-Sky-

"So... uhm..."

Max turned to look at me, but I had no idea what to say. We were still sitting next to the log, but neither of us had said anything after... after... we... kissed.

"Yeah..." Max had an awkward smirk on his face, and he tousled his long hair. "So..."

"So.... Yeah..." I muttered, feeling grateful that the darkness hid my crimson-red cheeks.

I looked at his lips for a short moment, but when he noticed it, I hurried to look away. A part of me was still in a deep shock after what had happened, and the rest of me couldn't believe it had happened. I was almost expecting to wake up and find out it was just a dream, but when the minutes passed and we both sat silently next to our campfire, it started to sink in.

Max kissed me. I kissed Max. We kissed. Kissed. Oh dear Mother Nature!

"So..." I spoke again, feeling restless and anxious and jittery and incredibly happy, but when I looked at Max again, I just froze.

"Let's not make this awkward," Max said when I couldn't continue talking. "Well, more than it already is."

I frowned and snapped out of my stupor. Of course it wasn't a big deal to him. He had probably kissed a lot of girls. And maybe guys too. I, on the other hand, had never been kissed.

"Y-Yeah," I muttered and cleared my throat. "It was just a kiss... No need to get silly over it..."

Max was probably laughing at me. Maybe it was just a prank? Maybe he was just teasing me... All those thoughts returned to me. Why would a god like Max kiss a geek like me? It didn't make any sense.

"Just a kiss?" Max repeated my words, and he was frowning too. "Well, okay..."

He sounded like he was disappointed. But why? I didn't have the nerve to ask him. I couldn't even look at him anymore. It was just a dream, anyway.

"You know what?" Max spoke almost angrily and continued, shaking his head, "No. I just... No. You've been flirting with me the entire day. You've been sending me all kinds of signals and giving me the impression that you're interested in me, and now you're saying it was just a kiss? No!"

I stared at him with wide eyes. I couldn't even think of anything to say, but I guess he didn't even expect me to speak.

"Was it really that bad? Because I can do better," Max said and grabbed my hand. "I can do a lot better if you'll let me!"

"What...?" that was all I could mutter, and Max's expression turned darker.

"Sky – I like you. A lot," he said sternly. "If you don't feel the same about me–"

"No!" I hurried to say. "I like you a lot too!"

"But the kiss was bad?" Max said, and it almost sounded like an accusation.

"No – it was amazing," I said with a tiny voice.

Max stared at me for a moment. Then, he let go of me and turned to look away, before he muttered, "You're not convincing..."

"Max – I really liked it. You're the one who said not to make things awkward," I spoke quietly.

"Well, I'm sorry I got silly over it," he mumbled.

And then it occurred to me that perhaps Max – the king of the school – was just as gawky as I was.

"Max," I spoke his name, enjoying the sound of it, and took his hand in mine. "I was just talking to myself."

He didn't look at me exactly, but somewhere at my feet, when he asked timidly, "What do you mean?"

"Well..." I said and scooted closer to him. "It was my first kiss. You know me – getting overly excited about stupid things..."

"I like it when you get overly excited," Max said, and I could tell that he was warming up to me again.

"No one likes it when I get overly excited," I mumbled.

"I really do like it," Max said and turned to look me in the eyes. "I think it's cute. You are cute."

"Yeah... Cute, like a little brother..." I sighed.

"No," Max said softly. "Cute, like I really want to kiss you."

I smiled shyly, looking at the ground. He squeezed my hand, and I gathered my courage to look at him. He was staring at me with a smile on his face. I forgot what we were talking about when I realized it was really happening. I was holding hands with him, and we really kissed. I kissed Max Peterson!

"So... Are we...?" I muttered and trailed off – I was too afraid to say it out loud just yet.

"Are we... We?" Max helped. "You did promise to go out with me."

"Yeah... I guess I did," I spoke, and my smile grew wider.

"So what do you want us to do when we go out?" Max asked.

I had no idea. I was more than happy to be there at the barn with him. I didn't need anything else. I had to look away from him, so I could think – my brain seemed to stop working whenever I looked at him – and I saw the male owl returning to the barn.

"Look!" I said quietly and yanked his hand in excitement. "He's back!"

I grabbed my camera and started recording the owls. The female seemed delighted when she took the rat her spouse had brought to the nest.

"Can you see them?" I asked enthusiastically and moved the camera so he could see the screen.

"Yeah," Max said.

We watched silently while the female ate, and soon the male took off again to find more food. When the mommy calmed down and started to sleep, I put down the camera, and turned to look at Max.

"This is the best project I've ever had," I told him.

"Definitely," Max said and brushed a lock of my hair away from my face. "I'm glad we made it here."

"All thanks to Luke," I smirked. "I thought he hated me."

"Nah – he's really awesome, once you get to know him," Max said.

"I guess," I nodded slowly and looked down at our intertwined fingers. "So you were flirting with me earlier."

"So you did notice?" Max chuckled. "Good, I thought I was really terrible at it."

"You could've just told me," I noted.

"I guess," Max said. "But I was afraid of your reaction. Troy is the only person who knows I'm bi, so it was terrifying... I had no idea what you would say, or do."

"I get that," I said. "That's why I didn't say anything either."

Max squinted his eyes at that point. "How long have you liked me?"

I blushed again and looked down. "Ever since I moved here..."

"Oh," Max said. "That was a few months ago."

"Yeah... I never thought you would be interested in guys, or... me," I said.

"You know, I think I've always liked guys, too," Max said slowly. "But, you were the first one who made me realize it."

"Really?" I asked shyly. "I thought you would choose someone like Troy... I'm not the best option..." I trailed off.

Max let go of my hand and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me gently against him. "You are the best possible option there is," he said tenderly.

"No, I'm not... I'm just a–"

He didn't let me finish my sentence. I forgot what I was saying when he pressed his lips on mine. I forgot everything. His lips felt hot and sweet on my own, and I felt happy shivers going down my back. I had tried to imagine how it would feel like to kiss him, but the reality was a thousand times better than anything I could've imagined. His scent filled my senses, and his body felt firm and warm in the cool night. His long hair tickled my neck, and his hand moved slowly up and down on my arm. Everything felt really amazing, but the best feeling was the soft touch of his lips on mine.

And when he ended it, I felt a little disappointed, but when he opened his eyes and looked at me, I felt happy.

"Should we go to sleep?" Max asked. "I think it's pretty late already."

"Okay," I breathed out with a stupid smile on my face.

Honestly, he could've asked if we should jump down from the top of the mountain and I still would've said yes. When he looked at me like that, I lost myself, and all common sense. I felt cold when he removed his hand from my shoulder, so he could help me up. Then he turned his back on me, releasing me from his spell, and my mind started working.

"We need to put out the fire," I said. "With my luck, we'll burn the whole place down if we don't."

Max laughed cheerily and turned to look at the small, dying fire. "How?"

"There should be a small bucket in my bag. There's plenty of water all around us," I said.

"Okay," Max said and kneeled down next to my bag. I realized too late that the bucket was probably something I definitely shouldn't let Max see. "This... This is adorable!" Max chuckled when he found it.

"Don't laugh!" I smiled. "It's really handy!"

Max pulled out the small plastic bucket from my bag. It was bright pink with pictures of ponies on it.

"I think my four-year-old cousin has one too," Max smirked. "I love it." I rolled my eyes, and he got up on his feet. Then he kissed my cheek. "It's the things like this why I fell for you," he whispered into my ear.

I bit my lower lip and wondered if I was ever going to stop blushing around him.

Max didn't let me help him put out the fire, so I just watched him scooping some water from the small, muddy puddles around our camp. I found it funny to see the adored jock of our school running around the camp with my pink children's bucket, slipping on the mud a few times, almost losing his balance.

"Do not tell Troy about this," Max chuckled when he finally returned to me. "He's never going to let me forget this if you do."

"I promise not to tell anyone," I said.

"Thanks," Max smiled.

"I'll just show the videotape," I smirked and showed him my camera.

"You recorded it?" Max asked with wide eyes.

"Perhaps," I smirked and stepped away from him when he tried to grab the camera.

"I didn't know you could be so evil," Max gasped dramatically. "Meanie!"

I laughed a little at his words, hoping he wasn't being serious.

Then, he started to smile too, and spoke, "Who am I kidding? There's not a single mean bone in your body."

"You don't know that!" I protested. "I can be mean too!"

"Really?" Max chuckled. "What's the meanest thing you've ever done?"

"Well," I began with a serious tone, "Once I poured some itching powder in Freddy's pajamas."

"Oh? Well, that's super mean," Max joked.

"I know, right?" I said proudly. "I did tell him before he put them on though."

Max laughed and stepped closer to me. "That's not how pranks work."

"I know. I just couldn't handle the pressure," I said. "I can't keep anything as a secret."

Max's smile trembled a little when he placed his hands on my sides. "What about this? Can you keep us a secret?" he asked quietly.

My smile faded away. I hadn't even thought about it.

"I... I will try," I told him. "I don't mind if people find out about me, but I understand if you don't want anyone to know."

"Thanks," Max said quietly. "I know it's a shitty thing for me to ask, but I'm not ready to come out yet... Troy knows, but he's the only one besides you."

I nodded. The suspicious part of me wondered if he was more concerned about keeping me as a secret than his sexuality. I did my best to shush that voice – why would Max want to go out with me in the first place if I was so embarrassing to be with? He could just pick someone else, someone who was worthy of him.

"Why me?" I asked silently. "I'm really not that special."

"Don't say that," Max said. "You are special. One of a kind. I love how real you are."

"Real?" I asked, feeling confused.

"Yeah," Max smiled. "You are who you are and don't try to act like someone else."

"Oh..." I muttered and looked down at my new, fashionable clothes and ruffled my new haircut anxiously.

"Okay, I have to admit," Max chuckled and leaned closer to whisper in my ear, "you do look hotter in those clothes."

I almost choked on my spit. He had obviously noticed I had tried to change my looks. I kind of hoped that he didn't know I did it for him.

"I'm so not hot," I muttered in embarrassment.

"But, you are," Max cooed.

I could feel him lowering his hand on my hip. I had no idea what he saw in me, but I didn't care that much at that moment. I was just happy that he was there, holding me in such an intimate way.

"You are so adorable," Max continued and pressed his lips on my cheek once more, before he continued softly, "And, I'm really happy you want to go out with me."

"Like there's someone who wouldn't go out with you," I said with a shy smile. "I just can't believe you asked me."

He smiled and hugged me. I still couldn't believe it. Max Peterson asked me out! He wanted to go out with me! Me! I almost fainted when I thought about it. I was so excited and happy and just unbelievably astonished about it.

"Can we go to sleep now?" Max asked and pulled away to look at me.

I nodded, and after making sure that the fire was completely out, we crawled into the tent.

"This doesn't look this big on the outside," Max said, admiring my baby-blue tent.

"You should see my dad's. You could fit six people in it," I said. "This is big enough for two."

"Too big if you ask me," Max said and winked at me.

"You are terrible," I chuckled.

"What? We might get cold," Max shrugged.

"Your sleeping bag is warm enough," I noted, taking off my shirt.

Max shook his head and started changing his clothes as well. I stole a few glimpses of his toned upper body, but when he started to undress his pants, I looked away. It was too cold for pajamas, so I had made Max bring warm sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt for the night, just like I had done. Once we had changed, I helped Max with his self-inflating sleeping pad.

"Just open the valves at the bottom corners," I chuckled when he stared at the pad.

He found the valves and opened them, and watched with wide eyes while the pad started to fill up with air. "Oh cool – it has a pillow!" he said enthusiastically. "Sort of."

I couldn't help but smile at him. I was so used to the camping equipment it was funny to see how amazed he was about a mattress. Max just stared at it as it was filling up with air. At the other end of it there was a thicker part, the "pillow", and once it was completely full, I told Max to shut the valves, so the air wouldn't escape while he slept.

"Okay, I never thought camping could be this easy," Max chuckled, opening his sleeping bag.

I was already inside my sleeping bag, getting ready to turn off the light. It was a combination of a flashlight and a lantern, and it was brilliant for camping.

"Do you think we got enough footage for the project?" Max asked, crawling into his sleeping bag.

"I think so, yeah," I said cheerily. "We were extremely lucky – we get to see babies!"

"That is awesome," Max said and turned to look at me.

I was about to start babbling about owls – again – but then Max took a firm grip of my sleeping pad with both hands, and pulled it right next to his. I let out a nervous giggle when my bed moved so suddenly, and he chuckled at my reaction.

"This is better," he said, snuggling closer to me.

I hid my smile behind my hands when he rested his hand on my side. It felt surprisingly heavy, but I loved the feeling. I loved everything about that day. Everything was just so amazing.

I was finally free to show him how I felt about him. It was liberating.

Max had a lazy smile on his lips, and we just stared at each other for a long, long time, without saying a word. I could see the colors of his eyes clearly in the bright LED light, and I was slowly melting away when he kept staring at me. I wanted him to keep looking at me forever and ever.

"I don't want this night to end," Max whispered. "I like this world of yours, and I don't want to go back."

"We can return here whenever we want," I told him. "This place will always be here."

"Unless this is just a dream," Max spoke.

"This isn't a dream," I said, inching closer to him.

He flashed a great smile at me and pulled me even closer. "Better not," he muttered and rested his head right next to mine. "If this is a dream, I'll still kiss you as soon as I wake up."

"You might need to explain this to that other me if you do so," I chuckled. "I freak out easily."

"Really?" Max uttered sleepily and closed his eyes.

"Really," I whispered.

"I need to remember that," he said and hugged me tightly.

I hesitated for a moment before I lifted my hand and placed it on his cheek. Max smiled widely, but he didn't open his eyes anymore. I smiled back at him, and closed my eyes too, enjoying his warm breath on my face.

What a day. What an amazing day.