5 years ago

"Come on, Tobias! We're going to be late!" Elijah laughs running ahead of me. I'm trying to keep up but my backpack is full of his books including mine. I'm not sure why I always cave on carrying his books for him but I always do.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I laugh, pulling on the straps of my backpack. If I break this one my Dad will freak so I'm careful to create some slack on the straps.

Tonight is Burger Night at Elijah's house and I absolutely love Burger Night since Elijah's dad makes his homemade special burger sauce that goes on top. One day I'll make my own and put it on everything.

I watch as Elijah's brown hair blows in the wind as he turns the corner. We're getting closer to his house and I swear I can smell the BBQ from here. It's a warm summer night and I just know Mr.Thorne is bbqing up a storm.

I spend most weekends at Elijah's house. Since the first grade, he's always been attached to my hip and vice versa. Everyone likes to call us twins even though we don't really look alike. I like to think it's because he's my other half.

We reach his front gate and he quickly shoves it open before slamming it close behind him, cutting me off.

"Hey!" I shouted.

"If I beat you, maybe Dad will give me your burger." He winked, dashing off and up his walkway.

I shook my head and laughed, quickly unlocking the gate myself and following him inside.

"Is that my boys, I hear!?" Elijah's Dad calls out to us.

"Yeah Dad, we're home," Elijah called back kicking off his shoes in the hallway and walking inside.

I shook my head since I knew how much his Dad hated it when he did that. Bending down, I straightened up his shoes by the edge of the hallway and did the same to my own. I wouldn't want him to get in trouble. Even though if we're being honest, his Dad never really gets "mad". Not like my Dad. But still, I wouldn't want his Dad to be disappointed.

"Hey, kids. How was school?" Mr.Thorne was standing on the back deck of the house in his famous black "The GrillFather" apron with a spatula in his hand.

I couldn't help but lick my lips as I watched the hot patties sizzle on the BBQ. I'd barely eaten all day so I was starving. It felt like my stomach was eating itself. Dad didn't pack my lunch again since I forgot to make my bed the day before. I've got to stop doing that. Going most of the day without eating is the worst. The days are so long and all I managed to grab was a granola bar from the office after I told them I forgot my lunch at home again.

"Here, have a quick bite." Elijah's Dad says breaking my daydream. He tossed a hot fry into my mouth and I caught it instantly. "Nice catch." He winked. The fry was hot but it tasted so good in my mouth. I immediately felt a rush of life coming back into me.

"-And then, Mrs.Tuna Breath said I misunderstood the assignment so I have to rewrite the whole thing! She's the worst!" Elijah huffed, sitting on one of the patio chairs. He leaned back and propped his feet up on a chair in front of him.

I laughed, shaking my head. "You wrote about the epidermis of a cell."

"Yeah, so? That's what the assignment was." He shrugged.

"You wrote it about the epidermis of a plant cell. We were in biology class." I couldn't help but throw my head back and laugh even harder. This kid was ridiculous. "You didn't even read it before handing it in." I shoved his feet off the seat and sat down myself. He rolled his eyes and plopped his feet back onto my lap.

"Did you tell Mrs.Tuna Breath that you misunderstood the assignment?" Mr.Thorne shook his head and flipped over one of the burger patties. I hope that one was mine since it looked like he was adding extra cheese on the top. He knows how much I love a cheesy burger.

"Yeah, yeah. She's going to let me rewrite it and hand it in on Monday." Elijah waved him off.

"She sounds pretty nice to me, Eli." Mr.Thorne went to go and toss me another fry when Elijah intercepted and caught it himself.

"Hey! Why does he get all the side fries?" He said popping it into his mouth. "Ouch! Hot!" He opened his mouth, blowing the heat out as best as he could.

"When you start listening and doing the right homework, you'll get side fries." Mr.Thorne said pointing at Elijah with the spatula.

"Yeah, Elijah." I winked at him. "Do better."

Elijah exaggerated his eye-roll and sat up in his chair. "You two always gang up on me, you know that?"

"It's out of love." I laughed, standing up. Walking back into the house, I walked into the kitchen to grab the condiments from the fridge.

I walked back out on the deck placing the condiments on the table beside the dishes for us all to eat our burgers outside.

"So listen, I've got to head to work tonight at the restaurant—"

"What!? No, you promised us you'd stay home to play Nazi Zombies with us. 'All night' you said. YOU said." Elijah whined.

"Yeah, I know. But Bill called in sick tonight and I really need a manager on the floor or else the restaurant goes under and when the restaurant goes under who-"

"Who's going to pay for my video games?" Elijah and I both finished his sentence. He's used this excuse on us a few times and I have to admit, I'm disappointed too. The best nights are when the three of us get to make a blanket fort in the living room, play video games, and eat junk food all night.

Mr.Thorne manages a local pizza shop in town that's actually super popular. It's a small spot right now but apparently, it's in the works to grow even bigger. He makes the best pizzas there and people have been driving all across the state to eat there. It's so cool!

"That's right. You guys get it." Mr.Thorne sets our patties on the burger buns we now have set up on our plates. I smiled big when I saw the extra cheesy burger land on my plate.

"So, Rebecca is going to be by in an hour to stay here with you guys until I get home." He continued.

My stomach dropped. A babysitter?

"A babysitter!? Dad, come on. We're thirteen not three." Elijah groaned. He read my mind.

"We definitely don't need a babysitter." I shook my head, squirting some ketchup on my burger.

"Seriously? Last time I walked in on you two playing Fear Factor in the kitchen at 2 in the morning."

We both laughed, remembering that night. It was a blast but we definitely suffered with some upset stomachs for the rest of the day. Mustard, maple syrup and chopped onions don't mix.

Mr.Thorne stared at us and sighed, clearly thinking it over.

"Okay, fine. I'll call her off for tonight but please, please be good. Don't make me regret this." Mr.Thorne picked up his burger shoving it into his mouth.

☀️☀️☀️

"Behind you! Behind you!" I yelled, shooting down a zombie in front of me.

"Got him! Where are you!?" Elijah yelled out.

"I'm above you, on the roof." I laughed.

"Don't come down, there's a million down here!"

"Oh no, I already jumped—"

"Noooo!" Elijah groaned. That was it. In 30 seconds flat, we were both ambushed and we lost the round.

"Damn, they got us. Why'd you jump?" Elijah sighed, resting his back on the edge of the couch.

We're sitting on the floor like our usual setup in the living room. Lights off with only the big screen lighting up the living room.

Elijah's house is a little on the smaller side than mine (okay, a lot smaller) but I've always felt way more at home here.

Putting down my controller, I reached across his lap to grab the bag of our nacho chips that we'd been sharing all night.

"What time is your Dad supposed to get home?" I asked before stuffing a handful of chips in my mouth.

"Any time now, I think. I don't think he'll be too impressed that we're still awake. It's almost 2 again." Elijah laughed, dunking his hand in the bag.

"Hey! Get your own!" I laughed, shoving him away from me.

"These are mine, you idiot." He laughed back, pushing his back into my chest, and tearing the bag away from my hands.

We tussled for a few minutes, laughing and pushing at each other. He always knew exactly how to make my stomach hurt from laughing too hard.

"You're such a nutcase." I winced. I had a cramp in my side from laughing so hard. What was wrong with us?

"You're such a loser." He pushed on my side to make it hurt more. I groaned, toppling over.

"You love me though." I sighed, lying on the floor. I didn't realize how tired I was.

"I..." He began. I looked up at him awaiting the rest of his sentence.

"What?" I asked.

"Do you think we're going to stay friends forever? Like...next year we're off to high school and...do you think—"

"Elijah," I sat up. I placed both my hands on his shoulders and looked him straight in his big brown eyes. "You're my best friend in the whole world. No... you're my brother. Nothing could ever come between that. You get that, right?" I squeezed his shoulders. I needed him to understand.

Life without Elijah would be... I didn't even want to think about it.

He looked into my eyes to think it over. "Yeah...I think so..." He breathed.

My eyebrows scrunched together. I can't believe he's questioning this.

"Elijah" I shook his shoulders back and forth which made him laugh. "I need you to understand this. Never will I ever want to lose you, okay?" I laughed back.

"Okay, okay" He smiled, rolling his eyes.

"Your stupid ass is stuck with me for life. You get that? You promise?" I laughed, shaking him more. He was swinging his head dramatically back and forth at this point which made us both laugh harder.

"Yes! I get it. I promise." He chuckled. He swung his head back up to look at me and sighed. Resting his head on my hand that was on his shoulder, he looked up at me. He was obviously tired too. It was late and we had a long day at school.

I watched as he stared back at me. Our smiles slowly faded away as something more serious washed over us.

I leaned in closer to rest my forehead on his. We were so close but this felt deeper. My heart was beating so fast and I'm not quite sure why. We always play around and it's never a big deal when we touch each other but this was a little different.

I needed him to know how much I cared about him being in my life. I'm not sure why but the feeling was overpowering.

"Don't ever leave me too, okay?" I whispered.

"Okay." He whispered back. He was nervous too, I could tell.

"Promise?" I lifted my head up to look back at his eyes. I watched as his eyes slowly dropped down to my lips. I couldn't help but swallow. Were we about to–

We quickly pressed our lips against each other. I could feel heat radiate through my whole body. I felt like my skin was on fire! I've kissed girls in school but nothing was like this. I've never felt such soft lips before. And why did he smell so good? My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. This was insane!

He moved his lips slowly so our lips were locked perfectly with each other. I could taste him and it was amazing. I didn't want it to end. Why was he so good at this? Would he be okay if we did this all the time?

Wait, why was this happening?

Does everyone do this with their best friends?

What was he thinking right now?

I suddenly pulled back to look at his face. I need to know how he feels about this. His eyes looked panicked and shocked.

He opened his mouth as if to say something but before any words came out, the front door unlocked.

We quickly shifted apart to create some safe distance between us.

"Don't tell me you boys are still awake." Mr.Thorne said walking into the living room and dropping his keys on the coffee table. I could hear in his voice that he wasn't upset which was good. We both looked up at him trying to catch our breaths. "You guys okay?" He asked, looking between the two of us. We must've looked out of sorts.

"Yeah! Just...a scary match." Elijah answered.

"Well, scoot over. I've got one game in me until it's lights out for all of us. I'm exhausted."

Mr.Thorne dropped his jacket on the loveseat across the room and sat on the ground, scooting in between Elijah and I.

I'm not too sure what just happened just now but all I know was I just kissed my best friend for the first time.

My best friend who is also a boy. My best friend who is so close to me he's like my brother. And the weirdest part was I definitely didn't hate it. Not even a little bit. Not even at all...

☀️

Authors Note: Those little cuties. I love the dynamic between Mr. Thorne and Tobias. Mr. Thorne reminds me so much of older family members who are just so cool. Have you ever known anyone like that? 

Also, I'm just dying at their first kiss. So cuuuute! Let me know what you think xox