"You had icecream on your chin!"
☆

"Thanks." Jude smiles at the icecream seller, taking one chocolate and one minty icecream from their grasp. Jude proceeds to hand the green icecream over to Milo, who takes it with eagerness.

The two now begin their leisurely walk down the path of one of the city's parks, both focussing on their icecreams until they meet a bench and take a seat. "You know, this is such a treat. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed icecream." Jude comments, not taking his eyes from the frozen delight.

Milo turns to Jude, seeing how those lips of his suck at the top of the ice cream, so dedicated. He finds himself having to tear his eyes away, the sight being far to suggestive in his own thoughts, especially as he didn't know Jude that intimately...yet. Milo concentrates on his minty icecream and soon, it is all eaten.

Milo bravely decides to look back and sees Jude has also finished his icecream. He sees Jude smiling. Milo notices a small blob of chocolate resting on Jude's chin and without a thought, reaches out to wipe it away with his thumb.

Jude suddenly feels a little tense. What was Milo doing? Was he getting touchy feely in the middle of a park...on a Sunday afternoon? Jude inwardly panicks a little. "Milo I...I don't think we should right now..."

Milo continues to wipe the icecream away. Then pulls his hand away, sucking at the chocolate on his thumb. "You had icecream on you chin." Milo smiles. "But if you want me to leave it there next time..."

"Oh...thanks." Jude inwardly cries in embarrassment. Now Milo must think he's a desperate hippo on heat! Which to be fair, he probably was.

"I do want to kiss you though...very much." Milo adds, making Jude's insides start up all over again. What was going on with him?

Milo pulls out his phone. "Just let me check something." He begins to message Hester.

Hessy
Are you home right now?

There's no reply. Milo, suddenly feeling very impatient decides to call. It goes straight to the automated voicemail...
"Hessy are you ok to be out for a bit? I want to invite Jude over."

He hangs up, looking again at Jude, who was trying to keep his emotions in check. "Jude...do you want to come to mine?"

Jude could feel his heart rate pounding in his chest. It had been so long, too long since he had felt this way. He tries not to let it show, emitting a "sure" as his body tried it's best to stay calm.

Milo stands up and holds out a hand for Jude to take. "Let's go then." He says with a deepness in his voice, accompanied with a smile.

Jude feels like someone being asked to dance at the school prom as he looks up at Milo and slowly lifts his hand to take his, he stands and slowly, their fingers lace together.

At that moment, the world around him disappeared. All he could see was Milo. All he could feel were the rough pads of his piano playing fingers as they enveloped his. All he could hear were their footsteps and his own crazy heartbeat.

It isn't long before they are stood at the door of Milo's apartment. He fumbles for the keys and eventually gets the door open. "Hello?" Milo shouts, hoping Hester has got the message in one way, shape or form. The apartment is quiet so he must have done.

"So, this is home." Milo says as he removes his shoes with Jude doing the same. "Make yourself comfortable." Milo gestures Jude to go sit on the sofa in the open planned room.

Jude makes his way to the area, taking the time to view the surroundings. The space was pretty basic, the living area housing a corner sofa, with a tv on a unit, pushed against the wall opposite. A small shelf above displayed some photographs in frames. Jude took the time to look at each one.

The first showed Milo as a child, sat at a piano. This brought a smile to Jude's face. The next one showed Milo with his family. He looked very much like his brother. The last one showed a teen Milo with his arm around the shoulder of another teen, who was replicating the arm, with his wrapped around Milo's. Jude knew straight away who he was. That sweater. It was the same as what Milo had on, right at that moment.

"So...this is Hester?" Jude questions, though he already knew the answer.

"Yep that's Hessy." Milo says as he approaches Jude with two glasses of iced tea, passing one over. Jude takes the glass and sips, returning his gaze to the image. "That was taken just before we...well we drifted apart." Milo takes his drink to his lips and swallows down a mouthful of iced tea.

Jude looks at Milo in wonder. There was obviously more to this than he was willing to share and Jude was wanting to know but was too scared to push for it.

Milo clears his throat and turns to face the sofa, where he sits down. "Come take a seat." Milo says and Jude obliges.

They now sit next to eachother, iced teas in hand and both out of practice. Who was going to make the first move?