Thankfully, my mother had fallen asleep last night so I didn't have to face anyone in my family until the next morning. Because Diego is moving out today, we're all giving a helping hand to get his stuff into my dad's truck. I made the decision to wear a grey turtleneck and some black jeans with my grey boots. I tried to look like I was dressing for autumn to avoid suspicion.

"Nice shirt," Diego whispers from beside me as I rest against the hood of my dad's car.

"All set?" my father blurts, catching us off guard.

"Yes, sir," Diego replies from beside me. I look in the backseat to see Diablo settled in his cage. He's already whining. "You should say bye to him. I think he's going to miss you."

I roll my eyes but approach the backseat of my dad's car. I pull open the door and place my hand on the grates of the cage. Diablo licks my fingers excitedly, barking and wagging his tail. I'm sure if the cage allowed for it, he'd be looping around in circles. I whisper a quiet goodbye before closing the door, listening as he goes from excited barking to anxious whining.

I look to find Diego putting on his helmet, preparing to ride the motorcycle back to his house. "Do you want to come with?" my dad asks.

"Huh?" I say as I turn to look at him.

"I don't think I can deal with that dog's whining," my dad replies with a quick shake of his head. "Besides, Diego's going to be alone at his house unpacking everything. He could use some help."

"Um, okay..." I trail and Diego quirks an eyebrow as he watches me get into the car with my father. He puts his helmet on and follows behind us as we drive in the direction of his house. 

"You two have become close, huh?" my dad asks and I look at him a bit surprised.

We were pretty close last night. "Yeah, you can say that."

"I thought he'd become friends with Calum," my dad replies as he nods slowly.

"I think we just have a lot in common," I explain.

"You don't like him right?" he inquires, taking me by surprise yet again. "Like a crush, right?"

I begin to cough as I look at my father. "What?" I ask.

"You don't have a crush on him, right?" he repeats himself. 

"No, dad, he's my friend," I lie.

"Yeah, I thought that. He's not good enough for you either way," my dad says dismissively and I furrow my eyebrows.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I all but snap.

"It's nothing personal against him. It's just that nobody is. I'm your dad; I'm never supposed approve of anyone you date," he further clarifies. "I actually like him. He's a good kid. I mean, he doesn't seem like your type anyway."

"And what do you think my type is?" I ask my dad with a raised eyebrow.

"Boys-" my dad starts before stopping, "-people who like school and books and stuff."

I furrow my eyebrows at him. I think my mom convinced my dad that I'm gay. I squint my eyes at my dad. "Okay..." I say, unsure of how to go about correcting him. I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it. No matter how many times I tell my mom that I like boys, she always nods at me and assures me that it's okay if I don't.

"Am I right?" he asks and I shrug.

"Sure," I reply with a sigh as I turn to look out the window.

"You know you can tell me and your mother anything," my father starts and I look at him. "We love you a lot."

"I know, dad," I reply, growing irritated. You don't date for nearly 17 years and this is what you get out of it. They can really just outright ask me instead of hinting at it and beating around the bush.

"So how was your date last night?" my dad continues to inquire.

"Fun..." I mumble, lost in my thoughts. Only seconds later do I realize what he'd just said. His head practically snaps in my direction at my casual response. "It wasn't a date, though."

"Are you sure?" my dad asks with furrowed eyebrows.

I mean if we're talking about my actual night, I wasn't sure if it was a date until I was sure it was a date. "I thought you said 'how was your night last night?' I wasn't really listening," I excuse and my dad nods, though I can tell he doesn't quite believe me.

"Like I said, Ri, you can tell me anything," he repeats and I roll my eyes so hard I fear they won't return to their rightful place.

We pull into Diego's driveway and start unloading his items. He follows shortly after, parking his bike in the driveway. It's silent as we drag his belongings onto the porch. I opt out of lugging suitcases and bags inside and am put on Diablo duty. I sit beside his cage, letting him lick my fingers through the bars as I wait for them to return downstairs. A few sneezes later, I stand up and look between my Dad and Diego.

"If you need anything, and I mean anything, you know where we live. If you're ever hungry or just want a place to hang out, you know where the spare key is," my dad tells Diego.

"Thank you," Diego says awkwardly, unsure of how to react. His eyes are analyzing the paved driveway as though he'd never seen it before.

"Do you mind if Orion sticks around?" my dad asks and he breaks his gaze from the ground to look from me to my dad.

"Not at all," Diego says, repressing the urge to smile. "I do need a hand unpacking and then we can go to work together"

"On that motorcycle? No thank you," my father retorts.

"No, my dad left his car in the garage..." Diego trails as he points over his shoulder, realizing that he'd just sold himself out. His thumb curls back into his finger as he presses his fist to his mouth. He's definitely not supposed to be driving his dad's car.

"Is he okay if you drive it?" my father asks with a knowing smile and Diego grins widely. My dad gives a hearty laugh as he nods. "I'll turn a blind eye if it means not having to waste my lunch break on this one." He nods at me and I roll my eyes. "I have to get going but remember, we're always here if you need us."

"Thank you for everything, sir," Diego replies and my dad nods before getting into his truck and pulling off.

"Ugh," I groan as I watch him drive down the road.

"He's just letting you hang out here with me alone?" Diego asks as he let's Diablo out. He compacts the metal cage and lifts it.

"My parents think I'm gay," I tell him and he gives me a slightly confused look.

"Like seriously?" he asks and I nod. "Why?"

"I never had boyfriends and I rarely had crushes growing up. I used to have this thing for one of the older girls on our street but it was only because I thought she was super cool. I didn't like her, obviously; I just wanted to be her friend but my parents thought differently. When I was younger, I wore boy clothes because they were more comfortable. Clothing has little to do with sexuality but middle aged parents don't register that. But I don't know; I guess those are potential reasons why," I trail. 

"Wow..." he says as he opens the door to his house. Diablo races into the house, nails tapping rapidly, and practically leaps on the couch. "Do you think they'd be surprised if they found out about how you seduced me last night?"

"I didn't seduce you!" I blurted as I grew red in embarrassment.

"Oh really?" he asks in shock.

"No!" I respond as I glare at him. He reaches out and puts his finger under my chin and imitates what I did last night. "Stop it!" I slap his finger away and cover my face with my hands. He laughs loudly as he enters the kitchen.

"Would you like something to drink?" he calls out and I reply negatively as I examine the pictures on the wall. They're of him when he was a baby and a toddler. His head was a little too big for his body but other than that, he was a cute kid. I giggle at the picture of him with a huge, puffy life vest on.

"Sage likes that picture too," he says from behind me, catching me by surprise. I take a picture of the photo before turning to look at him. "What?" he asks and I point upstairs. "Oh, you want to go to my room. Got it." He turns and leads the way.

"Not like that," I complain from behind him and he laughs again.

We get to his room and I collapse on his bed, watching as he starts unpacking his suitcases. "So..." he attempts. "It's tomorrow."

"I'm aware," I reply.

"So are we going to talk about it?" he asks. "I don't know about you but I had time to think about it."

"I did," I tell him.

"Lay it out for me then," he replies. 

"You already know that I initiated it. I wanted it. I got it. I enjoyed it," I start and he looks at me and nods, listening intently. "But...I think we're better as friends."

"Why?" he says, surprising himself. "Never mind, you don't have to explain yourself." I decide to answer anyway.

"I don't have time for a relationship or anything like it. I have hours of homework a day. I work all the time. The only time I spent with you was when we were doing homework, driving to school, or you sneaking into my room at two in the morning when I was supposed to be asleep. You saw it firsthand. It wouldn't be fair to you," I confess and he looks at me and sighs.

"Okay," he replies as he stares at my hands.

"Diego..." I trail.

"I get it," he tells me. "I respect it. I do. School comes first."

"Yeah..." I say awkwardly.

"But last night, you mentioned there being a next time. I just want to know if that was true and if I'll be able to look forward to that..." he says with a playful grin on his face.

"I'm putting on music now, Diego," I say as I open the app on my phone. Seconds later, we're submerged in a loud room but I'm sure both of us are too consumed with our thoughts to even think about listening.

+++

Diego pulls up to the bookstore, allowing the car to idle. "Have you talked to Diana yet?" he inquires and I know what he means by that. Have you told her about last night?

"Nope," I respond as I fix my name-tag onto my sweater. 

"I'll let you do that then. I have a feeling she's going to be interested," Diego responds and I look at him with narrowed eyes. "What?" He looks at me in confusion.

"Does Elena work today?" I inquire. Is he secretively blowing me off to spend time with her?

He gives me a weird kind of smile, one that's satisfied but also amused. "Not until, like, five," he answers.

"Okay," I say, perkier now that I have that information. "Have a fun day at work."

"I'll see you on your break," he responds and I climb out of the car and head towards the bookstore. 

"Why are you wearing a turtleneck? It's like 70 degrees out," Diana asks as soon as I step foot behind the register.

"Well," I start. "You know how Diego and I hung out last night?"

"Yeah," she replies, growing interested. 

"Don't freak out," I warn her as I pull down the turtleneck to reveal the hickey. She does not take my advice and shrieks loudly. She quickly covers her mouth, getting a look from one of our other coworkers who's preparing to clock out. 

"Oh my gosh. What'd you guys do? How far did you go with him? Was it good?" I allow her to spew her questions before making an attempt to answer them. 

"We went to a drive in movie and we only made out. It was very good," I explain as I nod at her.

"So what does this mean about you two? Are you, like, dating now or?" she asks and I sigh.

"Friends," I tell her.

"Friends? What the hell?" she snaps and I glance at her. "You just make out with your friends?"

"Diana..." I start and she continues. I lock eyes with a familiar face beside a bookshelf not too far away and before I can tell Diana to cool it, she's going off on a loud rant.

"No, Orion. You like Diego. Diego likes you. What's stopping you?" she retorts. "You need to just lady up and do something about it. Stop being scared of-"

"Diana," I restate firmly as I glare at her. She stops talking and turns around to see what my eyes are caught on.

"Oh...hey J.D.," she says calmly as she waves at him. He smiles awkwardly and slowly approaches us.

"Am I interrupting?" he asks as he rests his hands on the counter.

"No, I was just about to go organize books anyway," Diana excuses herself and I refrain from asking her not to. I really hope he didn't hear any of our conversation but realistically, he did. We both watch as Diana scurries away and into the bookshelves.

"Hey," I greet him with an uncomfortable smile.

"Hi," he replies with a smile of his own, except his appears hurt. "How are you?"

"I'm...okay," I answer. "And you?"

"I'm good," he answers me. He twists his mouth before continuing. "I know...I know it's not my business but are you and Diego..."

"Kind of...but not really. It's confusing," I admit.

He nods as he looks at me. "You could've just told me that, you know..." he trails as he scratches the back of his neck.

"I wasn't exactly sure about it at the time," I confess. Awkwardness quilts the air and I look hopefully towards the door for a customer.

"Well, I hope things go well for you. I'm around if you need me," he ends quietly and I give him a sad smile. He leaves the bookstore with his hands deep in his pockets and I look around to see that Diana was skillfully eavesdropping. She peeks her head out from around a bookshelf once the sound of the door closing makes its way around the store.

"So, uh...do you think he heard me?" Diana asks and I roll my eyes. She stares at the direction he disappeared in before completely banishing him from her mind and returning to the topic previous at hand. "But yeah, seriously, you're making the whole Diego thing much bigger than it has to be."

"I just..." I trail as I rub my hands against my jeans anxiously. "I'm just scared."

"Look, I get it; it's your first...thing, romance, I don't know- whatever you want to call it; it's your first one. But if you're too scared to pursue it, you're going to be too scared to pursue the next one and soon enough you're going to be thirty years old and alone," Diana tells me as she grasps my shoulders firmly. "And you don't want to be thirty years old and alone."

I sigh as I look at her. "Okay."

"Okay?" she replies. "What does that mean?"

"It means I'll try," I tell her awkwardly.

"Seriously?" she asks.

"Yes," I drag as I shake my head at her.

"Yay!" she squeals and jumps.

+++

I get home later that night to find myself sad. Diego is really gone. After I take a shower, I pass his room and backtrack, pushing open the door. The light is off and it's practically empty. I frown before turning and heading back to my room. As I'm about to enter, my brother's voice cuts me off.

"Missing your boyfriend?" Nate asks and I whip around to look at him.

"Shut up," I retort and open the door to my room.

"Question," he starts and I turn to look at him in annoyance. "Did you ever get that eyelash out?"

I slam my door and hear him laughing. My phone rings loudly, pulling me from my embarrassment. I look at it to see Diego's contact and I wait a few seconds before answering. "Hello?" My voice sounds high. I clear my throat to try to fix it.

"Hey," he says coolly. Do you know those caterpillar enclosures you got when you were younger? The purpose of them was that you could watch the caterpillars grow into butterflies and when they finally did, you could release them into nature. My stomach feels like that enclosure right now, except it's flooded with hordes of butterflies.

"What's up?" I reply as I lay on my bed. I close my eyes and try to calm my breathing.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asks.

"Um...homework," I say honestly as I look at the pile of work on my computer desk. I have some catching up to do.

"That's a shame," he says after sucking his teeth; "I had something really fun in store for us."

"Yeah?" I ask as I sit up a bit.

"Yeah," he replies. 

"What was it?" I further.

"It was a surprise," he responds.

"I mean, either way, my parents aren't going to let me go," I confess. "It's already eleven."

"Who said you had to ask them?" he retorts and my heart starts to thud in my chest.

"You mean like sneaking out?" I whisper.

"I couldn't sneak you out while I was there; that was too risky. But I'm not there anymore," he replies and now I'm sitting up, pacing my room.

"Okay," I say immediately. "Let's do it."

"Really?" he says, sounding excited.

"Yeah," I say.

My heart thuds in my chest as he tells me what to do five times over to ensure that I don't mess up. This is it. It's finally happening.