-Max-

"Bro, are you listening?"

I snapped awake from my thoughts and turned to look over my milkshake. Troy was frowning at me on the other side of the table.

"Sorry, what?" I asked, pushing myself to sit up.

"You've been very absent for a few days," he noted. "Did something happen?"

I immediately shook my head. "I guess I'm just tired."

I was not going to tell him why I wasn't paying any attention to pretty much anything anymore. The reason for that was Sky. His sadness still bothered me. I'd been trying to decide if I should send him a message to ask how he was doing, but I was a coward, no matter how hard it was to admit.

The way we parted our ways yesterday was still haunting me. I had made him sad when I said I didn't have time to go camping with him every weekend. It was clear as day, no matter how hard he had tried to act like he was fine with it. I still felt like a scumbag because of it, and not just because I... I had feelings for him.

He had no one in this city. I couldn't even imagine what it was like to start my entire life from scratch in a place where I knew absolutely no one. And for some weird reason, he wasn't getting any friends. I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with him? He was such a nice, kind, sweet, amazing person! Was everyone blind?

"You're doing it again," Troy chuckled, and I forced myself out of my thoughts.

"Sorry..." I mumbled and sighed.

"What's going on? Seriously?" he asked again with worry in his green eyes.

"Nothing... I'm just..." I looked up at Troy, and I knew I could speak to him about it. "Isn't it odd that Sky still has no friends?"

"Your biology partner?" he asked. "Have you been thinking about him this entire time?"

"What? No, of course not," I said hastily, a blush creeping up on my cheeks. "I just... I feel bad for him, you know? He asked me about the camping thing yesterday and I told him I can't do it every weekend and he got sad about it, and I feel like a jerk, and... I don't know, I mean, I could go camping with him every weekend if I cut back a few hours of sleep. It's only for two months. And the guy still has no friends, and I just don't understand why!"

He blinked at me a few times, then laughed. "Yeah, I have no idea why he has no friends," he agreed.

"Right?" I sighed. "He really is a great guy. It's so refreshing to hang out with him. He's so... real. Everyone else seems fake compared to him. And he actually cares."

"Uh-huh," Troy nodded. "He does seem like a nice guy."

"He is," I muttered. "I can get everything done and still go camping with him every weekend, right?"

"Or you could give yourself some slack and take it easy with studies for a few months. You need to learn to relax a little. I'm sure you can leave something out of your daily plans and have enough time for Sky and sleeping."

I thought about his words. "Well, I guess... I've been studying a bit too hard lately..."

"A bit?" he repeated and laughed. "Come on! Take some time off and go have fun with Sky! Hell, take me with you once in a while because camping actually sounds awesome."

"There was a snake at the barn," I told him, and he gave me an ugly sneer.

"An actual snake?" he asked, looking disgusted, tousling his dark red hair.

"Uh-huh, and it was huge. Probably could've swallowed me whole," I told him.

"Yeah, no, you have fun camping. I'll stay indoors," he said, laughing.

I chuckled too. "He promised to keep me safe, so I should be all right."

"I've heard he knows everything about nature, so I'm sure you'll be just fine. And I hope you'll like camping, or at least get used to it," Troy said, gulping down the rest of his milkshake.

"Well, it's only for two months," I shrugged.

He gave me an odd look. "You sure about that?" he asked with a smirk.

I frowned at him. "It's for the project, remember? We only need to do it for two months."

"Ohh, right," he said, nodding slowly. "Only for two months."

"You're being weird," I snorted, but he just laughed at my words.

*****

The weekend was boring. The time went by way too slow, so when the Monday morning finally came, I couldn't have been happier. All I'd managed to do over the weekend was my homework, but besides spending some time with Troy, that was about it. Whatever I was doing, I always ended up thinking about Sky.

When the bus came, I practically jumped in. I was eager to see Sky again, but for my disbelief and disappointment, he wasn't there. I walked past his usual seat that was now empty and my mood dropped as I continued my way to my friends.

"Max! What's up, bro?" Troy gave me a wide smile.

I tried to return the smile while I sat down next to him, but I guess I failed. I didn't even reply to any of them. I was still too busy thinking about Sky and feeling bad because he wasn't there.

"Someone's cranky..." I heard Luke muttering, and they all turned their attention to me.

"It's not normal for you to hate Mondays," Troy noted, giving me a smirk. "I thought you'd be happy since you get to see all your friends."

"I'm just tired," I told him.

"And the universal translation for 'I'm just tired' is that something is definitely wrong," Troy said. "My girlfriend said that when she was feeling down."

"I really am tired, seriously," I told him. "I didn't sleep almost at all last night."

It was a lie, but I wasn't going to tell them I was feeling bad because Sky wasn't coming to school that day. I'd spend the entire weekend waiting to see him, and the possibility of him not showing up hadn't even crossed my mind.

"Uh-huh," Troy uttered with raised eyebrows, but thankfully, he didn't continue asking questions.

When the bus arrived at school, I followed my friends outside, trying to recover from my disappointment. I didn't want anyone to think that there was something wrong with me. I couldn't tell them about the feelings I had for Sky. Being bi-sexual was something that even a popular guy like me couldn't just blurt out.

"Did you do your homework? I couldn't get the number eight in that math assignment right–" Troy spoke, but I wasn't listening to him anymore.

I saw Sky. At least I thought it was Sky. He was getting out of a car at the parking lot, and I stopped to stare at him.

He was wearing black jeans and a mossy-green hoodie with black decorations, and it hugged his figure perfectly. His blond hair was shorter now, hanging partly in front of his eyes. I swear, the sun was shining upon him like God himself was watching over him, illuminating him with warm, golden light.

He took a few steps away from the car, but then he suddenly turned around and hurried back, opened the door, and grabbed his backpack from the front seat.

"Max?" I heard Troy calling my name, but I couldn't take my eyes off Sky.

I had seen Sky as a cute boy, and he still was, but the clothes he was now wearing... His old clothes had completely hidden the fact that he had a smoking hot body. When he was wearing his new, tight clothes, I could see his nice set of thighs and a perfectly round butt.

"Max? Max! Where are you going?" Troy yelled after me when I started walking towards Sky without even noticing it.

Sky spotted me, and as soon as our eyes met, he looked down at the ground. When I stopped right next to him, he peeked at me, blushed lightly and turned to look away again.

"You – you look..." I tried to find the right words without sounding absolutely gay. "I like your new haircut," I managed to mumble.

"Oh? You don't think it's weird?" Sky asked shyly, and I had to fight back my urge to kiss him.

He truly was a perfect combination of cute and hot, and I knew I was being gayer than ever.

"I think it looks really great on you," I said with a smile, and built up some courage to move his hair away from his eyes.

Even his hair felt soft and cute against my skin. I wasn't sure if something could feel cute, but if it was possible, then Sky's hair definitely felt cute.

"My mom took me shopping on Saturday..." Sky muttered and fiddled with his sleeve. "I don't care about clothes, but Freddy said I should wear these."

"You look good," I said before I could stop myself.

Sky looked up at me, and his eyes were sparkling again. I couldn't help but smile when he looked at me like that. It was like he was the sun now, shining his light on me.

"We're going to be late," someone spoke, and I turned to look at a guy who looked a lot like Sky.

I hadn't even seen him standing right next to us with a girl who had massive hair.

"This is my brother," Sky muttered. "And his girlfriend, Stacy," he pointed at the girl who was with them.

"Did you miss the bus?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sky giggled a little.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Freddy smirking at us. When I turned to look at him, he hid his smile and grabbed his girlfriend's hand. "We'll give you guys some privacy. And Sky? I think you nailed it," he said with a grin.

"Shut up..." Sky hissed and practically pushed him away.

Freddy laughed cheerily, and he and his girlfriend started walking towards the school.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"He's just messing with me," Sky murmured. "I think we should go too, or we will be late."

"Okay," I said, and followed him.

"Max! Bro! Wait up!" Troy yelled and ran to us. "Jeez man..." he sighed and looked at Sky. "Wow, is that really you, Sky?"

Sky blushed again and looked at the ground. I was still staring at Sky when Troy looked at me. I could see he was about to say something, but I guess he changed his mind.

"So, Sky? I haven't had the opportunity to talk with you yet, but Max here has told me a lot about you," Troy spoke to him.

"He has?" Sky said and looked at me again.

"Yeah," Troy chuckled. "I heard you like animals. You know, I once had a turtle. I liked that old backpack of yours."

"You did?" Sky said with an enthusiastic voice and turned to look at Troy.

I turned to look at him as well and nodded as a thank you. Troy patted my shoulder shortly and then turned his attention back to what Sky was saying. There was a reason why Troy was my best friend. He was kind to others, and he clearly already knew I liked Sky's company, so he wanted to make Sky feel welcomed in our little group. There was nothing I couldn't talk about with Troy. I wasn't sure what he thought about gays, but I hoped that someday, when I'd find the courage to tell him, he would accept it and keep it a secret.

Once we were inside the school, Sky turned to look at me.

"I need to go get my books from my locker. I'll see you later?" he spoke with a tiny voice, his expression turning sad.

"We have the next class together, right?" Troy spoke before I could even open my mouth. "We'll wait for you at the door."

Sky immediately smiled. "Okay! I'll be fast!" he said and dashed away.

Troy chuckled and turned to look at me. "You seem happier now," he said with a smirk.

"You can't say he doesn't have that effect," I said vaguely as I started walking towards our classroom.

"He does bring a smile to one's face," Troy chuckled and nudged me. "Yours in particular."

"I don't know what you mean," I said nonchalantly.

"Bro. I know you like him. Like really like him," Troy said. "And I'm cool with it, so you don't have to pretend that you're not g–"

"Don't say that out loud," I hissed quietly with a warning tone.

"–g-going to enjoy your project."

"Nice save," I chuckled, but then sighed. "It doesn't matter since I can't do anything about it."

"Why not? He likes you," Troy said.

"As a friend," I sighed, as if the word 'friend' was a profanity.

"Well, maybe you're wrong," Troy spoke. "I can't think of anyone who wouldn't want to go out with you."

"Shut up. I'm not that special," I said.

"Well, you're the only one who thinks that way, my friend. My best friend in the whole wide world," Troy cooed and tried to hug me.

"Oh God, stop that," I said, but I had to laugh when he tried to give me a kiss. "You want to be my friend only because you get to bask in my glory."

"True. And I get all the girls you turn down. It actually makes sense now," Troy chuckled. "I've been wondering why you're still single."

"And it is obvious why you are still single," I joked.

Troy gave me a slap on the back of my head, but he was laughing too. We stopped next to our classroom, and it only took a minute before I saw Sky running towards us.

"And here he comes, your future husband," Troy muttered in my ear with a cheery voice.

"Stop that," I muttered. "I'm serious. It's never going to happen."

"I wouldn't bet my money on that," Troy said. "Sky! You made it!"

Sky smiled at us when he stumbled to a halt just before our teacher opened the door. When we walked in, Troy asked Sky about his favorite animal. Dogs, apparently. I had a small smile on my lips when we walked to our usual desks, and Sky sat down in front of us. He and Troy were still talking about dogs when the class started.

It felt really good that Troy accepted me the way I was. I wasn't even surprised because I'd known him for years and knew he would be cool with it. What I did find surprising was that he had realized it right away... Though, he did know me just as well as I knew him, and I was relieved he wasn't making a big deal out of it.

Like coming out as bi was completely normal... It truly was encouraging. It meant the world to me to know that there was at least one person who would stay by my side. I knew I'd need a friend to talk to in the future. Someone I could talk to about Sky, how cute and adorable he was.

And how much it hurt that I couldn't be with him. I'd never be able to tell Sky how I felt about him, and I was sure my crush on him would soon turn into a painful heartache since it already was painful to see him, but not be able to touch him.