Chapter 12

6 years ago

4 months before

"Cool, right?" Chris proudly grinned as he showed Carter and Josh the tent he had put up in his backyard, the ground covered with pillows and a lamp placed in the middle.

The two boys stared at the set-up in awe as they walked closer.

"Holy shit," Josh breathed out. "This is amazing! Did you really put this all up yourself?"

"Not by myself," Chris answered. "My sister helped me. We often go camping during the vacations." He went to sit into the tent on the pillows and Carter and Josh joined him. "I can't wait until I can go camping on my own without my parents. That would be great. Just me and my friends, in the middle of nowhere, sleeping underneath the stars in the great outdoors," he added.

Carter went to lay onto his stomach inside the tent, looking up at the endless mass of stars that dusted the night sky and listen to Chris' rambling. When he said it like that, camping with only friends did seem very exciting.

"In High School, we go camping in tenth grade, right?" Josh asked, making himself comfortable between the pillows. "It seems like a lot of fun."

"I think we are, yeah," Chris said. "But that's still three years from now. I wished we could go camping this summer already. Or at least with adults who leave us alone."

"That sounds like music to my ears," Josh smiled and nudged Carter with his shoulder. "You'd come too, right? If we go camping in tenth grade," he asked.

Carter looked up at Josh and gave him a smile. "Of course I'd come. I wouldn't want to miss that for the world."

"Promise?" Josh smirked and laid his head onto one of the pillows, glancing up at Carter with playful blue eyes which were almost covered by his blond bangs.

Carter nodded his head and rested his head onto his arms. "Promise."

Now

Despite it already being autumn, the weather was still warm and sunny, despite the weather forecast being rainy at the end of the day. Paxton's plan to get Chris and Melanie together had already started. Chris had picked Melanie up with his car to drive her to the beach where they had met up. Carter told them, according to Paxton's plan, to meet up right in front of the watchtower for the picnic, but they were actually near the docks, which was the all the way at the other end of the beach. To get back to them was going to take a while. Enough time for Chris and Melanie to, as Paxton called it, "create an emotional bond". Carter just hoped for Chris that Melanie shared his feelings.

In the morning, Carter's mother had surprised him by having decorated the entire living room and kitchen, having bought a birthday cake for him as well, which he'd share with his friends in the evening as desert. He figured most eighteen year olds would find it old-fashioned to be surprised like that for their birthday, but he thought it was really nice.

Paxton and Josh had helped set up the blanket and everyone had brought something to eat as well. Alyssa had baked cookies, Paxton had brought sandwiches from a bakery in Hayland, and Josh had brought the drinks. Apparently Chris and Melanie had also brought other snacks with them.

"To Carter!" Paxton said and raised his beer bottle, "For still being one of our best friends, even after he's been gone for five years! Our love for you is timeless." He took a swig of his beer after the small speech, causing a happy smile to form on Carter's mouth. Alyssa and Josh also raised their bottles and took a sip before Carter did the same.

"Shouldn't we do this when Chris and Melanie are here, though?" Alyssa asked.

"Nah, those are going to be gone for a while. I swear, if this doesn't have any effect on their relationship development, I'm giving up," Paxton replied.

"Maybe you should focus some more on your own love life, instead of someone else's," Alyssa said and Paxton narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well, for your information, I managed to get Kelsey's number. So my love life is just about to begin, thank you very much," Paxton huffed.

Carter had no idea who Kelsey was but the entire conversation made him chuckle. Alyssa and Paxton always had a love/hate relationship. They had been this way ever since Middle School. He was glad to see that at least that hadn't changed.

Carter gave a glance at Josh, who was holding a bottle of soda and looking out at the ocean in front of them.

He wanted him to be happy again, and to be his true self without hiding who he really was, though he wasn't sure how he could make that happen. The only lead he had at the moment was the drinking problem of his father. But that couldn't be the only reason for Josh's change, could it? His eyes dropped to the sand underneath the blanket they were sitting on, hearing Paxton's and Alyssa's chattering in the background. He saw Alyssa's hand placed on top of Josh's, their fingers folded together and he wondered what that must feel like, having your fingers being intertwined with someone else's.

After a while of drinking, talking and eating, Carter saw Melanie and Chris approaching from afar.

"There they are," he said, waving his arm around for them to see.

"Are they holding hands?" Paxton asked and whipped around to see his friends, furrowing his eyebrows when he noticed the distance between them, and the way they appeared to be arguing about something

"I don't think your plan worked," Josh said.

Though when Melanie and Chris were close enough, it became clear that they were laughing about something instead of arguing, occasionally swinging closer to each other. They waved back at the rest of their friends when they saw them sitting.

Paxton leaned closer to Josh and said, "What did you say?" with a proud smirk. He raised his beer bottle and looked up at the approaching duo. "Oi! You two lovebirds want a drink?! It was about time that you two showed up!"

"Oh shut up," Melanie said, still laughing about whatever Chris had told her. She went to sit down next to Alyssa and looked at Carter before giving him a tight hug. "Happy birthday!"

Carter hugged her back. "Thanks. Glad you two made it. What took you so long?"

"Well," Melanie said, letting go of Carter so Chris could hug him and congratulate him with his birthday, "Paxton told us that you guys were sitting right in front of the watchtower. When we called him to ask where you guys were, he told us you had changed your plans and went to sit here."

"Sorry, my bad," Paxton said. "I forgot to tell you guys."

Chris shook his head and also grabbed a bottle of beer from the cooler they had brought along. "Sure," he said, his voice hinted with sarcasm.

+++

A few hours had passed, and slowly but surely, grey clouds were starting to gather in the horizon, drifting closer until they were above the shore and blocked the sun rays from hitting the earth's surface.

"Guys, it's not that I don't like being here, but I think we should pack our stuff and get to Carter's house soon," Chris said and he looked up at the sky. The lack of sun and sudden strong wind caused the temperature to drop as well and it was starting to get rather chilly.

"I'm with Chris," Alyssa said and got up. "How about we just get everything into Chris' car and then go to Carter's house?"

"That could work, but my cooler needs to go back to my boat, which is right here," Josh said and pointed to the docks over his shoulder with thumb. "I can carry it back to my boat and meet you guys at Carter's place," he added.

"I'll help you," Carter said and also got up, helping to fold the blanket. He turned to the rest of his friend and said, "My mother will let you guys in."

"Wait, I could also help carrying it," Alyssa offered.

"Alyssa, you barely have any strength in your arms," Paxton huffed, gathering the empty bottles. "Just let them do it. You can carry the blanket or something."

Alyssa gave an audible, grumpy sigh and rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said, giving Josh a quick kiss on his lips before following the others.

Carter felt a twitch of jealousy going through him at the sight, though he quickly shook it off. He grabbed one of the handles of the cooler and Josh grabbed the other one before they lifted it up and started to walk. He wondered if Josh felt anything, kissing Alyssa. Was he also in love with her, or was he starting to fall in love with her? Carter bit his lip at the thought, knowing he shouldn't be thinking about things like that but he couldn't help it. Even though love can be amazing, it can at the same time be just as cruel.

It was then that a few, small raindrops fell from the heaven, hitting Carter on his nose and cheek. "We need to hurry," he told Josh and they started to walk a little faster.

"Come on, we're not made of sugar, are we?" Josh said, even though he also increased his pace of walking.

The raindrops started to come down faster and harder, creating a mist of water all around them. The boys started to run over the sand at that point, glad when they were finally on the wood of the dock after a while. The rain was drenching their clothes and hair, and Carter cursed under his breath at the cold.

"Get in, get in!" Josh called out after they had climbed onto his boat, which had gotten quite slippery due the rain. He opened the hatch door and let Carter climb in first, handing him the cooler before also getting in himself and closing the door above him.

Both Carter and Josh were completely soaked, and it looked as if they had just taken a shower with their clothes on. They both stared at each other, a little out of breath, before they burst out into laughter at how stupid the situation was.

Carter ran a hand through his wet hair and laughed while looking up at Josh, whose hair had fallen flatly over his forehead and dripped water down onto his face.

"Jesus Christ, man," he said and looked down at his clothes.

"What did you say about not being made of sugar?" Carter chuckled and looked at his sleeves, which were dripping water onto the flooring of the flooring of the boat. The only thing that had stayed remotely dry were their jeans.

"I didn't say anything," Josh snickered before he walked off to one of the doors behind the ladder. He returned with two towels and handed one to Carter to dry his hair with. "Hold on," Josh said before he left again. "You can borrow a sweater of mine. I'm not going to let you keep your wet shirt on."

Carter looked up, rubbing the towel over his hair. "You don't have to," he said. "It'll dry."

"Don't be ridiculous," Josh said and returned with two sweaters, handing one to Carter as well. "You'll get sick."

Josh placed the other sweater onto the counter of the kitchenette and reached down before pulling off his shirt.

Carter's eyes were fixated on the other male as he stripped himself of his soaked shirt, taking in his now bare back. He watched as his shoulder blades moved underneath the smooth skin as he grabbed the towel again to continue drying his hair off.

When Carter realized that he was blatantly checking the other out, he quickly shot himself out of his daze and walked up to the table to place the sweater he was given on. His arms grabbed the hem of his shirt before pulling the soggy fabric over his head and placing it on the table as well, feeling a lot better without the wet shirt sticking to his cold skin. He looked at the sweater, knowing it was probably going to be a bit too big for him. Carter bit his lip before he carefully looked back over his shoulder again, trying to get another look at Josh. Though upon looking, he saw Josh staring back at him already and he felt his cheeks flaring up.

He looked away again and cleared his throat, wondering why Josh was also looking at him; there wasn't that much to see. "Sorry... do I look weird?" he asked, cursing at himself in his mind for sounding nervous. "I know I don't have big muscles or anything." He had tried working out to get a more athletic looking body, but it didn't really improve that much.

"No..." he heard Josh's voice behind him. Carter looked over his shoulder again and saw Josh had looked away again, holding his sweater up. "...You look good."

That comment almost instantly created that familiar, wonderful yet irritating feeling within Carter's stomach and he felt heat going through his face and neck, quickly pulling the sweater on.

As expected, it was a little large for his body, but it was warm and soft. And most of all, it had Josh's scent. He grabbed the towel again to dry his hair some more and turned around to see if Josh had already pulled his sweater on.

Josh was just busy pulling it over his head and letting it fall over his torso and waist, before glancing back at Carter. Upon seeing that his sweater was large on Carter's upper body, a smile tugged on the corners of his mouth and he rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly looking a bit shy.

"I have an umbrella," Josh said. "We can use it and walk back to your house. Good plan?"

Carter nodded, enjoying the fact that he could pull the sleeves up all the way over his hands. It felt nicely warm.

Josh grabbed the umbrella placed in the corner of the kitchenette before climbing back up the ladder to go outside, and Carter hoped it wasn't too noticeable that he was still blushing.