"Damn. You're getting thick, Austin," Nick whistled.

"Thanks," Austin winked in response. "I've been doing squats."

"Squats?" Ethan began with a confused expression on his face. "Is that a sex position?"

Nick, Austin and I shared a look of disappointment among ourselves at our friend's (unfortunately) stupidity. Just then, a pair of footsteps hurriedly made their way towards the table we were seated at and the source behind them took their seat beside me.

"Hey Alex," I greeted with a small grin.

After the little moment we had had back in class, we had grown a little closer - or at least I believed so. The hug ended up lasting for around a minute or so, and I was honestly surprised that I didn't end up crying on his shoulder. He stayed silent the entire time too, he didn't try to offer me any pep talks or anything of that sort which I really appreciated.

In all honesty, whenever I tell someone about something that made me upset, I preferred them being silent about it instead of giving me the usual 'oh, it will get better' or 'it will pass!' - because words never really did help me much at all.

"Hey there, Kai," he replied, returning the smile.

"When did the two of you get closer?" Ethan questioned, shoving a fry into his mouth before getting distracted by it. "Damn, I'm kind of built like this fry - the rest of you are the sack of potatoes that were used to make the fries. It sucks to suck, I'm sorry guys."

"What kind of drugs are you on?" Nick snorted. "Because I want some of that shit too."

"Guys," Austin began, placing his palms on the table to grab our attention. "I kind of wanna hang out after school."

"Alright, your place?" Nick questioned with a raised brow.

"No, my dad will eat me for dinner," Austin scoffed. "How about yours?"

"No way, José," Nick began. "My parents will put me up for adoption. Ethan, yours?"

"Oh hell no," Ethan responded. "My parents will sell me on craigslist. Alexander, your place?"

"No," Alexander said. "My mom isn't in the right mindset at the moment, she's been-"

I quickly pressed my palm up against his mouth to keep him from spilling any further, he furrowed his eyebrows at me in confusion before letting out a soft sigh and pulling my hand away in a gentle manner. He shot me a thankful grin, "Thanks, I'm sorry."

I nodded in response before clearing my throat, "I'm offended you guys didn't ask me if you could come over to my place."

"Alright then it's settled, Kairo's place at five, sound good?" Nick grinned to which the rest of the boys, including myself, nodded in approval.

"But please make sure you guys aren't too loud. If there's too much noise, my mom might get disturbed. She's sensitive to loud noises," I explained. "And she might beat my ass too."

Ethan let out a soft chuckle, "Oh yeah. I remember one time I was at his place and he sneezed really loudly. It was a mega, giant, extreme, legendary sneeze, my dudes. In fact, it was so loud it caused an earthquake in fifty different countries. It was so loud it made Mount Kilimanjaro explode. It was so damn loud-"

"Just get to the point already," Austin sighed, shaking his head at Ethan.

"Damn, let me tell my story the way it is, you abomination," he scoffed before clearing his throat and proceeding. "It was so loud, it woke my great grandmother from her grave," he then paused to look down at his lap with a pained expression as if the memory of his great grandmother upset him. However, he quickly pulled it together again and added, "That his mom came into the room and whooped his flat, non-existent ass with a spatula right in front of me. Damn, it was a sight to see."

Alex let out an obnoxious snort at that, "Ah, rest in peace Kairo's flat ass."

"Shut up, my ass is juicy," I scoffed. "You're just jealous because your ass looks like a cutting board."

"Does that mean you've been checking my ass out, Alden?" Alex responded, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Yes," I shrugged bluntly.

"Hold up- wait what?" Alex questioned, tilting his head at me. "You have?"

"Obviously, it's a natural human instinct, what am I supposed to do? My eyes just go there whenever someone turns around, it's like a vibe check for the ass," I explained, ignoring the feeling of my cheeks beginning to burn up.

"Understandable, does my ass really look like a cutting board though?" he inquired, feigning hurt.

"No, you're thick," I confirmed with an embarrassed giggle.

"Oh?" he said with a sly smirk.

"Don't let it get to your head, you big buffoon," I warned, narrowing my eyes at him.

"I won't," he said, raising his hands up as if to surrender. "And in that case, you're thick as well, Alden."

I choked on my spit at that and gave him a questioning glance, "You've checked my ass out?"

"What do you expect me to do?" he shot back, leaning in with a challenging expression on his face. "It's a natural human instinct."

Oh well, fuck.