After spending another day relaxing and getting better, I decided to drag my lazy ass out of the apartment on Wednesday to go to work. Tom told me to take a couple more days off, but I insisted that I needed to get out of the house as I was going crazy. After that, he didn't argue, but made me relax while I was at work.

"Tom, I need to ask you something," I told him, while we sat drinking coffee. It was a slow day at work.

"Should I be worried?" He laughed.

"No, I just want to know where the lake is by Jack's house," I said.

"She's gonna love that," he smiled, already knowing why I was asking. "I'll write you the address down, but the place is kinda deserted now."

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"There was a bad storm that tore up a lot of the forest a few years back. The locals have stayed away since then, just the odd few people go there for fishing every now and then."

"Oh, so is it safe?"

"Yeah, it's perfectly fine. Me and Jack go fishing there occasionally, but it used to be full of families with kids. But a boy was injured there during the storm, so people don't risk going anymore," he said.

"Okay, I might go check it out after work," I smiled.

Tom went to make a drink for a customer, and I text Alice to see if she would come with me to the lake. She replied after a few minutes saying that she would pick me up after work.

The rest of my shift went quite quickly, and Tom let me finish early so I could get ready while he cleaned up.

I went up to my apartment and changed out of my work clothes, then waited for Alice to arrive.

"Hey," she shouted out of the car window when she pulled up. I had waited outside when she text to say she was on the way.

"Hi," I said, getting into her car. I put the address in to her GPS and she started to drive.

It wasn't a very long drive, but we needed to travel down a few narrow country lanes to get to the lake. Alice drove cautiously, a lot slower than I would have driven. We eventually found an entrance to the car park next to the lake.

"Is this the right place?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. Tom did say people didn't come here much anymore."

The car park was completely empty, as I guessed it would be. Honestly, the place looked kind of creepy, I wouldn't have liked to be there when it was dark.

We both got out of the car, and Alice immediately linked her arm with mine before we started to walk. We headed down a cobblestone path that led through the trees.

I could see the fallen trees that Tom had warned me about. The trees that were still standing let in streaks of sunlight, which brightened up the path we were walking along. I was surprised that people didn't want to come here anymore, it was breathtaking.

The sunlight bounced off the body of water in front of us, almost blinding us. As we emerged from the trees, I was in awe of the view in front of me.

Tall trees with bright green leaves were dispersed around the lake. The soft chirping of birds filled my ears, and complimented the beautiful scenery. There was a large patch of grass, with different coloured flowers sprouting randomly around, where the path ended.

"Wow," Alice whispered.

"I know," I said. "It's amazing."

"First date worthy?" She asked.

"Definitely."

Alice squeezed my arm in hers, and pulled me along with her as she started to walk around the lake. I was so glad she suggested this place.

"So, you can have your picnic here," she said, pointing at the grassy area. "And then you can take her for a walk around the lake and through the forest."

I smiled at her enthusiasm, and she grinned at me when she saw how happy I looked.

"I was thinking that you should prepare the food, and I'll bring it here before you get here, just so it's a surprise. Of course, if it's hot food, I'll have to drive a little faster on saturday so it doesn't go cold. And you should definitely bring wine. Not for you, though, you're driving and you knocked yourself out driving a go-kart when you were sober."

I laughed at her words, but she ignored me and carried on talking.

"I don't think candles are really suitable for here, cause you don't wanna set this place on fire. But maybe some flowers or somethi-"

"Alice..." I interrupted, and she turned to look at me. "When I marry Larissa, will you plan the wedding?"

"Don't worry, I've already got that sorted," she said, ignoring the fact that I was joking. Well, kind of joking.

"Alice, thank you so much for helping me with this."

She finally stopped talking, and hugged me.

"You're welcome, sweetie. I just want you both to be happy," she replied.

I gestured for her to sit on the grass with me, and she sat down straight away.

"Yeah, you need to bring a blanket, cause this grass is a little wet."

"Yes boss," I laughed.

She seemed almost as excited as I was about my date.

"Do you really think it'll work out between me and Larissa?" I asked, adopting a more serious tone.

"I know it will," she smiled. "From the first time I heard her talk about you, I knew that she would eventually realise it was you she wanted."

"I hope so," I sighed. "I don't think I could handle it, if she rejected me again."

"Ivy, I'm pretty sure you've already got her. She just needs to open up a little bit. Putting Brandon and everything else aside, this is hard for her. She's gotta admit to being somebody she was always sure she wasn't, it's like she's been living a lie for her entire life and she didn't even realise it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I need to give her time to work it out," I said.

"No you don't. That's the point," she argued. "You've been giving her time since the first time you kissed her. And she's finally coming around to it, so if you back off now, she'll go back to square one. Don't pressure her, Ivy. Just help her realise what's going on. You've done this already, you already came out to everyone and became who you were supposed to be. She's almost there, just help her cross the finish line."

As I listened to Alice's words of wisdom, I recalled how many times I tried to force myself to admit I was gay, and how easy it was to pretend I wasn't. Alice was right, she just needed some support, and I was going to give it to her.

"I can't believe Rob actually managed to find someone as amazing as you," I laughed.

"Yeah, he's a lucky guy," she winked.

After a few more minutes of admiring the view, we headed back to the car. I was going to visit Liam in an hour, and I didn't want to be late.

"Oh yeah, how did your interview go?" I asked on the way home, feeling rude for not remembering.

"It was good," she grinned. "They're gonna call me by the end of the week to let me know if I've got the job."

"Awesome, I'm sure you're gonna get it," I said cheerfully.

"I hope so, I'm getting kinda tired of the gym now. It hasn't been the same since Larissa left."

"She has that effect on people," I laughed.

Alice smiled at me, then got back to concentrating on the road. She turned up the music and we both rapped along with Eminem for the rest of the journey.

When Alice dropped me off, I went up the steps to my apartment, and quickly showered and changed. I made a cup of tea before heading out to see Liam.

It had only been a couple of days since I had seen him, but I missed him a lot. He had text several times to see how I was feeling, and he seemed really worried about me. I thought it would give him peace of mind if he saw me, and saw that I was okay.