-Max-

We arrived at Luke's a little bit late because somehow I managed to forget to take the sleeping bag with me and we had to go back to get it. Thankfully, we lived quite close to Luke's, so it was only ten minutes past one when Mom parked her car on the side of the street, right behind Mr. Jenkins'.

I immediately spotted Sky. He was talking with Luke next to the trailer, looking excited and sparkly, as always. I smiled at the sight of him, and nearly forgot to get out of the car.

"Max?" Mom called for me, and I snapped out of my daydreams.

"Coming, coming!" I hurried to say and exited the car with her.

As we walked to the rest of them, waving and exchanging hello's, I barely registered the rest of the people. I could only see Sky. But then my mom stopped me.

"It's so nice you're letting our kids use your bike," she was speaking to Mrs. Frost. "Max was really bummed about the project up until now."

I forced my eyes off Sky after waving at him and turned to look at the tall woman in front of us.

And I immediately froze. Mrs. Frost was, uh... a big woman. Someone could've told me Luke's parent was transgender. I tried to act naturally, but I was already almost panicking. I had no idea how to address her! Or him?

"You must be Max," he said with a smile. No! I meant she! She was wearing women's clothes, so that had to be a clue. Please, God, let it be a clue or I'd hurt her feelings...

"Yes," I said, my mind completely drawing blanks. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Frost," I added, choosing my words very, very carefully. I was developing social anxiety really fast at that moment

"Oh! Aren't you a polite little angel!" she spoke and chuckled. "But it's all right if you call me Gwen. My wife is the real Mrs. Frost, and I get so confused when someone calls me that."

"As you wish," I nodded. "Gwen," I said, feeling much better now that I at least had the right name.

"Alice, I'm jealous! Your son is such a sweetheart," Gwen chuckled.

"He's just scared shitless, dad," Luke shouted at her – or was the right pronoun he now? I was getting really confused.

"Oh, shut up, Luke," Gwen laughed. "Why didn't you tell the poor boy about me, then? You like harassing your classmates?"

"Yup," Luke said matter-of-factly.

"Don't mind him, dear," Gwen told me, patting my shoulder. "You can call me Gwen and use whatever pronouns you want. I would prefer female pronouns, but I don't get mad if you use male pronouns. I mean, Luke calls me 'dad'. I think it's easier for him, and I'm completely fine with it. I understand it is hard to get used to my appearance."

"Okay, ma'am," I said politely, and gave her a smile, feeling relieved and grateful for the explanation.

"Thank you," she said with a wide smile. "Go on now. Your friend is already waiting for you. He's so excited."

"That's Sky," I said with a chuckle, and turned to look at the cuteness in question.

As I walked to Sky, I suddenly realized I had met Luke's parents several times before during the football games. I'd seen Gwen with my parents, but she'd always worn the team jersey, and... I'd assumed she was a man... Christ, I really was a blind idiot, wasn't I? She even looked a lot like Luke, for crying out loud!

I peered back at Gwen, who was chatting with my mom and Sky's dad. Was she... the reason why Luke never spoke about his family? Nah, couldn't be it – I could already tell Luke had a good relationship with her.

I turned my attention to Sky. He was still talking with Luke, and I wasn't sure if he had noticed me. He had a sunny smile on his lips as he stared at the ATV while Luke was giving him instructions.

"Hey Sky," I said, and placed my hand on his shoulder. Sky jerked in surprise and turned to look at me.

"You came!" he breathed out and hugged me, almost knocking me off balance.

"Of course I came," I chuckled and hugged him back. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world."

Sky turned his eyes up at me, and his smile was almost too bright to look at. God, how much I wished we could stay like that forever, but I had to let go of him, or it would've seemed weird. I turned my attention to the big ATV and wondered if it was safe to let Sky drive it. He had an injured leg, after all, and... Well... His attention span was... Well...

I just had to hope he wouldn't spot anything interesting on the way.

"I'm actually surprised you can drive this thing," I told Sky.

"Why? My uncle, Mike, used to take me on long camping trips, and we had ATVs to get really far into the forests," Sky explained.

"Oh, that explains it. I just thought you wouldn't be interested in driving one, but I stand corrected," I told him.

"They're really handy on longer trips," Sky said, and his mood immediately dropped. "I miss Mike a lot..."

"You haven't seen him since you guys moved here?" I asked.

"Nope," Sky sighed.

He was starting to look really sad, and I tried to think of something to say, but I was too slow.

"Well thank god for planes," Luke said with an irritated voice. "Pick up the damn phone and call your uncle if you miss him that much."

I was about to get angry at him, but then I noticed Sky was smiling at him.

"I really should! Good idea, Luke," Sky spoke cheerily, and I felt shocked.

"You're welcome," Luke muttered nonchalantly.

I shook my head. The two of them clearly had some weird social system of their own. Sky didn't seem to be offended at all, and Luke didn't seem to care that Sky didn't mind his rudeness.

"Are you boys ready?" Gwen came to ask. "I'll take you to the beginning of the track where it's easiest to get to the Wilkes' farm. I have a map for you two, but it really is easy to get there."

"Thank you, Gwen," Sky said with a smile.

Sky didn't seem to be weirded out by Gwen's appearance. So, maybe, he didn't have anything against gays or bisexuals either? Maybe he was just as open-minded as I was. And maybe... Just maybe... He would consider dating guys. Guys like me. Or... Me.

I shook my head again, trying to pull myself out of my daydreams. How wonderful would it be if Sky was gay or bi too? I shook my head for the third time. I had to focus.

"You all right Max?" Luke asked. "I have an extra flea collar if you need one."

Sky giggled a little at his offer, but I had no idea what they were talking about.

"Bella was shaking her head just like that, too," Sky explained.

"And Bella has fleas," Luke continued. "Poor girl."

"Do you want to come see her?" Sky asked enthusiastically. "Luke introduced me to her earlier! She's a really nice dog!"

"Maybe another time?" I asked, "We should get ready to leave so we won't waste more of Gwen's time."

"Oh, right!" Sky chirped. "You are right!"

Then he turned to talk to Luke again. I tuned out when I realized that if, by any chance, Sky liked boys, he'd prefer someone like Luke. The way they acted around each other made me really jealous. They seemed to have an unique connection, something I could never have with Sky.

I didn't even have any pets. Except my mom's bastard cat. Maybe I could ask Sky if he wanted to come visit Guillermo soon? But Sky liked dogs. He wouldn't probably be that interested. Besides, the cat was a complete asshole. Sky got lucky the first time and the cat didn't get angry at him, but what if Guillermo was in a foul mood next time? Sky wouldn't want to come anywhere near my home after that.

I sighed and went to get my bags from my mom's car. The adults were talking like they'd known each other for a long time. For a moment, I wondered why no one had told me about Gwen before. My mom seemed to know her pretty well, and Sky's dad seemed to get along with her just fine, too.

"No one tells me anything anymore," I whispered to myself.

I felt like I was the biggest joke in the city at that moment.

I didn't have much more time to wallow in my sadness. I told my mom goodbye while Sky was giving his dad a hug, and then Gwen and Luke took us to the beginning of their hidden track. They said there were only a few people who knew where it was, and that they had used the track whenever they wanted to go for a ride through the forest.

"Now listen, this trail here will eventually lead you to the farm. It's about five miles straight, and two more to the south, but it is the only way you can get to the farm with an ATV," Gwen told us while showing the route on her map.

"The forest is too thick on the other side, and there's a small river cutting you off. If you want to get extreme, you could get the quad there another way too, but this is the easiest way," Luke continued explaining. "And I get my quad back in one piece."

"The forest is really beautiful on this side, so I'm sure you boys don't mind using the long route anyway," Gwen said with a smile.

"Thank you," I said gratefully. "Both of you. This means a lot to us."

"Yes!" Sky chirped in his excitement. "This is really awesome!"

"Don't mention it," Luke said and smiled a little. "Just don't break it!"

"We won't!" Sky promised.

I still wasn't sure why Luke had let us use his ATV, but I sure was grateful for it. I'd always known Luke wasn't a bad guy, even though he was grumpy most of the time, but giving us his expensive ATV without us even asking for it was almost too nice of him.

Maybe he really did like Sky. Like, really like him. Or he had sabotaged his ATV and the whole thing would blow up after a few miles, sending Sky and me to our early death.

Yes, I was really feeling positive that day.

"Are you ready?" Sky asked with his eyes so wide in excitement, and his smile so big he was starting to look like a crazy person.

To me, he looked absolutely adorable.

"I am," I chuckled.

And after that, it was time for an adventure. A city boy like me was both horrified and thrilled about spending the night in the woods. I was worried about Sky's driving skills at first, but when I sat down behind him, and he told me to hold on to his waist, I suddenly didn't have anything against him driving anymore.

Besides, it turned out he was pretty good at handling the big ATV. The trail was surprisingly clean and even, unlike the small one we'd used when we visited the farm for the first time. The trees were big and tall, but I couldn't see that many thickets around us.

I didn't pay much attention to where we were going, and the beautiful forest went past pretty unnoticed by me. I hoped Sky had memorized the place where we needed to turn south because I was too busy staring at his neck. We both had helmets on, and the ATV was pretty loud, so we couldn't talk much. I could feel the warmth of Sky's skin against my fingers while I tried to hold on to him without coming off as a pervert.

We were traveling slowly, just like I preferred. We weren't in a hurry, and it was probably the only time I could be so close to him without needing an excuse. I really enjoyed the closeness, and I hoped Sky didn't mind it either.

I had no idea how long we had traveled when Sky suddenly stopped the ATV. I looked around and saw a small pile of rocks up ahead. Gwen had mentioned a pile of rocks, so if that was the one she was referring to, we were quite close to the spot where we needed to turn left.

"Is that it?" Sky asked with a loud enough voice so I could hear him.

"I think so, yeah," I replied, and Sky accelerated again.

Soon, we could see a small track on our left, and Sky headed to it. I started paying attention now in case we had turned onto the wrong track and had to return to the bigger trail. But after fifteen more minutes, we didn't need to worry anymore. Wilkes' farm was looming right below us.

"We made it!" Sky cheered and almost drove us into a small ditch on our right. "S-Sorry..."

I laughed and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," I told him. "Get us down to the farm so we can finally get started with our project."

"Okay!" Sky answered happily.

I chuckled at his enthusiasm. I was really getting excited too.

Now we just had to set up our camp and find the owls.