. We broke away from each other.

                “Satisfied?” Mitch asked Jace.

                “Very,” Jace said with a nod. “Viva la Shio!”

                “I hate you,” Shane said, punching him. “But, now it’s my turn. Mitch, truth or dare?”

                “I’m going to regret this but…dare,” Mitch said.

                Shane pointed at Ezra. “I dare you to make out with that Ezra kid. And make it seductive.”

                “You’re Satan,” Mitch said, glaring at his brother.

                “I’ve been told I’m a wonderful kisser,” Ezra said with a bright smile.

                “You could just drink vegetable oil,” Jace reminded.

                “No, it’s awful,” Mitch said, shuddering. “I’d rather make out with Ezra and just get it over with.”

                “You make it sound like it’s going to be a bad experience,” Ezra said.

                “It probably is going to be a bad experience,” Mitch said with a sigh, moving over to Ezra. “Alright, alright. Seductive make out time. Let’s do this already.”

                “I’m ready,” Ezra said with a playful wink.

                They leaned forward, bringing their lips together. It was slow, like mine and Shane’s kiss had started out.

                Then Mitch lightly bit Ezra’s bottom lip, and Ezra opened his mouth, letting Mitch’s tongue in. Their tongues rubbed together slowly.

                I glanced at Jace, but he was laughing along with Shane. I had a feeling Mitch had told him about Ezra and his distrust of Ezra. Honestly, I was a little happy to see Jace laughing at this. It meant he trusted Mitch to remain loyal to him.

                But then my eyes fell back on Mitch and Ezra, who were engrossed in a heavy make out session. I watched them, feeling a little irritated. It had been long enough. Why weren’t they stopping yet?

                They finally broke away from each other and Mitch scooted back over to Jace. Jace put an arm around Mitch.

                “Okay, he wasn’t lying about the good kisser part,” Mitch said. “But I still much prefer Jace.”

                “You better prefer me,” Jace grumbled, punching him lightly.

                “You’re not too bad yourself,” Ezra said, laughing.

                “Can we move on already?” I asked in annoyance. “Seriously, enough with all the making out.”

                Mitch looked at me curiously. “What crawled up your ass and died?”

                I blinked in surprise. He was right. What the hell was wrong with me?

                “I was just messing around,” I said, grinning. “I’d gladly make out with Shane some more.” I winked at him.

                But then the realization of what was wrong with me hit me. I stood up quickly and moved towards the door.

                “I have to piss,” I said and left Shane’s room.

                I went into the bathroom and locked the door. I went over to the counter and gripped it tightly, looking up at my reflection in the mirror.

                “No,” I moaned, wondering exactly when it was that I had developed a crush on Ezra.