The group laughed at the jokes they cracked among each other.

Leo and Jamie were seating in the far end of the bench, Jamie on Leo's lap. Juno was seated cris cross on the surface of the table, in front of them. Bradlee and Brennen were seated across from each other at the other end.

Leo said something that made the entire group laugh. Another joke was then added by Bradlee.

Brennen seemed to be in his own headspace. His leg bounced up by its own accord. His hands were on the table, fiddling with his sleek phone as usual. For some odd reason, he kept turning it on every five minutes, his eyes searching for the time.

He felt annoyed by himself. But he couldn't help it.

"Bren!" Jamie called, throwing a french fry at his face. Brennen blinked and looked up,

"What??"

"Are you dead or something? We've been talking to you for like ten minutes."

"Oh, sorry." Brennen said, sitting up straight. "What'd you say?"

"We were ta-"

She was interrupted by Bradlee gasping and enthusiastically greeting someone behind Brennen. Everyone turned to look at the boy who was hugging a sketchbook to his chest. "Hello," he said, looking at everyone in the group before his eyes landed on Brennen's.

"Hey," Brennen greeted back, "You're late."

"I know, I'm sorry, I had t-"

"What's he doing here?" Jamie asked, eyeing the boy weirdly.

Colby's view immediately landed on the ground, where he awkwardly shuffled his feet. Brennen raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Jamie. "Uh, he had to do this art project and he wanted to draw me."

"Why you? Out of everyone else in the school, really?"

"Why not?" Bradlee shrugged, "Just let him be."

"Yeah Jamie, he's not bothering anyone." Juno stepped in, seeing how uncomfortable the young brunette became.

"Actually he is bothering me."

Everyone in the table settled into an awkward silence, not wanting to argue with their friends. "I-I should just go.." Colby whispered to Brennen, lifting his face slightly to look at him.

"Thank you!" Jamie sighed, causing everyone around her to snap.

"Jamie!"

"What the fuck dude, just leave him alone!"

"No! I don't want him here!"

Their argument blurred into the background as Brennen looked at Colby, who as hugging the book impossibly closer as a protective mechanism. "I'll see you around I guess," Colby whispered, his eyes blinking to the arguing people, "I'm sorry." With that, he walked away, following the path to his park. Brennen sighed and turned to look at his friends; now Leo had joined the fight.

With a roll of eyes, he grabbed his backpack and stood up, following Colby's steps. As he reached the sidewalk, he could see Colby halfway through the street. Instead of running up to him (because what is running?), he called, "Sweater!"

Colby froze, turning around in his spot. His pretty face turned confused as he watched Brennen walk toward him. "Hi... What're you doing?"

"I thought you wanted to draw me?"

"Y-yeah... But you don't have to if its-"

"Hey, there's a reason I came here." Brennen cut him off, standing in front of him. "...Sorry about Jamie."

A small smile found its way to Colby's lips. "It's alright... Thank you."

Brennen shrugged and walked the rest of the way to the tree filled-field, being followed by Colby. "So, is there like beef between you and Jamie?" He asked, sitting down against Colby's tree.

The young boy chuckled and sat down, placing his bag next to him. "No, I have nothing against her. She just... Doesn't like me I guess." He shrugged, unzipping the front pocket of his backpack to take out a pencil.

"You looked like it wasn't the first time this happened.." Brennen said, looking at the boy's reddening face. "Has she been bothering you?"

"No, it's fine." Colby sighed, opening his sketchbook to a brand new page.

"Because if she has you should tell me now."

"Brennen," Colby interrupted, looking up at him with a slight smile, "It's nice that you care, but really I'm fine."

I don't care, Brennen thought. I'm just making sure Jamie doesn't get in trouble...

"Are you sure?"

Brennen, you don't care if he's fine.

"Completely positive." Colby nodded, picking up his pencil, "Can you turn your head to the left a little bit please?"

Brennen looked completely to the left, making Colby giggle, "Bro, my neck is gonna hurt."

"Like this," Colby said, putting his stuff down and crawling toward Brennen. A soft hand came in contact with Brennen's chin, moving it to face Colby. Brennen never realized how thick Colby's eyelashes were. The way he batted them innocently began driving Brennen insane.

Colby positioned Brennen's face gently; slightly to the side and tilting up barely. "Very handsome." Colby complimented with a bright smile. Brennen laughed and playfully pushed him away.

"Okay hurry up, I'm getting impatient."
Colby quickly went back and grabbed his stuff, beginning to sketch out Brennen's eyes. "Do I like smile or...?"

"You can just stay serious if you want." Colby giggled, flicking his eyes to Brennen's every few seconds. "You have beautiful eyes, Brennen Taylor. The prettiest forest green."

"I like yours better." He replied nonchalantly. "But thanks."

Colby sketched the main parts of his face and head, not getting into shading yet, wanting to be finished as quickly as possible. "What's your favorite movie genre?" He asked, trying to make conversation through his concentrating silence.

"Horror or comedy. But to me they're the same."

He laughed quietly. "Well said. Me too."

Brennen looked at the gentle way Colby moved. His face looked so calm when he was drawing, as if nothing else mattered. For some reason he didn't seem as concentrated as when he read a book. It was as if his hand was moving wherever his mind told him with ease.

Colby was so beautiful.

Again, it was the most obvious thing in the world, but maybe Brennen was starting to admit it a little more.

"How long have you been drawing?" Brennen asked, slowly growing bored.

"Practically all my life, but I started to get into it freshman year..."

"I kinda meant right now. How long have we been here?"

"Oh!" Colby chuckled, his cheeks growing pink. "Um, maybe fifteen minutes? Why? Bored of me already?" He teased.

"Not of you." Brennen admitted "My ass just hurts."

They both laughed before Colby closed his notebook. "I think that's enough for today."

"Can I see it?"

"No, it's not done" Colby giggled, "I still have to shade and color and, yknow, finish it."

"Okay." Brennen chuckled, sitting more comfortably "Do you need me again after this?"

"You don't have to come back if you don't want to." Colby shrugged, "Like I said, I enjoy your company, so it's your choice wether you come back or not. But thank you for helping me out."

"No problem." Brennen shrugged, standing up before offering his hand to Colby. "Cmon, lunch is almost over."

Colby blushed and smiled, gently taking Brennen's hand to stand up. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Both boys walked back to school just as the bell for class rung. They said goodbye before parting ways, going on to their different classes.

When Brennen got to Biology, he quickly found a seat next to Bradlee, who was wearing a big gross smirk.

"What?" Brennen asked confusedly, bringing his backpack onto his lap.

"Where'd you go at lunch?"

"Y'all were annoying so I just went with Colby."

Bradlee's jaw dropped and his hands began flailing around crazily . "I'm gonna cry!"

"What??"

"You like him too!" He stated, slamming his hands on the desk. "I knew it!"

Brennen practically choked on his own breath as he stared at Bradlee. "No I don't! And what do you mean 'too'?"

"Oh my god it's obvious he has a little crush on you!"

Brennen stopped and blinked his eyes rapidly. Did he really? And why did Brennen care wether he did or not?

"He doesn't." He finally said as he leaned back in his seat. "He's just... Different."

"That's another way of saying you like him!" Bradlee teased, poking Brennen's cheek with his finger.

Brennen rolled his eyes and smacked his hand away just as the bell rung and the teacher instructed the class to be quiet.