"So, are you guys riding smooth now?" Rick asked, leaning on my shoulder as I labored over a slice of bread.

I purposely stepped back on his foot, causing him to grunt in pain and move away from me. "No," I said. "We're just back to normal."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rick asked, rubbing his foot with his other foot.

Rowen was shopping in town at the moment, so he wasn't at the cabin with us. He'd recruited Rick to watch after me while he was gone. He wouldn't let me come with him because he wanted me to 'get some rest' as he put it. However, I couldn't have been more rested, or more annoyed to be cooped up with a babysitter like I was some sort of child.

As I spread the peanut butter on my toast, I replied, "It means we're back to normal. I'm just a seventeen-year-old boy and he's an adult man in his early thirties. No pedophilia involved."

Rick plopped down in a chair behind the counter of the kitchen and rested his chin in his hand, sulking. His attitude begged the question of who was really babysitting who. "That's boring," he said.

"Yeah, well, that's life," I retorted.

I passed him to limp into the living room with my plate of toast. Rick followed and sat next to me on the couch as I turned on the TV. For several minutes, the room was filled with the sound of my switching channels and munching on toast in silence before Rick spoke up again. "He didn't ask you out?"

Choking on my food, I put my plate on the coffee table and glared at him. "What are you talking about?" I coughed out, grabbing a tissue to clean up the food I had spit into my own lap. "Why would he ask me out?"

Rick rolled his eyes like it was obvious. "Because he likes you? Didn't the whole sex episode bring that fact into view for you?" he asked.

At the mention of the never-to-be-spoken-of incident, my cheeks lit up red. "He doesn't like me like that. He was just..." I found myself faltering. "He was feeling lonely, okay? Being drunk and alone can do that to you."

Rick chuckled at my blatant discomfort. "How would you know that? Aren't you a little young to drink?" he asked.

"Maybe. Aren't you a little single to be giving dating advice?" I shot back.

For the first time, Rick was left speechless, sputtering over his own words as I took my plate to the kitchen. Rick grabbed the remote off the coffee table and flipped through the channels. "Say what you will," he said. "I just wonder what you'll do when Rowen loses his cool again."

"Whatever..." I mumbled under my breath. However, after several minutes of cleaning my plate in the sink, I began to doubt my resolve. Moments of our evening in bed flashed behind my eyes. He had said he loved me... and he called me beautiful. Doesn't that mean he might like me? I dried my hands on a towel before returning to my place on the couch. Finally, I asked, "Are you sure?"

"Hm?" Rick glanced at me. He wasn't even being subtlely smug.

"Are you sure he likes me?" I repeated, feigning disinterest.

Rick turned down the TV's volume. "I'll tell you what," he proposed. "Why don't you ask him yourself and see what he says? I'm sure he'll be honest with you."

"What if I don't like the answer?" I asked.

Rick raised his shoulders slightly. "I guess you'll just have to cross that bridge when you come to it," he said.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door opening could be heard, and Rowen's voice rang out through the cabin. "Kevin! I'm home!"

Immediately following his declaration, he stepped into the living room, arms loaded down with grocery bags. I stood up quickly, suddenly feeling uncomfortable for talking about him so easily. "Need some help?" I asked.

I started to take a bag from him, but he held them away from me, frowning. "What are you doing? Why are you walking around?" His eyes darkened and he shot Rick a nasty glare. "I told you to keep him off his foot."

Rick and I glanced at each other; we ducked out heads in shame.

Rowen gave a frustrated sigh. "Go sit down, Kevin. I got the groceries," he said.

As he walked away to put take the groceries in the kitchen, I plopped back down on the couch, sulking. "I was just trying to help," I said. "I'm not an invalid."

"Rick! Get in here and give me a hand!" Rowen snapped from the next room.

Looking reluctant, Rick got to his feet. Before he left, however, he leaned down to my ear. "Don't forget to ask him," he whispered. I went to nod in agreement when Rick cried out in pain, rubbing his scalp. "Ow, ow, ow!"

Behind him, Rowen was standing with a menacing look. "Get away from him," he growled.

"Jeez, I wasn't doing anything..." Rick muttered. He massaged his scalp where Rowen had tugged on his hair. "We were just talking."

However, he gave no more protest and walked off towards the kitchen. Rowen shook his head as he ran a hand through his hair. Then, like a switch flipping, he smiled at me. "I'll be cooking dinner. You just sit tight."

"I wish you'd let me help," I said.

"Not a chance," Rowen told me. "You need to stay off your ankle if you ever want it to heal. The more you walk around, the longer you'll be recovering." He leaned towards me with that same, familiar smug expression. "You wouldn't want me to keep you here even longer, would you? Or is that exactly what you want?" he asked, teasing me.

Turning red, I tried to shove a couch cushion at him to get him out of my face, but he caught it away from me. I waited for another snarky remark, but he merely ruffled my hair and left me alone in the living room. I started flipping through channels again, trying to decide what I wanted to watch. As I sat there, however, I gradually became aware of hushed voices. I pretended not to hear them as I sat back on the couch, making it look like I was watching TV, but I lowered the volume to hear better.

"You know it's not a good idea to keep hiding it..." Rick was saying.

He and Rowen were standing side by side with their backs to me, cutting vegetables and putting them in a pot. They were just a bit too far away to hear perfectly and I had to strain my ears to make out what they were saying.

"What else can I do? If I say anything about it, it'll upset him," Rowen replied. "You saw what happened the last time he got upset. ...I don't want to do that again."

I frowned, getting up silently to walk towards the kitchen doorway. I had to be able to hear better.

Rowen dumped a diced tomato into the pot and grabbed another. "Summer is almost over. Once I take him back home, I'm going to start looking for a new house."

The words caught me so off-guard, I found my eyes widening of their own accord. Rowen was moving? When? Why? He had seemed so content in his house back home, and his cabin was a good get-away. What would make him want to leave?

I didn't get the answers to my questions before Rick was warning Rowen again about his rash decisions. "I don't think you understand how much that kid cares about you," he said.

While Rick's words were that of concern, Rowen's response was callous. "It's not safe for him anymore. I'm a danger to him and that's not what I want," Rowen answered.

I ducked below the bar top as Rowen turned around and walked to the sink to wash his hands. As he turned the water on, I slid down the wall, sitting on the floor. He was going to move away because I was in danger from him? We had talked about what happened; we had even decided on a course of action should something similar ever occur a second time. We both agreed that it never would, but still. What was so dangerous?

"At least don't wait until the last second to tell him," Rick urged.

There was an extended silence. "I probably won't tell him. It's better if he doesn't know," Rowen said.

Suddenly, upon hearing that, I was furious. What was his problem? I almost died. How scary can it be to hear he's moving away? Did he think I was head over heels for him and this break-away would be too much for me to handle? He was dead wrong and I'd prove it to him. I didn't love him. In fact, I'd make him tell me he loves me.

*******

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