I cracked my eyes open as my phone buzzed in my pocket. I looked around, disoriented. My head was on Ezra’s lap, and he was leaning against my wall, fast asleep.

                I pulled out my phone. “Hello?” I mumbled, fixing my crooked glasses.

                “You never called me back,” Trevor said. “Patrick and I are at the trailers.”

                I yawned. “I’m pretty tired. I’m not coming out tonight,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “Plus, Ezra is here.”

                “Who’s Ezra?” he asked in confusion.

                “Oh, oops. I forgot tell you about that. I have a boyfriend,” I said, keeping my voice down so that I wouldn’t wake that boyfriend up.

                Trevor sighed. “Alright Rio. I’ll talk to you later.”

                “Keep safe out there and call me if something happens,” I said before hanging up.

                I pulled my glasses off and set them on my nightstand. I curled up, my head still in Ezra’s lap.

                I closed my eyes and pulled the covers over myself. Ezra was breathing softly, and I reached out, taking his hand in mine, loving the warmth of it. I smiled a little and allowed myself to drift back off to sleep.

                                                                                                ***

                I opened my eyes and looked around, rubbing my eyes. My head was still in Ezra’s lap, and I could feel him playing with my hair.

                “Good morning!” he said cheerfully.

                “Morning,” I mumbled, sitting up. My stomach growled and I sighed, swinging my legs over the side of the bed.

                “Uh…Rio? I think you’re forgetting something,” Ezra said, laughing.

                “I think I’m hungry,” I said and left my room. Ezra followed after me.

                We entered the kitchen and I walked towards the table. Someone grabbed me, lifting me off of my feet and swinging me away.

                “What the hell?” I said in annoyance.

                “You were about to step on a knife you idiot!” Hank said as he set me down. “Where are you glasses? God, you’re such a pain in the ass!”

                I reached up, feeling my face. “Oops.”

                “I told you that you were forgetting something,” Ezra said as he put my glasses on my face for me. The world cleared and I realized that there was indeed a very sharp knife on the floor where I had been walking.

                Hank went over and picked it up, tossing it into the sink. Mom came into the room and smiled at us.

                “Good morning boys!” she said.

                “I almost stepped on a knife. It is not a good morning,” I said, sitting down. Ezra sat next to me and Hank sat across from us.

                “What?” mom asked, frowning.

                “I dropped a knife when I was putting the silverware away. I was going to pick it up when I was done, but then this dumbass came out without his glasses on,” he grumbled, apparently back to being moody.

                “Hank saved the day by sweeping me off of my feet,” I said. “I’m sorry Ezra, but I’m leaving you for my brother.”

                “Can I see that knife? I want to stab you with it,” he said.

                “I can feel the love,” I said.

                He leaned over and kissed me, offering me a smile. I crossed my arms and glanced at my mom.

                “I’m hungry. Wanna make some breakfast?” I asked with a sweet smile.

                “I guess,” she said with a sigh, ruffling my hair. “What do you want to eat? Hank hasn’t had breakfast yet either.”

                “Eggs,” I said. “I’m seeing how many I need to eat before I turn into a chicken.”

                “You do that,” mom said, turning to make us scrambled eggs.

                “How did you sleep?” Ezra asked.

                “I slept like a baby,” I said with a grin.

                Ezra stretched and I heard cracks and pops that didn’t sound healthy. “I wish I could say the same. I was up against the wall all night.”

                I leaned over, pecking his lips. “And aren’t you a sweetheart for it!”

                Mom set down a plate of eggs for each of us a few minutes later. She handed me the ketchup and I put it on my eggs before passing it to Hank.

                “Ketchup on eggs?” Ezra asked in confusion.

                “It’s really good,” I said, holding my hand out.

                Hank handed me the ketchup, and I held it out to Ezra. He eyed it suspiciously, as if the ketchup were plotting his eventual downfall.

                “Just try it,” I said, rolling my eyes. I scooped a forkful of my eggs and held it out towards Ezra.

                He leaned forward and I put the eggs in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully before swallowing them down.

                “Not bad,” he said with a nod, and I grinned and handed him the ketchup. He poured some on his eggs and dug in.

                We finished eating and sat there, staring at our empty plates. What the hell were we supposed to do today?

                “What do you want to do today?” Ezra asked.

                “I was really hoping you would answer that,” I said with a sigh.

                “You could actually be productive,” mom offered.

                “Lame. Next suggestion,” I said.

                “We could go…uh…” Ezra looked thoughtful. “Oh! I have an idea!”

                “Would you like to share with the rest of the class?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

                “Nope,” he said, getting up. “Let’s go get dressed.”

                I sighed and got up, following him back to my bedroom. The two of us got dressed and brushed our teeth and hair.

                Ezra grabbed my hand and led me out of the house. I followed after him and sighed in annoyance.

                “Where are we going?” I asked.

                “I’m going to take you to a dark, secretive place and thrust myself into you,” he said.

                “Oh. Well, in that case, please do proceed,” I said.

                He laughed. “I’m taking you on a date, dummy.”

                “Are we going to have a candlelight dinner on the wall?” I asked.

                “The wall is not romantic,” he said, pulling me along down the street.

                “Is this one of those surprise things?” I asked.

                He shrugged. “I guess so!”

                “I don’t like surprises!” I whined.

                “You’ll like this one,” he assured me, kissing me and smiling.

                I followed after him in comfortable silence, our hands clasped together. He led me to a club and around back, down to the lake. Boats were lined up around the docks, and he led me over to a white one with a red stripe.

                “Are we stealing a boat?” I asked.

                “I’m not that badass. This is my dad’s boat,” he said, snapping the cover off and jumping in. He turned on the blower and gestured at me to get in.

                I climbed into the boat and looked around. “Your dad owns a boat?”

                “My dad does,” he said with a nod. “I usually ask him before I use it, but I know he just put gas in it, so I think we can drain it a little.” He winked at me.

                He turned the blower off after a minute and turned the boat on. He carefully backed us away from the dock and took off towards the dam.

                “I can’t believe my boyfriend owns a damn boat,” I called over the roar of the wind whipping against us.

                “Your boyfriend’s dad owns a damn boat,” he corrected as he drove easily.

                “Are you allowed to drive this thing?” I asked, looking around the lake at the other boats.

                “I’ve had a license since I was ten years old!” he said with a smile.

                He slowed the boat down as we neared the damn, and but it into neutral once we were under the shade of some trees. He turned the boat off, letting it rock against the waves.

                He pulled out speakers and hooked his phone up to them. He came and pulled me onto the back seat as music started playing.

                “I thought it’d be nice to just float and hang out together,” he said.

                I kissed him and nodded. “It is nice,” I said. It was relaxing.

                “And you said you don’t do the cute, cuddly thing,” he said with a grin.

                “I guess I can do it this once,” I said, putting my arms around him as we laid down together. I kissed him, loving the feel of his lips against mine.

                “They don’t know where we go when we turn off our phones, and those nights we went out and we never came home. They were clueless so they make up their own little stories, with little glory. Even if they try to break us down, they won’t even find the faintest frown. Together forever, together forever, together forever baby just you and me.” The music drifted to us and I shook my head, smiling a little.

                “You are so cheesy,” I said.

                “I thought you’d like it,” he said happily.

                “I do,” I admitted, resting my head on his shoulder. I hadn’t been in a relationship in so long. I missed the cute, cliché, cheesy dates.

                “Hey Rio?” Ezra said.

                I looked up at him. “Yea?”

                “I love you,” he said and kissed me.

                “I love you too,” I said quietly, the words scaring me but the feeling making me giddy.

                “We should both be afraid to love and trust. But we’re not,” he said, smiling. “It’s nice. It’s good. I like it. We can’t let other people break us down and scare us.”

                He looked down at me, and there was a real smile on his face. It was beautiful, and I stared at him, because he was beautiful. The scar didn’t take away from that innocence of his face, that innocence that was determined to stay there despite the hell he called his home life and the dark secrets of his past.

                “You’re really strong, Rio,” he said, the smile staying on his face, honesty in his eyes. “The fact that you can still hope after all these years and everything Hank has put you through. I love that about you.”

                I looked at him, knowing that Ezra had his own strengths. He always put up his happy façade, and that wasn’t an easy thing to do when you internally blamed yourself for your parents’ crumbling marriage.

                “And in the sea of scars, the first cut is the deepest. No matter where you are, I’ll always think of you because only you can set me free, so hold me close just like the first time, and show me how it used to be, because only you can set me free,” the speakers announced.

                I kissed Ezra, because I didn’t know what to say anymore. We fell into each other, becoming nothing but lips, tongue, teeth, hands, and passion.

                Eventually, we eased into a light kiss, finally just curling up with each other. My mind was spinning with things.

                What were our sparks? Mine? Ezra’s? Hank’s? Who would we burn down with us when the gasoline was ignited? The three of us were drenched in it, and all of us were tied together now. If one burned, the others would be affected, but the severity of it wasn’t clear yet.

                I also was realizing that things went two ways. Yes, Ezra was a broken person. But I was much more shattered, and he was placing me in his heart, letting me tear it apart from the inside out. Trusting me to keep the damage as minimal as possible.

                Ezra kissed me, looking curious. “What are you thinking about?”

                “You without your clothes on,” I said.

                “I could make that happen,” he said with a wink.

                “Yea, no, not on a boat,” I said.

                “Not on a boat ride?” he asked with a frown.

                “Not on your life, Cody Carson,” I said.

                I sat up and Ezra sat up with me. I crawled to the back of the boat and kicked my shoes and socks off, sticking my feet in the water. Ezra got up and copied me, slipping an arm around my waist. We sat there in comfortable silence for a while, our feet in the cool water, our bodies lightly rocking with the boat.

                We sat there until we got hungry. We got back in the boat and Ezra started it up, driving us back to the docks and easily parking the boat. He tied it and helped me out, putting the cover back on.

                The two of us went up and walked to a nearby restaurant. We were seated and picked up our menus, scanning them over.

                “What do you want to do after we eat?” Ezra asked.

                I shrugged. “Anything,” I said. “I’m up for anything.”

                He looked thoughtful. “Let’s be cute and cuddly and watch a movie with popcorn!” he said with a smile.

                “Sure,” I said.

                The waiter came and we gave our orders. We ate and paid before leaving and heading back to my house.

                We went into my room together and I put in Sweeney Todd. I made us popcorn and we cuddled up on my bed together.

                “This has been a nice day,” Ezra said with a smile.

                “Yes it has,” I said with a nod, kissing his cheek. “Do you want to spend the night again?”

                “Yea, sure,” he said, pulling out his phone to text his mom.

                We laid and watched the movie together. I mumbled along to the words of Epiphany, deciding that I was definitely a pessimist.

                The movie ended and we laid there together until my mom called us out for dinner. We went out and sat at the dining room table.

                “So where were you two all day?” dad asked curiously.

                “Apparently I’m dating Bill Gates. Ezra has a boat,” I said.

                “My dad has a boat,” he said, laughing. “I took Rio out for a boat ride, and then we went out for lunch.”

                “And then we watched Sweeney Todd and I awkwardly tried to sing along as all of the characters at once,” I said.

                “Now there’s a romantic movie,” dad said, rolling his eyes.

                “I am not a Nicholas Sparks kind of guy,” I said.

                “Me either,” Ezra said, shaking his head. “I like horror movies!”

                “And I like musicals about killing people and baking them into meat pies,” I said.

                “I think I should be worried,” Ezra said, scooting his chair away from me.

                “That was my plan all along,” I said. “I was going to slit your throat, bake you into a meat pie, and serve you for dinner.”

                “I knew it!” he said.

                Mom laughed as she sat down with us. “You two are certainly in good moods!”

                “It’s been a nice day,” I said with a shrug, smiling at Ezra. He moved his chair closer and kissed me.

                “That’s good,” mom said, giving me a happy smile.

                Hank watched us but said nothing. He pushed his food around on his plate with his fork, looking exhausted and miserable. His body was trembling and his hair was a tangled mess. His eyes were bloodshot and there were bags under them.

                “Hank, want to go to lunch with us tomorrow?” I offered, deciding that he needed to get out of the house before he went stir crazy.

                “Yes,” he said eagerly, almost desperately.

                “Cool. We can get lunch and then stop for some ice cream or something,” I said.

                “Yes,” he said, nodding furiously.

                “That’ll be nice,” mom said with a smile, but I could see the worry in her eyes. Hank was unstable.

                “Yea, it’ll be great,” I said, giving her a reassuring smile. I could handle my brother, especially if I had Ezra with me. If Hank tried stealing my glasses, Ezra could grab him for me.

                Ezra grabbed my hand under the table, as if to show he understood. I shot him a grateful look, and he kissed me.

                We ate and helped clean the table when we were done. We went to my bedroom and laid down together. I felt exhausted despite how early it was.

                “Are you sure tomorrow is a good idea?” Ezra asked.

                “Yes. He needs to get out of the house. Plus, the two of us can handle him,” I said confidently.

                Ezra shrugged and smiled. “As long as you’re sure.”

                I pulled the covers over us and put my arms around Ezra, pulling him close to my body. He curled against me and I kissed him lightly.

                “See? Now you don’t have to throw out your back sleeping sitting up,” I said.

                “And whose fault was that?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

                “Your own. You could’ve pushed me off. I would’ve pushed you off,” I said.

                He pouted. “You are a rude person!”

                “I’m sharing my bed with you tonight,” I said.

                “True,” he said with a sigh. “Well, you look tired, and I feel tired. So let’s go to sleep already!”

                I nodded and kissed him, closing my eyes. He shifted a little, getting comfortable, resting his head on my chest. The two of us fell asleep, my mind wiping clean of all worry for tomorrow.