-Sky-

I had always loved to be woken up by the singing birds. I always kept a window open in my room, so I could hear them. I was too tired to open my eyes just yet, and it took me a moment to realize that I wasn't in my room. The air was fresh and sweet and a little chilly, unlike in my own room.

I smiled when I remembered that I was camping with Max. I had the best dream about him, and in it, we even kissed! It must've been a dream – it would never happen in reality.

I let out a silent sigh of sadness and opened my eyes slowly. Max's face was just an inch away from mine. I let out a muffled squeal and slapped my hand over my mouth to keep myself quiet, but it was too late. Max moved a little and frowned before opening his amazing eyes.

"What was that?" he muttered sleepily with a frown.

"N-nothing," I said and blushed.

"You make the weirdest sounds..." Max said and smiled.

He stretched his body, and I stared at him with awe. I wanted to say something; I wanted to ask him if the kiss had really happened, but I didn't need to. When he was done with his stretches, he placed his hand on my side and pulled me closer.

"Good morning," he murmured tenderly with his low morning voice.

And, since I was such a smooth and confident person, I squealed again. Max chuckled at me and rested his head right next to mine. I was unable to think straight, and his closeness took my breath away. I had all kinds of emotions sparkling inside me, and I couldn't relax, even though it was the best place possible for me: in a forest, in his arms.

"Sky?" Max muttered after a while.

"Uh-huh?" I managed to utter.

"Is this all right?" his voice sounded worried, and he almost removed his hand, but I snatched it out of pure instinct.

"No! I mean yes! I mean..." I fell silent and blushed really, really hard. "I like this..."

Max's smile grew wider, and he pulled me even closer. "Yeah – I like this too."

I stared at him for a moment and then smiled as well. I still couldn't believe it all was real, and we really kissed. I truly loved it. I wanted to kiss him again, but I was a coward. Then again, I was really happy to just stare at him, and his beautiful eyes. Those eyes were the best thing I knew in this world, and it made me ridiculously happy to see him looking at me.

"I love your eyes," I whispered out loud, without meaning to do so.

My breathing stopped when I realized I just said it out loud. I was sure Max would laugh at my remark, and think I was weird and not worth it, and he would leave and...!

"I love yours too," he replied, and my panicking mind grew blank.

"No, you don't," I said. "My eyes are boring."

"No, they're not," Max said. "They are beautiful."

"No, they're–"

Max pressed his lips on mine so suddenly I forgot what I was saying. I was so surprised I didn't even kiss him back, and by the time I was sane enough to do so, he was already pulling away.

"You were saying...?" Max chuckled.

I opened my mouth, but ended up closing it shortly after. My tongue wasn't obeying me, and I feared I would only end up stammering something incoherent if I tried to speak. Max was smiling at me – at me! – and brushed my bangs away from my face.

"Just tell me if you feel uncomfortable," he said quietly, and his smile faded a little. "I have been waiting for this for some time now, and I don't know if I'm able to keep my cool."

"No – I – I feel the same," I said breathlessly. I couldn't believe my ears! Max Peterson, the Max Peterson, wanted to be with me! "Just do what you want, I don't mind."

Max bit his lower lip, trying to hold back his laughter. "You should be careful what you say."

"What do you mean?" I asked with a frown.

"Because," Max spoke and lowered his voice, "you don't know about all the things I would like to do with you. You might regret your words."

"You..." I muttered and blushed. "Now you're just teasing me."

"A little," Max smirked apologetically. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Sure," I hurried to say. "I promise not to tell anyone!"

Max smiled and looked away, and I felt cold when his eyes weren't on me. "I'm really nervous."

"Why?" I asked.

Max shrugged and laughed a little. "I don't know... It's so easy to be around you, but right now I feel like bursting, you know? I don't know what to do or say, and... You know?"

I had to nod, because that was exactly how I felt.

"Yeah... But you don't have to be nervous. I know how you feel," I said and gave him a smile when he looked at me again. "I mean, nothing has to change, right?"

"Right," Max nodded. "Except for the fact that I like you, and you like me."

"Yeah," I said, and I felt happy shivers running down my spine.

"And now I know you were flirting with me like there was no tomorrow," Max grinned.

"No, I wasn't," I groaned in embarrassment.

"I was pretty sure you were flirting with me, but I wasn't sure enough," Max said. "That's something I definitely don't want to change."

"You're teasing me again," I accused him.

"I'm quite serious," Max said. "Now that I know for sure that you are flirting with me, I can flirt back!"

I had to laugh at his words. I was actually surprised by myself. I thought everything would be awkward, and I wouldn't be able to think straight around him, but I was feeling braver than I thought I would. It really was easy to be around him.

But there was that one nagging thought I had.

"I still don't understand why you'd want to go out with me," I said quietly, not knowing if I really wanted to hear his answer.

"If you'd see yourself the way I see you, you wouldn't ask me that," Max replied.

"Oh," I muttered, and fell silent for a moment, but soon I couldn't take the serious atmosphere anymore, so I continued, "For a jock, you're pretty good with words."

"I'm not a jock!" Max laughed and pushed me away playfully. "I'm an athlete!"

"Well, I admit I'm a geek, so you should just accept that you're a jock," I joked.

"You're not a geek!" Max protested.

"Max. I brought a book about ants with me," I said.

"Is that why your bag is so heavy?" Max asked with a frown and grabbed my bag. "Good lord! Look at the size of this thing!" he continued with wide eyes when he pulled out the big, heavy book.

"I rest my case," I chuckled while Max sat up and opened the book.

"Gross..." he uttered when he stared at the page he had opened. It had a magnified picture of an ant's head on it. "So uh... You like ants?"

"I love everything about nature," I shrugged. "And I don't discriminate."

"I wish I had known that sooner," Max said, closed the book, and turned to look at me.

"Y-You mean... that... you don't want me to like ants?" I asked carefully.

"What?" he frowned. "No, I mean that if I'd known that you don't discriminate, I would have told you sooner about my feelings."

"O-Oh," I blushed.

Max stared at me for a moment before he looked down at the book. "I like the fact that you're so enthusiastic about nature," he spoke slowly, opening the book from another page. "It makes me want to learn more about it, too."

"Really?" I asked and almost choked in my enthusiasm. "I can teach you everything!"

Max flashed a great smile at me. "Okay – that there is why I fell for you. You are so adorable when you get excited."

"I hate that word," I muttered, and my excitement was gone. "I'm not adorable... I want to be... I want to be cool, and... and..."

"I think you're cool," Max said. "Why can't you be both? Cool and adorable."

"I'm not cool. You are cool. And only little kids are adorable," I pouted, knowing it only made me more childish.

Max shook his head in amusement. "I'm not cool," he said.

"Yes, you are," I told him.

"Yeah, I was so cool when I screamed at the baby bunnies," he laughed.

I had to bite my upper lip so I wouldn't start laughing. "Well, I know you were just surprised."

"Thanks," he chuckled, but then his smile faded away. "But no, seriously – I'm not that cool. I'm just... me."

"You are cool!" I sat upright and scooped right next to him to take his hands. "You are the coolest person I have ever met! You wear cool clothes and your hair is cool and you talk about cool stuff! You're so kind and funny and caring and you're in the football team too! And you are great at everything you do and... and you're so smart...!" I had to stop to catch my breath.

Max wrinkled his nose and gave me an uncomfortable smirk. "I'm not great at anything. I'm not smart – I just study too much. I'm not that good at football, but my teammates are, so they make me look better than I am. My mom doesn't let me cut my hair, and she buys my clothes, or Troy picks them for me."

I stared at him for a moment. "So... you're... just... like me?" I said in awe. "My mom buys my clothes too."

"So, if you think I'm cool, then you are cool too," Max said and squeezed my hand.

"No, I think we are dorks," I giggled. "Don't... tell anyone that my mom buys my clothes."

"If you promise to do the same," Max laughed.

"Deal," I smiled and took a deep breath. "Why doesn't she let you cut your hair?"

Max rolled his eyes. "Because she's so jealous and she'd love to steal them. Her words, not mine. But I kind of like them long so I'm letting them grow. I know she would let me cut them if I really wanted, but she wouldn't let me do it on a whim."

"I get that. I really like your hair," I said and hesitated for a moment, before I brushed my hand through his thick, brown locks. "It's so smooth, and it looks really good."

"Then I'm definitely not cutting it," Max said quietly.

I blushed and looked down, but he placed his hand under my chin and gently turned my head back up. This time I was ready when he slowly leaned closer and pressed his lips on mine. I felt all kinds of shivers going through my body when we kissed, and I was sure that I would never, ever get tired of kissing him.

When he pulled away, I was feeling breathless and dizzy, and I knew I had a goofy smile on my lips when I looked at him like the worst fanboy there was.

"You like to kiss a lot," I said the first thing that popped in my head, and cursed myself for not filtering my words. "Sorry, I just keep blurting things out without thinking..." I muttered in embarrassment.

"Don't be sorry. I think it's better to say what you want to say than just keep everything hidden. That's another reason I like you – you're so genuine and real," Max spoke sternly. "And yes. I do like to kiss a lot – I hope that's not going to be a problem," he added with a smirk.

"No," I hurried to say, shaking my head vigorously. "It's not a problem."

"Great," he said and kissed me again.

It was definitely not going to be a problem.

-Max-

We weren't in a hurry to get out of the tent. It was nice lying under the covers, listening to the lively forest around us, with Sky right next to me. And after establishing the fact that we were both so mature and cool...

"I won!" Sky giggled after yet another game of thumb war.

"I let you win," I smirked. "I have bigger thumbs than you, so I will always win if I want to!"

"Nuh-uh! It's because I have smaller thumbs that I keep winning!" Sky protested. "I'm quicker!"

Okay, we were just a couple of dorks, but that didn't mean that I hated it. On the contrary. I absolutely loved it. With Sky, I was being completely myself and enjoying everything about being a teenager. I didn't worry about my future, or if I ever would become a successful architect. There was just that moment, Sky, and thumb war.

"What was that?" I asked when I heard something outside of our tent.

"A bear?" Sky smirked, and I could tell he was joking.

"Don't tell jokes like that," I scolded him. "I'm a manly stud, but sometimes I might get a little jumpy."

Sky rolled his eyes, and I knew he wanted to mention Satan's little bunnies again, but he was sensitive enough not to.

"It's probably just another rabbit. Maybe it's the mommy of the pups!" Sky said and his eyes widened in enthusiasm.

God, I really loved how excited he got over the smallest of things. I really wanted to be more like him. I watched him getting up on his knees, and peering out of the 'window' – a small, square patch of clear plastic on the wall – gesturing for me to join him.

I got up on my knees and looked out, and it wasn't hard to find the source of the ruckus. There was something big and brown just on the other side of the log.

"Is that a deer?" I whispered.

"She's a white-tailed deer. Look down," Sky said, and I obeyed.

There were two fawns right next to our tent. I could've touched them if the canvas wasn't there in between us.

"Do they know that we're here?" I asked.

"Probably," Sky said. "But they are curious little devils."

"They are really cute," I said in awe and smiled.

"They really are," Sky cooed. "I wonder if they let me pet them."

"Sky – no. Their mommy won't be happy about it," I chuckled, but he was already crawling out of the tent. "Sky!" I whispered after him.

I turned to look out just in time to see the fawns taking a hasty step backwards when Sky peeked around the corner. They didn't run away, but they were clearly wary of him.

"It's all right, babies," Sky said with a tiny voice. "I'm your friend."

Like the fawns understood what he was saying. Or did they?

"What the..." I muttered when the little fawns stared at Sky's upheld hand, and after a few moments, the other one took a step towards him.

I held my breath, when Sky picked up a patch of fresh grass and offered it to the little baby, but I couldn't see them clearly from the window, so I gathered my courage and followed Sky out of the tent, and peered around the corner. The braver fawn was eating from Sky's hand!

I looked restlessly at their mom, who was minding her own business, before I inched right next to Sky.

"See? He likes us," Sky said slowly.

The other one was glaring at us suspiciously, but after a while, it looked like his curiosity won, and he walked closer to us.

"Amazing," I whispered, and offered my hand for the little guy to sniff.

The fawn took another step towards me, and I could feel his wet, cold nose brushing my fingers lightly. His fur was red with big white spots, and his eyes and ears were awfully big, but his legs were really tiny, making him the second most cutest thing I had ever seen. Sky being the first.

"Hey little guy," I cooed when the fawn looked straight at me. "Aren't you adorable."

I saw Sky turning to look at me, but when I turned to look back at him, he avoided my gaze and smiled at the fawn. My lord, he looked gorgeous when he smiled, with a little fawn almost sitting on his lap. He let Sky pet him, and they both seemed to enjoy the moment.

I could see how much Sky loved nature. He was a completely different person when we were in the middle of the forest. When we were at school or at the mall, he looked lost and timid, but there, in the middle of nature, he was at home.

And of course the little fawn liked him! Mine was still suspicious of me and didn't let me pet him.

"Do they bite?" I asked when that thought occurred to me.

"Well, they do have teeth," Sky smirked.

"Great. Please don't bite me," I told the fawn.

"They can't do much damage," Sky giggled. "But she could," he continued and pointed somewhere behind my shoulder.

I turned to look and saw the mommy deer frowning at me just three feet away. She didn't look happy.

"Oh crap," I muttered.

"Your mom is waiting for you guys," Sky told the baby deer. "You should go now."

And the freaking fawn listened to him! They both skipped to their mom, who was giving me the stink eye, and once their little family was reunited, they continued their way towards the trees. I just stared after them for a long time, unable to form a thought.

"You're like some kind of animal whisperer," I said to Sky when the deer had disappeared into the forest.

"No, I'm not," Sky chuckled. "It's all about staying calm."

"That was crazy," I said in awe and turned to look at the forest. "That was straight out of fairytales."

"They were already used to being around humans," Sky giggled. "They usually live close to the suburbs."

"Oh," I said. "I have never seen a deer this close."

"There's always the first time for everything," Sky smiled. "Are you hungry? I could eat some breakfast. And then we should start packing."

His voice sounded disappointed. I was disappointed too.

"We are coming back next weekend, right?" I asked.

"If you want to," Sky said.

"Of course I do! This was really great," I said with a smile.

He returned my smile and blushed. I really wished that he would never stop blushing like that. It was really, truly adorable.